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Romani people (Czech: Romové, commonly known as Gypsies Czech: Cikáni) are an ethnic minority in the Czech Republic, currently making up around 2% of the population. Originally migrants from North Western India sometime between the 6th and 11th centuries, they have long had a presence in the region.
The popular perception of Romani even before 1989 was of lazy, dirty criminals who abused social services and posed a significant threat to majority values. [3] The "Gypsy question" was considered a "problem of a socially-backward section of the population". [1]
Bohemian Romani or Bohemian Romany was a dialect of Romani formerly spoken by the Romani people of Bohemia, the western part of today's Czech Republic. It became extinct after World War II, due to the genocide of most of its speakers in extermination camps by Nazi Germany.
Coordinates: 49°30′30″N 14°07′07″E. Location of Lety in the Czech Republic, south of Prague and north of České Budějovice. Memorial. Lety concentration camp was a World War II internment camp for Romani people from Bohemia and Moravia during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. It was located in Lety.
A medieval legend about a "gypsy" blacksmith who made nails for crucifixions spread throughout Europe. Other ancient accounts note that "gypsies" were musicians, for example in the Turkish army. The first reference to Roms in the region that is now Czechoslovakia dates to the fifteenth Century.
In English, they are often called Gypsies. Some (but not all) Roma think "Gypsy" is a slur. Another disrespectful slang word, "chingar," is rarely used today.
In the English language, Romani people have long been known by the exonym Gypsies or Gipsies, [87] which many Roma consider a racial slur. [ 88 ] [ 89 ] The attendees of the first World Romani Congress in 1971 unanimously voted to reject the use of all exonyms for the Roma, including "Gypsy". [ 90 ]
