Raјko Đurić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Рајко Ђурић, rom, Raiko Juric; 3 October 1947 – 2 November 2020) was a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

writer and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

. He was also politically active as the leader of one of Romani parties in

- Roma Union of Serbia.

Biography

Đurić was born on 3 October 1947 in Malo Orašje,

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According t ...

SR Serbia , life_span = 1944–1992 , status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia , p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg , p2 ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. He studied philosophy at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...

Faculty of Philosophy (1967–1972). In 1986 he obtained a Doctorate of Sociology writing the dissertation ''Culture of the Roma in S.F.R. Yugoslavia''. In 1991 he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

avoiding involvement in the Yugoslavian wars. He wrote more than 500 articles as well as 34 books and he has also collaborated with the production of the films

I Even Met Happy Gypsies ''I Even Met Happy Gypsies'' is a 1967 Yugoslav film by Serbian director Aleksandar Petrović. Its original Serbian title is ''Skupljači perja'', which means ''The Feather Gatherers''. The film is centered on Romani people's life in a village ...

(''Skupljaci perja'') by Aleksandar Petrović; he is also the co-writer of the film

Time of the Gypsies ''Time of the Gypsies'' ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Дом за вешање, Dom za vešanje, Home for Hanging) is a 1988 Yugoslav coming-of-age fantasy crime drama directed by Emir Kusturica. Filmed in Romani and Serbo-Croatian, ''Time of the Gypsies' ...

(''Dom za vešanje'') by

Emir Kusturica Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. He also has French citizenship.http://www.serbia.com/emir-kusturica-artist-builder-and-anti-glo ...

. Until leaving Yugoslavia, was the chief redactor for the cultural section of the newspaper ''Politika'' in Belgrade. He was the President of the

International Romani Union The International Romani Union ( rom, Romano Internacionalno Jekhetanipe), formerly known as the International Gypsy Committee and International Rom Committee, is an organization active for the rights of the Romani people. Its seat is in Vienna. ...

and was the General Secretary of the Romani Centre of International PEN. His literary works have been translated into more than five languages. In 2011, he co-founded a Romani academy of arts and sciences in Belgrade and was its president until his death. In politics, Rajko Đurić defended the interests of the

Romani people in Serbia Romani people, or Roma ( sr, Роми, Romi), are the third largest ethnic group in Serbia, numbering 147,604 (2.1%) according to the 2011 census. However, due to a legacy of poor birth registration and some other factors, this official number i ...

. In the

2007 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 21 January 2007 to elect members of the National Assembly. The first session of the new National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was held on 14 February 2007. The elections enabled the coalition of ...

, Đurić presented and led a list of 249 candidates for the Roma Union of Serbia. He obtained 17,128 votes, or 0.42% of the vote, which allowed him to be elected to the National Assembly of Serbia. In the 2008 Serbian presidential election, Rajko Đurić supported the candidacy of outgoing President

Boris Tadić Boris Tadić ( sr-cyr, Борис Тадић, ; born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psycholo ...

in the first round of the ballot. In the early

2008 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 11 May 2008 to elect members of the National Assembly. The election was held barely a year after the previous parliamentary election. There were 6,749,886 eligible electors who were able to vote in ...

, Đurić once again headed the list of the Roma Union of Serbia, which included 200 candidates.. Đurić died on 2 November 2020 in Belgrade at the age of 73.

Writings

*''Bi kheresko-Bi limoresko'', 1975 *''Purano svato o dur themestar'', 1980 *''A i U - A thai U'', 1982 *''Kultur der Roma und interkulturelle Beziehungen'', 1988–1990 *''Paradigmen in der Kultur der Roma'', 1992 *''Die Kultur der Roma und Sinti'', 1993

References

External links

A poemAn interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duric, Rajko Serbian Romani people Romani writers Serbian writers 2020 deaths 1947 births University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy alumni Roma Union of Serbia politicians Romani politicians