Search results
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.
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.
During the occupation, Gypsies were sent to death camps in both Czechoslovakia and Poland. Fewer than 1000 remained alive at the time of liberation in May, 1945. In contrast, the nominal independence of Slovakia during the war provided Slovak Gypsies with a measure of security.
The website “Romové v České republice” / “Roma in the Czech Republic” offers information and testimonies about the Genocide of the Roma in the Czech Republic, as well as news related to this topic. The texts are written in Czech, English, German and French.
20 lis 2018 · The 1952 edition of the Dictionary of the Czech Language defines “gypsy” as follows: “gypsy [with a small “g”]—a member of a wandering nation, a symbol of mendacity, theft, wandering,…jokers, liars, impostors and cheaters.”
