Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies) - Scarecrow Press

INTRODUCTION • xxxix
duced similar legislation 10 years later, and other countries soon followed.
The punishment for remaining was often death. There was some
migration to Poland, mirroring that of the Jews. The policy of expulsion
failed in most cases, however, as the countries to which they were deported
often returned them quietly over the borders. Only the Scandinavian
countries and the Netherlands managed to efface all visible trace
of Gypsies for over two centuries. Most governments finally had to try
a new policy—enforced integration or assimilation.
In Spain in 1499 and in Hungary in 1758, new laws required Gypsies
to settle down or leave the country. They had to become land
workers or be apprenticed to learn a craft. But they also had to be assimilated
into the native population. Everywhere laws forbade Gypsies
to wear their distinctive colorful clothes, to speak their language,
to marry other Gypsies, or to ply their traditional trades. As a result
of these policies, today large populations of long-settled Gypsies can
be found in Spain and Hungary, while in Romania Gypsy land workers
and craftspeople were reduced to a status below that of serfs, to
virtual slavery.
The latter part of the 19th century saw a new migration westward as
Romania released its Gypsies from bondage. Many thousands emigrated,
some as far as America, Australia, or South Africa. Well over a
million Gypsies live in North and South America today, with the
Kalderash clan forming the majority.
The nomadic Gypsies, however, have survived as a distinctive group
until the present day. The reason for this was partly the inefficiency of
local constabularies but also that the Gypsies developed as a fine art the
practice of living on the border of two countries or districts and slipping
over the border when the forces of law and order approached. Also, the
nobility and large landowners throughout Europe protected the Gypsies.
They encouraged seminomadic families to stay on their land and were
able to employ the men as seasonal laborers. The women could serve in
the house or sing and dance when guests came.
In the 19th and 20th centuries in western Europe, Gypsies encountered
problems finding stopping places. Camping on the side of the
main roads was made difficult by laws such as the UK Highways Act of
1835. Large shantytown settlements developed on wasteland, but then
the authorities stepped in and evicted the families. Such incidents occurred
in England, starting with the Epping Forest eviction of 1894 and