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by T. Herbert
True
Gypsies are robust, healthy, and strong, usually of light build with
dark expressive eyes and swarthy complexions ranging from deep brown
to olive — although fair skinned Gypsies are not unheard of. When
they are young, the men are handsome and the women beautiful, but
their rugged and unconventional lifestyle can age them quickly.
Gypsies call themselves Rom (Man) in the singular, and Romi or Roma in
the plural; everybody else they call Gadje, which means foreigner.
Wherever true Gypsies go, they remain a distinct people keeping their
own language and customs and maintaining a social distance from the
Gadje. The mother tongue of the Rom is known to them Romanes, Romani,
or Romani-tchib (tchib means tongue). This language belongs to the
Dardic group of the Indo-Iranian languages, that are a subfamily of
the Indo-European family. Roma
are unique among nomadic people in that their wanderings are on a
global scale, and that they do not have, nor do they claim, a
homeland. Most other nomadic groups cover restricted areas, almost
always wasteland or desert; conversely Roma are found everywhere,
often in industrial or urban areas. The dreams, the stories, and the
songs of the Gypsies, are of traveling along the endless road. The
Rom are often confused with the Tinkers of Ireland, the Voyageurs of
France, and other wandering groups such as fairground attendants,
circus performers, transient entertainers, and the seasonal workers
that follow the crop picking seasons. Roma
are most prominent in the Balkans and in Spain but they are found all
over the world and despite many centuries of wandering they still
preserve a unique character and their own Bohemian ways. It
is popularly believed that the nomadic Gypsies are wanderers by
instinct and inclination. However some historians believe that they
are constantly moving only because of widespread discriminatory laws.
Legislation that usually leave them little choice but to keep moving
on. Most Roma still travel in small caravans, although some —
notably in Spain where greater tolerance has been shown — live a
more settled life. Those that are constantly on the move are
unattached to the soil, usually earning a living as scrap metal
dealers, metalworkers, musicians, horse or car dealers, car mechanics,
or fortune-tellers. To some people Gypsies are colourful people who
delight in a marvelous, carefree, go-as-you-please life style,
unhampered by of most of the encumbrances of modernity. Others
consider them to be unclean vagabonds, loafers, thieves and immoral
pariahs. Histories
can only be written using contemporary written sources and the Roma,
being on the whole (until recent times) illiterate, have left no
written sources of their own for the historian to study. The history
of the Roma therefore, can only be reconstructed using legends and the
documents that the surrounding nations chose to write. This kind of
historical study is often called ‘external history’, as opposed to ‘internal history’ that has its sources in more traditional material, using
documents written both from inside and outside of a community. It must
be concluded therefore, that any history of the Roma can only be based
on documents written by the nations through which they traveled. As
most of these documents are the product of superstition, hatred, and
conflicts with the surrounding cultures it must be further concluded
that they are biased, one-sided accounts. The
origins of the Gypsy people are obscure but it is believed that they
originated in the 11th century in an area of north-west
India called Gurjarat / Rajasthan. This conjecture has been reinforced
by 18th century anthropologists who found strong
similarities in their features, their blood groupings, and their
language. There are, however, usually suggestions of some intermixing
with the populations through which they traveled and lived. Gurjara
was a member of a powerful confederacy of land-owning and military
clans called Rajput. All members of the Rajput had a ruling caste made
up of a chieftain and his family, and an upper caste of warlords and
landowners. There would also have been lower castes of supportive
artisans and labourers; blacksmiths and weapon-smiths, shepherds and
goat-herds, butchers and dairy farmers, entertainers and all the other
occupations necessary to keep the community functioning. Between
1001-1026, Mahmud Ghazni Emperor of the Ghaznavid Empire (now
Afghanistan), launched a series of raids to the area, raping,
pillaging, and plundering and carrying off slaves. At least half a
million slaves were taken and put to labour at this time. During these
raids, groups of people were displaced and forced to move out of the
area. Among these dislocated people was a group of lower caste
artisans and entertainers who made their way to the Upper Indus
Valley, and it is thought that these were the forebears of the
Gypsies. Later in the 11th century, they left India, and made their
way to North-west China; eventually following the Silk Road into
ancient Persia. After
many generations of traveling, Roma shoemakers are recorded living on
Mount Athos in Greece in 1290. In 1322 they are recorded on the island
of Crete, and in 1370 in the Peloponnesus. Roma are recorded In
Prizren, Serbia in 1348, and are known to have been living in villages
near Rila Monastery, Bulgaria, in 1378, and by 1383, Roma are known to
have lived in Hungary. In Romania in 1385 the very first recorded sale
of Roma for slavery took place. Large numbers of them lived along the
Albanian coast at around 1400, and in 1407 they are noted in Germany.
