While the period of the first wave of migration of Roma from South Asia is a matter of debate, a wave is believed to have occurred in an attempt to escape the consequences of the invasions by
Mahmud of Ghazni. The historical persecution and discrimination of Romani people is also thought to have been rooted in the lowest strata of the
Hindu caste system. The ill-treatment of the
Doma caste may have compelled them to flee India. Genetic research and historical evidence suggest that the Roma originated from the
Dalit, or "untouchable," groups in India. They were commonly associated with occupations such as musicians, dancers, and entertainers, and may have left because of the severe and inflexible caste system that subjected them to social exclusion. Ian Hancock highlighted that the origins of the Roma can be traced back to the warrior class known as the Rajput warriors. The Rajputs, referred to as "Sons of Kings," represent an ancient martial group that resided in what is now Rajasthan and engaged in various conquests across Asia. They were forcibly taken to Europe and compelled to labor in metallurgy. Hancock remarked that these individuals, 'did not belong to the
Kshatriya (warrior) caste, but alongside the Rajputs, whether as captives of war or as victors defeating the enemy, they departed from India. Subsequently, the Roma migrated westward along the
Silk Road following these military campaigns towards Persia and Armenia. The Dom caste is believed to have been cursed by Lord
Shiva after a member of their community, Kallu Dom, attempted to steal an earring from Goddess
Parvati in
Hindu mythology, resulting in their discrimination and marginalization. The Roma people also refer to themselves as Roma chave, meaning "sons of
Rama," which suggests their historical connection to Hinduism. Many well-preserved Romani legends point to India as their homeland, calling it Baro Than, or "the Great Land." Studies of their language, traditions, rituals, and physical characteristics support the conclusion that the majority of Romani people in Europe are descended from Hindus originating in India. The Romani people are believed to be a mixture of the Dom and the
Jats. Pischel suggested that conflicts during the Islamic conquests of northern India might have forced the ancestors of the Roma to leave the region. De Goeje proposed that the Roma could have been followers of the Jats, a warrior group that served in the Sassanid armies. The Romani people are also thought to descend from the Dom, a low caste in India that were beggars, thieves, prostitutes, musicians, and grave-diggers, who gradually left India over centuries to avoid social exclusion. The Romani people trace their origins to the northwestern region of what is now India. Approximately a thousand years ago, this area may have encompassed parts of
Balochistan,
Sindh, and
Multan, which are located in present-day Pakistan. Following their exit from India, the Romani people gradually made their way into
Afghanistan, Persia, and
Byzantium before ultimately reaching Europe. During their westward migration, it is thought that two main migration routes emerged: the Roma and Sinti traveled overland through Byzantium and eventually crossed
Thrace, whereas the
Dom people moved along the Middle Eastern coast and entered Egypt. According to
Ian Hancock, the name Roma originates from the Hindi word डोम (Doma). Linguists have traced the migration routes of the Romani people into Europe by analyzing words borrowed from other languages. These linguistic influences suggest that as they moved westward, they passed through regions such as Afghanistan, Iran,
Armenia, Asia Minor, and Greece. The Romani language shows significant influence from
Armenian and
Byzantine Greek vocabulary. Based on the Indian theory, the group that eventually became known as the Roma departed from the
Hindu Kush mountain range, on the border between modern-day Afghanistan and
Pakistan, and traveled along the southern coast of the
Caspian Sea. From there, in the fifth century, they moved into the Persian Gulf area and the Arab empires of the southern Caucasus. Other evidence indicates that the Romani people traditionally belonged to service-oriented castes, such as entertainers, blacksmiths, and animal caretakers. They might have departed from India in search of new jobs and opportunities in the West, traveling through Persia and eventually reaching Europe. The persecution of the Roma and Sinti is largely due to the distinctiveness of Romani culture within Europe. Their close-knit communities maintained much of their Indian cultural and genetic heritage, making them appear foreign and unaccepted by white Europeans and European society. Around the year 950,
Hamza al-Isfahani recounted that the Persian ruler, Shah Bahram Gur, travelled to Hindustan to meet King Shangul. Bahram, a name common among many Persian kings, requested that Shangul select musicians, both men and women. In response, Shangul chose approximately 12,000 individuals from the Luri tribe who were skilled in playing the
