On the Eve of the Roma Genocide in Sisak - Banovina Area or from the History of the Roma In Sisak - Banovina Area, 1918–1941

The history of the Roma in Europe has often been marked by periods of persecution by state and local authorities. The aim of such a repressive policy was their assimilation into the majority population, and such a policy was based on a negative perception of Roma as hardened antisocials and criminals. The leaders of this policy among European countries were the German authorities, and this was especially pronounced with the coming to power of the Nazis, when the Roma were victims of German racial policy. Such a repressive policy towards the Roma had repercussions in Croatian areas in the interwar period. In the paper has been analyzes the position of Roma in the Sisak - Banovina area in the period between the two world wars as an example of an area where Roma were genocidally exterminated by the Ustasha authorities during the Second World War. Precisely such research is aimed at analyzing the historical context of the position of the Roma on the eve of the Second World War, and in order to contribute to the understanding of the extent of the war suffering of the Roma. Consequently, the analysis covered the issue of their spatial distribution and demographic characteristics of the Roma population, such as their ethnic (ethnic), religious, age and gender structure. The research analyzed the attitude of the authorities towards the Roma, as well as the attitude of the non-Roma (majority) population towards them, especially in cases of violence towards Roma.