The Cultural Evolution of Roma Population in Romania: From the Inter-War Period to Ceausescu Dictatorship

Abstract

Since the Middle Age, when we have the first sources about the presence of the Gypsy community in Romania, the
Roma population occupied a marginality place. The slavery, which they were subjects to since the XIV and XV centuries in the
principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, determined, as direct consequence, the placement of Roma in an inferior social position
and discrimination by the attitude of the Romanian population. This former condition of inferiority is necessary to understand the
motivations that have determined such a little attention to the Roma and to the respect for its rights and its cultural
characteristics. This is especially true by the end of the WW I, when Romania became a big country with a large territory and
many populations to rule. Since this time the Roma will suffer the politics of homogenization to the majority population and
consequent loss of cultural characteristics. Nevertheless during the interwar age there were attempts to preservations of identity
carried by some associations defending the rights of Roma .But these associations were suppressed in 1938, by the
authoritarian resolution of Carol II and then, in 1940, when Antonescu established the military dictatorship, any identity rights to
Roma were denied: anyone who refused the homogenization was deported to Transnistria. Afterwards, in communist age, until
1989, Roma were considered only as Romanian people, and therefore forced to live as the majority population. However the
attitudes of discriminations against them did not stop, thus the Roma were not able to rise socially. In Romania today a
significant part of the Roma still lies in poverty, unemployment and illiteracy condition and it’s still considered the scum of
society. Trough the study of the history of Roma, we can understand the reasons of their diversity and the difficult integration in
European societies.