oud. Firdouzi later retold this story. According to historical sources, this tribe was also known as the
Zott and referred to themselves as "Romas," a term derived from the Sanskrit word meaning "man of the low caste of musician." As nomads, they had to have occupations that were portable or easily abandoned. Consequently, many were livestock traders, animal trainers and performers, tinkers (metalworkers and utensil repairers), and musicians; the women practiced fortune-telling, sold potions, begged, and worked as entertainers. Because of their involvement in selling love potions and fortune-telling, the Roma often faced persecution. Singing and dancing have consistently been the primary means of income for the Romani people. Romani people were often harassed by
witch hunters. Romani people first appeared in the Balkans in the 9th century, followed by western Europe in the early 15th century, and northern Europe in the early 16th century. The Romani people didn't self-identify as an ancient Indian national culture when they first arrived in Europe. Europeans shamed Romani people with
dark skin for their skin colour. Europeans often associated dark skin with ugliness, primitivism and
Black People . Laws targeting Romani people have been enacted almost since they arrived in Europe. Initially, there was a rumor that they were Christian Egyptians escaping persecution, which led to the term "Gypsies," derived from "Egyptians." However, because they had darker skin and did not live the settled lifestyle of local European peasants, they were immediately viewed with suspicion by Europeans. In 1721, Austro-Hungarian Emperor
Karl VI initiated the "first governmental plan to exterminate Romanies," which applied to the region that would later become Germany. Other countries, including Romania, France, and Spain, subsequently passed laws aimed at relocating and killing Romani people. By the 19th century, scholars in Germany and elsewhere in Europe described Romanies and Jews as inferior and even referred to them as "the excrement of humanity."
Charles Darwin, in 1871, singled out these two ethnic groups as not "culturally advanced" compared with other territorially settled peoples. This reflects how both groups, lacking an official homeland and country, were seen as somehow less evolved. Across Europe, people had settled in towns, mingling with neighbors and establishing social orders based on fixed lifestyles. The Romani people, as a nomadic people, did not fit into this system. Their distinct religious and cultural practices fueled rumors that Romani people were magicians or
vampires, which led to their social exclusion. The Romani people’s distinctiveness and otherness were perceived as exotic, especially because they generally had dark hair, dark eyes, and swarthy complexions. Yet, their nomadic way of life also contributed to their reputation for dishonesty, minor theft, and homelessness. They were frequently met with hostility. Being stateless and foreign travelers, Romani people across regions from Western Europe to the Balkans faced harsh laws and legal punishments, which sometimes escalated to vigilante attacks including arson and murder. The portrayal of Romani people as thieves and dishonest individuals frequently appears in medieval records. Jealous craft guilds, aiming to protect their local monopolies, tried to restrict traditional Romani trades such as metalworking and basketmaking. Due to these limitations, Romani people increasingly turned to begging and theft, which reinforced the negative stereotype that had followed them since their arrival in Europe. With the rise of the Reformation, pilgrims lost their previously respected status, and begging also faced strong criticism. Although local parishes were willing to aid their own poor, foreign beggars were often turned away. Europeans believed that the Romani people were cursed because of
Cain. Another legend, likely brought from India since it mentions
Mekran as the location of the event, tells that, due to a sorcerer's deceit, the gypsy leader named Chen was forced to marry his sister, Guin, or KaN, which resulted in the curse of wandering upon their people. This is why the Romani are called Chen-Guin. When the Gypsies, expelled from their homeland, arrived at Mekran, a remarkable machine was created whose wheel would not turn until an evil spirit disguised as a
sage told the Gypsy chief, Chen, that it would only move if he married his sister Guin. He followed this advice, and the wheel began to turn, but from this incestuous marriage, the people not only received the name Chenguin but also the curse placed upon them by Muslim saints, condemning them to be wanderers, excluded from the rest of humanity. After leaving South Asia, the Romani people arrived in Persia, and lived under the rule of early
