The Joy and Burden of Living: Roma Communities in the Western Borderlands of the Postwar Soviet Union

Abstract

Focusing on the processes of post-war community reconstruction and healing, this chapter outlines the experiences of Roma who spent the early post-war years in the western borderlands of the Soviet Union. The author demonstrates that Roma in the Baltic States, western Belarus, and western Ukraine faced similar challenges and choices, for example “to keep on the move or settle,” “to stay in the Soviet Union or leave for Poland,” and so on. Likewise, they found themselves affected by the confrontation between the nationalist insurgencies and the Soviet counterinsurgency. Analysis of the post-war lifestyles and mobility patterns of Roma reveals that their decisions were, first of all, informed by family and community considerations, such as looking for lost family members, taking care of orphans, and providing for their families. Drawing on published memoirs and oral histories, the author discusses how the Roma communities devastated by the Nazi persecution sought to heal from their multiple losses and return to a normal community life.