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Gypsies in Romania and Europe

The Gypsy peoples originate from Sind region now in Pakistan. Their Rom
language is close to the older forms of Indian languages. The three tribes of Rom, Sinti,
and Kale probably left India after a succession of campaigns in Sind through the C11,
initially spending time in rmenia and Persia, then mo!ing into the "y#antine $mpire
after the Sel%uk Turk attacks on rmenia. &ithin the "y#antine $mpire they dispersed
into the "alkans reaching &allachia '1()*+ 'now ,omania+ ahead of this area falling to
the -ttoman Turks. -ther groups also mo!ed through India to Gu%arat and south of
.elhi. Gypsy populations can still be found along all these migration routes.
&hen entering west $urope they initially had letters of protection from the /ing of
0ungary. This pri!ileged situation did not last long as ama#ement at their way of life
commonly led to hostilities. The Gypsy way of life still leads to hostilities from the
people of their host nations. $uropeans regard 1pri!ate property1 as sacrosanct, whereas
gypsies do not ha!e a word for 1possess1, which gi!es rise to two incompatible ways of
life and a continual problem of gypsies being regarded as 1thie!es1 from the $uropean2s
!iew.
In each host nation gypsies appear to take on the religion, names and language of
their hosts, but within the Rom they maintain their Rom language, names, music,
customs and Indian looks. This tight community has meant that after some si3 hundred
years there is still a large population of gypsies not integrated or assimilated with
,omanians.
4rom the time of their arri!al in ,omania Gypsies were the sla!es of the
landowners, only to be emancipated in 1)*1. &hile in ,omania some of the Gypsies
took to speaking a !ersion of ,omanian called "ayesh which can be heard in some of
the songs of Gypsy groups recorded in 0ungary. 5owadays about 678 of the Gypsies
still speak ,omany and many can still be seen tra!elling in lines of carts along the roads
of ,omania. The ma%ority li!e in the towns and !illages, some fully integrated into
!illages, some in large ornate houses standing out from the ,omanians, but others in
small buildings on scraps of lands on the !illages edges.
The Rom tribes from ,omania distinguish themsel!es by the names of their trades9
:;utari < musicians and dancers
C;ld;rari '/alderash+ < Tin and coppersmiths
rgintari < =ewellers
4ierari < "lacksmiths
>lateri < gold panners
Ghurara < sie!e makers
:o!ar < horse dealers
The ,oma?Gypsies form a group of appro3imately )@17 million people in $urope. They
are to be found in almost all Council of $urope member states and indeed, in some
central and east $uropean countries, they represent o!er *8 of the population.
Aet, although they ha!e been in $urope since the 16
th
century, !ery often they are not
recognised by the ma%ority society as a fully@fledged $uropean people and they ha!e
suffered throughout their history in $urope from re%ection and persecution, culminating in
the 5a#iBs attempt to e3terminate them. s a result of centuries of re%ection many
,oma?Gypsy communities today li!e in !ery difficult conditions, often on the fringe of
the societies in the countries where they li!e, and their participation in public life is !ery
limited. It is also !ery difficult for them to ensure that their contribution to $uropean
culture is fully acknowledged.
Since 1CC(, the ,oma?Gypsy issue has been at the heart of three of the CouncilBs
top priorities9 protection of minorities, the fight against racism and intolerance and the
fight against social e3clusion. Indeed, the difficult situation facing numerous
,oma?Gypsy communities ultimately represents a threat to social cohesion in member
states. Doreo!er, increasingly acti!e ,oma?Gypsy associations repeatedly appealed to
the Council of $urope to ensure that this minorityBs fundamental rights were upheld in
member states.
&hen thinking of the Gypsies of $urope, one may en!ision a dark@skinned group
of people, tra!eling in a band of wagons and playing music @ seemingly unaffected by
their surroundings. If one has tra!eled in $astern $urope he may think of the barefoot
children walking the streets and singing in the Detro stations for money. -ne may also
remember the typical warning by others to 1"eware of the Gypsies, they will try to steal
from youE1
In fact, the ,roma 'Gypsies+ are a di!erse group of people, differing in
occupation, standard@of@li!ing, historical e3perience of their home country, education and
le!els of 1integration.1 Contrary to the typical stereotype, it has been estimated that only
*8 of the entire ,roma population in $urope 'estimated between F @ ).* million+ lead an
itinerant mode of life. Though there are subtleties of different dialects, the ,roma share a
common language based on old Sanskrit.
In the ,romani language, self@identification in!ol!es the word 1,rom.1 &hen
encountering other ,roma, 1re you ,romG1 is asked, not 1re you GypsyG1 The
designation as 1Gypsy1 is related to the old belief that the ,roma came from $gypt,
though studies of the ,romani language in the late 1)th century re!ealed their Indian
origin.
In non@$nglish speaking countries, the ,roma are usually referred to as >igeuner,
>ingari, Tsiganes and other !ariants stemming from the Greek word 1tsinganoi,1 which
was actually a religious sect in the "y#antine $mpire, unrelated to the ,roma yet
attributed to this 1foreign1 population.
