History

The history of this minority is special regarding their original situation, the migration evolution, and the difficult obstacles they met during all the centuries.

 

Roma people represent the largest minority in Europe, became a core subject for all EU countries and EU policies in the past years.

 

Regarding Roma’s origins, the anthropologists discovered, thanks to the Romani language, their habits and professional occupations that the Roma came from India (musicians, acrobats, and artisans). Since the 9th century they have migrated to the Middle East and Europe.

 

Roma people arrived in France for the first time in the 15th century when they were recognized as very talented musicians. Under this status, they were protected by the Pope and the sovereign until the 17th century, when their situation changed: Roma people started to suffer from discriminations, and their endless troubles with the authorities. In France, the first Roma community censuses were realized during the 19th century. They counted around 25,000 bohemian people.

 

http://www.herodote.net/Europe-synthese-525.php

 

This situation led to the fact that in the 19th century, Roma people were obliged to hold a certificate in order to be more easily controlled.

 

In the 20th century, more and more Roma people arrived in France from Eastern European countries. Several laws were very harsh with these minorities at the beginning of the 20th century to control and to eject them from France. During the 2nd World War, Roma people living in France had very hard living conditions. Many Roma people were killed (more than 300,000 in all Europe) and they were suspected of spying by French authorities. So many of them were locked in camps at the end of the war. At the end of the 20th century, some European laws and regulations opened the circulation within the EU and it increased the number of the migrations of Roma communities in Europe.

 

According to Amnesty International, the majority of them come from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary.

 

References:

Amnesty International, 2013, Condamnés à l'errance, les expulsions forcées de Roms en France [online], France, [2013], Amnesty International, available at: http://www.amnesty.fr/sites/default/files/Rapport_Expulsions_forc%C3%A9es_de_roms_en_France_260913.pdf

 

De Chazournes R. & Granja C., 2014, En 2014, rien ne changera vraiment pour les Roms [online], France, Paris, [2014], Myeurop.info, available at: http://fr.myeurop.info/2014/01/02/2014-rien-ne-changera-pour-les-roms-12805