The Roma in the Czech Republic

1
The Roma in the Czech Republic
2
Who are the Roma people?

• Believed to have come from India between the 10th
  and 13th centuries
• Spread to western Europe in the 14th century
• Migrated from India, through Persia, Armenia and
  the Byzantine Empire
• Not sure exactly where in India the Roma
  originated in. Perhaps the north, perhaps central?

www.wikipedia.org
3
Where are they now?

• All throughout Europe
• Large concentration in Central and Eastern Europe
• Hard to estimate a population

www.wikipedia.org
4
Romani Language

• Common misconceptions
• Romance Language
• Dialect of Romanian
• UNESCO Atlas of the worlds languages in danger
  of disappearing
• Indo-European? Indo-Iranian? Indo-Aryan? Central
  Zone? Romani
• Closely related to Hindi and Urdu

5
Romani Language

• Large number of dialects
• Vlax dialect predominant
• No accepted standard
• Nearly all speakers of Romani are multi-lingual
• The majority of speakers are located in Bulgaria,
  Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Russia

6
Structural Aspects

• Verbs
• Different ending depending on subject
• Word order
• Flexible
• Most common is Verb (Object) Subject
• Nouns
• Case markers
• Indicates grammatical function of the word
• Vocabulary
• Basic vocabulary is Indian based
• Huge inventory of borrowed words

7
Some Romani Sayings

• Bari chib, tikni godi ? Big mouth, small brain
• GilI nikaske na chines pativ ? you cannot
  offend anybody with a song
• Andro muy gule lava, e churi andre baj ? In the
  mouth sweet words, in the pocket a knife

8
Roma in the Czech Republic

• Long history of discrimination
• Overcrowding
• Stereotypes
• Dirty
• Thieves

www.polusnord.com
9
History of discrimination

• 1541 Leopold I expels all Roma
• 1700 Charles VI orders their extermination
• 1740 all Roma entering Bohemia were to be hung
• 1771 Maria Theresa starts program of assimilation
• 1780 Josef II ordered Roma to settle in ghettoes
• 1920s Roma recognized as an official minority
• 1927 Roma to carry gypsy personal identity
  cards
• 1941 Forced into concentration camps by Nazis
• 1948 Communists repealed official recognition as
  minority group
• 1989 Fall of communism had both positive and
  negative repercussions

10
Issues facing Roma today

• Forced Sterilization
• Began during the Communist era as a way to reduce
  Roma population
• Way of undermining the most important aspect of
  Roma identity
• Coerced or paid to sign waiver forms
• Called a genocide by signatories of Charter 77
• Monetary incentive ended after 1989

11
Issues facing Roma today

• Education
• Sent to schools for the mentally handicapped
• professional study programs
• Not prepared to go to college
• Reasons given by authorities
• Language barriers, difference in value systems,
  and simply because they are Roma
• The majority of parents accept the status quo

12
Issues facing Roma today

• Housing
• Forced relocation during Communism
• Living in sub-par housing
• Overcrowded
• Nearly impossible to move to non-Roma areas
• Police Discrimination

13
Conclusions

• The Roma have been discriminated against for as
  long as they have been in Europe
• Their language has survived 700 years despite
  attempts to quash it
• The Roma in the Czech Republic want to assimilate
  but maintain their identity, however they are not
  given the chance to do so

http//romove.radio.cz/en/article/18199
14
Bibliography

• Bakker, Peter, Milena Hubschmannova, Valdemar
  Kalinin, Donald Kenrick, Hristo Kyuchukov,
  Yaron Matras, and Giulio Soravia. What is the
  Romani Language. Hertfordshire University of
  Hertfordshire P, 2000.
• Matras, Yaron. Romani a Linguistic Introduction.
  Cambridge Cambridge UP, 2002.
• Struggling for Ethnic Identity Czechoslovakia's
  Endangered Gypsies. New York Human Rights
  Watch, 1992.
• "Roma people." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
  22 Apr 2006,. 23 Apr 2006. http//en.wikipedia.
  org/w/index.php?titleRoma_peopleoldid 49559159.

15
Bibliography

• Maticni Street. Roma in the Czech Republic. 26
  Feb 2000. 22 Apr 2006. http//romove.radio.cz/en
  /article/18199
• Marianke Lazne. Polus Nord. 2003. 22 Apr 2006.
  http//www.polusnord.com/ML/images/M_MAP_Czech.jp
  g
• "Romani language." Wikipedia, The Free
  Encyclopedia. 18 Apr 2006. 23 Apr 2006.
  http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?titleRomani_
  languageol did48996867.