About the book "Baron of Camp Sapporoni"

This book is a true event. The book has been planned by the author as memoirs of the grandson about a grandfather, and it turned out to be a story about a people, about time, about the culture of kelderary Roma, about their hard destiny, about their past and present.

The author on the title page is presented both as O.N. Petrovich, and as Mursha, the son of Rista and Lena, grandson of Grigory and Darya. From the very first page the reader gets acquainted with the dual but nevertheless uniform world of kelderary Roma, or kotlyars. Not only Oleg Petrovich — or Mursha — appears to be the owner of two names: many inhabitants of settlement camps have two names: Russian (in the documents) and Romani (their real names). Certainly, the true name is what you are called by everyone who knows you personally. And the documents are only a concession to rigid requirements of time. The same concerns a surname, too. From the book we see that Murshi’s grandfather Gigory carried the surname Fed-Frumos, and his senior son Rista who was born before the arrest of the father had the same surname. Only after the war, when Grigory had come back from camps, he decided to accept his other, casual surname to avoid repeated arrest. From that time he and all his descendants became Petrovich. Oleg-Mursha is from the first generation of those who were already was born with this surname. Certainly, for his self-determination his origin is much more important: i.e. the names of his parents, grandfather and grandmother.

And still the author of this book is not a national teller of stories from the past – stories of families that have been transferred century by century to children and grandchildren. The book is a literary work, as distinct from legends and true stories told around a fire, as the portrait of its author, a modern businessman, is from old family photos of nomadic Roma people. The subject matter of the book is clear and accessible to many kotlyar Roma from the Saporoni tribe, from which the author and his grandfather originates, as well as for representatives of other tribes — often mentioned in the book — such as michaesh, demoni, dobruzhaya and others. Especially for the elderly, who still remember the events and the life of the Roma in XX century.

But for many other readers unfamiliar or not sufficiently familiar with Roma traditions and their way of life the book becomes a true revelation. For the first time ever, Russian literature is in possession of a text that describes the life of the most isolated Roma community, and it becomes accessible for any literate person.

The book was written to teach children and grandchildren, but it was written in Russian. When the book was published, although in a small edition, it became common heritage. And in this it differs from all those vivid and brilliant stories heard by the youth from seniors in every Roma family, that, unfortunately, do not withstand the test of time. Here I would like to remember the words of the kotlyar Maugli from the small but a proud kumboyeni tribe, who told me once: “The tragedy of my people is that we cannot share our talent with the mankind but only with our children”.

Mursha, the grandson of Grigory, did it. He was able to do it in his book “Baron of Camp Saporoni” because of his literacy, hard work and a big love and gratitude for his grandfather. He grorified in his book his grandfather’s wisdom, patience and fidelity to his people. But the story of Grigory's life is interesting and instructive not only as a monument to nobleness of this baron. For us, the “outsider” readers, the historical and literary value of this book is more important. In fact, it is a unique historical evidence: using the accounts of eyewitnesses and contemporaries, the author tells us stories about nomadic life, about war, about repressions against Roma in the 1930’s that haven’t been reflected elsewhere.

The book describes the life of nomadic Roma, how they chose places to stay, how they placed their tents, how they moved from place to place in tilt carts, how they celebrated holidays, how they commemorated those who died, resolved disputes and conflicts in the Romani court called “kris”.

When telling about the life of specific people, such as about relatives, Petrovich gives vivid sketches of real events, allowing us to recreate a picture of a traditional but varied Roma life in its completeness. For example, the modest wedding of people entering into marriage that is not their first and the grandiose celebration of marriage of the baron’s young son are described very differently. So, the marriage of a widower, a Grigory’s brother Bretyano, with the divorced Lolly does not require great efforts and expenses: “Relatives met matchmakers with hospitality. They accepted the gifts and prepared a modest table. For the Roma in those days the table was usually replaced by a tablecloth or piece of fabric stretched on the floor. People squatted down in the pose of Muslims or Indians. Open air merry-making would begin around a table. By the end of the day the new mistress has entered into the house of Bretyano”.

