The long history of the Gypsies dates from their probable origins in India before the 10th century, to their appearance in South-eastern Europe towards the end of the 13th century, and finally to the present where they number six to eight million in Central and Eastern Europe and just over a million in Western Europe. Following the Second World War, in which more than half a million Gypsies were victims, the essential problem became the search for a place of asylum and work in the West, yet this search has been hindered by growing difficulties. Since the fall of the Communist regimes of the East, most western countries no longer feel that refugee status for Gypsies is justified.
The author describes the main demographic characteristics of the Gypsy minorities in each country of residence in Central and Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, former USSR, former Yugoslavia). The paper then analyses policy evolution with regard to Gypsies, which in the early stages was highly influenced by the predominance of the Soviet model. This model was characterised by assimilation and modernisation but found itself thwarted by the logic of nationality specificity. |
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