It is believed that the gypsies are the distant descendants of immigrants from India, who first appeared in Europe in the 7th century, and more massively populated it in the 14th century. Gypsies, they are also Roma, which means “people” in Hindi. The nomadic way of life that they tend to lead has long aroused hostility among those who turned out to be their temporary neighbors.
They recently came up with an interesting scheme of migration to France and deportation back. Roma most often enter the country by car, and therefore there are no border crossing marks in their documents. It remains to believe in the word. The expulsion of Roma takes place on a voluntary basis. For agreeing to go home as "humanitarian aid", they receive 300 euros in cash per adult and 100 euros per child. This money, as a rule, goes on the way back. Often the gypsies return with new documents, on occasion this allows them to receive money again from the French authorities in the same way. As a result, French officials receive the figures they need for reporting, and there are no fewer gypsies in France.
According to rough estimates, between 12 and 15 million gypsies live in European countries. The majority are in Romania and Bulgaria.
But after the enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and again in 2007, many of them took advantage of the right to freedom of movement and joined the already existing gypsy communities in France, Spain and other EU countries.
In Romania and Bulgaria, they continue to be discriminated against and live in very difficult conditions. Among Roma, the illiteracy rate is extremely high, unemployment often approaches 100%. Most of them live in poverty.
That is why they go to the main road. After the collapse of the socialist system, the gypsy community found itself in a deep crisis. When the land was divided, the former workers of state farms did not receive anything, since they did not have personal plots during collectivization. Gypsies in the cities also found themselves without work.
By 1994, unemployment in the Romani community reached 76%, and in some regions even 90%. Of course, these threatening processes led to quite predictable results.
People deprived of any means of subsistence began to commit more crimes. If back in 1993 criminal statistics showed that gypsies accounted for 6.8% of criminals, then in 1995 20.2% of gypsies were already convicted. Gypsies were half as likely as other Bulgarian citizens to be accused of crimes against a person, but they committed 6% more thefts.
There are even a number of special professions among the Roma. Cherni are professional thieves. The female half of them operates in groups led by an experienced thief - the "mob". She takes the place of chieftain for special merits and thieves' talent. When entering the “case”, each of the gypsies performs its own, predetermined function. Thieves ring the doorbell of the chosen apartment and ask to "get drunk" or "swaddling the baby." One has only to open the door to a careless victim, as the gypsies will show her a lot of fascinating tricks. The hostess or the owner will not have time to blink an eye, as all the money and valuables in it will disappear from the apartment with lightning speed.
The Lovaris live in their favorite way - by stealing from apartments. Recently, they have mastered another related "profession" - "breaking" money from commercial kiosks, currency exchange offices, railway stations and markets.
Kolderari is the most widespread gypsy group. They strictly adhere to national traditions and internal group laws, elect tabor barons. The Kolderari hunt mainly by fortune-telling, while operating in large groups near markets and train stations. It is their victims that become gullible citizens, whom the colorfully dressed camp beauties offer to tell fortunes or remove damage. Apparently, gypsies to some extent master the art of hypnosis and suggestion.
Sevris are mainly engaged in pickpocketing, theft and drug dealing. As professionals of "pocket pull", the gypsies are not inferior to the famous Georgian pickpockets. The trade in "marafet" - cocaine is gradually becoming the main criminal activity of all gypsies.
Ungri (Hungarian gypsies). They operate as organized criminal groups with a rigid hierarchy and discipline. Begging on the streets is combined with robberies and robberies. "Ungri" live mainly in camps, sometimes populating abandoned houses.
Plaschuny - a group of gypsies who specialize in contract killings, killings of priests, robberies and robberies.
Is the position of the Roma in Europe so hopeless? Are conflicts with the surrounding population inevitable? Of course not, and here's why. In each of the European countries there are many organizations that oppose racism and discrimination.
It is interesting and even paradoxical, but it is in those countries where the Gypsies find it hardest - in Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary - that governments allocate a lot of funds to improve their lives. In all these countries, a wide variety of Romani literature is published. Radio and television broadcast weekly programs where journalists (most often gypsies by nationality) raise topical issues and try to solve them.
The content of the article
gypsies, or Roma - a nomadic people, more precisely, ethnic groups with common roots and language, whose origin can be traced from northwestern India. Today they live in many countries of the world. Gypsies are usually black-haired and swarthy, which is especially characteristic of populations living in countries close to India, although lighter skin is not typical for gypsies at all. Despite spreading all over the world, the Roma everywhere remain a clearly defined people, more or less adhering to their own customs, language and maintaining social distance from the non-Roma peoples in whose environment they live.
Gypsies are known by a number of names. In the Middle Ages, when the Gypsies first appeared in Europe, they were erroneously called Egyptians, as they were identified as Mohammedans - immigrants from Egypt. Gradually, this word (Egyptians, Gyptians) was abbreviated, becoming "gypsy" ("gipsy" in English), "gitano" in Spanish and "giphtos" in Greek. Gypsies are also called "zigeuner" in German, "gypsies" in Russian, "zingari" in Italian, which are variations of the Greek word athinganoi, meaning "do not touch" - an insulting name for a religious group that previously inhabited Asia Minor and avoided, like the gypsies , contacts with strangers. But the Gypsies do not like these names, preferring the self-designation "Roma" (plural, Roma or Roma) from "Romani (person)".
Origin.
In the middle of the 18th century European scientists managed to find evidence that the Romani language comes directly from the classical Indian language Sanskrit, which indicates the Indian origin of its speakers. The sero-anthropological data, in particular information about blood types, also indicate an origin from India.
Much, however, remains obscure about the early history of the Gypsies. Although they speak one of the languages of the Indian group, it is very possible that they are actually descended from the Dravidian natives of this subcontinent, who eventually began to speak the language of the Aryan invaders who occupied their territory. In recent years scholars in India itself have embarked on an academic study of the Gypsies, and in addition, there is a revival of interest in this subject in scientific circles in the West. Gradually, the myths and misinformation surrounding the questions of the history and origin of this people are dissipated. It became clear, for example, that the Gypsies were nomads not because they had any nomadic instinct, but because widespread discriminatory legislation left them no choice but to continue their constant migration.
Migration and resettlement.
New historical and linguistic data indicate that the gypsy migration from northwestern India took place in the first quarter of the 11th century. as a result of a series of Islamic invasions led by Mohammed Ghaznavid. According to one hypothesis, the ancestors of the Gypsies (who are sometimes called “Dhomba” in the literature) organized themselves into military units called Rajputs to fight these invasions. Over the next two centuries, the Gypsies moved further and further west, stopping in Persia, Armenia and the territory of the Byzantine Empire (in the modern language of the Gypsies there are many Persian and Armenian words and, especially, many words from Byzantine Greek), and reached southeastern Europe in the middle of the 13th century.
The movement to the Balkans was also caused by the spread of Islam, which had caused the gypsies to migrate from India two centuries earlier.
Not the entire mass of Gypsies crossed the Bosphorus and ended up in Europe, one of its offshoots migrated eastward to the areas of today's Eastern Turkey and Armenia and became a separate and quite distinct sub-ethnic group known as "lom" ("Lom").
