Program of work centre of Roma is based on programs of Association pf origin Roma people in Croatia - Lovari and Council of Roma national minority of Bjelovar which are founders of Centre.

Programs are based on fundamental goal, and it is: attempt that Roma people is helped on one place in getting all informations in every day life considering health department, schooling, social care, employment and solving problems in family as addiction, violence, abusing and so on.

Our programs are also and moral obligation to Roma people so that they could conserve language, customs and culture of Roma people, but also adjust to social status of State in more easier and qualitat way.

We want to help young genarations of Roma people to not forget they origin even if they live in modern way of life, those who need help that more qiucker are integrated, because it is possible with social-politic situatuin in our State and Europe.

For realiasations our programs we will use help of experts on all fields as state ministaries, institutions and offfices, politics, culture and history so that we could have more qualitat educational programs and help in searching solutions.

Accomplished programs:

• Centre for consultation was launched
• Literary group of young Roma was founded
• The following presentations and workshops were presented:
  - Protection of human rights
  - Protection of mothers and childrens rights
  - The importance of preserving the identity and language

New programs for year 2006.:

• Launching a new radio show on Roma language on the local radio station
• Continuing work of the Centre for consultation
• Celebrating the important Roma holidays such as: World Roma day and St. George’s day
• Publishing the threelingual catalog about our exibition, booklets, picture books, books on both roma and croatian language
• Publishing of promotional pamphlets and brochures on roma language which promote Roma rights
• Active work on promoting the action plan “Decade for Roma 2005. - 2015.”

WE CONSIDER THAT OUR PROGRAMS ARE JUSTIFIED AND USEFULL, SO WE INVITE YOU TO VISIT US SO WE COULD HAVE COLABORATION AND FASTER AND MORE QUALITATE INTEGRATION OF ROMA PEOPLE AS NATIONAL MINORITY ALLWAYS REJECTED FROM SOCIETY.

Centre started to work on April 01. 2005. For all informations use our e-mail or phone numbers.

In the year 2002 we ere given the permission by the Town Museum to open ethno-exhibition. Also assistance of experts in realization of the project was offered. Only in February 2004 our project was evaluated to be of good quality and needed and as such received support from the Ministry of Culture for opening of ethno-exhibition. Part of requested funds were allocated with which we managed to collect part of the exhibits for the future exhibition.

It contains mostly historical documents, theories of the historians as well as overview of culture and customs of Lovari Roma which have been preserved by word of mouth. This is the content of the permanent “Documentary historical exhibition of autochthonous Lovari Roma” which we set up in the premises of the Centre. With this exhibition we want to present to the public the basic history and culture of Lovari Roma and save it from being forgotten.

The exhibition can be seen every working day by announcement and during working hours of Centre of counseling.

The exhibition is covering the time from the start of migration of Roma until today and the present position of Roma on the territory of Republic of Croatia and is divided in parts

• History of the autochthonous Croatian Roma Lovari
• Moving of Dubrovnik Lovari Roma across Croatia, with special emphasise on settling on the territory of today’s Bjelovar-bilogora county (Slavonia, Bjelovar-Kkrizevci county, migrations, documents, names and surnames)
• Suffering of Roma in Croatia
• Roma trades
• Family customs, belifes

On 5 December 1362 Egyptian Vlaho and Vitan requested the Duke office that the goldsmith Raden Bratoslavic returns eight silver belts which they left as deposit with him (DAD, Moumenta Ragusina, III Ref XXI, 1 1895, 245J. Tadic, Letters and guidance of Dubrovnik Republic, 1 1935, 101). Document is cited in all the works published after the Second World War and we strongly believe that the Dubrovnik Gypsies are ancestors of today’s Lovari Roma as this tradition of names, surnames and customs can today be found among Lovari Roma in Croatia.

Gypsies in Dubrovnik Republic lead same and care less life, without banishment and accusation. According to individual economic and professional status the Gypsies to great extent belonged to middle class of Dubrovnik society. Analyses of their personal names and patronymic surnames, scope of their merchant trade as well as listing down their associates, partners. Generally stilling, not keeping given word, cheating, bad manners, fights, disputes and so on are deemed to be moral characteristics of Gypsies.

All this can be found among some Gypsies in Dubrovnik, but these are not typical only for them but for the epoch of that time when the greed, fights and revenge were normal. Otherwise if the contrast of the mentality was stronger or that the Gypsies with such for non-Roma negative characteristics caused rejection in Dubrovnik Republic and become non wanted. Dubrovnik government would not had allowed them to stay in Dubrovnik Republic but would had deny them right to stay or even worse would not had allowed them to pass or cross over their territory. During 15 th century Dubrovnik government did not issue any act that concerned Gypsies in particularly. 

