[4.72s -> 19.18s]  When talking about the Balkans, ethnic hate between group is not an uncommon topic. However, there is seldom a group of people hated more than the
[19.18s -> 33.65s]  Gypsies. Arguably the Gypsies, also known as the Roma, have also been an inseparable part of Balkan culture and its history. However, due to generational stigma, prejudice, and more importantly, lack of research, very little is known about them. As a result-
[33.65s -> 47.86s]  Even though they've more or less developed parallel to the other peoples in the region and played an equally important role in its history and its development, the vast majority of people have been left stigmatized and shunned from the spotlight and labeled as
[47.86s -> 59.82s]  unwanted nuisances. Yet, if you dig a bit deeper past the stereotypes of thieves and black magic casters, you can discover a fascinating, colorful and quite tragic history of Europe's most hated group.
[61.68s -> 76.27s]  For the longest of times the origin of the gypsies has been shrouded in mystery even though they've been very much present in the Balkans and in Europe since the 13th century. Most Balkanoids weren't even aware that they were a separate ethnic group. The gypsy says migration to the continent
[76.27s -> 90.48s]  coincided with a series of wars between the Seljuk Turks and the Byzantines. As a result, the first Gypsy arrivals were mistaken and dismissed by the Byzantines as just more Turks. As the wars between the Christian forces of Europe and
[90.48s -> 104.00s]  Muslim forces of the Turks continued, crusading Germans and the French named the people Saracen. As the years passed by, the Europeans eventually became aware of them being separate from the Turks.
[104.00s -> 113.62s]  So the Greeks named them Atsingani, which carried a similar meaning to the one imposed by the crusaders, yet it roughly translated to don't touch.
[113.62s -> 126.06s]  marking the gypsies as the untouchables. Yet even though the original word Atsingani has lost its meaning a long time ago, today most of the Balkan and Eastern European languages word for the
[126.06s -> 140.86s]  Gypsies still comes from this word, taking various forms such as tsigani, tsiganok, tsigani, and tsigoyna. Nonetheless, after the Roma became a concert presence throughout the continent, more theories about their origin sprung up throughout medieval Europe.
[140.86s -> 147.70s]  Many could be found in particular around the coastal areas of the Adriatic, and had quite darker skin than the locals. I know.
[147.70s -> 162.03s]  Quite difficult to believe when the average Greek looks like this. Because of this, a new theory came up being that they originated from Egypt. The theory became further popularized as the gypsies themselves were
[162.03s -> 176.24s]  unaware of their origin either. Due to being a nomadic people and lacking a written language, they also started to believe that their actual homeland was Egypt and began to refer to themselves as Egyptians. As a result, the term Gypsy, meaning Egyptian,
[176.24s -> 186.29s]  was born from this theory, with many other European countries adopting a similar word to their language, such as djupci, gitano, and giftos.
[186.29s -> 200.62s]  So, for the next 400 years, practically everyone in Europe, including the gypsies themselves, assumed that the land of the Nile was their true land of origin. It wasn't up until the Enlightenment when people actually started to put this theory
[200.62s -> 209.42s]  to the test. What's even more ironic, the study of gypsiology aka Romani studies came about because of an accident, when in 7060
[209.42s -> 223.70s]  A Hungarian student in Holland who knew a couple of words in Gypsy he learned from his servant back at his estate in Győr noticed similarities to the language being spoken between two Indian exchange students. He told this to his friend and acquaintance
[223.70s -> 237.95s]  as an interesting anecdote, which started to spread through bars and cafes until a German journalist took interest in the story. He published it in an Austrian newspaper in 1776, from which various linguists across the continent
[237.95s -> 242.32s]  then became interested, and subsequently started a new field of study
[242.32s -> 254.00s]  just because of some students' story. Practically overnight, the myth of Egypt that was believed for over the past 400 years was dispelled and the first connection to India was made. So, uh...
[254.00s -> 259.41s]  If you haven't thanked your town's local Hungarian for his contribution to society, now's the time.
[261.94s -> 276.53s]  Since the late 1700s, various origin theories have come about the gypsies. In Germany, popular theories arose that because of their Greek name, Atsingani, the gypsies were actually Grecian heretics that came from the African province of Greece.
