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GYPSIES/ROMA in the Bulgarian Army during the Second World War

1939-1945

Velcho Krаstev, PhD Student, The Institute of Folklore and Ethnography with Ethnographic Museum at BAS

assoc. prof. Eugenia I. Ivanova Ph.D.

Abstract

During the Second World War in Bulgaria, there is not a repressive law against the gypsies, as the one applied against the Jews. It can be sad with certainty, that the Genocide of Eastern Europe is not applied to them. This is true also for the gypsies in the newly annexed Bulgarian territories during the period 1941-1944 – Macedonia, Western Trace and The Western Outlands.

At the same time, the gypsies are in the ranks of the Bulgarian Army and take part in all the activities in which the forces are engaged during the period of the Second World War (1939-1945).

In the closing stages of the war, in the ranks of the mobilized, significant number of gypsies is present, and traditionally the tolerant attitude towards then is kept. Among the 10 700 and more killed on the battlefields of Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria are also the names of Gypsies, which are among the rest promoted post mortem in rank of sergeant. Many are decorated with military honors.

According the Bulgarian Civil and Military Laws from the period 1878-1945, which implements the principal of compulsory military service, the gypsies are in the ranks of the Army. In the year of peace, they spend their military service in different military units and branches of the army. They take part in the Bulgarian wars from the first part of the XX century. Keywords World War II Genocide Gypsies/Roma in the Bulgarian Army Gypsies soldiers NCO candidate NCO rudari - mechkari and koritari

The revival of the Bulgarian state system was a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The army formation process also began during that time. The Constitution adopted in 1879 enforced the compulsory military conscription principle for all Bulgarian subjects, regardless of their ethnic origin or religious beliefs.

From 1878 until 1945, according to the state and military legislation in force in

Bulgaria at that time, the Gypsies/Roma were enrolled in the army. In the years of peace they served their military service in various army units and types of forces. They also took part in the wars that Bulgaria waged at the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century.

During World War II, there were no repressive laws in Bulgaria concerning the Gypsies/Roma, such as the one enforced on the Jews. They were not specifically mentioned in the Law for Protection of the Nation (1940). It can definitely be said that the genocide of Western Europe was not exercised upon them. This also applied to those living

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in the territories newly accessible to Bulgaria in the period 1941-1944, i.e. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Macedonia, the Western Outlands. At the same time, there were Gypsies/Roma enrolled in the Bulgarian Army and they took part in all the events that the country was involved in during the World War II period between 1939-1945. There were Gypsies/Roma from all over the country in all of the army types of army forces. We shall study only certain examples here.

After the 31st July 1938, upon enforcement of the Thessaloniki Treaty between Bulgaria and Greece, the compulsory military service was re-introduced in the Bulgarian Army. The conscription applied to men between 17 and 65 years of age, regardless of their ethnicity or political adherence.

The military authorities regularly sent to all the young men subject to military service call-out notices to report at the conscription centers and in the army units. The conscripts included also quite a number of sedentary or nomadic Gypsies/Roma. The archives of the police forces that exercised control on the Gypsy/Roma groups movement present a number of examples of Gypsies/Roma who were wanted to be served call-out notices for compulsory military service or mobilization of reservists.

The military legislation provided for some conditions for exemption of a number of young men from compulsory military service. The archives mention also quite a number of Gypsies/Roma who waived those exemption rights and they declared their wish to enroll in the army.

Gypsies/Roma traditionally continued to serve in the various types of forces in the Bulgarian Army. Most commonly they served in the infantry, followed by the cavalry and the artillery. An Eastern Orthodox Gypsy/Roma Slavtcho Barakov Tonchev, born in 1922, from the village of Dunavtsi, Vidin district, was enlisted on the 15th September, 1942 as a junior conscript in the Second Equestrian Regiment of the Equestrian Brigade in the First Corps of the occupation army in Serbia. In 1943 two brothers Dobrin Tomov Breshkov and Costa Tomov Breshkov, nomadic Gypsies/Roma, kotlari (cauldron makers) of Bonchova mahala, Vidin, served as soldiers in the 56th Veles Infantry Regiment of the newly formed 17th Division in Macedonia. There were Gypsies/Roma serving in the 2nd division artillery regiment in Vratsa (e.g. Martcho Kourtev Mehmedov, born Vratsa etc.), the 4th artillery army unit in Berkovitsa (e.g. Ivan Marinov Georgiev, born in 1921 in. Bukovets, Vidin region

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ect.), in the General Troops Signal Regiment and Signal School in Sofia (e.g. Uso Achov Bantov, born in 1921, and Ashan Skenderov Akhmetov, born in 1922), etc.

