Literature: Fires in the Dark. An Editor Betrays the Essence

Roma in WWII.  What countries.  

What untrumpeted devastation. 

For a variety of reasons, I am interested in Slovakia, a smaller country in Central Europe, but one with an important history:  how do ethnic controls, exterminations, proceed, become "accepted."  See overview at http://hitlernews.cloudworth.com/roma-gypsy.php./  I am continuing my interest in Slovakia in particular at Slovakia Road Ways.

Has the devastation of this ethnic group, guilty only of its difference from regimentation as the West saw was virtuous (themselves), been appreciated.

• Update:  Forced sterilization of Romany women.  Letter to editor, New York Times today July 5, 2012.  " *** Romany women in Slovakia are forcibly sterilized for racist reasons. *** Letter triggered by forced abortions in China reports, letter by Nancy Northrup, who identifies herself as President and  Chief Executive of the Center for Reproductive Rights, New York. Find the organization at http://reproductiverights.org/en/about-us

1.  Awareness rising, but deflected.
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A fine novel for the beginner in learning about Roma culture, including me, is Fires in the Dark, by Louise Doughty, see http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/307210.Fires_in_the_Dark. 

Hwaet.  The cover there online, is not the cover on my library book, 2004, Harper Collins.  The library book I have shows a tall Aryan looking woman, even with the coins in her braids, with all the features of, say, fair skinned as in Norway; not dark-skinned.  The man looks more ethnically accurate: the man with her less Aryan, and even non-Aryan as in Hispanic or South American.  Why the culture blending, or culture-avoidance?

 Did someone approach an editor after seeing the odd couple, and request, and get, the new cover -- copping out of ethnicity entirely, and showing only a Roma wagon on the horizon.  I would have preferred the change to be this:  a Roma woman, dark-skinned and tall and proud, as in the book.

Fair use: small portion of cover -- commentary on the use of light skin instead of the dark skinned woman in the book. 

Fires in the Dark, fair use portion of cover for commentary, novel by Louise Doughty

2.  Read the book.  Learn what it was like in the years leading up to WWII in the Czech Republic, Slovakia.  And during WWII.  Not to be a spoiler, but the day-to-day accounts of life in the camps is overwhelming.

3.  Point remains.  People with dark skin, for those of us with light skin, are fully human and deserve to be represented as such -- with all the human loves, betrayals, tragedies. What is it to have to "pass" as Aryan in order to survive.   What essential values separate the ethnicities -- and where do the whites fall far short.  Think of that.  Who cuts the corners, is far less "clean", who remains complicit in the name of profit.  On the other hand, do both groups abuse women. Orthodox Jewish scholars may justify their lack of employment, working for others, on religious ground.  Is the Roma refusal, or at least reluctance, to work for others, but to be self-sufficient, admirable? Of course.  How do we "frame" the other.

4.  Enjoy, then report what other covers you find. I understand from the book jacket that Louise Doughty has Roma in her family ancestry.  Editors betray with their covers. What editors do may not reflect the author's preferences for integrity, but only profit.

5.  What European countries also foster human trafficking, including of Roma.  I saw the sign, in English, in one of Slovakia's rural areas, for a farm for such activities.  What persons of Slavic-non-Slavic ethnic origin are kept there. What are the roots of our religious and cultural customs that promote that. See also http://www.slovakiaroadway.blogspot.com