PROJECT EDUCATION OF ROMA | HISTORY ROMA CHILDREN COUNCIL CONSEIL OF EUROPE DE L´EUROPE IN EUROPE RUSSIAN 3.2 EMPIre Russian Empire Elena Marushiakova, Veselin Popov Roma in Ukraine | Strategic Aims of the State Policy towards “Gypsies” | The Practical Realisation of the State Policy | Roma in the New Territories | The Crimea and Southern Russia | Bessarabia | Faraonovka and Kair | “Gypsy” Serfs | “Gypsies” after the Reform of 1861 The Russian Empire has exerted its influence over many peoples. Contrary to other countries in Europe the state policy of the Russian Empire towards the Roma initially and in the long term treated them as equal subjects of the Empire with the respective full civil rights. The administrative efforts of the state aimed to make the Roma meet their obligations as citizens. This policy was above all a “mainstream” policy; “Gypsies” were seen as an inseparable part of society, and in this way were subject to general legislation. In cases where there was a “special” policy directed at them, the aim was to overcome separation from society, without exercising pressure towards their assimilation. PRINCIPA- KAZAN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE LITY OF MOSCOW SIBIRIAN MOSCOW COSSACKS The Russian Empire grew from the so- THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE called Muscovite Russia, which from Ill. 1 the 15th century (and particularly after EMPIRE OF ALL RUSSIAS proclaiming Ivan IV the Terrible Tzar in 1547) onwards began to develop rapidly URALIAN COSSACKS and to expand, increasingly adding ter- KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA VORONEZH SLOBOZHANSHCHINA ritories and their populations to the Em- (SLOBODSKA UKRAINE) pire. Although Russia is formally an em- Volga pire only from 1721 (the reign of Peter KIEV KHARKOV I the Great) onwards, this generalising LITTLE RUSSIA LVIV Dnieper COSSACKS ASTRAKHAN name can be used for earlier periods as Dniester ZAPOROZHIAN OF THE DON Don well. Roma, who had lived for centuries COSSACKS AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE Bug in the Russian Empire, were consider- Prut BESS- ably influenced by the mainstream so- ARABIA TAURIDA COSSACKS cial and political conditions, and this GUBERNIYA PRINCIPALITY OF MOLDAVIA OF KUBAN is reflected in their contemporary ethnic (LITTLE TATARY) Kuban and cultural characteristics. CRIMEA Ill. 2 Danube PRINCIPALITY OF WALLACHIA INTRODUCTION solve all disputes among them”. Whether population of certain territories, including these territories, which were added to “Gypsies”. Not much later a new decree A charter dated 1501 may be considered the Russian Empire only later, could be was adopted by the Senate of St. Peters- the first evidence of the arrival of Roma called a part of the Russian Empire is a burg, in answer to a petition by “Gypsies, in the Russian Empire. In this document subject of dispute. born in these lands”, which allowed them Alexander Kazimirovich, Prince of the With certainty “Gypsies” in the to reside and trade with horses in the area Grand Duchy of Lithuania and King of Russian Empire are mentioned for the around the capital St. Petersburg, with Poland allowed the “Senior voyt Vassil first time in 1733 in a decree issued by the obligation to register “wherever they and his Gypsies” full freedom of travel Empress Anna Ioanovna, which concerns wish”. The passus “born in these lands” in the lands of the duchy and gave their the settlement of the annuity of three re- points to an earlier settlement of Roma leader the right to “judge Gypsies and re- giments through taxes, gathered from the in the Russian Empire. [Ills. 1-4] Roma in Ukraine Strategic Aims of the State Policy towards “Gypsies” The Practical Realisation of the State Policy Ill. 4 MIGRATION MOVEMENTS ST. pETERSBURG Ill. 3 A first period of immigration into the Rus- sian Empire saw “Gypsies” move from the south into Ukraine and from the east into DENMARK 1733 Today’s Country Borders Belarus and the Baltic countries in the 15th 1399 LITHUANIA and 16th centuries. Today, these early im- 1501 migrants are known as the “Xaladitka” or RUSSIA “Ruska Roma”, the closely related “Polska POLAND 1509 Roma” (also called “Xaladitka Roma”) in 1416 Lithuania and nowadays Poland, and “Li- BOHEMIA UKRAINE tovska Roma” in Lithuania and Belarus. The “Lotfika” (Latvian) Roma in the Baltic 1378 HUNGARY MOLDAVIA area are also related to them. The “Servi/ ? BOSNIA TRANSYLVANIA 1768-74 Servuria”, for instance, settled in Eastern Ukraine and Southern Russia in the mid- SERBIA WALLACHIA th ROME 16 century after migrating from Wallachia BULGARIA 1422 and Moldavia. 