caliphates. They faced persecution and were later expelled from Persia. The circumstances of their arrival are debated and are known through a blend of folklore and historical accounts. One story suggests they first came as low-caste mercenary soldiers hired to defend Persia against the Arab threat from the west. Another viewed their migration from the Indian subcontinent as an escape from the Mongol invasions coming from the east. According to
Firdusi in his poem
Shahnameh, around the year 420, the Persian king
Bahram V (reigned 420–438) requested the Indian ruler to send twelve thousand Dom musicians to entertain his people and distract them from their daily hardships. These Doms—one of the many names used for the group—were rewarded with grain and land to help them thrive. However, in this tale, the Dom were seen as lazy; they consumed the grain but avoided farming. Eventually, the king had to banish them to a life of constant wandering, surviving through smuggling and begging. After the death of Caliph
al-Ma'mun in 833, the Romani people’s situation worsened. Al-Ma’mūn had strongly supported resolving conflicts through law, but after his death, real power shifted to Baghdad's provincial governors in Persia, who were neither tolerant nor inclined to use legal means to address social issues. The following year, Romani communities were expelled from Persia. In the centuries that followed, expulsion and persecution became a recurring reality for Romani people. From Persia, the Romani people settled in
Armenia for some time. The
Lom people remained in Armenia, largely integrating into Armenian society. The Romani people then migrated through
Anatolia before settling in the Balkans during the
Byzantine period. Unfortunately, their arrival coincided with a period of increasing intolerance toward non-Christians following the Crusades (1095–1270). The Roma were viewed as non-Christians and sometimes even as despised Muslims. The British banished Romani people to
Barbados and
Jamaica. Spanish Roma women were often portrayed as attractive yet lewd and dangerous. English Gypsylorist George Borrow has stated that 'no females in the world can be more licentious in word and gesture, in dance and in song, than the Gitanas.’ Romani women are stereotyped to be free-spirited, strong, deviant, sexually arousing, alluring, dismissive, and sexually available. Romani women are exoticized and sexualized in European literature, and this hypersexualization of Romani women has dehumanized them. Stereotypes regarding Romani men tend to emphasize criminal behavior more than the sexual stereotypes associated with Romani women. Romani males are often labeled as parasites, thieves, and unclean - perceived as threatening yet belittled. One factor contributing to this negative portrayal is the perception that the Romani male, as opposed to the Roma female, is viewed as a possible 'home-breaker'. The Roma male may take a housedweller virgin, reminiscent of D.H. Lawrence (1930), or kidnap a woman to claim her as his own within Roma society. The term 'Gypsy' evokes a multitude of images in the minds of those who are not part of the Roma community. While some romanticize their sense of freedom, others condemn them for perceived antisocial or criminal behavior. Consequently, Romani people have been portrayed as both subjects of exotic myths and targets of intense prejudice. They are often seen as either romantic figures or criminal outsiders, ranging from thieves to musically talented and artistic. The Roma are viewed as being 'free' from societal constraints, embodying a natural existence that does not conform to European societal norms. Romani people are frequently stereotyped as skilled musicians and talented dancers, often imagined living in traditional
horse-drawn
Vardo wagons. The Romani people's nomadic culture and Asian origins may also have incited hatred among some racist Europeans and white supremacists.
Romani culture is nomadic and doesn't conform to
European culture and the European way of life. Many Roma avoid getting a
job, and this caused Europeans to resent them. Romani people are also believed to have descended from the
Criminal and Wandering Tribes of India and deported prisoners of war due to their supposed parasitic, thievish nature. Romani people were characterised as robbers, murderers, hangmen, and entertainers like those tribes in India due to the Hindu caste system. The romanticized and patronizing stereotypes of the Roma and Sinti have fluctuated between viewing them as "noble savages" and as unassimilable groups unwilling to accept any official efforts at integration. The label "Gypsy" has consistently been tied not only to cultural or identity aspects but also to a way of life and behavior that have often been stigmatized. Marginalized and criminal portrayals of the Roma have dominated, with some depictions approaching inhumanity and cannibalism, while others have associated them with poverty, sexual immorality, promiscuity, and both hygienic and moral contamination.