4or ,roma organi#ations and other human rights groups, the ethnic designation as
,rom 'pl. ,roma, ad%. ,romani+ is a matter of self@determination, self@identification.
comparison may be made with the Inuit of 5orth merica who were formerly referred to
as 1$skimos1 @ an e3ternally applied name. The principle of self@identification in!ol!es
public acknowledgment of the self@designated name and the implementation of its use.
$uropean ,roma died in the 0olocaust @ a percentage of their total population
comparable with the statistics of the =ewish population. 'Ian 0ancock, 1:and of Pain1,
&orld ,omani Hnion, pg. FI, 1C)J+.
In general, the policies 'few in number+ addressing the ,roma in ,omania ha!e
been policies of assimilation, reflecting an intolerance toward ,romani cultures and often
defining all of the social characteristics, especially those of a marginali#ed way of life, as
something inherent in the 1,roma nature.1 Today, the ma%ority of ,omanian society
percei!e the ,roma '1Tigani1+ as a whole to be untrustworthy, la#y, uneducated and
1rich1 from illegal businesses, conni!ing or thie!ery.
The world population of ,oma is difficult to establish with any certainty.
$stimates suggest that there are between appro3imately * and 17 million ,oma
worldwide. round J to ) million ,oma li!e in $urope. The largest concentrations of
,oma are found in the "alkan peninsula of south@eastern $urope, in central $urope, the
Hnited States, and in ,ussia and the other successor republics of the HSS,. Smaller
numbers are scattered throughout &estern $urope, the Diddle $ast, and 5orth frica.
The country with the largest populations of ,oma is ,omania with around
*77,777@F77,777 'the similarity of names, howe!er, is coincidental+. -ther countries
where ,oma populations probably e3ceed half a million are "ulgaria, 0ungary,
Slo!akia, the former Augosla!ia, and the Hnited States.
"Gypsies" in the United States
Se!eral groups, all known to outsiders as 1Gypsies,1 li!e today in the Hnited States. In
their nati!e languages, each of the groups refers to itself by a specific name, but all
translate their self@designations as 1Gypsy1 when speaking $nglish. $ach had its own
cultural, linguistic, and historical tradition before coming to this country, and each
maintains social distance from the others.
,om
The ,om arri!ed in the Hnited States from Serbia, ,ussia and ustria@0ungary
beginning in the 1))72s, part of the larger wa!e of immigration from southern and eastern
$urope in the late 1Cth and early I7th centuries. Primary immigration ended, for the most
part, in 1C16, with the beginning of the 4irst &orld &ar and subseKuent tightening of
immigration restrictions 'Salo and Salo 1C)J+. Dany people in this group speciali#ed in
coppersmith work, mainly the repair and retinning of industrial eKuipment used in
bakeries, laundries, confectioneries, and other businesses. The ,om, too, de!eloped the
fortune@telling business in urban areas.
Two subgroups of the ,om, the /alderash '1coppersmith1+ and Dachwaya '1nati!es of
Dach!a,1 a county in Serbia+ appear in the photographs in Carlos de &endler@4unaro2s
collection. .e &endler@4unaro identified some, but not all, /alderash as 1,ussian
Gypsies.1 nother group he identified as 1,ussian Gypsies1 seem to be the ,usniakuria
'1,uthenians1+, musicians and singers who settled in 5ew Aork.
:udar
The :udar, or 1,omanian Gypsies,1 also came to the Hnited States during the great
immigration from southern and eastern $urope between 1))7 and 1C16. Dost of the
:udar came from northwestern "osnia. Hpon their arri!al in the Hnited States they
speciali#ed as animal trainers and showpeople, and indeed passenger manifests show
bears and monkeys as a ma%or part of their baggage. Dost of de &endler@4unaro2s
photographs of this group were taken in Daspeth, a section of the borough of Lueens in
5ew Aork City, where the :udar created a 1!illage1 of homemade shacks that e3isted
from about 1CI* to 1C(C, when it was ra#ed. similar settlement stood in the Chicago
suburbs during the same period.
Romnichels
The ,omnichels, or $nglish Gypsies, began to come to the Hnited States from $ngland in
1)*7. Their arri!al coincided with an increase in the demand for draft horses in
agriculture and then in urbani#ation, and many ,omnichels worked as horse@traders.
fter the rapid decline in the horse trade following the 4irst &orld &ar, most
,omnichels relied on pre!iously secondary enterprises, 1basket@making,1 including the
manufacture and sale of rustic furniture, and fortune@telling. 0orse and mule trading
continued to some e3tent in southern states where po!erty and terrain slowed the
adoption of tractor power 'Salo and Salo 1C)I+.
"Black Dutch"
Gypsies from Germany, whom de &endler@4unaro refers to as Chikkeners 'Pennsyl!ania
German, from the German >igeuner+, sometimes refer to themsel!es as 1"lack .utch.1
They are few in number and claim to ha!e largely assimilated into ,omnichel culture.
They are represented in de &endler@4unaro2s photographs by a few portraits of one old
man and briefly referred to in the manuscript 1In Search of the :ast Cara!an.1
Hungarian Gypsies
0ungarian musicians also came to this country with the eastern $uropean immigration. In
the Hnited States they continued as musicians to the 0ungarian and Slo!ak immigrant
settlements.

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