An NCO Candidate

Some of the Gypsies/Roma soldiers who had a command of certain skills and schooling were drafted as junior commanding officers after a training period in schools. They were promoted to the ranks of „corporal“, „NCO candidate“ and „NCO“. As an example, a the Gypsy/Roma Mityo Petrov Ivanov from the village of Byala Slatina was enrolled on the 15th March 1939 on common grounds in the 3rd Vidin Infantry Regiment. After taking the oath on the 17th November 1939, he was sent to the NCO Candidates School at the Regiment. He was promoted to the rank of corporal on the 18th January, 1940, and on the 8th March, 1940 to the rank of NCO Candidate.

In the year 1941, a certificate was issued to a NCO Candidate Peyo Stefanov

Budakov – Gypsy/Roma from Sliven by the 2nd portable Regiment of Sliven, to certify that the same had completed the course of the NCO Candidates School at the Regiment in the school year 1940-1941. The certificate also shows his excellent results in the training disciplines.

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In 1943, the Regiment School of the 23rd Shipka Infantry Regiment in Kazanlak enlisted a Najden Ivanov Radev, born in 1922, rudari-mechkari Gypsy/Roma from the nowadays village of Yagoda, Kazanlak area. After graduation, he was promoted into the rank of NCO Candidate and he was appointed a squad leader.

In 1941, after Bulgaria had joined the Tripartite Pact, German troops were dislocated in the country to take military actions against Greece and Serbia. Regardless of the negative attitude to the Gypsies/Roma in Germany, the German troopers treated those soldiers in the same way they did the other Bulgarian soldiers. In everyday life, they created bonds on a social level.

There is an exemplary case from the 15th April 1941 at the Dupnitsa Station. The

sentry guarding the station and the railways included also Corporal Syuleyman Asanov - a Gypsy/Roma from the town of Ihtiman, 22 years of age, from the mortar company at the 22nd Trakia Regiment. The same night, together with two Bulgarians – a corporal from the HQ company and a private from the anti-tank company at the regiment, Syuleyman left the sentry room and went into a German tent. They drank rakia there with the German soldiers and they fell intoxicated. They were dismissed from their position “for breaking the order and for incapacity to serve their duties “, and later on they were penalized.

During the period 1941 - 1944 the Bulgarian Army mobilized over 1,700, 000 soldiers, NCO’s and officers. The whole trained military reserve was called up almost three times. During these years a part of the mobilized thousands of Bulgarian soldiers were Gypsies/Roma who served in various forces and places. There were Gypsies/Roma who served in the units at the Bulgarian border, as well as in those in the newly annexed lands and occupied territories in Greece and Serbia on the border with Turkey.

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Gyspies/Roma Reservists of the Covering Front - Yambol, August, 1941.

As early as the beginning of February 1941, the 44th Infantry Regiment mobilized also Gypsies/Roma reservists from the Kotel region (e.g. corporal Rahim Ramev Komitov, Mehmed Mehmedov Djomev ect.) for the forthcoming operation of occupying the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace by Bulgarian troops. A reservist corporal Georgi Ivanov Panov – Gypsy/Roma from Sliven - was mobilized from the 1st July 1941 in the newly formed 51st Veles Regiment in Skopje - Macedonia. Another Gypsy/Roma from Sliven, Dimitar Petrov Nemtsov, served as a signalman in the 123rd Infantry Regiment within the First Corps of the occupation army in Serbia between 1943-1944. Another one from Sofia, Boris Iliev Natskov, was mobilized in 42nd Infantry Regiment which was sent on the Covering Front alongside the Turkish border during the summer of 1943.

Two Brothers in Service for the Motherland, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, 1943.

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At the end of August 1944, Bulgaria left the Tripartite Pact. The Bulgarian occupation forces were ordered to withdraw from Serbia, Greece and Macedonia. In the beginning of September, Bulgaria declared war to Germany. The former allies became enemies. During their movement, the Bulgarian military units were engaged into fierce battles with the German troops. The number of the Bulgarian soldiers who were killed, wounded and taken prisoners of war exceeded 8,500, which included also Gypsies/Roma.

Upon Bulgaria’s joining the War on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition, the Bulgarian military authorities took measures to cover the state borders. A military coup was carried out on the 9th September 1944, which changed also the political situation. The Bulgarian forces started mobilization, concentration and deployment to join the war against Hitlerist Germany. On an operative level they were subordinate to the Soviet Army commandment.

The People’s Guards Forces were formed on the 10th September by a Decree of the Council of Ministers; those were armed forces meant to protect the new political power and to speed up the reformation of the Bulgarian Army. They were based on volunteering principle. Young Gypsies/Roma from Varna, Sofia, Karnobat, Sliven, etc. volunteered together with the thousands of young Bulgarian volunteers on the front.