In the Middle Ages by
nomads In the early 13th-century
Byzantine records, the
Atsínganoi are mentioned as "
wizards ... who are
satanically inspired and pretend to predict the unknown". The enslavement of the Roma, mostly taken as
prisoners of war, in the
Danubian Principalities is first documented in the late 15th century. In these countries, extensive legislation dividing the Roma into different groups according to their owners, including
nobles,
monasteries, and the state, was enacted. By the 16th century, many Romanies worked as musicians, metal artisans, and soldiers. As the
Ottoman Empire expanded, it relegated the Romani, who were seen as having "no visible permanent professional affiliation", to the lowest rung of the social ladder. Romani people were charged with sorcery, witchcraft, child stealing, and spying. Romani people were also often said to be noisy, immoral, and asocial. The Romani people were initially regarded with distrust due to their dark skin and nomadic way of life. The Persian poet
Firdausi had written in the tenth century about the Romani people, stating, "No washing ever whitens the black Gypsy." Throughout the subsequent centuries, the history of the Romani people was characterized by discrimination, scapegoating, and oppression. Romani people were accused of
cannibalism, spreading filth and disease, and being spies,
sorcerers, swindlers, thieves, beggars, and tricksters. During the medieval and early modern periods in Europe, various efforts were made to either expel the Roma or assimilate them. While churches and trade guilds generally held a negative view of the Roma, some European noblemen welcomed Romani musicians and entertainers into their homes. In Western Europe, the Sinti were eventually accepted as migrant laborers and partially integrated into local communities. Yet, the wandering Roma resisted assimilation despite numerous prohibitions on their nomadic lifestyle, clothing, music, and language. The authorities subjected Roma to torture and punishment, and 'gypsy hunts' became a popular pastime in several European countries, including Germany and Holland. C.J. Popp Serboianu said the Romani character was to be lazy, work-shy, and sly. He stated, "Because Gypsies (generally) lack notions of morality, they allow their instincts to rule them more easily, they have no sense of honor, they are greedy, wasteful, intemperate with food and drink,
lecherous, and frivolous. However, the opinions concerning their "loose" morals vary considerably". Other Gypsyologists claimed that Romani women in Spain practiced
prostitution. Popp Serboianu claimed that Romani people have absolutely no sexual control and that Romani people's love life only constitutes indulgence in sex and sensuality. Dutch encyclopedias also claimed the Romani people were thieves. Europeans associated Romani people with evil and the
Devil.
16th and 17th centuries In 16th-century
Royal Hungary, during
Ottoman expansion in Hungary, the Crown developed strong anti-Romani policies, since these people were considered suspect as possible Turkish spies or as a
fifth column. In this atmosphere, they were expelled from many locations and increasingly adopted a nomadic way of life. The first anti-Romani legislation was issued in the
March of Moravia in 1538, and three years later,
Ferdinand I ordered that Romani in his realm be expelled after a series of fires in
Prague. In 1545, the
Diet of Augsburg declared that "whosoever kills a Gypsy, will be guilty of no murder". The subsequent massive killing spree which took place across the empire later prompted the government to step in to "forbid the drowning of Romani women and children". In England, the
Egyptians Act 1530, passed by
the Crown in Parliament, banned Romani from entering the country and required those already living there to leave within 16 days. Failure to do so could result in confiscation of property, imprisonment, and deportation. The act was amended by the
Egyptians Act 1554, which directed them to abandon their "naughty, idle and ungodly life and company" and adopt a settled lifestyle. For those who failed to adhere to a sedentary existence, the
Privy Council interpreted the act to permit the execution of non-complying Romani "as a warning to others". In 1660, the Romani were prohibited from residing in France by
King Louis XIV.