During the early years of the 15th century they are recorded in most
of Europe, including France, Belgium, Holland, Bologna, Slovakia, and
Spain. By the end of the 15th century Roma are living as far west as
the British Isles and as far east as Lithuania and Latvia. During
these early migratory years Gypsies sometimes claimed to be Christian
pilgrims from “Little Egypt”, often producing letters of
protection from the Pope. According to some chroniclers, these
documents were counterfeit but there is no evidence to support this
claim. Early accounts suggest they were well respected and
benevolently received in the West at that time. However, because they
had no military, political, or economic strength, they were an easy
target for nationalists and fascists, and as time passed one country
after another enacted repressive law against them. Ever
since they arrived in Europe the Roma have been outlawed, enslaved,
hunted, tortured, and murdered, their life has been a constant
struggle to escape persecution. From the time of the
abolition of Roma slavery (Slobuzenja) in 1856, to the present
day, the Roma have fought for social justice and their inalienable
right to exist without let or hindrance. This struggle has been
largely met by unresponsive communities and uncaring world
governments. As
mentioned above, the first recorded sale of Roma slaves was in Romania
in 1385; a little later, in 1416, Roma were expelled from the Meissen
region of Germany. In 1445 Prince Vlad Dracul of Wallachia kidnapped
12,000 Gypsies from Bulgaria and put them to slave labour, and in
1449, Roma were driven out of the city of Frankfurt, Germany. The very
first anti-Gypsy laws were passed in Switzerland in 1471, and in the
same year 17,000 Roma were transported into Moldavia for slave labour,
by Stephan the Great. More
humanely in 1472 Duke Friedrich of the Rhine Palatinate asked his
people to help Roma pilgrims, and in 1476 King Matthias of Slovakia
ordered safe-conduct for them. Anti-Gypsy legislation was passed in
Brandenburg in 1482, and in Spain in 1492. Slovakia proved to be Gypsy
friendly again in 1492 and 1496 when King Vladislav issued
safe-conduct orders for them. In
1493, Roma were expelled from Milan, and in 1498. Landau and Freiburg
declared that the Roma were traitors, Turkish spies, and carriers of
the plague. Gypsies in Spain in 1499 were ordered
cease traveling and find a trade, failure to obey was
punishable by lashing and banishment. Repeat offenders suffer
amputation of the ears, sixty days in chains, and re-banishment. If
anyone was foolish enough to offend a third time they became the
slaves of those who capture them. In 1500, Roma were accused of
practising witchcraft, treachery, and child kidnapping by the Augsburg
Reichstag. Louis XII prohibited Gypsies from living in France in 1504,
and in 1510 they were prohibited by the Grand Council of France from
living in France. The punishment was confiscation of all goods and
banishment; second offenders are hanged. In
1512, families, of Roma arrive in Stockholm, Sweden claiming that they
came from "Little Egypt". They are welcomed and given money
and a place to stay. A few years later, King Gustav Vasa (1521-1560),
accused them of being spies and ordered that they be driven out from
the country. In 1525 all
people calling themselves Egyptians were given two days to leave
Holland by Charles V, and the first anti-Gypsy laws were enacted
Portugal in 1526. The first law expelling Gypsies from England was
introduced by Henry VIII in 1530; the penalty for bringing them into
England was a fine of £40, and the Gypsies were hanged. During
the rest of the 16th, 17th, and 18th century the harassment,
persecution, and legislation against the Roma continued throughout
most of Europe and Scandinavia. Punishment for merely being Rom in
Western Europe included deportation (if lucky), galley slavery,
flogging, mutilation, or even execution. Persecution of Gypsies has
been the norm ever since. In
Eastern Europe they were enslaved to work either in the fields or in
the households of the landowners. When slavery was abolished in the
19th century, the slaves that had been made to work in the homes of
the landowners had lost their ancient tongue and acquired the
Romanian, Latin based, language. These Romanian speaking Roma have now
spread through Hungary and the Balkans into Western Europe and all
parts of the western hemisphere. The agricultural slaves maintained
much more of their ancient traditions including the Roma language. The
Levara, the Churara, and the Macuaya all speak dialects of Roma known
as Vlax, and these are the most numerous and widespread of the
Gypsies. In
20th century Germany Gypsies were persecuted by the Nazis every bit as
relentlessly as the Jews were. Like the Jews, Gypsies were singled out
as an ethnic group to be completely exterminated, at least a million
were murdered in Nazi Germany and other occupied countries. Many more
were annihilated by other regimes that were collaborating with the
Nazis at that time. After the War, the Communist countries in Eastern
Europe tried to assimilate the Roma into the general populations, with
very little success. According
to reports from Helsinki Watch, Human Rights Watch, and other human
rights organisations, since the end of Communist rule in Eastern
Europe, the Rom have faced increased discrimination and persecution.
It seems that the official policy in most of the former Communist
countries is ethnocide: the destruction of their culture, their
language, and their identity. With the ultimate objective of making
them disappear by either exterminating or assimilating them into the
general populations. Since
1997, Roma have been recognised by the United Nations as a legitimate
race with rights to their own identity, culture, religion and
language. This however, has little meaning in reality and the Roma
have once again become scapegoats and the target for skinheads and
other lawless right wing groups in Romania, Hungary, The Czech
Republic, and Slovakia. They are regarded in these countries as
backward savages that need to be civilised.
Indeed, in all countries Gypsies are still denied an identity of their
own and wherever they exist they remain a persecuted, unwanted, ethnic
minority. Since
the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, large numbers of Gypsy asylum
seekers have arrived in Western Europe. Although they are entitled to
apply for asylum, many are deported before their case is heard because
they do not have documentation, or if they do, their papers are often
false. Like other persecuted peoples, Roma are often helped (for large
sums of money) to the West by unscrupulous criminals, dangerously
carried in the containers of transport vehicles Roma
have never been a threat to the societies in which the live and their
crimes are usually of a petty nature consisting of petty pilfering,
shoplifting and some confidence tricking. Major and dangerous crimes
such as drugs dealing and trafficking, loan-sharking, arson,
assassination for payment and the like are forbidden by their own
codes. Such crimes would be regarded as dirty; the perpetrator would
be regarded as polluted and ostracised by his or her peers. (c) T. Herbert 2001
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