Another population widely distributed throughout the Middle East is the "dom" ("Dom"), which was long thought to be part of the original Gypsy migration (from India, but later separated from the mainstream somewhere in Syria). While the "house" itself and their language are clearly of Indian origin, their ancestors evidently represented a separate and much earlier wave (possibly 5th century) of migration from India.
In the Byzantine Empire, the Gypsies acquired a deep knowledge of metalworking, as indicated by the metallurgical vocabulary in the Gypsy language of Greek and Armenian (non-Indian) origin. When the gypsies came to the Balkans and, in particular, to the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, this knowledge and skills ensured a steady demand for their services. This new artisan population of gypsies proved to be so valuable, in fact, that laws were passed in the early 1300s making them the property of their employers, i.e. slaves. By 1500, about half of the gypsies managed to leave the Balkans for the north and west of Europe. The resulting division between those who remained in slavery in Wallachia and Moldavia (today's Romania) for five and a half centuries, and those who left there, is of fundamental importance in the history of the Gypsies and is referred to in literature as the First European Gypsy Diaspora.
It didn't take long for the people of the Balkans to realize that the Gypsies were completely different from the Muslims they feared so much. But the population in countries more distant from the Balkans, i.e. in France, Holland, and Germany, for example, one had never met directly with Muslims before. When the gypsies came there with their exotic speech, appearance and clothing, they were associated with Muslims and were called "pagans", "Turks", "Tatars" and "Saracens". The Gypsies were easy targets because they had no country to return to, no military, political or economic power to defend themselves. Over time, one country after another began to introduce repressive measures against them. In Western Europe, punishments for being Romani included lashing, mutilation, deportation, galley slavery, and even, in some places, execution; in eastern Europe, the gypsies remained slaves.
Political changes in Europe in the 19th century, including the abolition of slavery for the Gypsies, led to a sharp increase in their migration, which marked the period of the Second European Diaspora of the Gypsies. A third diaspora emerged in the 1990s with the fall of communist regimes throughout eastern Europe.
The gypsies who were in slavery were either domestic slaves or slaves in the fields. These broad categories include many smaller professional groups. The Gypsies, taken to work in the houses of the landowners, eventually lost their language of Indian origin and acquired Romanian based on Latin. Now, Romanian-speaking gypsies such as "boyash" ("boyash"), "rudari" ("miners") and "ursari" ("guide bears") are found not only in Hungary and the Balkans, but also in Western Europe and other regions of the Western Hemisphere.
Much more of the ancient traditions were preserved by groups of gypsies descended from field slaves. Kalderas ("coppers"), lovara ("horse traders"), churara ("sieve makers") and mochvaya (from the Serbian city of Mochva) all these groups speak closely related dialects of the Romani language. These languages form a dialect group called Vlax or Vlach, characterized by a strong influence of Romanian in it. By the end of the 19th century Vlaxo-speaking gypsies undertook long journeys in search of places where they could settle. Countries in Western Europe were inhospitable due to centuries of antigypsy legislation in them, so the main flow of migration went east to Russia, Ukraine and even China, or, through Greece and Turkey by sea to North and South America, South Africa and Australia. After the First World War, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in central Europe caused a mass exodus of Roma from these lands to western Europe and North America.
During World War II, the Nazis chose the Gypsies as the target of genocide, and the Gypsies were destined, along with the Jews, for extermination by the notorious decree of Reinhard Heydrich of July 31, 1941, to implement the "Final Solution". By 1945, almost 80% of all gypsies in Europe had died.
modern settlement.
Gypsies are dispersed throughout Europe and western Asia and are found in parts of Africa, North and South America, and Australia. However, it is not possible to establish the exact number of Roma in each country, since censuses and immigration statistics rarely distinguish them as a special article, and centuries of persecution have taught Roma to be careful in indicating their ethnicity in census questionnaires. There are between 9 and 12 million Roma in the world. This estimate is given by the International Roma Union: about one million in North America, about the same in South America, and between 6 and 8 million in Europe, where Roma are concentrated mainly in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and elsewhere in the Balkans.
In the approximately one thousand years since the exodus of the Gypsies from India, their way of life has become remarkably varied, although each group has retained to a greater or lesser extent elements of the main culture of the Gypsies. Those that have settled in one place for a long time tend to acquire the national features of the people who have adopted them. In both Americas, a significant number of gypsies appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, although there is a tradition among the gypsies that on the third voyage of Columbus in 1498, gypsy sailors were among the crew, and the first representatives of this people appeared there in pre-colonial times. It is documented that the first gypsies appeared in Latin America (in the Caribbean) in 1539, when persecution against this people began in Western Europe. They were gypsies from Spain and Portugal.
New waves of immigrants began arriving in the Americas after 1990.
Gypsy life.
Despite their common linguistic, cultural and genetic heritage, the Gypsy groups have become so diverse as a result of the influence of time and space factors that it would be wrong to try to draw a generalized portrait of them. In the rest of the article, special attention is paid to the Vlaxo-speaking gypsies, who are the largest and most geographically distributed population.
social organization.
Taken as a whole, the life of gypsies is called "romanipen" or "romania" and is built on the basis of a complex system of family relations. A group of kindred families forms a clan (“vista” clan), headed by a leader called “baro” (he is not a king; the so-called kings and queens among the gypsies are an invention of journalists). He is the recognized leader of his group and can direct its movements and represent it in contact with outsiders. On important matters, he may consult with the elders of the whist. Violations of the rules of morality and behavior can be considered by a special male assembly called "kris" ("kris"). This court has jurisdiction over a wide range of infringements, including material and matrimonial matters. Punishments may include the imposition of fines or expulsion from the community, the offender being called merimé or ritually unclean. Since communication with non-gypsies is avoided as a matter of course, and since the gypsy community itself must exclude whoever is merimé, the individual in this position finds himself ultimately in complete isolation. This idea of ritual pollution, inherited from India and extended to the individual in his relation to food, animals and other human beings, was the most general factor that contributed to the fact that Gypsy populations remained separate from others and internally united.
Marriages with Goje (non-Gypsies) are frowned upon; even the choice of marriage with other gypsies is limited. In the case of mixed marriages, children will only be considered Roma if their father is one. The family plays an active role in the marriage formalities, which to the uninitiated may seem lengthy and complicated. First, there are long negotiations between the parents, especially about the amount of "darro" (dowry). This is the amount to be compensated for the earning potential of a bori or daughter-in-law who passes from her family and is included in the family of her new relatives by marriage. The wedding itself (“abiav”) is held in a hall rented for this occasion with the presence of many friends and relatives. The celebrations accompanying the wedding usually last three days. Once established, a marriage union usually remains permanent, but if a divorce is necessary, the consent of the "kris" may be required. As a rule, civil and church marriages are becoming more frequent, even if they represent only the final phase of the traditional ritual.
The official religion did not have much influence on the way of life of the Gypsies, although they did not manage to avoid attempts by missionaries to convert them to their faith. They adopted, in most cases superficially, such religions as Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and the Protestantism of those countries in which they lived for some time. The exception is the surprising and very rapid acceptance by some groups of the charismatic "new" Christianity of recent years.
The most famous religious holidays of the Romani Catholics are the annual pilgrimages to Quebec to the Basilica of St. Anne (Sainte Anne de Beaupre) and the town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the Mediterranean coast of France, where gypsies gather every time from everywhere 24 – May 25, to honor their patron saint Sarah (according to legend, an Egyptian).