18th century In 1710,
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, issued an edict against the Romani, ordering "that all adult males were to be hanged without trial, whereas women and young males were to be flogged and banished forever." In addition, in the
kingdom of Bohemia, Romani men were to have their right ears cut off; in the
March of Moravia, the left ear was to be cut off. In other parts of Austria, they would be branded on the back with a
branding iron, representing the
gallows. These mutilations enabled authorities to identify the individuals as Romani on their second arrest. The edict encouraged local officials to hunt down Romani in their areas by levying a fine of 100
Reichsthaler on those who failed to do so. Anyone who helped a Romani was to be punished by doing
forced labor for half a year. The result was mass killings of Romani across the Holy Roman Empire. In 1721,
Charles VI amended the decree to include the execution of adult female Romani, while children were "to be put in hospitals for education". The
Great Gypsy Round-up was a raid authorized and organized by King
Ferdinand VI of Spain in 1749, that led to the arrest of most
Romani people in Spain. Although a majority were released after a few months, many others spent several years imprisoned and subject to forced labor. In 1774,
Maria Theresa of
Austria issued an edict forbidding marriages between Romani. When a Romani woman married a non-Romani, she had to produce proof of "industrious household service and familiarity with
Catholic tenets", a male Romani "had to prove his ability to support a wife and children", and "Gypsy children over the age of five were to be taken away and brought up in non-Romani families." In 2007, the Romanian government established a panel to study the 18th- and 19th-century period of
Romani slavery by princes, local landowners, and
monasteries. This officially legalized practice was first documented in the 15th century. Romani men were seen as a threat to womanhood in the Balkans. Although white men raped enslaved Romani women during slavery in Romania, enslaved Romani men were castrated or burnt alive if they had sex with a white woman. Romani women were a subordination at the hands of
white supremacy.
Vlad the Impaler tortured Romani people for entertainment.
19th century Governments regularly cited petty theft committed by Romani as justification for regulating and persecuting them. In 1899, the (
Intelligence service for the security police concerning gypsies) was set up in
Munich under the direction of , and catalogued data on all Romani individuals throughout the German-speaking lands. It did not officially close down until 1970. The results were published in 1905 in Dillmann's
Zigeuner-Buch, which was used in the following years as justification for the
Porajmos. It described the Romani people as a "plague" and a "menace", but almost exclusively characterized "Gypsy crime" as trespassing and the theft of food.
Pennsylvania Senator
Edgar Cowan stated, In response, Senator
John Conness of California observed,
Bulgaria 1876: a pogrom, by villagers of
Koprivshtitsa massacre the Muslim Roma.
Porajmos , 1940 The persecution of the Romani people reached a peak during
World War II, in the
Porajmos (literally,
the devouring), a descriptive neologism for the Nazi
genocide of Romanis during
the Holocaust. Unlike
Jews who were an ethnic group with a
religion, with over 90% of racial Jews practicing the religion, thus making it easy to trace them via synagogue and church records, Romani did not have any way of identification so racial experts like
Robert Ritter and
Eva Justin were called to do racial examinations of Roma communities across Europe.