MOVING OF DUBROVNIK LOVARI ROMA ACROSS CROATIA, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASISE ON SETTLING ON THE TERRITORY OF TODAY’S BJELOVAR-BILOGORA COUNTY (SLAVONIA, BJELOVAR-KRIZEVCI COUNTY, MIGRATIONS, DOCUMENTS, NAMES AND SURNAMES)

No matter whether Dubrovnik gypsies traded in Dubrovnik or outside of it, close or far away from the town everything indicates that they were involved in Dubrovnik merchandise. Merchandise was what made Dubrovnik Lovari Roma to migrate and settle in other places in Croatia, mostly in Slavonia which in 1743 was joined with the rest of Croatia. Lovari Roma managed to come to big town centres of Varazdin and Zagerb.

Data on Roma in Slavonia can be found in report in 1698-1702 on taxing of citizens. Varazdin was the capital of Croatian in years 1756-1776. These grandiose years ended with fire in 1776 and the town lost the importance and the Roma that lived there moved after that to the territory already inhabited by Lovari Roma; Bilogora, Moslavina and Podravina. They stayed in this territory rich with horses and cattle which are bases of their trade. Lovari Roma for centuries traded with cattle, mostly horses and even today they are known for being merchants.

According to ”Conscriptio Zingarorum” from 1781 in all counties of Slavoina there were 1326 of Gypsies and in the military frontier 1982 gypsies were registered (Vukanovic Tatomir, Roma (Gypsies) in Jug. 4). Known orders of the eprariors Maria Teresa and Joseph II that regulate life of Gypsies had big influence on assimilation and inhabiting of Gypsies. Such rules and orders were in power until 1783 and were completely forgotten after 6 May 1871 when with “the Kings order” the authority of military administration in military frontier was banned and introduced civic administration according to which Gypsies were left to live as “their blood tells them”. This mostly meant at the end of the villages, in houses made of soil or wood, as horse trades, musicians or horse-thief.

Due to the best possibility for trading the Lovari Roma mostly inhabited municipalities of Kapela, Veliki Grdjevac, Pitomaca, Severin, Ivanic-Klostar, Novigrad, Virje, Ivanska, Sokolovac and Popovaca (Report of Bjelovar-Krizevci County for the year 1887, 15 February 1886). Settling of Lovari Roma and Kalderash from Hungary to district of Koprivnica and Djurdjevac, mostly in municipalities of Pitomaca, Novigrad and Virje and their mixing with already inhabited “domestic gypsies” Lovari, was noted in registry books of parish Pitomaca from 1768 till 1825, archive of Croatia, Zagreb and in 1904 it was noted for the first time in the registry books the name “domestic Gypsies”.

It is interesting that the new coming Roma were specific by their fair skin and blue or green eyes which was contrast to the settled Lovari Roma who were very dark with mostly brown eyes.

According to statements in 1909, running from Hungaria from newly introduced rule of Roma hall-marking a big group of Kalderash Roma with surnames: Goman, Lakatos and Bayash Roma with surnames: Horvat, Bogdan. They also inhabited the mentioned area along with autochthonous Roma and formerly set fellow-countryman, Hungarian Roma from Serbia. It was very difficult to establish the exact number of Roma, (Statistical yearbook of Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia for 1906-1919.) because new groups of Roma were arriving to Croatia. These groups differed from Lovari Roma in culture, religion and by Roma language. This is especially with the language of Bayash Roma who speak with old Rumanian dialect, dialect of ljimba d’bajas, language from the territory of Dacia.

Also there is lack information into which category the Roma citizens were put in, whether it was according to ethnicity of the area in which they lived of whether they were put under “others” or “not known”. Census of Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 31 March 1931 gives a general number of Roma. The census was based on religion and mother tong. According to the census 64 909 persons declared their mother tong to be “Gypsy”. More precise data came from “Yearbook of Banovina authorities of Banovina Croatia” from 16.08.1940 where 14 879 or 0.37 percent of population spoke “Gypsy” as mother tong. Considering the number of Roma in Croatia at that time, which consisted of autochthonous Lovari Roma and new comer Roma it can be concluded that the present laws, kindness of non-Roma population and the areas in which they lived suited Roma perfectly. This was an impulse to accept this area as “promised land” in which nobody will ban them and in which they will permanently settle.

They did live carelessly until December 1939 when Germany brought legal provision “against Gypsy danger”. Provisions of this law from 1939 were not used only by German political authorities but also by police of the occupied countries and ally states of The Third Reich, which means also Independent State of Croatia. On 30 April 1941 a legal Provision on Racial Belonging and Provision on Protection of Aryan Blood and Honour of Croatian People was brought (Croatian State Archive, fond NDH). These had to be unavoidably respected.