It was much more difficult to marry Grigory’s elder son Ristu. The father chose a young beauty from a the Migeshti camp as a wife for him. The matter of children’s marriage was settled by their parents, but it was not customary to reach an agreement in advance, which placed matchmakers (the bridegroom’s representatives) in a difficult position. A refusal would dishonour them, and the parents of the bride, having disagreed to accept the offer, would be compelled to pay for the matchmakers’ expenses, which was sometimes impossible for poorer families. “Earlier it was considered bad manners to ask for permission. Any father with a dignity would not give his consent. He would “make comments” in the presence of people, hinting at [the matchmakers’] “dementia” … Sometimes the parents of the bride poured water on uninvited visitors, and even threw ashes on them from the furnace. Not expecting aggression and firmness on behalf of the matchmaker, a group of young and physically fit people (a kind of “special task” force) would get into the house, bringing some bottles. Surrendering, the owners would let the visitors in… If the owner managed to not allow them to enter the house (if even one bottle of beer did not enter), he would refuse to give the daughter to matchmakers and would not pay a cent. If the matchmakers were able to get into the house and brought food and alcohol, the father of the daughter who refused to give her would pay fifty percent of their spendings. Visitors would remain in any case“.

The sudden matchmaking could differently. While wooing the bride for his elder son Rista, Grigory has managed to overcome parents’ resistance and successfully became related to them. The trials to marry the younger son, however, were met by a flat refusal, which hurt not only Grigory, but also his old friend, the father of the bride. Thus, ancient Roma customs, which quite often helped to settle conflicts and to prevent insults, in some cases caused conflicts to arise.

The book represents the Roma court (the cris) in session using most interesting stage setting. The court gathered to analyze the most disputed arguements that could have serious consequences.

Scenes of greater gatherings, that would include all respected people from the neighbouring camps who listened to the accusers and the accused and made a wise decision, will probably remind a modern reader of the old Russian veche, the general gathering of city-dwellers for the purpose of resolving important problems.

The decision of the court was accepted (and is still accepted now) for execution by all parties on a mandatory basis. The institution of the Roma court allowed Roma people to avoid attracting external forces (militia, Office of the Public Prosecutor, etc.) for centuries for the purposes of maintaining equity and preserving peace.

Nowadays tinning, the traditional trade of kotlyar Roma, is less demanded and, unfortunately, is gradually going into the past. In this context it is especially interesting to read how only several decades ago kotlyars were able to successfully apply professional skills in the manufacture of useful machinery, for example, saturator units for carbonated water: “The system was very difficult. Not having any special organisations skills or education, it was necessary to talk the directors of factories, who had higher education, into signing contracts. After the completion of works it was a matter of cunning and eloquence to beat out the money in cash, instead of a transfer to a bank account. Customers did not have any complains on quality”. Thus it was possible to overcome all bureaucratic obstacles, the Roma had “backside” jobs and their lives were not bad. These people were not afraid of manual work and did not spare themselves. Here is how the heroic work of Risty, the author’s father, is described: “The work of tinning the saturator units was carried out in the courtyard of the large factory… It was a hot summer day, plus thirty degrees Celsius. Additionally, there was heat from the fire. Shortly, it was intolerable like hell! In his boots, Rista’s feet would simply boil from the fire”. And he solved the problem the following way: he poured water into a trough and jumped into it directly in boots, while at the same moment pushing the heating unit into a fire. He thus transformed the work into a show that surprised the director who observed it from the window”. Later the engineer at the factory passed the words of the director to master Rista: “If all my workers worked like that, we would be the leaders in the country!”

A lot of unusual and interesting things about kotlyary Roma are revealed to the reader of Oleg Petrovich’s book. Its impossible to tell about everything in one article. The chief motif of the book can be described as the topic of sufferings and survivals: Roma people are, like a Phoenix bird, revived after every misfortune and every trouble that apparently had no solution. Next time we will return to the subject of how the kotlyars have managed to survive during the war and the epoch of repressions and how they helped each other and preserved themselves during these hardest of times.

Bulletin #15

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