The Invisible Minority — Part 2: A Short History
Why the Roma Have Been Forgotten
By Celeste W., and Kathryn H. Edited by Angela G., and Doug G. (Keywords: Human Rights, Slavery, Romany, Roma, Gypsy, Romani, Minorities, Justice, Racism, Genocide, History.) This is part of a series. (Previous: Part 1: The Romani People)(Next: Part 3: Hollywood )
A Thousand-year History
The Romani people’s history spans across both time and space. Their ancestors journeyed across continents on a trip that took centuries. The early Roma sometimes kept to themselves and only married other Roma. For some periods of history Roma intermarried with people from the different cultures they came across. This ebb and flow of mixing and isolation left traceable markers in their chromosomes that let us track some of their journey. They are unique people whose historical journey is in their DNA.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687076/) (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00462/full)
India
There are no known documents of the start of the Romani people's journey. However, we have clues.
DNA evidence shows that the Romani population started with people from India. While there is a rich oral history among Roma families, there are no written records of the proto-Roma leaving India. There is a debate on when, precisely, the founders of the Romani people left India. These dates range from 700 CE and 1000 CE.
https://books.openedition.org/ceup/1549?lang=en https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/07/gypsies-arrived-europe-1500-genetic, https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/romani_MIG.pdf
There are cultural hints as to the origin of the Romani people.
A few Roma still speak dialects of their historic language, a language that is unique to their ethnic group. The language is in the same family as many that are still present in India. Their language has Persian and Turkish influences. (https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/romani/)
Saint Sarah Kali is a Christian, specifically Catholic folk saint. Saint Sarah Kali is the patron of the Roma and is venerated by Romani catholics. This saint is strongly connected to the Hindu Goddess Kali. The proto-Roma would have worshiped Kali before leaving India. Then European Roma would have adapted her to fit their new faith after converting to catholicism. (https://www.saintsarah.org.uk/who-we-are/) (https://www.worldhistory.org/Kali/) (Fonseca, Isabel, Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey. New York: Knopf, 1996.)(https://www.colorado.edu/linguistics/2019/04/10/how-migration-has-evolved-romani-language )
Roma’s DNA Reflect Their History
It is believed that different waves of Proto-Roma arrived in Persia, now Iran, sometime between 800 CE and 1000 CE. There are some references to Luli (In Persian) or Zott (Arabic), which appear to be migrants from India. These people are believed to be the base population of contemporary Roma. Along with Indian DNA, some modern-day Roma have trace amounts of DNA from what is now the country of Iran.
(https://www.livescience.com/25294-origin-romani-people.html) https://books.openedition.org/ceup/1549?lang=en) (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707627116)
They moved from Iran into what is now Turkey. Along with Indian DNA, most Roma have significant portions of their DNA that can be traced back to their Turkish and Middle Eastern ancestors. The mixing during this period is when the Indian migrants become the Romani people.
(https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg2015201#)
The Byzantine Empire controlled Turkey and the surrounding areas when the Roma arrived in the region. The laws and conflicts that shaped that empire also shaped the Romani people. Many Roma stayed in Turkey. Roma who converted to Islam were not permitted to marry non-Muslim Roma under Byzantine Law, and differences in the genetics and cultures of these groups started to appear.
There was some bottlenecking of the Roma population around 1000 CE. The size of the Romani population was reduced to a small number of individuals for some unknown reason and Roma only married other Roma. This created unique, genetic patterns that are detectable in some living Roma.
(https://www.academia.edu/2844614/Roma_Muslims_in_the_Balkans) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687076/) (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00462/full)
Roma moved from Turkey into the Balkans, Southeast Europe, and finally Eastern Europe. European Roma can trace some of their DNA to this migration into Europe.
Romani tribes that traveled and stayed elsewhere in Europe will have DNA from the hosting populations. This means they had children with people native to the area they traveled through, most likely through either rape or marriage.
(https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg2015201#)
There are few historical documents of the Roma’s journey from India into Turkey and into Europe. The DNA, linguistic, and religious evidence are what shed light on their journey.
Roma Arrived in Europe
It is unclear when some Roma left the Byzantine Empire and traveled into Europe. We know they were living in modern-day Turkey around the 11th century. There are written references to Roma in the Byzantine Empire in 1068. They entered Europe through Turkey around this time.