The Bulgarian Army took part in the final stage of the World War II from October 1944 until May 1945. Alongside the others, 21 rudari (13 mechkari and 8 koritari ) from the village of Yagoda, Kazanlak area, were mobilized in the 23rd Shipka Regiment. The eldest one of them was born in1913, and the youngest one in 1922. Eight of them were wounded, and one - Costa Radev Mirchev, koritar, was killed at the front-line (25 December 1944). He was promoted post mortem to an NCO.

Gypsies/Roma from the 36th Oryahovo Regiment (e.g. Munot Munov Aliyev, born in 1920 in. Curve bar, Oryahovo area), 27th Chepintsi Regiment (e.g. German Ibryamov Aliyev, born in 1915 in Pazardzhik Yumerov Gangov Ahmed, born in 1915 in s.Borimechkovo, Panagjurishte region) died during the Stracin offensive operation (October-November 1944). They were also promoted post mortem to the rank of NCO.

The Drava defensive operation was carried out in March 1945. The names of the hundreds of soldiers killed, wounded and gone missing included also names of Gypsies/Roma. Ivan Todorov Ivanov, Gypsy/Roma man from the Galata zone of Karnobat, who served in the 11th Sliven Infantry Regiment, was taken prisoner of war during the 6th March battles.The soldiers killed during the days after included also the names of two Gypsies/Roma from Sliven – soldiers Ivan Todorov Yagatov and Stefan Dimitrov Bohorov. Mustafa Mehmedov Ismev from Rakitovo (Pazardzhik region) and Mulo Kamenov Bayramov from Hayredin (Oryahovo area) mobilized in the 59th Infantry Regiment, were killed on the 12th March. They were also promoted post mortem to NCO together with the other killed soldiers.

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The soldiers at the front-line formed some amateur groups to lift the human spirit.

There was a Gypsy band in the 11th Sliven Regiment. The band played at the soldiers entertainment events not only in their own Regiment, but also to those of the 24th Black-Sea Infantry Regiment.

In one of the regiments of the 16th Infantry Division there was a Gypsy/Roma lad who played a bagpipe. They used to call him “the Talisman” (The lucky token”). He used to carry his instrument always hanging on his back and wherever he sat down he would right away start playing folk songs and horo-dance tunes („The moment his shrill pipe sounded, cheering voices would rise around the Talisman and horo-dance lines would start reeling”. The Talisman played his bagpipe also during the battles at Drava, Mur and in Austria. The soldiers were saying about him: „The Germans were shooting like devils in the battle, and the Talisman was just playing his bagpipe. No bullet could hurt him!”, „It must be his bagpipe”, someone would suggest, “That’s his amulet”.

Their oral history keeps memories of their ancestors’ participation in the war. When

stories are passed down to the next generations, they would often be interpreted from a personal point of view. A man from the Iztok zone of Kyustendil says: „My father was the only Gypsy/Roma in the neighbourhood who took part directly in the war (The World War II Final Stage)“. A Burgudzhi from the village of Morozovo – Stara Zagora region, tells the following story: „... my grandfather was mobilized to serve like any other Bulgarian, like any other in the country... (male, born 1940, Blacksmith ).

A Young Gypsy/Roma Family from Sliven, beg. of the 20th c. 40’s

The fate of the Gypsies/Roma who served in the Bulgarian Army units and took part in the war was the same as the one of the other Bulgarian soldiers – they were mobilized together, they fought and won battles together, they shared the common hardship and joys of the tough life at the front-line.

Used literature: State Military Historical Archive-Veliko Tarnovo, funds 80, 1953, 1966, 1969, 1980. The Patriotic War of Bulgaria 1944-1945. Documents and materials. P. I, 1978; P. II 1980; P. III, 1980.

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Krustev, Velcho and Evgenia I. Ivanova. GYPSIES/ROMA ON THE ROADS OF WAR. St.Zagora, 2014. Marushiakova, Elena and Vesselin Popov. The Bulgarian Gypsies (Roma) during World War II. In: Roth, John K. and Elisabeth Maxwell, eds. Remembering for the Future: The Holocaust in an Age of Genocide. Oxford, 2001, рр. 456-465.

In the contribution are used photos from personal archive the authors Velcho Krustev and Evgenia I. Ivanova, and Elena Marushiakova, Vesselin Popov. Gypsies/Roma in Times Past end Present, Photo-book, Sofia, 2000. Scientific message was read at the annual meeting of The Gypsy Lore Society end Conference on Romani Studies in Bratislava, Slovakia, September 11-13, 2014

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