East West Notes

“Many Romani activists are in fact of mixed parentage. They are often individuals who grew up within the mainstream culture, ashamed of, or afraid to acknowledge, their Romani family connections. Others are persons of Romani background who acquired an education and spent the early years of their careers capitalizing on their Romani connections by engaging in academic research on Romani culture or providing expertise to public services and institutions on Romani society. They feel a strong commitment to challenging prejudice and to improving the destiny of their people. But many years of their lives have been spent struggling for recognition and acknowledgement among their non-Romani colleagues and peers.”
― Yaron Matras, I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies

“There was every proof that the persecution and genocide against Romani minorities had been carried out on the basis of racial ideology. Nevertheless, many Roms encountered difficulties reclaiming their German citizenship. As a result they were also considered to be ineligible for compensation payments, which according to the West German compensation law could be made only to German citizens. By the time their citizenship had been reinstated and compensation claims were filed again, claimants were often informed that the deadline for submitting claims had passed.”
― Yaron Matras, I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies

“A decree prohibiting the separation of Romani families through the sale of slaves was adopted in Wallachia in 1850. The ownership of private slaves finally became illegal in Moldavia in 1855 and in Wallachia in 1856.”
― Yaron Matras, I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies

“The Nazis thus offered a modern salvation worldview that defined evil lucidly and consistently: significantly, it did this by blending science, morality, and identity, that is, by mixing modern race theories, moral religious sentiments associated with a tradition of Christianity, and key elements of Heimat and German national identity.”
― Alon Confino, A World Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from Persecution to Genocide