[276.53s -> 290.74s]  provinces of Zoikitana. Others speculated that the Bible already gave the answer of their origin, as they were the cursed descendants of Cain, condemned to wander the earth for eternity as God has cursed the soil they plowed so nothing would grow from it.
[290.74s -> 301.47s]  A little less spectacular than the theory of how Yakub created white people, but still, it has a similar vibe. This theory was also believed because the Roma didn't have a religion of their own.
[301.47s -> 315.79s]  So, with Europe being the prime breeding ground of religious zealotism, a ton of mythical speculations on the Gypsies' origin came to life. One of my personal favorite legends comes from the Romanians and Serbs. The Romanians stipulated that in the beginning, the Gypsies and
[315.79s -> 330.00s]  Romanians built two churches. The Gypsies made theirs out of stone, while the Romanians made theirs out of ham. The Gypsies then persisted and haggled with the Romanians to trade, until the Romanians finally agreed. Once getting the ham church, the Gypsies subsequently ate it.
[330.00s -> 344.21s]  which forced them to become eternal godless wanderers. The Serbs' version is practically the same, but says that the church was built out of cheese instead, and adds on to the explanation of their begging being that they beg from the Serbs because
[344.21s -> 358.42s]  they still owe them money for their church. However, unsurprisingly, the true origin of the Roma is much less schizophrenic. Through linguistic and later on genetic analysis, it was found that their first origin was in northwestern India, in the region known today
[358.42s -> 372.62s]  as Punjab. Up until the 11th century, the Gypsies were indistinguishable from many other peoples that inhabited the different kingdoms of this region. However, around the year 1000, the Ghaznavid Empire rose to prominence and began to encroach on the
[372.62s -> 386.83s]  territories of the regional kingdoms in northern India. As the Ghaznavids seek to expand the other kingdoms and principalities within the subcontinent resisted which sparked hundreds of bloody battles which resulted in enormous casualties and rendered the region
[386.83s -> 401.04s]  caught in the fighting as a cesspool of violence and destruction. Many who were lucky enough to escape death weren't lucky enough to be taken as prisoners of war. These prisoners were then tasked to tend to the Ghaznavid warriors on and off the battlefield.
[401.04s -> 415.25s]  had continued for the next couple of centuries as the Ghaznavids and their successors continued expanding east through India with limited success, bringing death and devastation as they went. Eventually, many from the region had enough and decided to embark west in search for
[415.25s -> 429.46s]  were better lands to settle away from the cruelty of the Ghaznavid empire. Joined by the war prisoners, many embarked on an epic journey through the Hindu Kush mountains to leave India. It is estimated that the first gypsies took the route through the Swat river valley
[429.46s -> 443.66s]  or kagan valley where they would then follow the silk road which would lead them through khorasan today afghanistan uzbekistan turkmenistan and iran where they then continue along the south of the caspian sea through the caucasus mountain
[443.66s -> 449.36s]  of Georgia and Armenia all the way to Trebizond, Mordor aka today's Turkey.
[451.89s -> 466.48s]  In a relatively short time, the Gypsies traversed the Silk Road through Persia, with few clans here and there, choosing to stay in the lands they traversed, up until they arrived in Anatolia. By the time that Rome arrived in the region, it was heavily contested between
[466.48s -> 480.69s]  the weakening Byzantine Empire and the expanding Muslim Turks. In the late 11th century many Gypsies entered the easternmost parts of Byzantium where they acquired a variety of trade jobs in towns and settlements. As they were seen as outsiders they weren't allowed
[480.69s -> 494.90s]  ownership over land, thus overwhelmingly flocked to jobs of blacksmiths, metalworkers, carpenters, entertainers, basically having to resort to the medieval version of door dashing and being Glover couriers. It is estimated that the
[494.90s -> 509.10s]  Romani didn't get to mainland Europe for another 200-something years, as the first mention of them came in the late 13th century, where several Egyptians were noted as tax collectors. As the Turks pushed westwards, the Gypsies increasingly fell under their
[509.10s -> 523.31s]  jurisdiction. They continued having many of the same jobs they had in Byzantium, but also started being used within the military. As many Gypsies were used as prisoners of war and even had warrior ancestry fighting the Ghaznavids, the Turks utilized them
[523.31s -> 537.52s]  in their armies. Now, it's not known to what extent this was consensual service and to which it was slave labor as the Gypsies didn't convert to Islam and there is a lack of documentation of the earlier relationship between the Turks and Gypsies. However, what is known
[537.52s -> 551.76s]  is that a lot of gypsies entered Europe in the 14th century via military campaigns and as slave labor employed by the Ottomans into the Balkans and from there on they found their way further up the continent.
