Magazine / Society / Roma in Europe / Article | 02/10/2007

The Sinti and Roma people as foe images

There are strong feelings of rejection towards the Sinti and Roma people in many European countries. Brigitte Mihok and Peter Widmann analyse the prejudices against the Sinti and Roma people which have a long tradition within the European communities

In many European countries, the Sinti and Roma people belong to those ethnic groups against which there are strong feelings of rejection. The foreign term "gipsy” is often meant as a term of disgrace, which is why many members of the minority reject it.

Roma school girls attend a class in Braila, Romania.
Photo: AP

In a large number of cases, this aversion, as has been identified by the social scientific prejudice research, is independent of personal experience. The prejudices are based on generalised accusations and fantasies. Generalised judgements become apparent, for example, in the non-provable assumption that there is a strong tendency in members of the minority towards cheating and theft, or in illusory imaginings represented by stories of children-stealing "gypsies”, for which there is no historical evidence. At the same time, a romantic cliché about "gypsies” with "music in their blood” was in circulation, embodying a closeness to the natural world and freedom, magic and secrecy against a cold and rational world.

Reality has little in common with the myths. This has already been shown by the delusive tags:"the gypsies" as a homogeneous folk do not exist. Those collected under this term in fact belong to different groups which live in all the countries of Europe and beyond. In Europe, their number is estimated as being 7 to 8.5 million. Every group has its own identity, reflected in its own descriptive name. The "Sinti” are members of a group which have been residents in the German-speaking regions for over six centuries. In other countries, the groups have their own descriptive names such as "Manouches” or "Kalé”.

The mental image of the Sinti and Roma people as being homeless nomads is also more the fantasy of mainstream society then reality - although a substantial number of the minority did live for a long time from mobile business; from trading textiles or haberdashery, as smiths, basket weavers and sieve makers, as musicians or actors. During the twentieth century, however, the majority of the Sinti and Roma people within the German-speaking regions have taken up permanent residence. The Roma in Eastern Europe, too, have settled since the 1970's. Terms such as "homelessness” or "nomadism” are therefore misleading.

The assumption that the Sinti and Roma people generally follow a lifestyle dominated by tradition which basically separates them from the majority of society is also incorrect. In fact, the spectrum of lifestyles within the minority is as wide as that of main-stream society. If one asks the Sinti and Roma people what characterises their culture, one receives different, sometimes contradictory information. In addition to the language, the answers regularly show that family and relatives are valued more highly in comparison to the majority of society. Respect for older people and familial cohesion are important values in the Sinti and Roma cultures, which may be connected to their history of persecution. Because the Sinti and Roma people could not rely on the help of people in main-stream society, solidarity within the group was all the more important.

The prejudices have a long tradition in European communities. In the German-speaking regions, they have increasingly influenced the actions of the police and local authorities since the end of the nineteenth century. In this way, a pattern of exclusion developed which was termed the "fight against the plague of gypsies” in official language usage up to the 1950's. Under national socialist leadership, this persecution escalated into genocide, to which a large part of the Sinti and Roma people in Germany and in the European countries occupied by the German military forces fell victim.

In all European countries, the prejudices obtain their durability against factual confutation by, among other things, their own dynamic quality, which triggers the generalised demonisation of society groupings. Moreover, the stereotypes force the members of the minority into a social and economic position in which they appear to confirm the views of the majority population. As the local authorities, for example, hunted the Sinti and Roma people from the towns, assuming that they would not be able to integrate, and only tolerated them at the most on isolated camp sites without electricity and water supplies, their surroundings began to see them as a group of people apparently uninterested in approaching their environment. In this manner, those supporting the isolation created an optical appearance which they could use in order to justify their prejudices. In this way, social perception had the effect of a prophecy appearing to fulfil itself.

In a similar way, parts of the minority are still pushed to the edges of many European countries today. Sixty percent of the Roma in Hungary live in regions with weak economic powers and infrastructures. Half of these groups live in small, isolated villages and suffer in insufficient living quarters and bad living conditions. Many Roma people in Rumania also live in abysmal conditions. A good part of the minority lives in decrepit suburb settlements of large towns and in barracks, next to rubbish dumps. In the Czech Republic, too, most Roma people live in ghettos at the edge of former industrial centres. Segregation encouraged by the administration in Slovakia has led to the number of Roma settlements nearly doubling since 1988. A third of the Slovakian Roma lives there in appalling conditions.

It is, however, not only the countries which have just joined the EU in which the vicious circle of prejudice and isolation can be recognised. When many Roma people fled from the ruins of Yugoslavia, from armed conflicts and expulsions, they also experienced isolation in the countries into which they migrated. Fear of further entries made many German authorities keep the refugees in provisional solutions which remained in this state for years and were there to deter their inhabitants. Old school buildings, administration buildings and decrepit hotels were declared as residential accommodation. Many accommodation possibilities were set at the edges of towns and on industrial estates with bad transport connections. The building fabric was often unsound and there was insufficient social support. In Cologne, for example, at the end of the nineties, refugees were accommodated on the site of the former Kalk (lime) chemical factory and on the ship "Transit” in the Deutzer harbour. Others were placed in barracks and tents. Instead of cash, the refugees were provided with collective catering, vouchers and non-cash benefits. Similar conditions could be seen in Hamburg in the summer of 1999. 200 refugees from Kosovo, among them 100 children, lived on the ship "Bibby Altona”. In some towns the provisory solution became for some of the families a permanent condition, as official documents and information from local skilled workers show. In many residential establishments, the integration barriers accumulate, so that they threaten to become stigmatised locations for losers.

In spite of this, it would be incorrect to assume that the minority are a homogenous group of helpless victims. The media and authorities take problem groups within the minority to be typical of all Roma people. This means that successful steps towards integration taken by those people who don't become the target group for local decisions and measures: for those who are not recognisable as being Roma people to their surroundings, who are not dependent on social services or Roma organisations and who attempt to achieve normality, in spite of all bureaucracy and resentments, remain invisible.

Glossary

The terms "Sinti” and "Roma”

The term Sinti is used for the members of a group whose ancestors probably migrated into German-speaking regions around 600 years ago. Roma, on the other hand, are those groups which have come to Germany since the 19th century from the eastern and south eastern countries. The German Sinti have German nationality. The terms "Sinti and Roma" are repeatedly referred to in connection with eastern and south eastern countries – incorrectly. There are hardly any Sinti living there, but instead different Roma groups.

Singular (m.): Sinto
Plural (m.): Sinti
Singular (m.): Rom
Plural (m.): Roma
Singular (f.): Sintiza
Plural (f.): Sintiza
Singular (f.): Romni
Plural (f.): Romnija