The first Montenegrin state was founded in the 10th century under the name Duklja [Latin: Dioclea], becoming Zeta in the 11th century. The name Montenegro [Montenegrin: Crna Gora] came into use during the 14th century. During the following centuries, with the exception of a period of independence between 1878 and 1918, Montenegro belonged to or was controlled by a succession of states (Serbia, Venetian Republic, Ottoman Empire, Yugoslavia). In 2006, Montenegro became an independent state. During World War II, Montenegro was occupied first by Italy and then by Germany. Many Roma fought as partisans against the occupation, and an unknown number lost their lives.
Roma on the Territory of Montenegro
The first mention of Roma on Montenegrin territory dates from the 16th century, although it is likely that first groups appeared as early as in the second half of the 14th century, during the rule of the noble family Balšić in the area of Zeta (Montenegro). In a Montenegrin folk tale, a Rom named Kurto who rebelled against the Turks (Ottomans) and fled to Montenegro seeking refuge is considered the father of the Roma group of Kovači. According to Ottoman documents, Roma were predominantly itinerant, while some of them settled in Herceg Novi. In the 16th century, pirates traded Roma slaves in the port town of Ulcinj. In the other parts of Montenegro, however, Roma stood under the protection of Montenegrin noble clans.
Their low social status in Montenegrin society was signalled by the fact that they were not subject to military service, by trade and craft restrictions, by their exclusion from official positions and by the prohibition on burial in municipal cemeteries. From the beginning of the 18th century, Roma also lived in the mountainous northern regions of Montenegro, where they worked as blacksmiths, trumpeters and drummers under the Ottomans.
In the mid-19th century, Prince Danilo I. Petrović Njegoš (1826–1860) lifted some of the social restrictions on Roma as part of his reforms. The Montenegrin Romani population of this time was relatively assimilated and was not specifically registered, but their number was estimated at around 500. The economic development of independent Montenegro led to a new immigration of Roma from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were mostly engaged in blacksmithing, which was a poorly respected profession at that time. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Montenegrin authorities tried to legally prohibit the arrival of ‘nomadic’ Roma groups and expel those Roma who did not have Montenegrin citizenship.1Bogišić, “Die slavisirten Zigeuner,” 402–405; Lutovac, Romi u Crnoj Gori, 14 – 101; Stevenson, A History of Montenegro, 75–76; Vuković-Ćalasan and Đoković, “Roma in the History,” 845–854.
Interwar Period (1918–1941)
After World War I, Montenegro became an integral part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 Kingdom of Yugoslavia). It covered most of the area of the administrative unit Zeta Banovina (named after the Zeta River), and also included smaller areas of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo. In the new state, Roma gained the right to vote and were drafted into the Yugoslav army, but there is no record of social or political organisations of Montenegrin Roma.
In the interwar period, historical references identify three large groups of Roma living in this area: Kovači, Čergari (also known as Cerhari in other regions) and ‘Roma Muslims’ (this is not a self-designation of the community but an external view). Kovači settled early and were documented during the Ottoman rule, and today they mostly identify themselves as Muslim Montenegrins. Čergari were sometimes called Gabelji or assimilated to Gurbeti, although they are clearly distinct from them. Today, some call themselves Arlija.2This fact is somehow surprising, as Arlii are Balkan Roma and have no Vlach influences. This may stem from the origins of the name Arli (from the Turkish Yerli meaning ‘local’). They settled in Montenegrin territory after the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, and today identify themselves as Muslims or Montenegrins. Roma Muslims (in the past called ‘Madžupi’ or ‘Jeđupi’ – both derogatory terms in Albanian to denote ‘Gypsies’) immigrated from Kosovo and North Macedonia in the period between the two world wars. Foreign groups were also present in this area, such as Roma from Russia, who moved to Yugoslavia after the Russian Revolution and Civil War as a part of a refugee group led by the former general of the ‘White Army’ in South Russia, Baron Pёtr Nikolaevich Vrangel’ [German: Freiherr Peter von Wrangel] (1878–1928).
It is difficult, however, to determine the exact number of Roma in this period, primarily because some of them did not declare themselves as such. The 1931 census noted a total of 6,537 Roma in the area of Zeta Banovina, which made up about 9 % of the total number of Roma in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Most Romalived in the eastern parts (the area of today’s Kosovo). The fewest Roma lived in the western and southern districts of the Zeta Banovina, which approximately form today’s territory of Montenegro. Almost all Roma of the Zeta Banovina were Muslims (6,475 or 99 %), and only a minority of them were Orthodox (62 or 1%).3Publikationsstelle Wien, Die Gliederung, 10, 20, 379–411; Vojak, U predvečerje rata, 66–92.
Montenegro under Italian and German Occupation
In April 1941, World War II reached the Balkan area. The Axis powers led by Germany managed to defeat the military forces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia within a very short time. Italian military forces occupied Montenegro, which then became an Italian protectorate, while a part of the territory was annexed by Italian-controlled Albania. Under Italian rule, the puppet ‘Kingdom of Montenegro’ was proclaimed on 12 July 1941, provoking an uprising by partisans (led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia) and Chetniks. After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, partisan forces liberated the area between the rivers Lim and Zeta. Subsequently, however, the German Wehrmacht managed to regain control over Montenegrin territory. In December 1944, partisan units completely liberated Montenegro, which after the war became one of the socialist republics of Yugoslavia.
