Abstract
Research shows that there are 15-20 million Roma in Europe. It is a people without a country. Many of these Roma lived in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. These countries were part of the USSR where the policy of assimilation was strong.
In the Eastern Bloc, assimilation also meant favouring name changes. Communism wanted to eradicate nomadism, promote “sedentarization” by building entire neighbourhoods for the popular masses. For example, in Budapest, the old town has been preserved and it is in the periphery that large blocks of buildings have been built for the popular mass, including the Romas. Their way of life in a caravan, without a fixed address, had to disappear, because under communism, the work card had to control the working masses and make it possible to locate all the people.
Forced assimilation still allowed them to have a job. The Roma language was also considered archaic. Romas were seen as largely illiterate and misfits for the new economic, political and social order.
However, we note that assimilation was only partially successful, leaving, after 1989, the Roma population poorly adapted to the changes and above all, the often illiterate and underqualified, Romas were considered of little use for the new economic option: capitalism.
The greatest failure after the fall of Communism is that the Romas remain 90% illiterate in Hungary and elsewhere. The most painful change was the fact that with the collapse of Communism (1989), the State no longer guaranteed housing and work for all. The former satellite countries are collapsing economically with a huge increase in the unemployed.
Those who are the most affected are people without training, without diplomas. The whole Roma community is affected. The satellite countries therefore regard the Roma as parasites, a population that is a burden for society. Their precariousness is multiple: housing, employment, education of children…
Indeed, under the Soviet regime the Roma had a job, even a subordinate one. There was even a separate Roma community: the musicians. They had, it seems, an easier life than the other Roma. Before 1989, restaurants were full and Gypsy musicians brightened up the evenings to the sound of Gypsy orchestras. The power even favoured these musicians, in particular by turning a blind eye to the undeclared tips on which they could live well.
After 1989, an “ultra” capitalism settled in Hungary. People want to forget the past and look to Western countries as the model to emulate. The “kolkozes” (mass agricultural and livestock farms) are destroyed, the law of the market prevails. In Hungary, it was a period when the “apparatchiks” bought up the land en masse with the old levers of power still in place and the first, Antal government. This period when the former apparatchiks use themselves for ridiculous prices also concerns the purchase of real estate at low prices. The new rich appear to be the new dominant class and are the heirs of the old regime, called post-communist. In Hungary, this will be called “Rendszervàltàs”.
In Hungary, the new dominant class of former communists send their children to foreign universities to constitute 10-15 years later, the new political heads. The “elders”, like Horn Gyula, who is a former AVH (Communist secret police sadly famous for torture), Medgyessy Peter, who was a minister under the regime of Jànos Kàdàr,… remain present on the political scene. The former AVH, Horn Gyula will even be Prime Minister. One denies the past, one’s membership in the Communist Party. The phenomenon affects all the former satellite countries of the USSR. All the members of the former communist regime are working to get a facelift. Horn Gyula will be the mentor of young socialists, like Gyurcsàny Ferenc,…
But these changes also lead to the impoverishment of the popular mass and especially for those who have no qualifications: the Roma. Solidarity is dethroned by “every man for himself” and the desire to become rich as quickly as possible. For the Romas, who are not entitled to the cake of the distribution of goods between “apparatchiks”, the only way out is to migrate to Western countries, in search of El Dorado. This is done from the 90s. The dismantling of Yugoslavia, with 10 years of war in the 90s will also precipitate the desire to flee famine, war, discrimination. Discrimination has always existed, but to a lesser extent, because the Communist Regime had tried to attenuate the discrimination by work, food and housing for all.
With the fall of Communism, prices are skyrocketing and concern food, energy, water, rents. If during the communist period, a social safety net existed (virtually free medical care, pensions for even young people, unfit for work, etc.), after 1989, this social safety net was broken and became almost non-existent. People are losing their jobs, the Roma first. We don’t need them any more. They became parasites again for the new society being created, imitating at will what is done in Western Europe. The testimonies collected highlight this reality.
Since 1989, some Eastern Bloc countries have joined Europe and the Schengen area. The nationals of these countries (Balkans, Romania, Hungary,…) they arrive in Western countries for a better future. Many are fleeing discrimination (Romas from Bulgaria, Romania, etc.) or the war in the Balkans.
In this work, I mainly wanted to collect source information concerning the experience of Roma under the Communist regime. I wanted to know the forms of discrimination to which they were subjected. Learn more about the past of the Roma during the Communist Regime and after the fall of this Regime.
I also wanted to meet musicians who seemed to be quite privileged under the Communist Regime and who experienced the descent into hell with the fall of the Communist Regime.
I also wanted to find out their motivations for leaving their country of origin. How did they adopt their host country? What essential values do they hold in their host country? In the host country can Romas preserve their identity, language and traditions? Are they discriminated against in their host country?
We often hear that the Romas are discriminated against and research has been carried out on this subject. I wanted to listen to the testimonies of Romas in various countries, but also to listen to non-Roma people in order to try to know the perception they had of the Roma.
Living together with the Roma community, is it possible? How? ‘Or’ What ? Are there any solutions? Non-Romas were interviewed in 3 cities of Central Europe, in order to know the perceptions they had of Roma.
I approached families in Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, Austria, Slovakia and Romania. I also met Roma families who had migrated to Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and France. The migrants came from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Romania. Some interviewed Romas are Muslims, some are Christians.
Tittle : Discrimination and family values concerning the Romas Causes of migrations. Importance of music in everyday life The possibility to live together Testimonials
Author : Ferenc Sebök/ Ballsbridge University
Published in Journal of Social Sciences and Engineering , Volume 35 , Issue 3
doi : 10.55272/rufso.rjsse