Heinrich Himmler issued a directive on December 16, 1942, a directive stating that all Roma residing in the German Reich were to be deported to Auschwitz and killed. The "Auschwitz Decree" represented the ultimate disclosure of a plan that had effectively been in place since 1938 and had already been partially implemented, specifically aimed at the total eradication and extinction of "Gypsies". In June 1936, a Central Office was established in Munich to "Combat the Gypsy Nuisance." This office served as the central hub for a national databank concerning Roma and Sinti. Robert Ritter, a medical anthropologist affiliated with the Reich Health Office, determined that a significant percentage, specifically fifty percent, of the Roma indigenous to Germany were classified as "of mixed blood." He characterized them as "the offspring of unions with the white German criminal asocial sub-proletariat" and labeled Roma and Sinti as "primitive" individuals who were "incapable of genuine social adaptation." In 1938, Ritter authored two articles that examined the "Gypsy problem" and proposed potential solutions. He asserted that previous policies addressing the Romani people had been unsuccessful because they focused on forcing the Roma to settle. "Here," he stated, "we clearly recognize that we are confronted with primitive nomads of a foreign race whom neither education nor punitive measures can transform into sedentary citizens." He contended that the Roma should be permitted to maintain their nomadic lifestyle, although they should also be segregated from the broader German populace. It was crucial, however, that all Romani people have access to stable and honest employment. The most challenging groups to manage were the Zigeunermischlinge and the Jenische (White Gypsies), whom Ritter regarded as "a population of criminal clans and asocial elements." The Romani communities in Central and Eastern Europe were less organized in the same place unlike
Jewish communities who were almost all in the
Former Pale; as a result, the
Einsatzgruppen, the mobile
killing squads which travelled from village to village and massacred their Romani inhabitants where they lived, typically left few to no records of the number of Roma who they killed in this way. Even though a significant amount of documentary evidence of mass murder was produced in a few cases, it is more difficult to assess the actual number of victims. Historians estimate that the Germans and
their collaborators killed between 220,000 and 500,000 Romani—25% to over 50% of the slightly fewer than 1 million Roma who lived in Europe at that time. More thorough research by
Ian Hancock revealed the death toll to be at about 1.5 million. checking the facial characteristics of a Romani woman as part of her "racial studies" Nazi racial ideology put
Romani,
Jews,
Blacks, and some
Slavs at the bottom of the racial scale. The German
Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped Jews of citizenship, confiscated property, and criminalized sexual relationships and marriage with Aryans. These laws were extended to Romani as Nazi policy towards Roma and Sinti was complicated by pseudo-historic racialist theories, which could be contradictory, namely that the Romani were of Egyptian ancestry. While they considered Romani grossly inferior, they believed the Roma people had some distant "Aryan" roots that had been corrupted by admixture with
Semitic and
Black blood. The Romani are actually a distinctly European people of considerable Northwestern Indian descent, or what is literally considered to be Aryan. Similar to European Jews, specifically the Ashkenazi, the Romani people quickly acquired European genes via enslavement and intermarriage upon their arrival in Europe 1,000 years ago. Nazis considered Roma to be "asocial" and “habitual criminals”. Police arrested Romani beggars, vagrants, homeless and alcoholics and sent them to concentration camps. In the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Nazi genocide of the Romani was so thorough that it exterminated the majority of
Bohemian Romani speakers, eventually leading to the language's extinction in 1970 with the death of its last known speaker, Hana Šebková. In Denmark, Greece, and a small number of other countries, resistance by the native population thwarted planned Nazi deportations and extermination of the Romani. In most conquered countries (e.g., the Baltic states), local cooperation with the Nazis expedited the murder of almost all local Romani. In
Croatia, the Croatian collaborators of the
Ustaše were so vicious that only a minor remnant of Croatian Romani survived the killings. In 1982,
West Germany formally recognized that genocide had been committed against the Romani. Before this they had often claimed that, unlike Jews, Roma and Sinti were not targeted for racial reasons, but for "criminal" reasons, invoking antiziganist stereotype. In modern Holocaust scholarship, the
Porajmos has been increasingly recognized as a genocide committed simultaneously with the Shoah. Interracial marriages between Germans and Roma were forbidden. The Nazis believed Romani people carried alien blood and therefore shouldn't marry white Aryans. The Nazis also argued that the Romani people's tainted blood led to criminality, parasitical behavior, laziness, and promiscuity. The Nazis also discriminated against the Romani people because they believed their nomadic lifestyle made them spies who could leak information. After invading Poland, anti-Romani policies became more significant, Roma were put in
Jewish ghettos and were systematically exterminated after the Auschwitz Degree. The
Wehrmacht leadership worried that Romani people, especially those who traveled, could be spies and might leak information about German military operations in Poland and other occupied territories. On the Western Front, Romani people were also viewed as a national security threat. In France, Romani people and other groups labeled as “nomadic” were seen as outsiders who might disclose military movements to the Germans. As a result, French authorities imposed stricter controls on traveling Roma. When Germany occupied France, the Nazi regime intensified these restrictions even further.
