Defenceless Roma: A history of prejudice and persecution
n the book of human suffering, a large chapter must be reserved for the Roma, a people who have been persecuted and misunderstood for centuries, since they left their northwest India homeland in the 2nd century.
It is believed their language descended from ancient Hindi or Punjabi, and, in spite of intermarriage over the centuries, the Roma have distinctive blood types linked to the warrior class of northern India.
Their famous musical tradition is also noted in 5th-century Persian history, when Roma musicians joined the royal court.
With no record written by the Roma themselves, historians have found it hard to piece together the story of their numerous migrations.
But some scholars speculate that they travelled westward to Persia, the Middle East and Turkey by the 10th century,
Ithen fled the advancing rule of Islam by entering Europe.
During their wide-ranging migrations, they developed three language groups: Domari in the Middle East and eastern Europe; Lomarvren in central Europe; and Romani in western Europe. Within those groups, they formed some 14 tribes.
They are also known as gypsies, a term they and many others consider pejorative.
Their arrival in Europe was a turbulent one. In the superstitionMiddle Ages, the church legalized the killing of Roma considered to be in league with witches. As late as the mid-8th century, there are cases of them being slaughtered in Germany and imprisoned in Spain. From the 14th century, the Roma were enslaved throughout Europe, an abuse that continued until slavery was abolished in the mid- 19th century.
They were persecuted in Germany’s Weimar Republic during the 1920s and Adolf Hitler declared them “sub-humans” and murdered about 500,000 of them during World War II.
After the war, the surviving Roma lived uneasily in eastern Europe and former Yugoslavia, and when the communist states crumbled, they were particular targets for racism and discrimination. Human rights groups have documented numerous abuses, including random beatings, killings and rapes, as well as social exclusion.
Separated by distance and tribal histories, the Roma have been unable to gain an international power base. They have no unifying culture and most have converted to the religions of their host countries: Catholicism, Islam and the Christian Orthodox faith. The lack of political power has left the Roma vulnerable and often defenceless.
But, says a report from the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, “the Roma in Kosovo may be the most oppressed of all. They appear to be hated by both the Albanian/ Muslim majority and the Serbian/ Christian minority.”