Project Education of Roma | History Roma Children Council Conseil of Europe de l´Europe in Europe Austro-Hungarian 3.1 Empire Austro-Hungarian
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A New Method: Assimilation | The Four Decrees of Maria Theresia | Little Success | Failed Attempts in Spain and Germany
Already at an early stage, people had tried to stop the Roma from living their way of life and culture. On a larger scale, however, policies of assimilation to the majority population were only pushed ahead by rulers in the Age of Enlightened Absolutism. Empress Maria Theresia and her son Joseph II in particular pursued programs which aimed at the Roma’s settlement and assimilation. Instead of physical violence a new form of cruelty was used in order to transform the uncontrollable and, to the state, unproductive “Gypsies” into settled, profitable subjects: the Roma were given land, they were no longer allowed to speak Romani and marry among each other, they were registered, and finally their children were taken away. However, these measures succeeded only in Western Hungary, today’s Austrian Burgenland and adjacent areas. In the other territories of the Empire, as well as in Spain and Germany, where the pressure for assimilation was likewise increased, the rulers’ policy of assimilation failed.
ComitatUS moson Introduction (Wieselburg)
The Age of Enlightened Absolutism was characterised by essential changes in the sovereigns’ policies toward the “Gypsies”. In the face of the complete failure of all attempts to banish them ComitatUS permanently from their dominion, the SOPRON sovereigns of the Enlightenment were (Ödenburg) searching for new methods and ways to solve the “Gypsy problem” from the second half of the 18th century onwards. Therefore, assimilation by decree of the state was added to the methods of expulsion and persecution of the Roma that are being practiced to this day.
ComitatUS AUSTRIA Vas Hungary (Eisenburg) E U R O P E Roma population in Burgenland from 1762 to 1789. Ill. 1 (based upon Mayerhofer 1988, p. 30) BURGENLAND
former Hungarian county borders Burgenland today A New Method: Assimilation The Four Decrees of Maria Theresia Little Success Failed Attempts in Spain and Germany
Ill. 2 Maria Theresia, Empress of the Austro- Ill. 3 (Detail) Hungarian Empire. List of “Gypsy” children “resettled” to Nagygencs in the year 1782. (from Vacha 1992, p. 295) (from Mayerhofer 1988, p. 29)
The primary motives behind the of the “Gypsies” was replaced by the A new method: enforcement of assimilation at that time destruction of their culture and traditi- Assimilation undoubtedly were the aspiration of the onal ways of life. Only in comparison centralised state to control its subjects to the brutal persecution of former eras Measures forcing the Roma to give up and to integrate the Roma into the exis- could this new way of dealing with the their way of life were taken, in order ting economic system. However, the re- Roma be possibly seen as progressive. to do away with an “uncontrollable ligious beliefs of a few sovereigns also Moreover, the methods applied in “civi- nuisance” and to transform so-called played a role. They saw an honourable lising” the Roma – such as taking away “unproductive” parts of the popula- duty in the “civilisation” of the “Gyp- their children – were in many cases more tion into “respectable, obedient and sies” by enforcing their “re-education” brutal and inhumane. diligent people”. The most important into becoming “good Christians”. Very early attempts by the state aim of these measures was to keep the The policies of assimilation dur- to assimilate the Roma can be found in Roma from wandering about and to ing that time were based on the way En- Spain. As early as in 1619 the authorities make the hitherto “roving and vaga- lightenment viewed human beings: the wanted to force the wandering Roma to bond Gypsies” settle down permanent- individual was regarded as “capable of settle, and used methods of assimilation ly. The coercion to live rural lives or learning and improving”. At the same such as forbidding the use of Romani to learn civic trades, and the destruc- time, the measures that were taken to (1633), separating parents and children tion of their cultural identity, was sup- assimilate the Roma rested upon the as- and committing the children to orpha- posed to lead to an assimilation into sumption that their culture was inferior nages, and sending men and women to society. in principle. The physical extermination separate workhouses (1686, 1725).
