The Roma Minority and Romanian Fascism: The 1937 Alliance between the Roma and the National Christian Party
The Roma Minority and Romanian Fascism: The 1937 Alliance between the Roma and the National Christian Party

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on the 1937 episode of collaboration between the antisemitic National Christian Party (PNC) and Calinic I. Popp Șerboianu and George A. Lăzurică, important leaders of the interwar Roma movement. As a result of Octavian Goga’s support, these two Roma leaders were able to publish a special edition for Roma of the Țara Noastră newspaper. They were given a headquarters and entered a mutual support agreement: the two Roma leaders agreed to support the PNC candidates against the promise that members of the Roma minority would run on the PNC lists at the next local elections. At the same time, an antisemitic radicalization of these Roma leaders took place. How this alliance was possible, what this episode says about Romanian nationalism and about the way the Roma were perceived by Romanian nationalists are some of the questions addressed by this paper. My article consists of three parts. The first part reviews the most important interwar Roma organizations and the context of their emergence, the second part deals with the discourse of Roma organizations, including their attitude toward other minorities and toward Jews in particular, and the last part deals in more detail with the episode of the electoral alliance between the Roma and the National Christian Party.

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