[552.69s -> 567.28s]  By the time Constantinople fell under the Ottomans and Byzantium's existence was only left in our hearts, the Gypsies became a widespread presence in the Balkans, the kingdoms, principalities, and then subsequently the provinces of the Ottoman Empire that resided on the peninsula.
[567.28s -> 581.49s]  peninsula, were mostly agricultural based societies. As a result, not a lot of artisan products were present throughout the realm. However, as the Roma became ever so present in the region, the local nobility and aristocracy quickly found use of them
[581.49s -> 595.70s]  because of their craftsmanship skills. Gypsy made items rapidly filled the demand for these products. The goods they could produce were seen as extremely useful in trade and commerce and gave an edge to any noble who could possess an excess of them.
[595.70s -> 609.90s]  Although they did not own any land, they were taken in as serfs by the local lords and exploited by being forced to produce baskets, textiles, tools, weapons and anything in between. Because they were seen as quite valuable, the gypsies
[609.90s -> 624.11s]  would become linked to certain estates and property. So when an ability would trade land or give it as a gift to one another they would also give away the gypsies on that land. As an ability would be given land and subsequently the gypsies on it so would the
[624.11s -> 634.86s]  clergy and many monasteries as well. Soon gypsy labor became quite coveted and the demand for the goods they would produce in the Balkans only rose as no one could get enough of it.
[634.86s -> 649.20s]  As a result, the legislature regarding servitude and gypsies became increasingly stricter in a way to keep them on that land. This rapidly transformed from a subset of feudalism to straight up slavery as lords in possession of gypsies were
[649.20s -> 663.41s]  given full unrestricted rights and control over what was to be done with the life of his gypsies. Within the Balkans, slavery over gypsies became ever more enshrined within the Ottoman institutions as the Islamic worldview at the time dictated that Muslims
[663.41s -> 677.62s]  had the right to fully treat any conquered non-Muslim subjects as property. As you can imagine, the Roma weren't the only ones affected by this view, as were the Serbs, Greeks, Romanians, Bulgarians, and any other Christians within the
[677.62s -> 691.82s]  However, they were impacted the most due to their already low social status. In particular, the Romanian predecessors, the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, eagerly jumped onto this nasty institution. Vlad Tsepes
[691.82s -> 706.03s]  also known as the inspiration for Dracula and the highly esteemed shish kebab maker is also credited for bringing the gypsy slaves to Romania. In 1445 after several incursions into Ottoman Bulgaria by the Wallachian army
[706.03s -> 720.24s]  Cepes brought back around 12,000 gypsies with him to use as slaves. Stefan the Great, deemed by the Pope, Athlete of Christ, Moldova's favorite person to name things after today, and another highly esteemed ruler in Romanian history.
[720.24s -> 734.45s]  was the second notable Romanian to bring in a large batch of Gypsy slave labor. In 1471, after a battle against the Turks with the Wallachians, Moldavian forces captured and transported over 17,000 Gypsies back to the Principality.
[734.45s -> 748.66s]  Vlad Dracula was also quite fond of using them in his army as well. Tepes held a belief that the gypsies were a fearless class of warriors who would give him a fighting edge against the Turks. Their participation in Wallachia's war on the Ottomans was also
[748.66s -> 762.86s]  described in the first ever epic poem written in Romania in the early 1800s, the Ciganiada. I know it sounds like something to come out of two Balkan for you but it's real. Ciganiada's writer Budai Deleanu tells how
[762.86s -> 777.07s]  the brave lad Tepes led his army of gypsies into battle against the Turks, where the gypsy warriors fought along angels for the glory of Christendom. Anyways, by the time all of the Balkans fell under the Muslims and went into economic
[777.07s -> 791.28s]  cultural decay Wallachia and Moldavia were able to prosper. In part this was due to them never being fully controlled by the Ottomans but also due to them heavily relying on slave labor of the Gypsies who they exploited for their economic
[791.28s -> 805.49s]  gain. The principalities were so dependent on them economically that they had to start importing more and more gypsies to keep up with demand, practically becoming the confederacy way before the confederacy was even a thing. Because of this, Romania
[805.49s -> 809.30s]  to this day has the largest number of gypsies in any country in the world.
