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Chapter 5 • Giuseppe De Sario, Laura Corradi, Patricia Ruiz, Enrica Capussotti Then, further: In Kosovo all the people [Romany] were living in houses, we had a normal life, I have seen the camps the first time in Italy… in my jargon I call them concentration camps because they look like the ones built by the racists… I would suggest that the experience of migration and war is changing the relationship of some individuals with their historical memory and identity. 4 Recent traumatic experiences involving movement through countries, the loss of homes, jobs, persons, objects, and the violent rejections of the “host” populations, might have helped the Romany remember previous events and to redefine their relationships with the past. This also seems to be one of the mechanisms that catalyses the act of remembering in other societies, and the contemplation of different pasts. Marilyn Young, in her study of the perception of the Korean War (1950-1953) in the United States, has pointed out that despite the extreme brutality and terrible casualties of this war, it was first discussed and analysed only after the Vietnam War, as if the Vietnam trauma had opened a window onto “the forgotten war” (Young, 1997). For the Romany, the re-elaboration of their identity also meant struggling against the wall of prejudice they encountered during these times. The misunderstanding and violence to which they were (and are) subjected in the “host” countries were important elements in the process of remembering, and in the renegotiation of identities. An example of this is the theme of the “house”, which was relevant in all of the interviews held with Roma subjects: the Romany have lost their houses in Kosovo, most of them burnt by Albanians after the NATO intervention. They have requested (and still are requesting) houses in Italy, but these are very difficult to find. Most of the time, they are therefore relocated to the insalubrious and outrageous campi nomadi (camps for gypsies). Even if they do have a job and a salary, it is almost impossible for them to meet with a landlord and make a deal, because of the racial prejudice rampant in the cities they now have to inhabit. Throughout the interviews then, the Romany stressed repeatedly the fact that for centuries their ancestors have not been nomads, and the most emotional passages of their accounts were often those describing the loss of their homes in Kosovo. Houses thus became one of the central elements of self-representation used by the Romany in their interviews. According to Tahir: 208 Because we are not the way they think we are… we had our houses in Kosovo, we had another culture, we had another mentality… for instance we used to live in the same place, for 150 years in the some houses… and
<strong>Psychosocial</strong> <strong>Notebook</strong>, Volume 2, October 2001 we are not nomadic as people here think, a day here another day there… around… what we should do around? Sofia: In the middle of October I went back to my city [Vuctrn, Kosovo] in order to get some documents and see the condition of my house… and I saw not only mine, but many destroyed houses… before destroying them they removed windows, doors, floors… I saw all the tiles broken and the kitchen… only three walls were standing, one on the back and two in the middle of this two-floor high house… everything had been taken away… also the house had been violated… I was so upset when I saw what had happened to the house that everything disappeared in front of my eyes… It was tragic… I saw all of that and everything disappeared in front of my eyes… Question: Did you faint? Sofia: Yes… fainted… I didn’t imagine that it would be like that… if my house was still there I would not have come to Italy at all… The memory of the house was always there, of the city, of what was left… I had my fantasies about what happened to me, not about the future… [Rozafa] It is better if everyone goes back home… I was much happier there… [Bajtar] The theme of the house and the story of return were both central to the refugees’ narrative identity. According to research in the field, these images correspond to the Roma people’s need to reconstruct the meanings and self-perceptions which have been challenged by the experience of displacement. In a completely new environment and life, the refugees need to build an image of continuity and coherence with their own past (Daniel and Knudsen, 1995). As in the words of Plejic: Home is a place of security, one’s “life-work” and the symbol of the family’s success. The loss of home and everything it stood for represents one of the fundamental motives in all our testimonies (Plejic, 1993: 234). In the last sentence of her previous statement “If my house was there, I would not have come to Italy at all,” Sofia spoke for the majority of Romany interviewees. Most of them left Kosovo because they were forced to do so by circumstances, and they wish to return. In describing their emigration, the Romany refugees emphasized this will to go home to Kosovo, and not one of them seemed to want to reconstruct their life in Italy or elsewhere. This longing was shared by all of the refugees, men and women, 209
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PSYCHOSOCIAL NOTEBOOK VOL. 2, OCTOB
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Archives of Memory: Supporting Trau
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Contents Introduction Beyond the Ar
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Introduction • Natale Losi which
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Introduction • Natale Losi bearer
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Chapter 3 Violence Following Violen
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Psychosocial Notebook, Volume 2, Oc
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the Kanun are valuable, and have lo
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Chapter 4 The Archives of Memory: S
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army and police and denied or minim
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Sections G through H In sections G
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Many refugees also pointed out how
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