1348 BYZANTIUM After 1654 Ukraine joined the by paying a certain sum of money. The ROMA IN UKRAINE Russian Empire voluntarily, yet kept a “Gypsy” annual tax grew with the years, certain internal autonomy. “Gypsies” which is evidence of their growing well were included in separate tax registers, being – at the beginning of the 18th cen- The first written sources mentioning divided into “regiments”, led by their tury it amounted to 120 “karbovantsi” “Gypsies” in the present day territories “atamans” (chieftains), who were nomi- (Ukraine currency) annually and in 1755 of Ukraine date back to the 15th century, nated by the “Gypsies” themselves for it reached 1,424 “karbovantsi”. for instance several marginal notes about these positions prior to their appoint- The special “Gypsy” regiments “Gypsies” in the registers of the towns of ment. This should not be understood in were abolished in 1765 and Roma then Sanok and Lvov for the period 1427/28- the literal sense of the word; the Roma registered in the existing “sotni” (Cos- 1445. During the 16th-18th century the in the Ukraine were not actively serving sack squadrons) and regiments, thus presence of the Roma has left traces in in the army. In fact what the documents they were given civil rights like the rest documents from the Ukrainian “Slobo- show is that Roma were included in the of the population. All “Gypsy” affairs zhanshchina“ (territories on the left bank existing military and administrative were subject to the Kiev Civil-Military of the Dnieper) and the autonomous organisation of the day. The main ob- Commission, which directly linked their “Zaporozhskaya Sech” (of the so-called ligation of “Gypsy” “atamans” was to mandatory registration with the require- Zaporozhian Cossacks). In the registers gather the annual tax (“obrok”) toge- ments for permanent residence. These of the whole Zaporozhian Army we find ther with appointed tax collectors (who measures, however, did not make it im- names such as Vasko Tsigan, Stepan Tsi- had bought the right to gather taxes at possible for the Roma to lead a semi-no- ganchuk, Dmitro Tsiganchuk (from “Tsi- an auction) and to present it to the Ge- madic (with a fixed winter residence) or gan”, Russian for “Gypsy”). Roma main- neral army office for the maintenance of nomadic way of life. Their main occu- ly served as smiths and armourers in the the army. The appointment of “Gypsy” pations were various types of ironwork, army regiments. “atamans” was determined by the state horse-trading and music playing. ty. This did not mean, however, that they and received their respective civil rights STRATEGIC AIMS OF THE STATE were banned from settling in the capital. through a decree issued by Catharina II POLICY TOWARDS “GYPSIES” In 1766 a decree of the senate regulated The Great in 1783. According to this de- the payment of taxes by nomadic “Gyp- cree all “Gypsies”, who had not yet been Comparatively soon after the settlement sies” in the Russian Empire, who mainly entered in the State Registers of Popu- of “Gypsies” in the Russian Empire spe- lived in the so-called Slobodska Ukraine lation, together with those listed in the cial measures were taken towards them. and the areas around Moscow and other registers as the property of land owners In 1759 the Empress Elisabeth issued a major cities in the Empire. (i.e. serfs) fell into the category of so- decree banning travelling “Gypsies” in Roma were finally included in the called state serfs and were obliged to pay the capital St. Petersburg and the vicini- social structure of the Russian Empire the respective taxes for this category. COUNCIL OF EUROPE ROMA | HISTORY PROJECT EDUCATION OF ROMA CHILDREN IN EUROPE RUSSIAN 3.2 EMPIre Ill. 5 The wife of Johan Dimitri Taikon, the famous story- teller, as a newly married bride in Russia around 1900. The Taikon family moved from Russia to Sweden by that time. (from Lundgren / Taikon 2003, p. 45) Ill. 6 A Russian “Gypsy chief” of the 19th century. (from Clébert, Jean Paul (1964) Das Volk der Zigeuner. Wien: Paul Neff, p. 64b) Catherine II’s decree actually re- a regular registration and keep to the re- te peasants had a better status than serfs. presents a new approach towards “Gyp- quirements of the law. State peasants and Serfdom on the other hand offered sies” – the end of the “special” state policy serfs were entitled to travel freely, paying the possibility to pay the annual “obrok” towards them and their inclusion in the a specific annual tax (the “obrok”). to the landed gentry, thus acquiring the mainstream legal norms. However, this The category of “state peasants” right to freedom of movement. Roma, prior does not mean that it was an attempt to included above all the Slavic speaking to being included in the category “state force Roma to become sedentary. The De- Orthodox population of the newly ac- peasants” availed themselves of this pos- cree deals with the status of state peasants quired territories – Siberia, Left-bank sibility and continued their nomadic way as a whole and reflects the aim of the sta- Ukraine, Novorossiya, etc, together with of life, nominally moving from one land te to gather taxes from them. The decree the various types of Cossacks (Cossacks owner to another (paying them for freedom speaks of settling “Gypsies” in “suitable from the Don, Kuban, Ural, etc.).