Livelihood and recreation.
Gypsies prefer activities that provide them with a minimum duration of contact with the "gadge" and independence. Services that cater to occasional needs and an ever-changing clientele fit well with the Gypsy way of life, which may require the individual to leave urgently to attend a wedding or funeral, or a "kris" in another part of the country. Gypsies are versatile and the means by which they earn a living are numerous. But there are some main Gypsy trades, such as horse trading, metalworking, divination and, in some countries, picking vegetables or fruits. For joint economic ventures, the Roma can also form a purely functional association "kumpania", the members of which do not necessarily belong to the same genus or even to the same dialect group. In the field of self-employment, many Roma work as peddlers, especially in Europe. Some resell goods bought at a lower price, others trade on the streets, noisily offering their own goods, although in the 20th century. a number of gypsy crafts suffered from competition with mass-produced products. Women play their full role in earning a livelihood. It is they who carry baskets with manufactured goods from door to door and are engaged in fortune-telling.
Although many of the names of the various Gypsy groups are based on the professions they held during the period of slavery, they can no longer serve as a reliable guide to the activities of specific families. In Mexico, for example, "coppermen" are now far more often mobile film operators than metalworkers. For many "coppermen" in the United States, the main source of income is the fortune-telling parlor ("office"), which may be located in front of the fortune teller's house or in the front of the store.
Gypsies are also known to be great entertainers, especially as musicians and dancers (several famous actors, including Charles Chaplin, speak of their Gypsy ancestors). In Hungary, and in Romania in particular, gypsy orchestras with their virtuoso violinists and cymbalists have developed their own style, although much of what the audience hears is, in fact, European music in a gypsy interpretation. There is another, very special type of music, the original gypsy music, which is a highly rhythmic sequence of tones, in which few or no instruments are used and the dominant sound is often the sound of clapping hands. Research has shown that much of the Central European classical music tradition and the work of composers such as Liszt, Bartok, Dvorak, Verdi and Brahms are marked by significant Gypsy influences. The same has been demonstrated by research in relation to Jewish klezmer music, which is characterized by unusual scales and lively rhythms.
In Andalusia, in southern Spain, according to one study by the University of Wisconsin, gypsies, along with Moroccans, created the flamenco tradition as a covert way to express anger at the repressive Spanish regime. From Andalusia, the style spread through the Iberian Peninsula and then into Hispanic America until flamenco song, dance and guitar playing became an accepted form of folk entertainment. Since the late 1970s, the music of the six-guitar Gipsy Kings has propelled modern flamenco-based music into the pop charts, and the late Django Reinhardt's jazz guitar technique ) (he was a gypsy) experienced a renaissance thanks to his great-nephew Bireli Lagrene.
Like all peoples with a developed oral tradition, the narration among the Gypsies reaches the level of art. Over the course of many generations, they expanded their folklore baggage by selecting and adding to it the folk tales of the countries in which they settled. In exchange, they enriched the folklore of these nations with the oral histories acquired by them during past migrations.
Due to strict restrictions on socializing with outsiders, the Roma spent much of their free time in each other's company. Many of them believe that the negative effects of being among the gajes can only be offset by the time they spend among their own at communal ritual events such as christenings, weddings, etc.
Food, clothing and housing.
The eating habits of Western European Gypsy groups reflect the influence of their nomadic way of life. Soups and stews that can be cooked in one pot or cauldron, as well as fish and game meat, occupy a significant place in their cuisine. The diet of settled Eastern European gypsies is characterized by the use of a large amount of spices, especially hot varieties of pepper. In all groups of gypsies, food preparation is strictly conditioned by the observance of various taboos of relative cleanliness. The same cultural considerations determine the issues of clothing. In Gypsy culture, the lower part of the body is considered unclean and shameful, and women's legs, for example, are covered with long skirts. Similarly, a married woman should cover her head with a scarf. According to tradition, acquired valuables are turned into jewelry or gold coins, and the latter are sometimes worn on clothes as buttons. Since the head is considered the most important part of the body, many men draw attention to it by wearing wide hats and large mustaches, and women love large earrings.
Mobile homes are of great importance to families whose livelihoods require them to be constantly on the move. There are still a large number of gypsy families, especially in the Balkans, who travel in light open wagons drawn by horses or donkeys and sleep in tents of traditional design made of canvas or woolen blankets. A comparatively recent appearance of the gypsy's residential wagon, decorated with intricate carvings, complements rather than replaces the tent. Along with the less picturesque horse-drawn wagon, this residential wagon is rapidly falling into disuse, making way for the motorized trailer. Some gypsies with trucks or cars with trailers closely adhere to the old habits of people with carts, while others have fully embraced such modern conveniences as bottled kitchen gas and electricity.
The current population of gypsies.
Various Romani groups in Europe were almost completely destroyed by the fires of the Holocaust, and it was not until more than four decades later that their national movement began to gain momentum. For the Roma, the concept of "nationalism" does not mean the creation of a real nation-state, but implies the acquisition of recognition by mankind of the fact that the Roma are a separate non-territorial nation of people with their own history, language and culture.
The fact that Roma live all over Europe but do not have their own country has led to enormous problems since the fall of Eastern European communist regimes and the resurgence of ethnic nationalism there. Like those gypsies who first came to Europe seven and a half centuries ago, the European gypsies of the 20th century. are increasingly perceived as very different from traditional European peoples and a nuisance. To combat these prejudices, the Roma organized themselves into several political, social and cultural groups in order to develop ideals of self-determination. The International Roma Union has been a permanent member of the United Nations Economic and Social Development Council since 1979; by the end of the 1980s, he gained representation in the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNESCO, and in 1990 the formation of the European Roma Parliament began. By the beginning of the 1990s, a large number of such Roma professionals as journalists and political activists, educators, and politicians had already appeared. Ties were forged with the ancestral homeland of India - since the mid-1970s, the Indian Institute of Gypsy Studies has been operating in Chandigarh. Roma organizations focused their work on combating racism and stereotypes in the media, as well as obtaining reparations for war crimes that led to the death of Roma in the fires of the Holocaust. In addition, the issues of standardization of the Roma language for international use, the compilation of a twenty-volume encyclopedia in this language, were resolved. Gradually, the literary image of the "nomadic gypsies" is replaced by the image of the people, ready and able to take their place in today's heterogeneous society.
The main source of information on all aspects of Gypsy history, language and lifestyle is the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, published from 1888 to the present.
Gypsies are a people covered in myths and legends. Well, at least to start with, are they a single people, and who can generally be considered a gypsy? The gypsies themselves refer to themselves either as Sinti, or as Kalo, or as Keldari. In addition to the well-known European rums, there are also Balkan "Egyptians" and Ashkali, Middle Eastern houses, Transcaucasian bosha, Central Asian mugat and Chinese Einu. The surrounding population classifies them as gypsies, but our gypsies are unlikely to recognize them as their own. So, who are the gypsies, and where did they come from?
