The Roma People of Europe, Also Called Gypsies

"I feel a kinship with the Roma people," said Indira Ghandi on Oct. 29, 1983 during the second International Romani Festival in Chandigarh, India.

"Do not call us Gypsies. We are the Roma people! Thousands of us lost their lives during the World War II Holocaust, but we were not recompensed! We are treated as second-class citizens in most of Europe's countries and are constantly battling discrimination," said Janos, a Roma, during a conversation in a Vienna restaurant. "Our people have been persecuted for centuries. Our people were held as slaves between 1385 and 1865, when slavery was abolished. We were imprisoned in Spain in the 1700s, suffered during Europe's witch hunt, and the genocide of our people is forgotten history."

Righting Wrong

On Dec. 13, 2005, the European Court of Human Rights found the Greek government guilty of "inhuman and degrading treatment of two Romani man at the hands of Greek police … The Court awarded each 10,000 Euros for non-pecuniary damages."

To fight injustices against the Roma, the European Roma Rights Centre (EERC) was established in 1996. EERC is a human rights law group, actively pursuing discrimination against the Roma, including the fight for Roma women's rights, coercive sterilization of Roma women by Czech, Hungarian and Slovakian doctors, implementation of anti-discriminatory laws and so on. EERC filed, on behalf of Roma victims, lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights and other courts, with nearly 40 cases pending as of today before international courts and more than four times as many lawsuits before local courts. Information regarding EERC activities can be found at www.errc.org .

The European Commission published its study The Situation of Roma in an Enlarged European Union (EU) in 2004. The Swedish explorer and writer Johnny Dahl, the World Bank's James D. Wolfensohn, George Soros, Wikipedia and many more have researched and written about the Roma people.

Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovakia have embarked on an initiative, "The Decade of Roma Inclusion, 2005–2015," which is supported by the World Bank to help the Romas escape from poverty and integrate into their communities.

Origin of the Roma People

It was not until the 18th century that the true origin of the Roma people was discovered. Europe's intellectual community found that the Roma language was a language spoken in northwest India, a Sanskrit dialect. During their migration from India, they moved through Persia from 224 to 642 A.D., where they accepted Parsi words into their language. The first records of the Roma people in Byzantine appear in the 11th century. By the 14th century, Roma people were seen in the Balkans and today there are between 10 and 12 million Roma people in Europe, according to a report by the EU, and the Encarta reports between 15 and 30 million Roma worldwide.

Origin of the Name 'Gypsy'

When the Roma arrived in Europe from the East, given their dark skin and eyes, they were believed to be from Turkey or Egypt. The word gypsy is derived from the word Egypt (gyp) and the people just called them gypsies. At that time the word did not have a negative connotation, but only identified the group as a people. Also called travelers in many countries, they were nomadic people who rarely set down roots, traveling in wagons from place to place—always on the move—and sleeping in tents until the mid-1900s.

Roma People

Like every societal group, the Roma have subdivided into different groups. The French Roma are called the Manouche, the Romanichals are in the United Kingdom, the Sinti are in Germany, the Kalderash in Eastern Europe and so on.

Many Roma have adopted the lifestyles and religions prevalent in their place of residency. But they all maintain a strong group identity with other Roma and converse in the Romani language among themselves. Roma view others outside the Romani as unclean, and marriage with someone outside the group is not permitted. Parents arrange marriages and women as young as 12 may be given away in marriage. Sexual relations outside marriage are forbidden. Elders are revered and honored.

Today, the great majority of Roma have given up the nomadic life, but integration into society creates a dilemma because of the inflexible social system of the Roma. Those who integrate well into modern society tend to have fewer children and hold steady jobs.

Roma's Elite

Roma people have made great contributions in the world of music. "Since the 19th century, gypsies who practiced music were highly respected in their communities, assimilated [well] into the society of their host cultures, and cultivated their art with pride," says Tom Pixton, one of Boston's traditional dance musicians, on his web site. Musicians like Hungarian violinist Janos Bihari, Czech singer Iva Bittova, Spanish flamenco guitarist Carlos Montoya and Romanian violinist Ion Voicu are among the many Roma musicians reported by Wikipedia.