The history of the Roma in Belgrade is still not fully explored. Written sources about the Roma community are scarce, and the information they contain is often fragmentary. As a result, many parts of Roma history in Belgrade remain unknown.
According to the widely accepted theory, the Roma originated in India. Their migration to Europe took place over several centuries, and the first reliable record of their presence in the medieval Serbian state dates from the fourteenth century.
After Belgrade became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1521, the first surviving population registers began to record the city’s inhabitants. The earliest of these, compiled in 1536, contains the first known reference to the Roma as residents of Belgrade. By that time, they were already organised into different communities that reflected their religion, occupations and trades.
During Ottoman rule, the number of Roma families in Belgrade continued to grow. Conversion to Islam became increasingly common, and Muslims eventually formed the majority within the Roma community. Although many Roma adopted Islam, their legal status remained similar in many respects to that of the non Muslim population.
From the 16. century onwards, most Roma in Belgrade worked as blacksmiths, although many were also musicians, instrumentalists, farriers and skilled craftsmen. Most lived modestly and earned their living through occupations that brought little income.
The Roma lived in several parts of the city. They settled in predominantly Muslim neighbourhoods as well as in the Christian quarter along the Sava River. Many lived in separate mahalas, or neighbourhoods. One stood near the Batal Mosque, in the area of today’s Nikola Pašić Square and the National Assembly, while another occupied the area around today’s Skadarska Street.
Ada Ciganlija takes its name from the Roma community that once lived on the island. The name appears on Austrian maps from the period when Belgrade was under Austrian rule between 1717 and 1739.
After Belgrade came under Serbian administration in 1867, many Roma left the city together with the Ottoman population. Census records indicate that about 400 Roma lived in Belgrade by the end of the nineteenth century, although these figures should be treated with caution because the way Roma were recorded changed over time and they were not always counted separately. When the haraç tax was abolished in 1884, the Roma formally gained equal legal rights and the right to vote. Even so, they remained a socially marginalised community in the Kingdom of Serbia.
At the beginning of the 20. century, the position of the Roma in Belgrade changed very little. Most lived in poverty and faced prejudice and discrimination. As the city expanded, many Roma settlements were demolished and their residents were pushed to the outskirts of Belgrade.
One of the best known Roma settlements was Jatagan Mala, established in the early 20. century on the site of today’s Mostar Interchange. The settlement had no running water, sewage system or electricity, and its residents lived in extremely difficult conditions. The city planned to demolish it as early as the 1920s. Over the following decades, Jatagan Mala gradually disappeared and its residents moved to other parts of the city.
Despite these difficult circumstances, the Roma community in Belgrade developed a rich cultural and social life. The first Roma associations were established, and in March 1935 Svetozar Simić founded Romano Lil (Roma Newspaper), the first newspaper published in the Romani language in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It appeared in both Romani and Serbian and introduced Roma history, culture and traditions to a wider audience. It also encouraged education and social emancipation within the Roma community. Simić was one of the leading Roma intellectuals of his time and the author of the first Romani Serbian German dictionary.
The same year saw the registration of the Association of Belgrade Roma Celebrants of Tetkica Bibija, which preserved one of the most important Roma religious traditions. Today, the sacred site of Tetkica Bibija in Gospodara Vučića Street is listed as part of Serbia’s intangible cultural heritage. It is also home to the country’s only monument dedicated exclusively to Roma who died in the Balkan Wars and the First World War.
At the same time, prejudice and racist ideas directed against the Roma became increasingly common in public life during the late 1930s. After the German occupation of Serbia in 1941, racial laws placed the Roma in the same category as Jews. This marked the beginning of systematic persecution during the Second World War. Alongside the Jewish population, the Roma became victims of persecution and genocide carried out by the occupying authorities and their collaborators. At the same time, many Roma joined the Yugoslav Partisan resistance and fought against fascism.
Between 220,000 and 500,000 Roma are estimated to have been murdered across Europe during the Second World War. The Roma community refers to this genocide as Porajmos, meaning “the Devouring”. In Serbia, racial legislation introduced in May 1941 subjected the Roma, together with the Jewish population, to persecution, compulsory identification with yellow armbands, arrests and mass executions. Estimates suggest that between 1,000 and 12,000 Roma were killed in Serbia, although the exact number has never been established.
After the Second World War, the position of the Roma gradually improved. In socialist Yugoslavia, the state promoted employment, education and permanent housing. Many Roma gained stable jobs and better access to schools and healthcare for the first time. Roma cultural life also flourished. Cultural associations became active, while Roma music and culture became an important part of Yugoslavia’s cultural identity. Despite this progress, many Roma continued to live in poverty and remained on the margins of society.
After the democratic changes of 2000, the legal status of the Roma in Serbia improved further. In 2002, the Roma gained official recognition as a national minority, which guaranteed protection of their language, culture and identity. In the years that followed, Serbia introduced national strategies to improve the position of the Roma, affirmative measures in education, and programmes that employed teaching assistants, health mediators and Roma coordinators. Despite these efforts, many Roma in Serbia still face poverty, discrimination and unequal access to education, employment and housing.