Ursari gypsies. Image courtesy of wikimedia
At the beginning of the legend
Gypsies used to live in Egypt between the rivers Tsyn and Gan. But then a bad king came to power in this country, who decided to turn all the Egyptians into slaves. Then the freedom-loving gypsies left Egypt and settled around the world. I heard this story as a child in the Belarusian city of Slutsk from an old gypsy grandfather who worked at the local bazaar. Then I had to hear and read it in different versions. For example, about the fact that the gypsies come from the island of Tsy on the Ganges River. Or about the fact that the gypsies dispersed in different directions, crossing the Tsy-Gan River.
Oral history does not live long. As a rule, more or less truthful information about historical events is preserved for only three generations. There are exceptions, such as the ancient Greek poems about the Trojan War or the Icelandic sagas. They transmitted news of events centuries ago. But this happened thanks to professional storytellers. The gypsies did not have such storytellers, so myths took the place of truthful information. They were created on the basis of the legends of local peoples, biblical stories and outright fables.
Gypsies do not remember that the name of their people comes from the Greek word "atsigganos". This was the name of the medieval Christian sect of sorcerers and soothsayers, originally from Phrygia (now the territory of Turkey). By the time the gypsies appeared in Balkan Greece, it was destroyed, but the memory of it was preserved and was transferred to a still little-known people.
In some countries, Gypsies are still called Egyptians (remember the English word Gypsies or the Spanish Gitano). This name also originates in the Balkan Peninsula, where the natives of Egypt have long hunted tricks and circus performances. After the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, the flow of magicians from there dried up, but the word "Egyptian" became a household word and was transferred to the gypsies.
Finally, the self-designation of European gypsies "Roma" sometimes refers them to immigrants from Rome. We will talk about the real origin of this word below. But, if we remember that in the Middle Ages the inhabitants of Byzantium called themselves none other than the Romans, then we again return to the Balkan Peninsula.
It is curious that the first written mention of the Gypsies is also associated with the Balkan Peninsula. In the life of the Greek monk George of Athos, written in 1068, it is told that shortly before his death, the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh turned to some Indians to clear his gardens of wild animals. In the 12th century, to the displeasure of Orthodox monks, gypsies traded amulets in Constantinople, predicted fate, and performed with trained bears. In 1322, the Irish pilgrim Simon Fitz-Simons met them on the island of Crete. In 1348, a record about gypsies appears in Serbia, in 1378 - in Bulgaria, in 1383 - in Hungary, in 1416 - in Germany, in 1419 - in France, in 1501 - in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In the Middle Ages, the arrival of settlers was always welcomed by the feudal lords, as they counted on cheap labor. In 1417, Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg even issued a safe-conduct to the Gypsies. But very soon the European monarchs became disillusioned with the aliens. They did not want to settle in a particular place and were more like vagabonds. Already in the 15th century, laws began to be passed aimed at expelling the gypsies. Moreover, in some cases, violators were threatened with the death penalty. The gypsies left and returned. They had nowhere to go, because they did not remember where their homeland was. If the homeland is not the Balkan Peninsula, then where did they come from?
Ancestral home in India
In 1763, the Transylvanian pastor Istvan Valy compiled a dictionary of the Romani language and concluded that it was of Indo-Aryan origin. Since then, linguists have found many facts that confirm his conclusion. In 2004 - 2012, the work of geneticists appeared, which determined that the ancestral home of the gypsies should be sought in the north-west of India. They found that most Roma men are descended from a small group of relatives who lived 32 to 40 generations ago. Fifteen centuries ago, they left their native places and for some reason moved west.
The evidence of the Indian origin of the Gypsies is so clear that in 2016 the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared the Gypsies to be part of the overseas Indian community. Therefore, if you want to know how many Indians live, for example, on the territory of Belarus, add another 7,079 Belarusian gypsies to 545 people from India!
At the same time, neither linguists nor geneticists have yet determined exactly which ancestors of which modern Indian people (after all, many peoples live in India!) are related to gypsies. This is partly due to the fact that different tribes live in the north-west of India. Especially a lot of them in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Perhaps the ancestors of the gypsies were one small tribe. After they went west, they had no close relatives and descendants in India.
“Wait, how come! someone will exclaim. “After all, there are gypsies in India!” Travelers write about Indian gypsies in blogs, shoot them on video. I myself had to see representatives of the people in the north of India, which they call "Banjara", "Garmati", "Lambani" and so on. Many of them continue to lead a nomadic life, live in tents, beg or engage in petty trade. The attitude of the Indians towards them is approximately the same as that of the Europeans towards the Roma gypsies. That is, despite all the tolerance and romantic tales, very bad. However, "banjara-garmati" are not gypsies. This nation has its own history. He comes from Gujarat, but began to lead a "gypsy" way of life only in the 17th century. The Banjara-Garmati and the Gypsies are indeed distant relatives, but not to a greater extent than other tribes and peoples of northwestern India.
How the gypsies ended up in the west
In 2004, British historian Donald Kendrick published Gypsies: From the Ganges to the Thames. He tried to summarize all the known information that can shed light on the appearance of gypsies in Europe. His work is only a version, it contains a lot of circumstantial facts and controversial conclusions. Nevertheless, it looks plausible, and it is worth retelling it very briefly to Russian-speaking readers.
The westward migration of Indians to the neighboring Persian Empire began over 1,500 years ago. The Persian poem "Shahnameh" tells about this in lyrical form. Shah Brahram Gur, allegedly ruling in the 5th century, turned to one of the Indian kings with a request to send luri musicians. Each musician received a cow and a donkey, as the shah wanted the settlers to settle on the earth and bring up new generations of musicians. But more often the Indians moved to Persia as mercenary soldiers and artisans. D. Kendrick notes that in Iran the ancestors of the Gypsies could get acquainted with the wagons. Later, the wagon "vardo" will become a symbol of nomadic gypsies in Europe.
In 651 Persia was conquered by Muslim Arabs. The Arabs knew the Indian settlers under the name of Zotts. Perhaps it comes from the people of the Jats, who in our time live just in the north-west of India. Zotts formed a kind of state in the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, collecting tribute from passing merchants for using trade routes. Their arbitrariness aroused the wrath of the Caliph Al-Mutasim, who in 834 defeated the Zotts. Some of the prisoners he moved to the area of the city of Antioch on the border with Byzantium. Now it is the border area of Turkey and Syria. Here they served as shepherds, guarding herds from wild animals.
In 969, the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros captured Antioch. Thus, the ancestors of the Gypsies ended up within the Byzantine Empire. For some time they lived in the east of Anatolia, where a significant part of the population was Armenians. No wonder many linguists discover borrowings from Armenian in the Romani language.
From Eastern Anatolia, part of the Gypsies moved to Constantinople and the Balkan Peninsula, and then to other European countries. These gypsies are known to us as "Roma". But the other part of the gypsies remained in Anatolia and already during the time of the Turkish conquests mastered the expanses of the Middle East, Transcaucasia, Iran, and Egypt. They are known as "home". Gypsies "home" and now live in Muslim countries, profess Islam, but separate themselves from Arabs, Turks and Persians. It is characteristic that in Israel they cooperate with the authorities and even serve in the Israeli army. In neighboring Egypt, the Domari live near large cities. Among the Egyptians, their women have the dubious reputation of good dancers and cheap prostitutes.