[809.30s -> 823.57s]  By the 1500s, the institution of gypsy slavery in the Balkans came to resemble that of African slavery in America, 100 years before the first black slaves even touched the continent. Much like slavery in the New World, slavery in the Balkans was also the
[823.57s -> 837.78s]  into different categories. Some of the more prominent categories were house slaves, field slaves, slaves of the crown, and slaves of the church. The ones with the hardest jobs and worst treatment were field slaves who were condemned to work hard labor and forced
[837.78s -> 851.98s]  to live in mud huts on the outskirts of the estate. Church slaves, on the other hand, had more service-based jobs such as cooks and coachmen, while house slaves were tasked with taking care of the household. The male house slaves would also majority
[851.98s -> 866.19s]  the time be castrated as to not possess a threat to the female members of the household, while female house slaves were very often used for sexual entertainment of the guests and hosts. Children born out of this entertainment were then also
[866.19s -> 877.58s]  them to the fate of slavery and put into bondage within the estate or sold off. In 16th century Wallachia, the exchange rates for gypsy slaves were as follows. One gypsy
[877.58s -> 891.89s]  for one pig a team of gypsies for a team of oxen or horses a newlywed couple for a few barrels of wine a gypsy girl for a pair of copper pots and a gypsy with a disability was worth a jar of honey it was also possible to
[891.89s -> 906.61s]  purchase half a gypsy which entitled a pregnant woman and a child she would bear. If a gypsy was stopped by a government official they had to state the name of their master. If they couldn't they would be considered automatically as property of the crown.
[906.61s -> 909.04s]  Thus, gypsies in passing who
[909.04s -> 923.34s]  wandered from region to region, would often get rounded up and taken into bondage. Which is why many tended to avoid highly populated areas and stick to the outskirts of society. As a result, not all Gypsies became slaves, and many managed to remain free.
[923.34s -> 925.58s]  by doing this. As you can imagine,
[925.58s -> 939.15s]  The life of an enslaved gypsy was not easy. To make it even harder, their overseers, known as Vatavs, would more often than not be extremely cruel and torture was prevalent. Although Ottoman law stipulated that killing your slave was forbidden,
[939.15s -> 953.46s]  Many did not follow this and rarely, if ever, faced punishment for breaking it. As a result, many gypsies fled and went into hiding into the Carpathian Mountains, where they formed hidden settlements along other escapees. By the early 1800s,
[953.46s -> 965.97s]  The Ottomans tried to regulate the institution of slavery more by enshrining stricter laws regarding ownership and treatment of Gypsy slaves. However, in 1826, the Ottomans were defeated by the Russians in one of their many wars.
[965.97s -> 980.24s]  and the two Romanian principalities fell outside of Turkish influence. Soon after a staunch anti-slavery, government Paul Kiselev was appointed as governor in the region who aimed to abolish the practice. However, due to the institution being extremely popu-
[980.24s -> 994.46s]  Now, despite the Balkans being the epicenter of Gypsy bondage,
[994.46s -> 1008.69s]  This barbaric oppression of the Roma wasn't only present there, nor just in the Ottoman realm. As the Gypsies made their way into the Balkans, thousands continued north and west, deeper into Europe. Soon, much of the same laws came about in Western European countries.
[1008.69s -> 1022.90s]  trees as well, and gypsies were automatically assumed of as property. In England, captured gypsies were to be branded with the letter V and be put into slavery for two years. If they escaped and were then recaptured, they were to be re-
[1022.90s -> 1024.56s]  branded with the letter S.
