Within the ROMDIEM framework, Milka Kraljević, president of the Association of War Disabled Veterans, speaks about the oblivion that covers the experiences and sacrifices of Roma people in Serbia. Through the story of her husband, Gojko Kraljević — a fighter of the 6th Lika Brigade who took part in the little-known operation to clear Nazi saboteurs from Belgrade’s sewer network — she highlights how many pieces of history remain hidden.
Her most urgent message concerns the Roma Holocaust: it is missing from school textbooks, there are no easily accessible documentaries or books, and Roma fighters and victims almost never appear in public narratives.
“Roma are invisible, but they should be visible — they gave their lives like everyone else.”
Milka warns that young people have nowhere to learn these histories, while witnesses are disappearing. She calls for educational reform, teacher training, regular historical programming, and visits to places of memory such as Šumarice, so that the truth can be preserved.
“If we don’t teach children from an early age, I don’t know how our history has survived until now.”
Her testimony reminds us: memory is a responsibility — and forgetting is a choice.
Learn more about the project here: https://romdiem.eu/