Journey of the Gypsies to the West in the 5th-15th centuries
In Armenia, the "scrap" gypsies, also known as "bosha", converted to Christianity and now do not differ much from the rest of the Armenians. In Central Asia, the house began to speak the Tajik language and call themselves "mugat", although the surrounding peoples often call them "lyuli". In Western China, on the southern slopes of the Tien Shan mountains and in the oases of the Takla Makan desert, you can meet quite exotic gypsies "Einu". They speak a strange language that combines Indo-Aryan and Tajik words with Turkic grammar. Einu are ordinary peasants and artisans who are not prone to stealing, begging or drug dealing. However, their Chinese and Uyghur neighbors treat them with contempt. The Einu themselves say that they came to China from Iran, that is, they are descendants of medieval zotts or all the same gypsies "dom".
The names "rum" and "house" have a common origin, differ only in pronunciation. But, if "rum" refers our fantasy to Rome, then "house" clarifies the true roots of the self-name of the gypsies. In Punjabi, the word "dam-i" means a person or a man.
Second coming
So, in the XIV century, the gypsies began to leave the cozy Balkan Peninsula, where they spent several centuries, and move to other European countries. There is nothing surprising in this, if we recall that during this period the Turkish conquest of the lands of the former Byzantine Empire took place. However, the number of migrants cannot be called huge. Proof of this are materials about the persecution of Roma by the authorities. As a rule, until the 18th century, gypsy communities in European countries barely numbered a few hundred people each. Gypsies are not mentioned in Russia until 1733, and even then they lived only in the Baltic states.
By the 19th century, many European gypsies left their nomadic lifestyle, one way or another fit into existing social structures, served in the army, and participated in the colonial expansion of European peoples. The negative image of the gypsies was gradually eroded. Romantic poets sang the gypsies' love of freedom. But in the middle of the 19th century, a new stream of gypsy settlers poured from the Balkan Peninsula, to whom the definition of free never fit.
Where did they come from? Despite the Turkish invasion, most medieval gypsies chose to remain where they lived before. At the beginning of the 17th century, we find gypsy suburbs near the Athos monastery, settlements of gypsy artisans in Bulgaria, and even gypsy soldiers in the Ottoman army. While gypsies were persecuted in European countries, in the Ottoman Port they were recognized as subjects of the Sultan, paid taxes, and in some cases enjoyed a certain independence.
There is nothing surprising in the fact that among the Ottoman gypsies there were many settled ones. Some converted to Islam, others remained Christians, others tried to merge with the local population. Thus, a small group of gypsy-Ashkali arose in Kosovo, who lived in permanent villages, were engaged in gardening and spoke the Albanian language. In Bulgaria, the Roma more often adopted the Turkish language and culture.
A Romanian Gypsy village in the 19th century. Image courtesy of wikimedia
However, there was one big exception in the north of the Balkans. In the Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, the gypsies were slaves. It is curious that the first mention of the gypsies in the Wallachian documents of the XIV century speaks of them as not free. Most of the gypsies belonged to the prince, but there were also slaves dependent on monasteries or landowning boyars. Some of the gypsy slaves led a sedentary lifestyle, others were allowed to roam, but one way or another they worked for the owner. The owners disposed of their property, allowed or forbade marriage, judged and punished. Slaves in Wallachia were cheap. For example, in 1832, thirty gypsies were exchanged for one cart. In Moldavia, in addition to gypsy slaves, there was a small group of Tatar slaves. Tatars became slaves when they were captured. But how the gypsy population ended up in slavery is difficult to understand. There were no hostilities between Romanians and Gypsies.
Slavery was finally abolished in 1856. Although the Romanian authorities took steps to ensure that the gypsies mixed with the Romanians, many of the freed slaves chose to get away from their former owners. This was especially true for those who maintained a nomadic lifestyle. Many of the gypsies living in Western European countries, in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are direct descendants of that very late wave of gypsies from Romania.
In the 20th century, in the USSR and other socialist countries, they tried to transfer the Roma to a settled way of life. The Nazis massacred gypsies in concentration camps. Thus, during the Second World War, Belarus lost almost the entire indigenous gypsy population. The Gypsies living in our country today are descendants of post-war settlers from other Soviet republics. In our time, a suspicious and sometimes clearly hostile attitude towards gypsies is characteristic of all European countries from France to Russia.
Gypsies are not loved, they are admired, and they continue to lead an isolated lifestyle. And so one and a half thousand years!
Quite recently, before the migration of millions of refugees and residents of Asian and African countries who consider themselves as such to the EU countries, one of the key social problems in Europe was recognized as the position of the Roma minorities.
There are a lot of gypsies in Europe, but they also have a lot of problems
Came from India, went through slavery and genocide
First of all, it should be noted that modern gypsies do not represent a single nation. Therefore, in ethnographic science, they most often talk about "gypsy and gypsy-like" groups of the population, including both gypsy sub-ethnic groups and groups, strictly speaking, not being gypsies, but leading a similar lifestyle (a typical example is the so-called "shelta", or "Irish Travelers" living in Ireland and the UK). In Eastern Europe, gypsy groups appeared during the Early Middle Ages, moving from India, through Afghanistan and Iran, to the territory of the Byzantine Empire. It should be noted that not all gypsy groups migrated to Byzantium - a significant part settled in the Middle East (“home”), in Central Asia (“mugat”, “lyulya”), in the Transcaucasus (“bosha”). From the Middle East, the Gypsies penetrated into Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula. Part of the gypsy groups penetrated further - to the countries of Western Europe, where they formed local gypsy communities. Another, most of the gypsies, settled in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. It was here that the formation of those gypsy groups that are currently well known in Russia took place - Servis, Vlahurya, Ursars, Chisinauians, Lovars, Kalderars, Crimeans and so on. Already by the 15th century, a significant part of the gypsies who settled in Eastern Europe began to settle and settle in villages or settlements on the outskirts of cities. Basically, the gypsies were engaged in crafts related to the processing of iron and precious metals, basket weaving. In addition, the types of income traditional for the Gypsies and in the East remained - dancing, circus performances, music, fortune telling.
The turning point for the Romani population in Eastern Europe was the Ottoman conquest. The Ottoman Empire pursued a fairly soft policy towards the gypsies. Because the Ottomans were in need of artisans, Romani labor remained in demand, and the desire for tax exemption led many Eastern European Romani groups to convert to Islam. This is how Muslim gypsies appeared, who today make up a significant part of the gypsy population of Eastern Europe (in Russia and Ukraine, Crimean gypsies - "Crimeas" profess Islam). By the way, the Ottomans perceived the Gypsies as the most loyal, along with Muslims - Albanians, group of the population of the Balkan Peninsula. Moreover, the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the gypsy groups also contributed to the condescending attitude - after all, the Ottoman Turks were also nomads in the past. However, the loyal attitude on the part of the Ottomans led to the fact that the local Christian population began to perceive the gypsy groups much more negatively than before. The toughest attitude towards the gypsies was established in the Romanian Moldavian and Wallachian principalities, where the gypsies were simply enslaved. Until 1833, the gypsies did not even have the status of an individual, that is, any crimes could be committed against them, not to mention the possibility of being sold into slavery. Almost all Romanian gypsies were in the status of slaves, and only in 1864 slavery in Romania was abolished. The liberation of the Roma, in turn, led to the beginning of their mass migration from Romania to neighboring countries, including the Russian Empire.
In Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which fell under the rule of the Habsburgs, the position of the Gypsies was qualitatively different than in the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. Austrian legislation, in the spirit of the times (and Europe in the 17th-18th centuries experienced a real "epidemic" of the fight against vagrancy and begging) put all gypsies outside the law. This led to the beginning of the massacres of the gypsies. In 1710, the imperial governor in the Kingdom of Bohemia named as applied measures: the execution of men; whipping and cutting off the ear of women and children. In 1721 Emperor Charles VI ordered women to be hanged as well. Only under Empress Maria Theresa did the antigypsy policy of the Austrian authorities undergo major changes. Now the gypsies were supposed not to be killed, but to be assimilated. Maria Theresa issued decrees prohibiting the use of the word "gypsy" itself. Instead, the designation "new Hungarian" or "new settler" was introduced. The gypsy language was banned, and all nomads were ordered to settle down. Of course, the assimilation measures also had a positive component - for example, all gypsies received passports with new Hungarian or German names and surnames, which also meant that the gypsy population was granted civil rights. Children were supposed to be removed from families in order to get rid of the influence of their parents and the assimilation of gypsy traditions, and placed for education in Hungarian, Czech or Slovak peasant families. It was forbidden to keep horses and engage in horse breeding. However, Maria Theresa's assimilation policy was never fully implemented. Thus, Austria-Hungary, which planned to completely dissolve the gypsy minorities in the Hungarian or Czechoslovak environment, thanks to a significant easing of the policy towards the gypsies, has become one of the most comfortable countries for them. This contributed to the fact that a number of gypsy groups were formed on its territory, whose representatives subsequently appeared on the territory of Russia - the Magyars, Lovaris, and partly the Kalderari (this group was formed at the junction of the Hungarian, Romanian and Serbian borders).
The most serious test for the gypsy population of Eastern Europe was the Nazi occupation. The gypsies became the second people after the Jews that Hitler was going to completely destroy physically. The most brutal murders of gypsies took place in the Slavic countries of Eastern Europe and in the Baltic states. In Romania, the local authorities did not switch to a policy of total extermination of the Roma population, allowing Roma even to roam on Romanian territory. According to recent studies, at least about 150,000-200,000 Roma in Central and Eastern Europe were exterminated by the Nazis and their allies. Among them, over 30,000 persons of gypsy nationality were citizens of the Soviet Union, living in the Nazi-occupied territories of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, the Baltic republics, the RSFSR. Many Soviet gypsies during the war years were drafted into the ranks of the army, some participated in partisan resistance.
The socialists wanted to "include" the gypsies in society
The socialist policy towards the gypsy population of Eastern Europe was controversial. On the one hand, a course was taken for a radical modernization of the social structure of the gypsy groups. First of all, the authorities of the Soviet Union, and then other socialist countries of Eastern Europe, set the task of combating the nomadic lifestyle of the gypsy population. For this, not only the nomadic way of life was criticized in every possible way and sedentism was promoted, but real social and economic conditions were also created. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a special pedagogical college was established in Moscow and Leningrad, and gypsy schools were opened. In 1931, the world-famous gypsy theater "Romen" was organized. Work was carried out to create a gypsy script, the publication of literature in the gypsy language was organized. The activities of the Soviet government were not limited to cultural and educational activities. Thus, gypsy artels and collective farms were created, which were supposed to contribute to the settlement and employment of the gypsy population. In the countries of Eastern Europe in the post-war years, they tried to find jobs in large industrial enterprises. Areas of typical high-rise buildings were built near them, in which apartments were provided for gypsy workers. Naturally, this policy also contributed to the destruction of the traditional way of life of the gypsy population and its partial assimilation. However, given the significantly lower level of education and, more often than not, the lack of vocational training, Roma in Eastern European countries worked predominantly in hard, low-skilled, and poorly paid jobs. But, on the other hand, only in the socialist countries was there any centralized policy to provide jobs and affordable education for the gypsy population. After the late 1980s. Eastern European countries began to move to a market economy, a huge number of enterprises in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria were closed. Enterprise workers were unemployed. Moreover, if representatives of the titular nations could still find work, including due to higher qualifications, education, and the national factor also played a role, then the gypsies found themselves on the sidelines of social space. As a result, there was a rapid return to the traditional way of life, since the transition to market democracy also entailed the rejection of harsh repressive measures for vagrancy and lack of work.
Romania and Bulgaria are the most "gypsy" countries in Europe
In the most difficult situation were the gypsies of Romania. As we noted above, the gypsy population in this country ranges from 3 to 11% of the total population of Romania. In any case, there are several million gypsies here. Most Romanian gypsies live below the poverty line - if the Romanians themselves have enormous problems with work, then there is no question of representatives of the gypsy minority. At least 50% of Romanian Gypsies are unemployed, and among the employed, 60% are unskilled workers at construction sites, enterprises, and in the housing and communal services sector. Among Romanian Gypsies, 58% of men and 89% of women do not have education and training, 27% of children are illiterate and do not learn to read and write. It is known that over 60% of Romanian Gypsies live in rural areas. Naturally, there is no need to talk about any jobs in the Romanian countryside in conditions of mass unemployment. Therefore, many gypsies, having returned to a traditional way of life, are sent to the countries of Western Europe, especially to Italy and France, where they hope to earn money through fortune-telling, begging and criminal activities.
The most serious problem of Romanian gypsies in Italy and France escalated in the second half of the 2000s, when tens of thousands of people from Romania set up their tent camps in Italian and French cities. The local press was flooded with reports of numerous crimes committed by Roma people against indigenous people and foreign citizens. It was these circumstances that forced French President Sarkozy to resort to a deportation strategy. At the same time, the French government not only agreed to pay the costs of transporting Roma families back to Romania, but also to pay each of them an allowance of 300 euros per adult and 100 euros per child.
A fairly similar situation is with the Gypsies of Bulgaria. About a million people of gypsy nationality live here. This is the third largest people in the country after the Bulgarians and Turks. According to official data, Roma make up 4.7% of the country's population, according to unofficial data - up to 8%. The Gypsy population of Bulgaria is heterogeneous - part of it professes Orthodoxy and is more integrated into the Bulgarian environment, part - even during the Ottoman Empire converted to Islam and, accordingly, maintains closer ties with the Turkish communities in Bulgaria. It is precisely for close cooperation with the Turks during the years of Ottoman rule that the Bulgarians dislike the Gypsies, especially the part of them that converted to Islam and actually merged with the Turkish community. Gypsies periodically become the heroes of the criminal chronicles of the Bulgarian press. In 2011, some of the largest anti-Gypsy protests in Europe took place in Bulgaria. On September 23, 2011, a minibus belonging to one of the influential Roma authorities knocked to death 19-year-old Bulgarian Angel Petrov. After that, riots began in the village of Katunitsy, where the tragedy occurred. The funeral of the downed youth on September 25 turned into all-Bulgarian protest demonstrations. In Plovdiv, Varna and a number of other cities, football fans and right-wing activists launched attacks on urban areas populated by gypsies. In the end, under pressure from the public, the owner of the minibus, who had hit Angel Petrov, was arrested. Despite the fact that the unrest gradually subsided, the very level of tension showed how difficult the problem of interethnic relations is in modern Bulgaria. And one of the main reasons for this is the policy of the government of the country, which, on the one hand, does not create real conditions for the social development of the Roma community, on the other hand, implements the notorious “principles of tolerance”, which turn into the conservation of enclaves and the permissiveness of ethnocriminal groups.