During Medieval Germany Before the Nazi genocide, the first anti-Roma law was issued in Germany in 1416. The first Nazi document that mentions "the implementation of the total solution to the Gypsy issue at either a national or international level" was created under the supervision of State Secretary
Hans Pfundtner from the Reich Ministry of the Interior in March 1936. According to German collective memory, Romani people lived by pickpocketing, thievery, robbery, palm reading, witchcraft and magic. Such allegations are evident in the Holy Roman Empire's Reichstag decision as early as 1497, which decreed that Romani people were neither allowed to pass through nor be tolerated within the empire's territory. The 1530 Reichstag ruling reiterated this stance and explicitly accused Gypsies of spying for the Turks, branding them as enemies of the Christian world. This aspect of the Gypsies' image diminished after the Turks retreated from Europe in the seventeenth century. The use of the term "pagan" as synonymous with Gypsy indicated that German Christian society did not acknowledge the Gypsies' claim to Christianity. In his 1550 work,
Cosmographia,
Sebastian Münster argued that Gypsies lacked any true faith. Their association with
black magic reinforced this perception, and they were seen as connected to
satanic forces. In Europe, the Romani people’s dark skin was described as black, a color traditionally linked in folklore to the devil and the realm of evil. Despite Martin Luther's condemnation of Romani fortune tellers as deceivers, there was simultaneously a strong demand among Christians for the Gypsies' alleged supernatural abilities to bless, predict the future, and heal. Swiss alchemist and physician
Paracelsus noted that one could learn black magic from elderly Gypsy women and regarded their practice of palmistry with some respect. The church's stance—and even that of the Spanish Inquisition—toward Gypsy black magic was relatively lenient, and Romani people were never targeted for religious persecution because of it. Unlike antisemitism, hostility toward Roma lacked a religious zeal and demonizing traits. For instance, while Romani people were accused of abducting Christian children, they were not accused of killing them for religious reasons. Romani people were considered parasites and subhumans because of their rootlessness. Europeans were suspicious of Romani people and believed them to be idolatrous, engaging in witchcraft. Images of Roma as thieves and kidnappers of children spread throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. German anthropologist Eva Justin observed that the only area in which Romani children perform well is through music and song. Initially, Roma and Sinti were welcomed and well-liked by the
Holy Roman Empire, but perceptions quickly shifted, leading to their being regarded as heathens and spies for Muslims. The Catholic Church significantly contributed to the development and perpetuation of negative stereotypes about Roma and Sinti by linking their dark skin to notions of darkness and evil. By the close of the fifteenth century, it was claimed that Roma and Sinti were in collusion and in league with the devil. Kenrick and Puxon note that "the belief that blackness signifies inferiority and malevolence was already deeply entrenched in the Western psyche. The nearly black skin of many Romani people rendered them targets of this bias." The rise of the "Gypsy image" was also closely associated with the advent of academic "Gypsy studies" - "Zigeunerkunde" - in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe, which were influenced by a prevalent perception of Roma and Sinti as bandits, thieves, sorcerers, and emissaries from an exotic realm. Early "Gypsy studies" were characterized by the belief in the "Gypsy's" unchangeability, an "oriental" Asian heritage, and their foreignness. Due to their unusual appearance and lifestyle, Roma and Sinti became a favored subject for projection. By capitalizing on the widespread image of Roma and Sinti as thieves, beggars, and beguilers who wander from place to place, they were categorized as the definitive "Other" and perceived as a danger to the German nation. The investigations conducted by anthropologists and "Gypsy folklorists," including Heinrich Grellmann, Christian C. Rüdiger, and August F. Pott, concentrated on the alleged ethnic "inferiority," criminal tendencies, and laziness of Roma and Sinti, thereby significantly influencing the policies of nation-states towards Romani communities. When Roma and Sinti first arrived in medieval Europe, they were welcomed by certain European courts. However, it was not long before they became targets of hostility from Europeans