Just something I’ve been working on for a few days.
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Flag of the Socialist Republic of Carpathia:
1949-1990
Born in the aftermath of the second world war, it is known by many as the Romani Israel.
The SRC was founded in 1949, in a token effort to improve the international reputation of the Soviet Union, as a homeland for Europe’s romani population. This new roma ethno nation was created from modern day Slovakian territory, encompassing most of the West Carpathian mountain region, a provisional government was established in Kocice, much to the anger of Czechoslovakia. The former inhabitants were “persuaded to leave” by the local garrison. Danior Taragos (Fictional) ascended to the position of General Secretary in 1950, leading the nation until his death of stroke in 1977. The economy of Carpathia relied mostly on exporting iron, gold, and silver ores to the USSR. The nomadic ways of some roma clans played into the economy surprisingly well in some cases, especially in the forestry industry. However, collectivisation of most forms of agriculture ended this traveling life style in many families. Collectivization on paper fit in well with some traditions. Many rationalized it as an extension of romani generosity.
The SRC joined the Warsaw Pact in invading Czechoslovakia in the 1968 Prague Spring as part of a reaction to Alexander Dubcek’s reform proposals. The Roma of Carpathia were still distrustful of their fraternal socialist ally, remembering the bad blood from their early days in ‘49. Most of the population of the mountain nation was descended from roma expelled by Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia (who called them “socially degraded stratum”). Indeed, Carpathia was seen by many as the only place in the eastern bloc that would accept the romani. This era of distrust between the two communist countries lasted throughout all of Taragos’s reign, and continued under his successor Django Horvath (Fictional) until 1983. In 1983, the newest General Secretary of the Socialist Republic of Carpathia, Manfri Lakatos, started rapprochement with their neighbor. Lakatos’s Carpathia official apologized for the forced removal of the slovaks and the czechs. Czechoslovakia in turn apologized for its attempted sterilization of the gypsies. Communist rule in the SRC relaxed restrictions on the citizens, allowing the romani to openly worship their various faiths, including Hinduism, Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodox christianity. The nation opened its borders to allow tourism, The State Museum of the History of the Romani being a major travel destination.
In the wake of Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union, citizens across the Warsaw Pact demonstrated their disati satisfaction with communist rule through demonstrations and protests. In Carpathia, roma paraded through the streets, singing the traditional songs of their people. In 1990, an election was held to establish a new Federal Assembly, the first free elections in the nation’s history.
Today, Carpathia still relies heavily on mining ores and processing them. But since the fall of communism, tourism has become an important component of Carpathian economics, with thousands of people coming every year to ski in the mountains.