The existing historiography has so far identified no systematic persecution of the Roma by the occupation authorities in Montenegro during World War II. Official lists and estimates of World War II victims in Montenegro do not mention Roma at all.4Muzej žrtava genocida. “Stradali Jugoslavije.” It can be assumed, however, that many Roma were among the victims of Italian and German anti-partisan operations and retaliation measures which were directed against the civilian population in the areas of partisan activity. In the same context, several male Roma went through Italian prisons and concentration camps (campi di concentramento), such as the ones in Nikšić and Sutorman (near the town of Bar). According to interview testimonies of survivors, it is known that various military units (Italian, German, Chetnik, Ballista, Ustaša) committed individual crimes against Roma in Montenegro, including looting, rape, torture and murder,5Polansky, One Blood, vol III, 397–466. but the determination of the total extent of Roma suffering is still a desideratum of academic research.
Resistance
Parts of the Romani population, especially Čergari (Gabelji), fled from the occupiers into forests and remote mountain areas, where they kept in hiding or joined partisan units.6Lutovac, Romi u Crnoj Gori, 91–92; Vojak, “Roma Resistance,” 53–57. Others fled to neighbouring countries, such as Albania.
Many Montenegrin Roma actively participated in the anti-fascist partisan movement and thereby played a role in the liberation of their occupied home country. Thus, it is documented that Roma served in the Lovćen Partisan Detachment [Lovćenski partizanski odred] and the Sixth Montenegrin Assault Brigade [Šesta crnogorska udarna brigada]. Some of them were included in partisan units in neighbouring states, such as the Sixth East Bosnia Assault Brigade [Šesta Istočnobosanska udarna brigada]. Montenegrin Roma partisans served in various functions. In addition to the armed fighters, there were also military scouts, messengers, orchestra musicians and civilian informants among them.
We still no little about individual Roma partisans, however. In most cases, historical accounts lack basic biographical data like the year and place of birth, not to mention the life stories of the protagonists. Sometimes even their full name is not known. Further research will be necessary to fill these gaps.
Most is known about the Montenegrin Roma partisan Muharem Asović (1912–1943), who came from a blacksmith family in Nikšić and was posthumously declared a ‘People’s Hero’ [narodni heroj] of Yugoslavia after the war. Prominent among other members of this family is Omer Asović (unknown–1982), who was deported to an Italian camp together with his brothers and sons. He survived the war and later distinguished himself as a politician.
The Roma partisan Mahmut Salkanović was interned in an Italian camp in Nikšić, from where he fled in the spring of 1943 by making improvised scissors, with which he cut the wire and managed to escape from the camp together with 26 Montenegrin inmates.
Among the surviving Roma partisans, some of whom were honoured, are S. Ramović from Konik, Delija Ahmetović from Nikšić, A. Salkanović (pre-war member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia), Alil Rizvanović from Berane, Ibar and Ćamil Adžemović from the Rubeža area (today part of Nikšić), Ramiz Bajrović from Rožaje (disabled veteran), and members of the Selimović family from Bijelo Polje. The Rom Bekija Adžović from Kotor held the position of a major in the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Army; after the war, he was decorated for his service and became an officer of the Yugoslav Army.
Apart from Muharem Asović, several Roma paid for their engagement in the partisan movement with their lives. Among the first was Šaćir Sejdović who was killed while taking part in a partisan attack on an enemy military convoy near the village Lopate, municipality Podgorica, in 1941. On 1 December of the same year, the brothers Ibro and Ćamil Muratović died in the fight for the town of Pljevlja. Two Roma who are only known by their partisan names Mujko and Zajko died in military action, too. The tinsmith Šabo Selimović, who served as a civil informant and messenger for the partisans, was arrested in Donja Ržanica and executed on a hill outside Berane in the summer of 1943. In February 1944, the Roma partisan brothers Uko and Salko Sejdović died in Zagarač near Danilovgrad as fighters of the Partisan Littoral Brigade [Primorska brigada].7Lutovac, Romi u Crnoj Gori, 197–201; Sejdović, “Roma als Partisanen,” 10–11; Vukobratović, “Asović,” 17.
Post-War Development and Remembrance Culture
In the first post-war census on the territory of Montenegro in 1948, only 162 Roma were registered. The immigration of Roma from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Kosovo nevertheless led to a significant rise in the Romani population of Montenegro during the next decades.
The Yugoslav government erected monuments to meritorious Roma partisans on Montenegrin territory, but in most cases without specifying their Roma ethnic identity. This even applies to the most prominent of all Montenegrin Roma partisans, People’s Hero Muharem Asović, who is honoured both in his hometown Nikšić and at the site of his death in the village of Dragovoljići.
A monument to the partisan Mahmut Salkanović, which was erected near the ‘Boris Kidrič’ Ironworks in Nikšić, is considered the first marked grave of Roma in Montenegro. Furthermore, a small monument in the village Lopate honours the partisan Šaćir Sejdović killed nearby in 1941. Šabov Brijeg (Šabo’s Hill) near Berane is allegedly named after the partisan courier Šabo Selimović, who was executed there. The Union of Fighters’ Associations of the People’s Liberation War (SUBNOR) initiated memorial plaques for the above-mentioned Roma partisans Mujko and Zajko on the road between Danilovgrad and Nikšić, as well as for the brothers Uko and Salko Sejdović in Zagarač.8Lutovac, Romi u Crnoj Gori, 197–201; Sejdović, “Roma als Partisanen,” 10–11; Vojak, “Roma Resistance,” 53–55 and 58.
Montenegrin state authorities do not officially mark the history of Roma in World War II, but since 2020 they began participating in such annual celebrations as the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma on 2 August. From 2021, Montenegrin state authorities started to include the history of Roma into the education system.9Damjanović, “Crna Gora odala počast.”
