Romani people in Germany

Romani people in Germany
Romano manusha andi Germania (Romani)
Total population
170,000-300,000
Regions with significant populations
Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt
Languages
Romani (Sinte, Balkan)
German
Turkish, Romanian, Slovak, Bulgarian
Religion
Christianity, Islam, Romani mythology

Romani people in Germany are estimated at around 170,000–300,000, constituting around 0.2–0.4% of the German population. One-third of Germany's Romani belong to the Sinti group. Most speak German or Sinte Romani.

History

Origins

The Romani people originated in South Asia, likely in the regions of present-day Punjab, Rajasthan and Sindh. Research often supports an origin in present-day North India. Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani migrated as a group. According to a genetic study in 2012 about the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of present-day northern India, traditionally referred to collectively as the Ḍoma, are the likely ancestral populations of modern European Roma. Linguistic studies have argued that roots of Romani languages lie in what is now India: the languages have grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and share with them a part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines. More exactly, Romani shares the basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi. It shares many phonetic features with Marwari, while its grammar is closest to Bengali.

In February 2016, during the International Roma Conference, the Indian Minister of External Affairs stated that the people of the Roma community were children of India. The conference ended with a recommendation to the Government of India to recognize the Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of the Indian diaspora.

Map of Europe showing Romani demographics

Migration to Germany

There are different Christian Roma groups like the Lalleri, Kalderash, Čurara, Boyash, Wallachian Roma, Gitanos, and Muslim Roma/Xoraxane like Arlije, Gurbeti, Romanlar in Turkey. Some People of Roma ethnicity came as Gastarbeiter to Germany from countries such as Turkey, former Yugoslavia, Greece, Spain and Italy. Especially Turkish speaking Xoraxane-Roma from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, declared themselves as Turks only and are viewed as Turks by Germans. Since the Kosovo War in 1998-1999, Romani people in Kosovo, Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians also came to Germany.

Romani civilians in Asperg, Germany are rounded up for deportation by Nazi authorities on 22 May 1940. Colorized.
Gypsy Family in Prison, 1864 painting by Carl d´Unker, a Swedish painter living and working in Düsseldorf. An actual imprisoned family served as the models. The reason for their imprisonment remains unknown

Notable individuals

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Roma/Gypsies/Sinti - Minority Rights Group". 19 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Austria: Roma/Gypsies". United Nations Human Rights Council. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  3. 1 2 Meira Goldberg, K.; Bennahum, Ninotchka Devorah; Hayes, Michelle Heffner (2015-09-28). Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical and Theoretical Perspectives - K. Meira Goldberg, Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum, Michelle Heffner Hayes - Google Books. ISBN 978-0-7864-9470-5. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  4. ↑ Melegh, Bela I.; Banfai, Zsolt; Hadzsiev, Kinga; Miseta, Attila; Melegh, Bela (31 August 2017). "Refining the South Asian Origin of the Romani people". BMC Genetics. 18 (1) 82. doi:10.1186/s12863-017-0547-x. ISSN 1471-2156. PMC 5580230. PMID 28859608. Our results show that Northwest India could play an important role in the South Asian ancestry of Roma, however, the origin of Romani people might include the area of Pakistan as well.
  5. ↑ Ena, Giacomo Francesco; Aizpurua-Iraola, Julen; Font-Porterias, Neus; Calafell, Francesc; Comas, David (8 November 2022). "Population Genetics of the European Roma—A Review". Genes. 13 (11): 2068. doi:10.3390/genes13112068. ISSN 2073-4425. PMC 9690732. PMID 36360305. Based on genome-wide SNP arrays and whole-genome sequences, it has been determined that the Romani people carry approximately 20–35% South Asian ancestry [4,7], and North-West India constitutes the major source of this component [4,7,54] [...] In general, Romani people carry approximately 65–80% West Eurasian (European, Middle Eastern and Caucasian) ancestry, estimated to have been acquired by extensive gene flow.
  6. ↑ Hernández-Arrieta, Stefany (7 August 2023). "The definition of being Romani". Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) – El·lipse. Retrieved 16 February 2024. This population [...] migrated from northern India to Europe over 1,500 years ago [...] The Romani community are genetically diverse, and Romani groups established in different locations are highly varied.
  7. ↑ Beňo, Matúš (5 November 2022). "Romani disappearing from Roma communities". The Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 16 February 2024. What is the current state of the language? It is used less and less today in Romani communities. The young generation in some localities, such as Humenné, Michalovce, or Trebišov in eastern Slovakia, no longer speak the language at all.
  8. ↑ Hancock, Ian F. (2005) [2002]. We are the Romani People. Univ of Hertfordshire Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-902806-19-8: 'While a nine century removal from India has diluted Indian biological connection to the extent that for some Romani groups, it may be hardly representative today, Sarren (1976:72) concluded that we still remain together, genetically, Asian rather than European'{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  9. 1 2 Mendizabal, Isabel (6 December 2012). "Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data". Current Biology. 22 (24): 2342–2349. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.039. hdl:10230/25348. PMID 23219723.
  10. 1 2 Sindya N. Bhanoo (11 December 2012). "Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India". New York Times.
  11. ↑ Current Biology.
  12. ↑ Simon Broughton; Mark Ellingham; Richard Trillo (1999). World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Rough Guides. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-85828-635-8. Retrieved 2016-05-21. Roma Rajastan Penjab.
  13. ↑ "5 Intriguing Facts About the Roma". Live Science. 23 October 2013.
  14. ↑ Rai, N; Chaubey, G; Tamang, R; Pathak, AK; Singh, VK (2012), "The Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup H1a1a-M82 Reveals the Likely Indian Origin of the European Romani Populations", PLOS ONE, 7 (11) e48477, Bibcode:2012PLoSO...748477R, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048477, PMC 3509117, PMID 23209554
  15. ↑ Šebková, Hana; Žlnayová, Edita (1998), Nástin mluvnice slovenské romštiny (pro pedagogické účely) (PDF), Ústí nad Labem: Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity J. E. Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem, p. 4, ISBN 80-7044-205-0, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04
  16. ↑ Hübschmannová, Milena (1995). "Romaňi čhib – romština: Několik základních informací o romském jazyku". Bulletin Muzea Romské Kultury (4/1995). Brno: Muzeum romské kultury. Zatímco romská lexika je bližší hindštině, marvárštině, pandžábštině atd., v gramatické sféře nacházíme mnoho shod s východoindickým jazykem, s bengálštinou.
  17. ↑ "Can Romas be part of Indian diaspora?". khaleejtimes.com. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  18. ↑ "Köln Sehri ve Cevresinde Yagayan Gingeneler: Gene Bir Degerlendirme" (PDF) (in Turkish).