wary of these newcomers. Whether due to habit or coercion, many Roma led a nomadic lifestyle, which further incited the animosity of others. The broader European society branded them as thieves and tricksters, claiming they exploited their musical talents and physical allure to deceive the unsuspecting and bring them to their downfall. Several prevalent attitudes towards the Roma during the medieval era mirrored anti-Jewish sentiments. Non-Jewish Europeans wrongfully accused Jews of abducting Christian children for the purpose of using their blood; similarly, non-Roma accused Roma of kidnapping children for nefarious reasons. Like the Jews, the Romani people were often scapegoated during times of calamity, such as plagues or earthquakes. Their adversaries alleged that they poisoned wells, engaged in sorcery, and consorted with the devil and
demonic forces. While European folklore did not hold the Romani people responsible for the death of Jesus, it did accuse them, due to their reputation as metalworkers, of forging the nails that pierced his body. According to European legends, the Romani people, like the Jews, were believed to have been cursed by God to wander the earth without ever finding a homeland. One widely circulated narrative suggested that while still in Egypt, the Roma attempted to obstruct Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus from seeking refuge from King Herod, resulting in their punishment of eternal homelessness.
Nazi Ideology When
Christianity began to die out in
Europe during the
industrial revolution, so did the idea that Romani were behind
Black Magic die out, and with the rise of racial science in the 19th Century, Roma were seen as an inferior race. During the Nazi Era, the
Nazis did not view Roma and Sinti as secular embodiments of evil, akin to their perception of Jews, who were believed to possess the manipulation powers of both
Capitalism and
Bolshevism. They lacked any belief that Sinti or Roma could spiritually or physically taint them, or that any other so-called subhumans could do so. Nonetheless, Germans regarded Sinti and Roma as morally depraved, immoral, promiscuous, sexually depraved, criminal, and asocial individuals, representing a form of racial pollution that significantly harmed society. Romani women were also raped by the Nazis. There was also prostitution in Gypsy camps.
Robert Ritter believed Romani people were uncivilized, lazy nomads who don’t work and are alien to
German culture. The main reason why the Nazis hated Romani people because they believed Romani people didn’t benefit German society. Hitler also discriminated against Romani people for their dark, non-white features. Hitler promoted
Nordic features on posters, billboards, and television, portraying
blonde hair and
blue eyes as the standard of beauty in Europe. Even though Romani people speak a Aryan language, Hitler ignored these facts and redefined the word Aryan to suit his own needs for Aryan supremacy. The genocide is often referred to as the "Forgotten Holocaust". The German government refused to recognize the Nazi genocide against the Roma and Sinti until 1982. The Roma and Sinti also still have not received reparations or compensation from the German government. Hitler's genocide of the Roma was influenced by the
Native American genocide in the United States and the efficiency of the
Armenian Genocide. He admired the idea of "
Manifest Destiny," the American belief that white settlers were meant to expand across the continent. Hitler saw the American history of displacing and killing
Native Americans as a model for Germany's pursuit of
Lebensraum (living space) in Eastern Europe. In
Mein Kampf, he praised the United States for denying citizenship based on race and for removing Native Americans to establish a racially "pure" white settler nation. Hitler drew inspiration from the United States westward expansion and the violence against Native Americans, viewing it as a precedent for his own plans to conquer and colonize Eastern Europe.
California's history of genocide and eugenics of the
Indigenous peoples of California during the
California genocide influenced Hitler’s racist ideology.
Catholic Church takes responsibility On 12 March 2000, Pope
John Paul II issued a formal public apology to, among other groups of people affected by Catholic persecution, the Romani people and begged God for forgiveness. On 2 June 2019,
Pope Francis acknowledged during a meeting with members of the Romanian Romani community the
Catholic Church's history of promoting "discrimination, segregation and mistreatment" against
Romani people throughout the world, apologized, and asked the Romani people for forgiveness. ==Contemporary antiziganism==