Fiction that Matters

collective-history:

The Romani are an ethnic group living mostly in Europe, who trace their origins to the Indian Subcontinent. Romani are widely known in the English-speaking world by the exonym Gypsies 

Romani are widely dispersed, with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe and Anatolia, followed by the Kale of Iberia and Southern France.

The Americas are also home to large numbers of Romani. There are an estimated one million Roma in the United States; 800,000 in Brazil, whose ancestors were deported by the government of Portugal during the colonial era; and in more recent migrations, Romani have also moved to other parts of the Americas.

The Romani language is divided into several dialects, which add up to an estimated number of speakers larger than two million. The total number of Romani people is at least twice as large (several times as large according to high estimates). Many Romani are native speakers of the language current in their country of residence, or of mixed languages combining the two.

As Romani were and still are marginalized in society, Romani history was and still is sidelined in mainstream history. Public knowledge about the history and culture of this nation, which numerically is the largest minority in Europe, is still marginal or nonexistent among ordinary people. 

Thus, the Council of Europe has produced a collection of pedagogical fact sheets on Romani history, culture and language which I have linked to below. They’re all pretty fascinating even though they can be long at times, I’d definitely recommend checking them out though!

• General Introduction
• From India to Europe
• Arrival in Europe
• Ottoman Empire
• Wallachia and Moldavia
• Central Europe
• Western Europe
• Austro-Hungarian Empire
• Russian Empire
• The Great “Gypsy” Round-up in Spain
• Second Migration
• Austria and Hungary 1850-1938
• Soviet Union Before World War II
• Holocaust
• Concentration Camps
• The Nazi Period in Italy
• Internment in France 1940-1946
• The Nazi Period in the Baltic states
• Deportation from Romania
• The Situation of Concentration Camp Survivors
• State Policies under Communism
• Institutionalisation and Emancipation
• Third Migration