The absence of real programs for social modernization only contributes to the further criminalization of the gypsy communities in Bulgaria (as, indeed, in other countries of Eastern Europe). Given the high birth rate, poverty, poor education and lack of professional qualifications, this leads to very serious problems. Those social programs that exist in Bulgaria and a number of other countries of Eastern Europe in relation to the gypsy population only contribute to the further conservation of dependent tendencies. In particular, the practice of paying allowances to Roma families actually deprives them of an incentive to work, but does not at all prevent criminal and semi-criminal activities. Instead of creating jobs, creating conditions for the education and training of children and young people, while also introducing serious measures in terms of responsibility for criminal behavior, the authorities prefer to “pay off” with benefits, believing that this will partially solve the social problems of the Roma population. In fact, this practice only contributes to their rooting.
Magyars who are not quite Magyars
The gypsy diaspora is also very numerous in modern Hungary. According to some reports, Roma make up to 8% of the country's population, although official figures report a much smaller number - approximately 2% of the population. But this may also be due to the fact that a significant part of the Hungarian gypsies identify themselves exclusively as Magyars (not to be confused with the Magyars-Hungarians!) And speak the Hungarian language. They have long forgotten the gypsy language, they adopted the Calvinist or Catholic religion. The Magyars are considered one of the sub-ethnic groups ("Nets") of the Gypsy population - in addition to Hungary, a significant number of Magyars live in neighboring Slovakia and the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. The way of life and the "southern" appearance is the only thing that distinguishes the Magyar gypsies from the rest of the Magyars. After the collapse of the USSR, the Gypsies-Magyars living in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine - in the areas of the cities of Beregovo, Vynohradiv and Mukachevo, found themselves in an even worse situation than the gypsies of Hungary. The Transcarpathian region has always been a disadvantaged and poor region, and the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union only contributed to the deepening of the social problems of its population.
As in other countries of Eastern Europe, during the socialist period of the modern Hungarian, all the inhabitants of the country were provided with work. Hungarian gypsies also worked - first of all, in heavy industry enterprises. However, the transition to a market economy contributed to the cessation of many enterprises. The workers were on the street, and the gypsies were in the forefront of the new unemployed. Currently, up to 85% of Hungarian Gypsies do not have a permanent job. The most difficult situation is in the eastern and northeastern regions of Hungary. Naturally, this factor cannot but affect the general level of economic well-being and the social behavior of the Hungarian Gypsies. Most of the country's gypsies live on all sorts of benefits. However, in 2011, the Hungarian government launched an employment program for Roma - they were offered to take part in public works for improvement for 150 euros per month. However, human rights activists immediately declared this a violation of human rights, despite the fact that the lack of work, in their opinion, obviously does not apply to a violation of human rights. As for the Transcarpathian Magyars from Ukraine, they can often be found at railway stations and bazaars in Russian cities - dirty, disheveled mothers with the same children, begging. Having no other means of earning money, the new generations of the Magyars returned to traditional begging, began to trade in petty theft, scattered across the vast expanses of Ukraine, and then Russia. Many Hungarian gypsies - Magyars, in turn, went to the countries of Western Europe. But the majority remains in Hungary, despite a number of problems.
As you know, Hungary is a country with a very developed nationalist movement, which enjoys great influence and support from the Hungarian population. This gives the Hungarian government the opportunity to maintain some independence in domestic and foreign policy compared to other EU countries. In particular, Hungarian politicians constantly express the toughest position on the issue of the migration situation in Europe, their position differs on the problem of relations with Ukraine and Russia. The country's new constitution emphasizes that Hungary is a Christian state of the Hungarians. Accordingly, the national minorities of the country, especially such as the gypsies, are met with a rather cool attitude from the Hungarian government, not to mention the population and right-wing radical parties and movements. It is known that in many Hungarian cities there are "people's squads" created by the Hungarian right and engaged, among other things, in "patrolling" the gypsy quarters. Liberals accuse these squads of nationalism and intimidation of local gypsies, and the representatives of the squads, in turn, believe that they are engaged exclusively in maintaining public order and preventing crime. What can I say - a significant part of the gypsies of Eastern Europe, including Hungary, are engaged in semi-criminal and criminal activities. Begging, fortune-telling, collecting scrap metal (of course, often taking on the character of scrap metal theft) - these are the most harmless activities of Eastern European gypsies. But they do not shy away from ordinary thefts, robberies, robberies. It is widely known about the activities of clans engaged in smuggling and drug trafficking. Gypsies living off criminal activities stand out favorably with their well-being from more law-abiding fellow tribesmen. In the same beggars in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, in the villages inhabited by gypsies, real palaces of local authorities stand out among the surrounding poor houses. Of course, some of them made a fortune not by criminal activity, but by trade, but many expensive houses were built precisely with “dirty” drug money. The surrounding population is well aware of this - hence the dislike for the national minority, which stubbornly refuses to integrate into European reality. Hungarians are worried that among newborns 20% are children from gypsy families - compared to Hungarians, the birth rate among gypsies is colossal, and this cannot but strain those who consider Hungary to be the country of Hungarians. Moreover, the greatest rejection is caused not by the fact that the gypsies are people of a different nationality, but by their unwillingness and unwillingness to assimilate the patterns of behavior and lifestyle adopted by the Hungarians. In other words, the Roma do not integrate into Hungarian society, and this is perhaps the most difficult problem in their relationship with state institutions and the Hungarian population. In one of the suburbs of Budapest, there is "Romano Chia" - "The House of Gypsies", whose organizers are trying to solve perhaps the main problem of the modern Hungarian Gypsy diaspora - an insufficient level of education. It offers additional courses for underachieving students, provides training in professions and foreign languages.
Europe's largest "Roma ghetto"
Slovakia is another Eastern European country where the problem of the social development of the Roma minority is very acute. About 500,000 Roma live in Slovakia with a population of 5.5 million. Over 55% of Slovak Roma have not even reached the age of 18 - this is the youngest ethnic group in the country. However, the average life expectancy of Roma in Slovakia is only 55 years, twenty years less than that of the Slovaks (76 years). As in neighboring Hungary, in Slovakia the government is quite resolute in relation to migration and national problems. The social problems associated with the residence of an impressive gypsy minority are solved in Slovakia in a rather specific way. It is known that Europe's largest enclave of densely populated Roma is located in the Slovak city of Kosice. This is the Lunik IX microdistrict. Here, on an area of just over one square kilometer, about 8,000 Slovak gypsies live. Lunik was built in the 1970s. as a typical district of high-rise buildings, and in 1979 it was decided to populate the microdistrict with gypsies. It was assumed that life in city apartments would contribute to a change in their way of life, lead to gradual assimilation and transformation into ordinary Slovaks employed at enterprises. To do this, gypsies from a village demolished nearby were settled in a microdistrict surrounded by Slovaks. However, the latter soon realized the problematic nature of such a neighborhood and began to leave the area en masse. The vacated apartments were occupied by more and more gypsy families. In the mid 1980s. Roma made up half of the population of the district, and by the end of the 1990s. all 100% of the population of Lunik were representatives of the gypsy national minority.
