The Roma are an Indo-Aryanethnic group. The Roma originated from India. Starting from the 9th century, the Romani people gradually migrated across Europe, passing through regions that are now Iran, Armenia, and Turkey.
Around the 12th or 13th centuries – following the Crusades – the Roma reached the Balkans. From there, the Roma spread across Western Europe. They crossed Europe aboard large caravans, which contained all of their belongings.
The Romani people were enslaved in Wallachia and Moldavia by ethnic Romanians. Vlad the Impaler owned between 11,000 and 12,000 Romani slaves. Additionally, the British transported Romani slaves to the Americas, where they were sold into forced labor. Many were sent to the Caribbean to work on Scottish and English plantations in Jamaica and Barbados.
Persecution
Romani people are often stereotyped as deceitful scammers, robbers, pickpockets, criminals, nomads, beggars, con artists and thieves who are prone to scam, cheat, lie and steal that practice black magic. Because of these stereotypes, many Romani people hide their ethnic background.
Romani people are also often seen as scary, frightening, malevolent, and dangerous, and are stereotyped as being illiterate, unemployed and involved in begging. The scary, frightening stereotype of the Romani witch is commonly perpetuated in horror movies. These films often employ the "Gypsy curse" theme, which is based on long-standing racial stereotypes and portrays Romani individuals as mystical, vengeful, or malevolent outsiders who cast harmful curses. The stereotype of the evil Gypsy woman appeared in American horror movies like Drag Me to Hell (2009) and the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Thinner (1996).
The Roma have been victims of persecution and systemic discrimination in Europe for centuries. The persecutions were mostly motivated by anti-Romani sentiment, academically known as antiziganism. The Egyptians Act of 1530 forced the Roma to leave England. Around 10,000 of these people went to the Ottoman Empire and became Muslims. Their descendants still call themselves Egyptians. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted an official definition for antiziganism on October 8, 2020:
Working definition of antigypsyism/anti-Roma discrimination
Distorting or denying persecution of Roma or the genocide of the Roma.
Glorifying the genocide of the Roma.
Inciting, justifying, and perpetrating violence against Roma communities, their property, and individual Roma.
Approving or encouraging exclusionary mechanisms directed against Roma on the basis of racially discriminatory assumptions, such as the exclusion from regular schools and institutional procedures or policies that lead to the segregation of Roma communities.
Enacting policies without legal basis or establishing the conditions that allow for the arbitrary or discriminatory displacement of Roma communities and individuals.
Holding Roma collectively responsible for the real or perceived actions of individual members of Roma communities.
Spreading hate speech against Roma communities in whatever form, for example in media, including on the internet and on social networks.
Genocide
In addition to the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany committed a genocide against the Roma. The Nazis considered the Roma an "inferior race". They persecuted the Roma, executed them in large groups, deported them to concentration camps, used them for medical experiments, and killed them in death camps. 250,000‒500,000 were killed in the Roma genocide. Some historians give a higher death toll estimate, ranging from 800,000 to 1,500,000.
Today
The Roma still experience discrimination and antiziganism. In some countries, they are not accepted in workplaces and schools. Their squatting communities also irritate locals. The Roma created an association in 1978 to defend their rights.
The largest Roma populations today live in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. However, there are populations of Roma all over Europe, including:
Human trafficking is widespread within the Romani community. Romani children are particularly at risk of being trafficked for purposes such as forced begging, theft, and forced stealing.
Culture
Roma culture differs from country to country, from group to group, and from religion to religion. Roma cuisine also differs from country to country. Music has always been important in Roma culture. Musical instruments like guitars and violins are an important part of Roma traditions. The Roma influenced musical and dance styles in Europe, such as belly dancing, flamenco, rumba and jazz.
Vampires are a common theme in Romani folklore, and the Roma people are referenced in the novel Dracula.
The hedgehog represents a distinctive culinary tradition among the nomadic Romani people.
Roma with mixed ancestry
The Roma use the word didicoy to describe people who are of mixed Roma ancestry. (Some families of mixed blood call themselves "kyes".) There is conflict between the didicoy and the Romanichal ("full-blooded Roma," whose ancestors are all Roma). The Roma have been stereotyped as criminals for centuries. Many Romanichal believe this reputation comes from didicoys and other nomadic groups that are referred to as "Gypsies". The "Romano Rai" an old Romani folk song is about a mixed-blooded Roma.
Other Romani people practice Noahidism, a Jewishnew religious movement based on Orthodox Judaism..and a set of moral laws called the Noahide Laws). People who live according to the Noahide Laws are called children of Noah (B'nei Noach) Noahids.
Huttenbach, Henry R. (1991). "The Romani Pořajmos: The Nazi Genocide of Gypsies in Germany and Eastern Europe". The Gypsies of Eastern Europe (1ed.). Routledge. ISBN9781315490250. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
↑Stone, Dan, ed. (2005). The Historiography of the Holocaust (Nachdr.ed.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. pp.383–396. ISBN978-1-4039-9927-6.
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