There is a record of Roma being treated well and with respect when they first entered Europe. There are documents from this period showing they were given protection. It is not surprising that Roma would have chosen to move north in search of prosperity. Protection for the Roma would ebb and flow for centuries before it would cease.
When Roma first came to Spain, for example, Pope Martin V offered a letter of protection for the Roma as pilgrims.
AuthorDiebold Schilling the ElderOriginal titleSpiezer ChronikGenreChronicle
Publication date
1480s
However, their welcome turned cold by the 14th century. They would face murder and enslavement for hundreds of years.
https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/romani_MIG.pdf
https://mondediplo.com/2015/05/13Roma
(https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/20/roma-african-americans-common-struggle?fbclid=IwAR12hEQX0cfDQXsz6fQKkDLuf1slxumgr0tCR7sAJN1NjrA00yijl2doQKA) (https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/21/world/europe/roma-discrimination/index.html)
During the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834), the monarchy ordered the extermination of the established Romani people in Spain. Only Roma living on the fringes of society were not tortured and killed.
They Became Slaves
Roma were enslaved in Hungary and Romania in the 15th century. They were identifiable because their mixed heritage meant they looked different than the white Europeans.
Vlad Dracul III, a famous medieval Romanian royal who was the inspiration for the fictional vampire Dracula, is even rumored to have coined the term “Gypsy” when in 1445 he took 11,000–12,000 people “who looked like Egyptians” as slaves.
There were three types of enslavers. They included the Crown, and later the State; the Orthodox Church; and Noble landowners. Roma slaves that were found to be without “masters” would be taken into custody and be owned by the State. European Romani DNA has a large percentage of Eastern European genetics intermixed with Indian, Persian, and Turkish.
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/29790296?seq=1)
https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/features/feature-roma-and-gypsy-slavery
Romani slavery in Eastern Europe was similar to other closed systems of slavery like that of people of African descent in the Americas. They were forced to work and society tightly controlled their movement. There were rules on who they could marry and how they could live. They were bought and sold like farm animals. Slaves were used to work on farms, in mines, and some even traveled and lived in tents. All of them faced brutal punishment for trying to run away or if they disobeyed their enslavers. Genetic evidence, and trends among slave owners, would suggest rape was commonplace. European Roma have eastern European DNA.
(https://www.europenowjournal.org/2021/04/01/subjects-of-racialized-modernity-romani-people-and-decoloniality-in-europe/) (https://romediafoundation.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/roma-slavery-in-the-romanian-territories-a-catch-22-of-history-and-recognition/)
Roma Gain Their Freedom
Their enslavement in Eastern Europe continued for hundreds of years. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the first American novel to be translated and published in Romanian. The same book that helped end slavery in the US helped to bolster the abolition movement in Eastern Europe. In the 1850s, Roma finally were freed from slavery. However, persecution against them continued.
(https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/20/roma-african-america. ns-common-struggle)
(https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/10/5/it-is-time-reparations-are-paid-for-roma-slavery) (http://www.errc.org/roma-rights-journal/being-a-gypsy-the-worst-social-stigma-in-romania)
Roma were also slaves in the Americas. In 1498, Roma were taken by Christopher Columbus to the new world as slaves. Roma slaves were brought from Portugal to Louisiana in the 1700s.
(http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2025316,00.html) (The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Volume 1; Volume 7 By Junius P. Rodriguez)
Despite the centuries of persecution, many Roma were able to integrate into society. By the 19th century, there was a group of middle-class Roma, including Romani shopkeepers, all over Europe. Some Roma were respectable civil servants. Roma had established permanent homes and businesses during the first decades of the 20th century. (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/roma-gypsies-in-prewar-europe)
Unfortunately, this prosperity was erased starting in the 1930s.
The Holocaust
The Roma Holocaust is sometimes called the Porajmos or the devouring; it destroyed lives, traditions, and families.
Most of the Roma in Europe disappeared more than 80 years ago and never recovered their population. The Holocaust decimated the Roma community. Some estimations say the Roma population was reduced by up to 75% between 1933 and 1945, but it is hard to know how many people were killed. In a three-day time period, July 31 to August 2nd, 1944, the Nazis killed about 3,000 Roma.
Even before the Holocaust started in 1933, there was an uptick in murders by local governments and restrictions on what Roma could do. This led many Roma to flee Europe early in the 20th century. Roma who left Europe to escape discrimination and Nazi slaughter were often the only branch remaining in their family trees. Everyone else in their extended family was murdered. The Holocaust erased many groups of Roma that remained in Europe. The Nazis viewed Roma as criminals, anti-social, and outsiders. Like for the Jews, there was a policy of extermination. The Roma were deemed inferior and were murdered.