A third of the population of the eight thousandth Lunik are minors, according to official data, more than six people live in each standard apartment here, according to unofficial data - up to 12-14 people. Of course, the area is extremely problematic, considered a "headache" by the city authorities of Kosice. Since we are not talking about any payment for utilities here, almost all the houses in the area are disconnected from gas, water supply and electricity. The vast majority of adult residents of the region also do not have a permanent job. In Slovakia, not every Slovak with education and qualifications can find a job, what can we say about people without any education and profession. Therefore, it is not surprising that residents of the Kosice districts adjacent to Lunik began to complain about the constant theft and the abundance of beggars on the streets. In the end, the city authorities decided to build a wall that would separate the disadvantaged area from the rest of the city. The wall cost the city budget 4,700 euros, it is a two-meter concrete fence, which, according to the city authorities and the police, will improve the situation in the field of policing in Kosice. Naturally, human rights organizations consider the "Great Slovak Wall" in Kosice to be a manifestation of discrimination against the Roma minority. They are answered by the right, who are convinced that the problem is not in the gypsies, but in the way of life that leads, due to the lack of work and permanent employment, the majority of the adult population of the disadvantaged area. In August 2015, in the Kosice district, in the town of Spisska Nova Ves, there was a clash between the gypsies and the police. About 200 men and boys of gypsy nationality refused to comply with the demands of the police to stop the drunken spree. As a result of clashes, 9 Roma and 7 policemen were injured. Juraj Leshko, the head of the Košice Region Police, said that this is the twenty-fifth clash between the police and the Roma in this region of Slovakia. The most problematic region of the country is Eastern Slovakia - here the socio-economic situation is even worse than in the west, and the number of the Roma minority is much higher.
In the neighboring Czech Republic, the “gypsy issue” has always been less acute than in Slovakia. After all, the number of gypsy population here was much lower. However, after the collapse of Czechoslovakia, a significant part of the Slovak gypsies moved to the Czech Republic, since its economic situation favorably differed from that of Slovakia. As a result, the number of Roma population began to grow rapidly in the country. In 1989, 145 thousand Roma lived in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, and in 1999 their number almost doubled and amounted to 300 thousand people. How many gypsies live in the Czech Republic at the present time, no one knows. This leads to dissatisfaction of the Czech right-wing circles. In September 2015, in the northern Bohemian town of Shluknovska, mass riots almost came to a head - the authorities had to introduce additional police forces to prevent the massacre of right-wing radical activists and football fans over the gypsies living in the city. The reason for such a decisive attitude of the rightists was the numerous complaints of the city residents about the criminal activity of the Roma youth.
Problem solving is possible, but unlikely
Only a few members of the Romani minority in Eastern European countries manage to get an education and climb up the social ladder. Such representatives of the gypsy intelligentsia are well aware of all the numerous problems of their fellow tribesmen. Someone is trying to solve them by creating all sorts of national and cultural organizations, but most of the “risen” people still prefer to forget about their origin and take a personal course towards assimilation in the Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak environment. Numerous public organizations are being created in the countries of Eastern Europe, which seem to be focused on solving the problems of the gypsy population. However, in reality, many of them actually exist only to receive grants and simulate activities. The imaginary concern of the state for the adaptation of gypsy minorities also leads to strange consequences. Thus, in Serbia, a quota was introduced for Roma when entering higher educational institutions - in addition to preferential rights for admission and free education, they are also provided with free hostel, meals and a scholarship. In practice, this has led some Serbian applicants to try to identify themselves as gypsies, hoping to enjoy the privileges listed above. On the other hand, members of the intelligentsia with gypsy roots often try to hide their origin for fear of discrimination. They are focused on maximum integration into the surrounding society, abandon all customs and traditions, when necessary - change names and surnames and prefer not to remember who their ancestors were.
In modern Europe, a complex, paradoxical situation has developed. The countries of Western Europe, to put it mildly, are not eager to see Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian gypsies on the streets of their cities. At the same time, they criticize the antigypsy, from their point of view, policy of the Eastern European states. In Eastern Europe, in turn, the socio-economic situation does not allow for a large-scale solution to the social and socio-cultural problems of the Roma population. As a result, the migration of Roma to Western Europe becomes profitable for Eastern European governments - according to the principle "the more they leave, the less problems." European countries cannot reach a consensus on the issue of resolving the current situation, and “fuel is added to the fire” by the structures of the European Union, which impede any attempts at centralized activities of Eastern European countries for the employment and socialization of Roma minorities. However, against the backdrop of modern Afro-Asian migration, the problems of the original "nomads of Europe" fade into the background. One thing can be said with certainty - without drastic measures in the socio-economic sphere, no changes will occur. It is possible to spend billions more on welfare payments, building concrete walls around gypsy neighborhoods, deportations, or, conversely, advertising brochures talking about tolerance, but until measures are taken to create jobs, organize the upbringing and education of children, the “gypsy problem” in modern Europe will never be solved.
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How to find the correct spelling and folder
Missing or Broken Files
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RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %(REQUEST_FILENAME) !-f
RewriteCond %(REQUEST_FILENAME) !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
# End WordPress
If your blog is showing the wrong domain name in links, redirecting to another site, or is missing images and style, these are all usually related to the same problem: you have the wrong domain name configured in your WordPress blog.
How to modify your .htaccess file
The .htaccess file contains directives (instructions) that tell the server how to behave in certain scenarios and directly affect how your website functions.
Redirects and rewriting URLs are two very common directives found in a .htaccess file, and many scripts such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Magento add directives to the .htaccess so those scripts can function.
It is possible that you may need to edit the .htaccess file at some point, for various reasons.This section covers how to edit the file in cPanel, but not what may need to be changed.(You may need to consult other articles and resources for that information.)
There are Many Ways to Edit a .htaccess File
- Edit the file on your computer and upload it to the server via FTP
- Use an FTP program's Edit Mode
- Use SSH and a text editor
- Use the File Manager in cPanel
The easiest way to edit a .htaccess file for most people is through the File Manager in cPanel.
How to Edit .htaccess files in cPanel's File Manager
Before you do anything, it is suggested that you backup your website so that you can revert back to a previous version if something goes wrong.
Open the File Manager
- Log into cPanel.
- In the Files section, click on the file manager icon.
- Check the box for Document Root for and select the domain name you wish to access from the drop-down menu.
- Make sure Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)" is checked.
- Click go. The File Manager will open in a new tab or window.
- Look for the .htaccess file in the list of files. You may need to scroll to find it.
To Edit the .htaccess File
- right click on the .htaccess file and click Code Edit from the menu. Alternatively, you can click on the icon for the .htaccess file and then click on the code editor icon at the top of the page.
- A dialogue box may appear asking you about encoding. just click Edit to continue. The editor will open in a new window.
- Edit the file as needed.
- Click Save Changes in the upper right hand corner when done. The changes will be saved.
- Test your website to make sure your changes were successfully saved. If not, correct the error or revert back to the previous version until your site works again.
- Once completed, you can click close to close the File Manager window.
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