[1024.56s -> 1038.83s]  and made slaves for the rest of their lives. In Iberia, both the Spanish and Portuguese enslaved their gypsies as well, and exported them to their colonies in the New World, where they would be used as slave labor on cash crop plantations. In a darker era,
[1038.83s -> 1053.04s]  ironic twist, the Portuguese even exported them back to their colonies in India, where they had left as free men, but returned as individuals in bondage. While in colder and rougher climate regions such as in Scotland and Russia, they were subject to work in the mines.
[1053.04s -> 1063.34s]  There was practically no place on the continent where the gypsies could wander risk-free and their mere presence in any city would entail enslavement for the rest of their lives.
[1066.26s -> 1080.32s]  By the mid-19th century, the Industrial Revolution was starting to take good hold of Europe, and with it, it brought numerous new machines and inventions, such as the spinning mule and cotton gin, that made the use of large number of labors obsolete.
[1080.32s -> 1094.61s]  Thus, throughout Western Europe, slavery overall started to be abolished, and within the remaining principalities, who wished to prove their Europeanness and establish stronger ties with France, their long lost brothers, the practice of holding Gypsy slaves started to be
[1094.61s -> 1108.82s]  seen as barbaric, backwards, and most importantly, inhumane. In 1837, Alexandru Gica, the then governor of the territories, passed a law to free a couple of thousand slaves in his governorship. Although it was a small step,
[1108.82s -> 1123.02s]  it set the ball rolling. Moldavia in 1842 abolished slavery, and five years later, the Wallachian church criminalized the practice as well. In 1848, as the Hungarians were fighting the revolution against the Habsburgs, students in
[1123.02s -> 1137.23s]  Bucharest, protested the practice and tore down statues in the capital relating to the institution and voted for its abolition in the same year. This newly found freedom of the gypsies was short-lived, however, as the two principalities were pushed back into direct force.
[1137.23s -> 1151.44s]  influence by the Russian-Turkish convention which also brought back old laws, including that of slavery. It wasn't until 1855 when more political events came to fruition and Moldavia unanimously passed a bill banning the practice.
[1151.44s -> 1166.02s]  Wallachia doing the same one year later in 1856. Slavery wasn't fully stamped out until the first Romanian unification of 1864 when Prince Ioan Cuza restored the gypsies to their former estates and proclaimed them
[1166.02s -> 1180.30s]  as free people under them. Although abolition had set the gypsies finally free after over four centuries of bondage, no programs nor institutions were set in place to help the newly free population acclimate into society. The gypsies were still
[1180.30s -> 1194.51s]  greatly discriminated against and had no ways of securing any sort of land which pushed them to the fringes of society. Many as a result returned back to the nomadic way of life, traversing the continent from country to country working as entertainers, musicians,
[1194.51s -> 1196.98s]  fortune tellers, and traders.
[1203.60s -> 1218.19s]  However, between the late 19th century and the mid 20th century, race realism became an ever more popular pseudoscience that over the years took a greater and tighter grip over Europe and the world as a whole. In particular, in the late 1800s,
[1218.19s -> 1232.40s]  Germany became a major hub for these ideas. Many German authors and experts in the topic referred to both the Jews and gypsies as excrement of humanity. Even highly esteemed English scientist Charles Darwin
[1232.40s -> 1246.38s]  responsible for introducing and popularizing the theory of evolution and being the bane of existence for American evangelical parents in school, described the Gypsies in his writing as not being culturally advanced like territorially settled peoples.
[1246.38s -> 1260.38s]  As a result, a series of anti-gypsy laws were being passed that continually worsened the lives of the Roma all over Europe and drove them to even further fringes of society. Hanseatic laws within Germany criminalized many gypsies
[1260.38s -> 1274.67s]  due to prohibiting the lack of having a permanent home or job and not being on the taxpayer register. In the 1880s, German Chancellor von Bismarck reinforced and introduced stricter discriminatory laws against the Roma.
[1274.67s -> 1288.88s]  stating that the gypsies are to be dealt with especially severely if apprehended. Ten years later, in 1890, the Dzigojna Geshmais, aka Gypsy Scum, conference was held in Swabia, where the nation's military was given
[1288.88s -> 1303.09s]  explicit authorization to keep the gypsies on the move. At the turn of the century in 1899, the Gypsy Information Agency was set up in Munich, which cataloged data on all gypsies registered in Germany. Six years
[1303.09s -> 1317.30s]  later, in 1905, this data was published in the Zigeunerbuch, the gypsy book, which in 350 pages described the gypsies as a plague the German people must defend themselves against via the use of ruthless punishment.