It should be noted that middle-class Sinti, a group of German Roma, were targeted first. Roma that were well-integrated and successful were found and murdered. These targets were easier to locate than their nomadic cousins because they had invested in, and were integrated into, their communities. The Roma middle-class was the first casualty of the Roma Holocaust. This would have devastating, long-lasting, effects that would help keep Roma in poverty long after the killing stopped.
(https://thenorwichradical.com/2019/01/25/how-the-nazis-wiped-out-the-romani-middle-class/)
Some Romani tribes (sometimes called vistas) lost so many members that their names and traditions are now gone. Many Roma did not make it to the camps. They were part of the Holocaust by bullets (1941–1944). They were often shot where they were found and their homes were burned. (https://time.com/5719540/roma-holocaust-remembrance/)(https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/12/gypsies-travellers-boris-roma-crackdown-conservative-tory/)
Roma were murdered by the Nazis while in their homes and on the streets. The Nazis did not count or document many of these murders. Roma are rarely mentioned in Holocaust memorials or history books, and it is sometimes called the “Forgotten Holocaust”. All traces of these human beings — who lived, hoped, and dreamed — are now gone. There were no Roma witnesses during the Nuremberg trials.
The Truth Was Denied
The end of the war didn’t bring an end to Roma suffering.
After the war, German judges denied that the Roma were killed for racial reasons. Instead, they asserted they were a criminal element. “Gypsies” were persecuted under the National Socialist regime not for any racial reason, but because of an asocial and criminal record. The countless Romani babies and small children who the Nazis murdered were just “criminals”. The crimes against the Romani people were not officially recognized in Germany until the 1980s. It was not until 2012 that there was a memorial for the Romani victims. The generational trauma is still denied.
(https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/what-roma-genocide) (https://time.com/5719540/roma-holocaust-remembrance/) (https://www.romaeducationfund.org/roma-communities-never-got-a-break-roma-holocaust-memorial-day-2020/)
After the war, the Germans never paid reparations to the Roma. The Roma were murdered and forgotten. Even in death, the negative stereotypes and harmful claims were upheld. The survivors went back to the same places their families had been murdered, to face more discrimination, but without money or resources.
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/29/secondworldwar.biography)
Roma Are Forgotten by History Books
Roma are rarely mentioned in primary or secondary school history books. An informal survey by the authors revealed that none of the standard school history curriculums mentioned Roma outside of a brief note on the Holocaust. Some textbooks excluded Roma there as well. This informal survey included public school districts in five US states; two Canadian provinces, Scotland, and Flanders, Belgium.
The only mention in the Khan Academy, a popular resource for schools that includes curriculum and lesson planning, of the Roma was in the Holocaust section. There was no mention of the Roma in their section on slavery or in European history. In the Youtube educational series CrashCourse World History, and CrashCourse European History, the authors could find one mention of the Romani people, and again only in reference to the Holocaust. They were not mentioned in the section on slavery.
(https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse) (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/whp-origins/era-7-the-great-convergence-and-divergence-1880-ce-to-the-future/73-world-war-2-betaa/a/read-the-holocaust-beta)
Even in the 21st century, holocaust museums only minimally mention, or even exclude, the genocide of the Romani people. The trauma of the Holocaust on the Roma community isn’t presented on the walls or in the display cases. Unlike many of the other victims, there is often nothing presented to contextualize their murder. The general population is unaware of the term Antiziganism (Romaphobia, anti-Romanyism, or anti-Romani sentiment), even in areas with a significant Roma population. In places where Roma have a low population, people are not even aware that the Roma are an ethnic group. The history of Romani persecution that led up to the second world war is often absent in both museums and history books. If the Roma are mentioned, museums and books treat them as victims, without an additional narrative that is independent of their slaughter. It is almost as if they appeared just to die.
(https://time.com/5719540/roma-holocaust-remembrance/) (https://www.romaeducationfund.org/roma-communities-never-got-a-break-roma-holocaust-memorial-day-2020/)
The denial of the atrocities committed against Roma; their lack of inclusion in books, museums, and memorials; the lack of basic reparations; and the long-standing narrative that they deserved the atrocious treatment further erases the Roma.