influenced many other sovereigns. Stri- The first decree (1758) forced The four decrees of ving to make the Roma settle down as the “Gypsies” to settle. They were de- Maria Theresia “new citizens” or “new farmers”, she nied the right to own horses and wa- issued four great decrees altogether du- gons in order to keep them from “no- Maria Theresia, the Empress of the Aus- ring her reign (1740-1780). By means madising”. Furthermore, the Roma tro-Hungarian Empire, set an example of these decrees the Roma should be were given land and seeds and became with her policies of assimilation which forced to give up their ways of life. liable to pay tribute from their crops
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THE “MANAGEMENT OF THE GYPSIES”
Some basic principles of the guidelines “De Domiciliatione et Regulatione Zingaro- rum” (About the settlement and management of Gypsies), published on October 9, 1783, by Emperor Joseph II:
- The Roma were no longer allowed to set up tents in the woods; rather, they should be urged to farm the land in towns in scarcely-wooded areas. - The jurisdiction of the voivodes was replaced by that of the High Judge. - The Roma were not allowed to keep horses for the sole purpose of selling them. Bondsmen were allowed to possess horses, but only for work, and couldn’t under any circumstances trade them. - 24 strokes with the cane were set as punishment for the use of the “Gypsy language”. - The same punishment applied to those who ate carrions. - Roma were not allowed to marry among each other. - The “jurassores” (district judges) had to report monthly about the Roma’s way of life. - The number of Roma musicians was restricted. - Roma children should, from the age of 4 onwards, be distributed among the neigh- bouring towns, at least every two years.
Ill. 4 Ill. 5 (abbreviated and translated from Mayerhofer 1988, p. 27f.) Maria Theresia’s son, Josef II (from Vacha 1992, p. 322)
just like the other subjects of the crown. tion. “Gypsy boys” would learn a trade however, was bound to an attestation of They were supposed to build houses or be recruited for military service at “a proper way of life and knowledge of and had to ask for permission and state the age of sixteen if they were fit for the Catholic religious doctrine”. Since an exact purpose if they wanted to leave service. the empress and her counsellors were of their villages. In 1767 Maria Theresia had the the opinion that the “civilisation” of the In the second decree (1761) the jurisdiction withdrawn from the voi- “Gypsies” was the basis for a success- term “Zigani”, which was commonly vodes and all “Gypsies” became sub- ful “domiciliation”, she ordered that all used for the Roma at that time, was re- ject to local jurisdiction (third decree). children over the age of five should be placed by the terms “Ujpolgár” (Hunga- At the same time, they were ordered to taken away from their parents and be rian for “new citizen”), “Ujparasztok” register and – based on this registration handed over to Hungarian farmers’ fa- (“new farmer”), “Ujmagyar” (“new – conscriptions were carried out for the milies who were supposed to take char- Hungarian”) or “Ujlakosok” (or Latin first time. ge of their Christian upbringing against “Neocolonus”, for “new settler”). They The fourth decree, issued in 1773, payment. The children should grow up were supposed to give up their way of prohibited marriages between the Roma. isolated from their parents in different life, together with their old name, in or- Mixed marriages were encouraged by comitatuses, go to school and later learn der to accelerate the process of integra- subsidies. Permission to get married, a trade or become farmers. [Ill. 3]
assimilation even more rigorously. Not ve measures imposed by Maria There- Little success only were more restrictions – such as sia and Joseph II were effective only to the compulsory adoption of the clothing a certain degree. They only succeeded and the language of the village people permanently in what is Burgenland to- Although Maria Theresia’s successor, – imposed on the Roma, but they were day, where the Roma actually settled Josef II (1780-1790), released the Roma also threatened with harsh punishment down and have stayed up to the present of Bukovina that had been living in bon- for offences against these restrictions. day. A large number of Roma were suc- dage, he continued the policies of assi- For the use of the “Gypsy language”, cessfully assimilated there: frequently milation started by his mother. Issued in for example, the law provided a flog- children did not return to their own pa- 1783, the guidelines “de Domiciliatione ging of 24 blows. Despite the sanctions rents, stayed on the farms of their foster et Regulatione Zingarorum” enforced ordered in case of offences, the coerci- parents or learned a trade and married
