Roma communities today Historical background, culture and current issues

1. ANTH 4020/5020 Roma communities todayHistorical background, culture and current issues Week 4 Class 1: Roma under imperial and authoritarian states

2. Today‘s outline 1. Film sequences from „Latcho drom“ by T. Gatlif (1994) 2. Text: The Roma in Imperial and Authoritarian States 3. Text discussion

3. Film byToni Gatlif, 1994, 103 min. - Born in Algeria • Roma roots • Lives in France • screenwriter, actor, composer, producer • Manyfilms on Roma, focussing on music • Cannes Film Festival (Les Princes, GadjoDilo, Vengo)

4. Aboutthe film: • „Safe journey“ • Itineraryofthe Roma toldthroughmusicians & dancers • India, Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France and Spain

5. And once more … We are not in a history class here, but it is important to put the Romani experience in the proper historical and socioeconomic context in order to understand their present-day situation!

6. Text: Barany, Zoltan. 2002.The East European Gypsies. Regime Change, Marginality, and Ethnopolitics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 83-111 (Ch. 3: The Gypsies in Imperial and Authoritarian States).

7. The Roma in Imperial and Authoritarian States A briefhistoricaloverview (based on Barany 2002): I.The Roma in the Imperial Age II.The Roma in theinterwarperiod III.Porajmos: The Roma Holocaust

8. I. Roma in the Imperial Age (1) • Imperial Age: -1914 (beginning of WW I) • Differences in Romani marginality in the two major East European Empires: Ottoman Empire & Habsburg Empire Ottoman Empire: • Rel. Humane and tolerant sociopolitical system • Legal traditions and practices of religious Groups protected. • Roma had suborditate social position at „bottom of society“ but they did have a definite place in society (Lived in Gypsy quarters in cities, huts, tents) • Widespread prejudice and contempt • Despised by Turks as „less reliable“ (taxpayers) and „useless parasites“ (without stable occupations)“ (Barany 2002, p.85) • Ottoman Empire was promised land for Slaves in Romanian principalities Moldavia and Wallachia

9. I. Roma in the Imperial Age (2) Habsburg Empire: • More overt persecution • More contention with dominant populations • Deep-seated Anti-Gypsy prejudices • Roma did not posess equal rights • Majority lived outside of villages, led separate lives • Still: place in society due to commercial contacts • Wave of Romanticism in the 18./19. cent. evoked interest in rich Gypsy traditions and myths • Rise of Roma musicians and skilled craftsmen versus growing impoverishment of nomadic and/or unskilled Gypsies  increasing stratification within Romani population since 19th. Cent.

10. I. Roma in the Imperial Age (3) Economic Conditions: • Roma were at the bottom of the imperal era‘s economic and occupational scales • But had a well-defined position in imperial economies: posessed useful & valuable skills • At arrival: palm readers, „religious pilgrims“, … • By 15th. Cent.: settled Roma had reputation as talented craftsmen and artisans, in parts controlled entire trades (e.g. smithing in Romania) • Gypsy bands; superb entertainers (dancers, bear tamers) • Involvement in military endeavors: messengers, gunsmiths • But: reputation as lazy workers, • „Traditional Romani skills were appropriate to pre-industrial economies, but industrialization resulted in their gradual economic displacement and increasing marginalization“ (Barany 2002, p. 88) • Their role in Western Europe declined earlier than in the Habsburg and Ottoman empires.

11. II. Roma in the interwar period (1) State policies: Peacesettlements& redrawingofthemapafter WW I  Variousethnicminoritiesin all newstates  Political attentionlimited tothecountry‘snationalsliving in neighboringstates • Romaheld an irrelevantplace in policies Gypsypoliciesofauthoritarian East European stateswereverysimilarandcharacterizedby: - utterdisregardofRoma‘splight • viewthat „Gypsyproblem“ was a policeproblem

12. II. Roma in the interwar period (2) Socioeconomicstatus: • Most East European Roma kepttheiroldwaysoflife& continuetopractice traditional occupations • Seeminglyinabletoadapttotheregion‘sslowlymodernizingeconomies • Roma becomeincreasinglyincompetitivein thelabormarkets • Forcedtotake on unskilledlabor • manybecomeunemployed • „In theinterwarerathegrowingeconomicexclusionofthe Roma was concomitantwiththeirincreasingsocialmarginalization“ (Barany 2002, p. 97) • Still: differencesbetweenconditions in urban & rural areas

13. III. Porajmos: The Roma Holocaust • Romani Holocaust is one of the less thoroughly researched periods of Romani history • Why? • Absence of reliabledemographic data • Deficient accounting of Nazi administrators „The Gypsies were deemed so marginal that their murder provoked no intra-agency rivalries and thus required no written authorization“ (Barany 2002, p. 103) • Romani traditions: the dead are seldom mentioned or commemorated • Gypsy survivors did not leave behind diaries, memoirs or do research

14. Discussion questions (Barany text) • What were the main differences in Romani marginality in the two major East European Empires: Ottoman Empire & Habsburg Empire? • Why did the (economic) role of the Roma slowly decline at the beginning of the 20th cent.? • What were the consequences for their socioeconomic status? • How were the new government‘s approaches to the „Gypsy problem“ in the interwar period? • Why is the Romani Holocaust so little documented – compared to the Jewish Holocaust or other periods in Romani history

15. Text (optional): • Hübschmannova, Milena. 2006. Roma in the so-called Slovak state (1939-1945), in Kenrick, D. (ed.). The Gypsies during the Second World War. 3: The Final Chapter. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, pp. 3-46.

16. Hübschmannova, Milena. 2006. Roma in the so-called Slovak state (1939-1945) • Accounts of Romani survivors are mostly consistent with facts described in literature, but contribute additional insights on diverse topics not mentioned anywhere: - Roma were recruited by Tiso into army - fought on the side of Germans on Eastern Front - joined the first Czechoslovak army - joined the partisan movement & Slovak national uprising • Witnesses tell of local authorities who kept “their Gypsies” from being deported

17. Hübschmannova, Milena. 2006. Roma in the so-called Slovak state (1939-1945) • Accounts of Romani survivors are mostly consistent with facts described in literature, but contribute additional insights on diverse topics not mentioned anywhere: - Roma were recruited by Tiso into army - fought on the side of Germans on Eastern Front - joined the first Czechoslovak army - joined the partisan movement & Slovak national uprising • Witnesses tell of local authorities who kept “their Gypsies” from being deported

18. Discussion questions (Huebschmannova text) • Why are accounts of Romani survivors so valuable (Besides the existing historical facts)? • Why did the Roma in Slovakia NOT become victims of Nazi genocide during WW II (as Roma elsewhere or as the Slovak Jews)? • Why does Huebschmannova claim that the Roma were socially better integrated into the local society before WW II than later during Socialism?