[1317.30s -> 1331.50s]  and which condemned race mixing and the dilution of the country's gene pool. Alongside this, the book also contained a registry of every single gypsy known in Germany, their genealogical details, criminal records, and photographs.
[1331.50s -> 1340.69s]  In 1920, the legal oppression of gypsies became worse as they became forbidden to enter public spaces such as parks and public baths.
[1340.69s -> 1354.96s]  In 1925, a series of laws were passed that required all unemployed gypsies to be sent to war camps for security reasons. Two years later, all Romanis had to be registered with the police, and every gypsy individual
[1354.96s -> 1369.17s]  children included, had to carry an ID card with their photo and fingerprints. In the same year the central office for the fight against the gypsies in Germany was established and in 1933, before the Nazis even held power in Austria,
[1369.17s -> 1383.38s]  the country called for the withdrawal of all civil rights from the Romanis. In the same decade, more laws were passed where marriage between gypsies and non-gypsies was strictly prohibited and forced sterilization of Romani women was introduced as well.
[1383.38s -> 1397.58s]  By 1938, the final solution for the gypsies was first mentioned by the Nazis and soon became quite popular and plans started to be prepared. By the time World War II officially started, several massacres and pogroms of gypsies took place.
[1397.58s -> 1411.79s]  place all throughout Germany and German occupied territory and then in 1942 it was ordered for all Romanis to be deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they would be exterminated much like the Jews and many others who were barbarically put into these
[1411.79s -> 1426.00s]  camps, the gypsies too suffered tremendous torturous conditions and torture by the Nazis. They were also prime targets of medical experiments with Josef Mengele, a dreaded Nazi scientist taking a special interest in brutally experimenting on
[1426.00s -> 1440.21s]  them. Because of YouTube's policies, I won't go further into detail on what went on in this camp. However, I implore you to do your reading on this chapter of history as it is quite often forgotten. The treatment of the gypsies in the Holocaust was
[1440.21s -> 1454.42s]  was disregarded so much so that even the Nazis did not track the exact numbers of the Roma they murdered, often writing their casualties as Jews or Russians. As a result, it is estimated that between 500,000 and one and a half
[1454.42s -> 1464.18s]  million gypsies were brutally murdered in a variety of ways during this gruesome part of history. So unfortunately we will never know the exact number of their victims.
[1470.80s -> 1485.39s]  After Germany was defeated, the imprisoned gypsies were once again free. Even though they went to hell and back, neither support nor help was given to the victims after they were freed by the Allies. During the Nuremberg Trials, the gypsies didn't even receive a
[1485.39s -> 1499.60s]  delegation in the prosecution of the perpetrators. Nevertheless, they were at least free to go back to their homes. Or so they thought. As one nasty ideology was slain, another popped its ugly head. Communism. Even though the communists
[1499.60s -> 1513.81s]  aimed to free the average laborer from his chains, they did the exact opposite to the gypsies. One of the first laws they passed throughout the socialist world was that of prohibiting wandering as a way to outlaw gypsies from being nomads like they were.
[1513.81s -> 1528.02s]  forcibly assigned to industrial towns and cities where they were forced to go back to work at factories or farms as a way of assimilating their population into the workforce and nation. In Bulgaria, for example, the gypsy identity was banned outright
[1528.02s -> 1542.22s]  declaring yourself as a gypsy in the national census was not allowed and the Roma were forced to declare themselves as either Bulgarian or Turkish and subsequently even forced to adopt Bulgarian or Turkish names. However not all was
[1542.22s -> 1556.43s]  bad. Because of these authoritarian governments and the severe penalties for breaking the laws they enacted, hate crimes and ethnic targeting of gypsies was almost non-existent. Many were given state mandated apartments and homes for the first time.