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Austro-Hungarian 3.1 Empire
A travelogue written by a French writer of the 19th century recounts the terrible impressions the “theft” of Roma children had left on her:
“On a certain day, terrible for that described. The parents threw them- ons – their little children – many people, a day they still think of in selves on the ground in front of the parents immediately committed terror, soldiers appeared with wa- soldiers, and clung to the wagons suicide. The Zigains (“Gypsies”) gons and took away all children, which took away their children. could not be convinced of the gre- from the newly-weaned infants to They were pushed away with sticks at moral they were preached, nor of the newly-weds, still wearing their and rifle butts, and because they their sacrifices’ usefulness.” bridal dress, from the Gypsies. The could not follow the wagons which Ill. 6 poor people’s desperation cannot be held their most precious possessi- (translated from Mayerhofer 1988, p. 26)
into a non-Roma family. In a few towns In other territories of the em- translate the regulations into action or the Roma assimilated completely into pire, however, the Roma offered re- to return the Roma that had escaped. the village population. The process of sistance against the way of life ordered Moreover, as they were generally com- assimilation is mirrored in the disap- by the state, they evaded the harsh pleted according to the expectations of pearance of the formerly multifarious compulsory measures and took to the the authorities, the lists of conscription family names in the conscriptions of road again. The state at this time la- often did not show any need for action. the “Gypsies”. cked the necessary human resources to [Ills. 3, 4, 6]
measures were bound to fail because 1771. Friedrich II of Prussia, a con- Failed attempts in they were also rejected by the rest of temporary and rival of Maria There- Spain and Germany the population – towns and their citi- sia, founded the “Gypsy settlement” zens refused to take the Roma in and Friedrichslohra in a remote area near The liberal Spanish King Charles III employ them. The “Gitanos” continu- Nordhausen in 1775 in order to make (Carlos Tercero) tried to “civilise” the ed practising their itinerant trades but Sinti groups who had been “roaming “Gypsies” in the same year as Joseph under even more difficult and impo- the land as beggars and thieves” sett- II (1783). In the 44 articles of his verished circumstances. le down permanently. The attempt to Pragmatica he prohibited their wan- In Germany similar measures, transform the Sinti into the state’s dering, the use of their language (“el though on a smaller scale, were ta- idea of “clean, proper, obedient and caló”), their typical clothing, and the ken. A few sovereigns tried to make diligent” people failed miserably. Af- horse trade as well as other itinerant the “Gypsies” settle down on their ter 1830 the adults were committed to trades. The king wanted the “Gitanos” territories, such as the Count of Witt- workhouses and the “Martinsstift” in to settle down in a place of their choice genstein, who had the “Gypsy sett- Erfurt (a convent) took charge of the and to practice “proper” trades. These lement” Saßmannshausen erected in children.
Bibliography
Fraser, Angus (1992) The Gypsies. Oxford / Cambridge: Blackwell | Heinschink, Mozes F. / Hemetek, Ursula (eds.) (1994) Roma. Das unbekannte Volk. Schicksal und Kultur. Wien: Böhlau | Mayerhofer, Claudia (1988) Dorfzigeuner. Kultur und Geschichte der Burgenland-Roma von der Ersten Republik bis zur Gegenwart. Wien: Picus | Remmel, Franz (1993) Die Roma Rumäniens. Volk ohne Hinterland. Wien: Picus | Vacha, Brigitte (ed.) (1992) Die Habsburger. Eine europäische Familiengeschichte. Graz: Styria | Vossen, Rüdiger (1983) Zigeuner. Roma, Sinti, Gitanos, Gypsies zwischen Verfolgung und Romantisierung. Frankfurt am Main: Ullstein
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