The ways in which the Roma were tortured and killed are not imaginable to healthy human mind and are not healthy to even be discussed, especially for the sake of keeping memories on all concentration-camp prisoners and dignity of Roma who used to live and are killed only because they were “Christian Gypsies”.

The data on scientific Nazi experiments were found after the war and show that medically and anthropologically the Roma are racially close to Nordic Aryan race. This brings to a conclusion that the advocator of a clean and pedantic race “firer” could not bare the fact that there are similarities with at that time “stinky” Gypsy race which was also more numerous. Therefore, he committed genocide on them. The massacre lasted until the end of 1942. This is shown by report of military intelligence officer of the German embassy in Zagreb from 18 October 1942: “Among the gypsies only Bosnian Muslims are left alive while the others no mater if they were catholic and voters of Mr. Macek are killed… With this starts and soon finishes “final solution of gypsy issues in Independent State of Croatia” (Narcisa Lengel-Krizman, Genocide on Roma 2003, page 41) in which 22000-28000 Roma were executed.

Thanks to good neighbourly relations, non Roma managed to save some of “their Gypsies” with whom they lived for years in friendship, marriage. Also thanks to bribes, buying freedom from Domobrans and local Ustasha as well as man joining Partisans and Domobran, a few Roma stayed alive and this is mostly in the area of Bilogora and Podravina region. The first census after the war on 31.march 1948 shows this. At that time 405 Gypsies, mostly Lovari Roma were recorded.

Later, other Roma are migrating to Croatia: Khanjari (Poulterers, the remaining nomads), from Serbia and Montenegro of orthodox religion (1969); Ludari (closest to Bayash – Trough-makers) from Serbia of orthodox religion (1960-1965); Xoraxai from Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo all of Muslim religion (Arlije, Askalije, Gopti, Blacksmiths, Bear bater 1965, 1970, 1980, 1988, 1993, 1994) and Sinti (circus performers, amusement park 1975.) from Austria and Italy of catholic religion like Lovari- autochthonous Croatian Roma. Today, Roma new comers along with formerly present Roma Bayash (trough-makers, are coming from Romania across Hungary; 1909-1915); Roma Kalderash (copper-smith, Kaldari-Romanian/copper) and Sijake (broom-makers from Hungary, Serbia and Romania; 1892-1914) and autochthonous Lovari Roma (which are today minority) make up 8 Roma groups in Croatia. Total number of Croatian Roma population according to 2001 census is 9463 Roma.

Lovari Roma were first of all skilled merchants and horse breeders. They knew well illnesses and way to heal horses as well as how to shoe horses. That is why they were appreciated among all great army leaders. Some groups also work with metal, smith, copper-smith as well as with gold and silver. Also they played instruments, danced, told fortune, gambled and to a certain extend stole.

According to a list of curses and things that were prohibited and which refer to a certain trades and are listed in anthology of The Laws of Manu (Manavadharmasastra) from the second century b.c. it can be seen that Roma were engaged with those trades which this law listed as unworthy for members of higher class. Among these prohibited trades they chose those that mostly suited their particular way of nomadic life and existence. Constant migrations and ramblings and invasions through history as well as the invaders that needed people who know how to groom and heal horses, shoe horses, repair arms and at the end to play and sing as well as dance to amuse solders in the hours of rest, conditioned versatility of Roma to develop these abilities as the chance to survive.

Looks and cloths of Roma are specific for being very colourful with prevailing red colour. The reason for such dress is traditional belief of Roma that spells and misfortune are driven away with lots of bright colours which attract luck.

In harmony with tradition the described are the most important rituals in the life of Lovari Roma:

• Engagements, binding
• Roma weddings
• Pregnancy, child birth
• Procedure around burial, funeral

A big role in life of Roma have different beliefs of which we emphasise:

• Religion – cult of moon, fire and sun
• Healing magic, people medicine
• Magic, witchery, witchcraft
• Gold, happiness

It is characteristic for Roma to have non-written codex of behaviour as well as its own court, Kris, which is actually an institution with a seat which is solving disputes within Roma community and which is very respected. Also it is known that Roma do not have their own script but in the past they communicated by signs that were leavening one to another on roads, crossroads or houses. With these signs they were informing or warning those Roma that were coming after them on what is the situation among the inhabitants, whether they are welcome or not and what are possibilities of making money and similar.

A special place in the life of Roma is given to music. A special way of performing songs and melodies, emotionally, expressionate and passionate without notes, different and sudden changes with musical and vocal surprises, cry, change of dynamics and tempo in different forma and parts. This all is done in a way that is particular to each performer and his/her abilities and present emotional experience and make a base of Roma instrumental interpretation.

Recognisability of Lovari Roma music among other groups is seen in composition of instruments which are part of their cultural heritage. These are first of all wire-instruments.