[1556.43s -> 1570.64s]  ever but to be fair in many cases these homes were known to be subpar and although they had to live in different bonds they weren't targeted for their ethnicity which allowed them to live semi-normal lives as a result in Romania the only group of
[1570.64s -> 1583.58s]  people that ever had anything positive to say about the Ceausescu's, Romania's communist dictatorial power couple, are the Roma. Nevertheless, with the fall of communism, so fell the protection many gypsies enjoyed by the state.
[1583.58s -> 1585.73s]  In the early 90s, a series of
[1585.73s -> 1600.02s]  programs against the gypsies took place throughout Transylvania in Romania as both the Hungarians and Romanians living there collaborated together on kicking out the gypsies from their villages. Usually one person from the gypsy community would commit a terrible
[1600.02s -> 1614.22s]  crime, which then prompted all of the other villagers to band together and burn down the houses of the other gypsies and expel all of them from their village, as a way of collective punishment. More often than not, the police would be in on it or just
[1614.22s -> 1628.43s]  simply not care at the injustice taking place. A lot of the time, the crimes someone from the Roma committee would commit would be fictional even. As the gypsies always had to adapt to survive, when capitalism started to be embraced, many quickly jumped on board and
[1628.43s -> 1642.64s]  open up their own businesses such as cafes and restaurants. Many gypsy families, especially in rural villages, quickly became sort of rich from such endeavors which then prompted their neighbors to assume that they got rich via theft from the community. Thus,
[1642.64s -> 1656.85s]  Sometimes, it only took one person to accuse them of a crime. An entire village would then jump on the witch hunt and deal out vigilante justice. These incidents also happened in other parts of Eastern Europe, which prompted many Romanis to abandon their country.
[1656.85s -> 1671.06s]  and migrate west into Germany and other Western European states. Throughout the 90s tens of thousands of gypsies from all over the Eastern Bloc flocked to Western Poland where they attempted to cross into Germany and seek refuge. Many would get
[1671.06s -> 1685.26s]  rid of their papers along the way to make their case for asylum more likely to pass. However, this rarely ever worked. The majority of gypsies fleeing into Germany would be allowed to stay only two years in a refugee camp while their application was being processed.
[1685.26s -> 1699.47s]  During their stay, they'd find some sort of low paying work either in the camp itself or the towns nearby and afterwards they would be kicked back home while also having their finances taken from them due to them being obtained via illegal
[1699.47s -> 1713.68s]  work in the country. Often enough, the savings these gypsies brought would also be taken under that pretense and basically leave them with no money whatsoever. Upon being deported back to their countries of origin, in many cases the countries were
[1713.68s -> 1727.89s]  would refuse to take them back as they didn't have any papers and because the Germans took their money, many were left without a cent nor passport to their name. Later on, Germany would pay Romania millions of marks at the time to take back its citizens
[1727.89s -> 1729.71s]  and build housing, but
[1729.71s -> 1743.98s]  as the government of Romania at that time was severely corrupt, you can imagine how this story ended. Today, the situation of many gypsies has improved since the dreaded 90s, but it is still far away from perfect. Many programs and NGOs have
[1743.98s -> 1758.19s]  sprung up to assist Roma communities throughout Europe. However, many still live as outcasts of society and often do not have adequate infrastructure nor facilities for a normal life. Even in one of Romania's most well-developed cities, Cluj,
[1758.19s -> 1772.40s]  Paterot, an infamous gypsy neighborhood known for its favela-like conditions, is allowed to exist virtually ignored by the government, despite the city's booming IT sector. However, it is also important to note that many gypsies also aren't thrilled to
[1772.40s -> 1786.61s]  jump into cooperating with a society that has oppressed them for centuries and only recently let up on their brutal treatment. While systematic issues exist when it comes to the treatment of the Roma communities in Eastern Europe, so do trust issues amongst the Romani who
[1786.61s -> 1800.82s]  sometimes willfully refused attempts of normalization efforts. But hopefully both will change as more progress takes place and brighter chapters become written in the history of the gypsies. Thank you for watching, this has been quite a brutal video to re-
[1800.82s -> 1814.74s]  right as gypsy history is characterized by bondage and expulsion. Please let me know what you think in the comments and if I should do more of these types of videos in the future. My name is Janusz and you've watched Living Around a Clean Europe.
[1814.74s -> 1821.58s]  Hey, hey, why are you living in the USA? It is not the place