Category Archives: Germany

Deutschland News Westeuropa

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The Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung (2014) spoke with Rainer Wendt, the German federal president of the German police union. Wendt was invited by Central Council of German Sinti and Rroma to talk about the possibilities of intercultural training of police personnel and the dismantling of prejudices. In the interview, Wendt points out that it is important to develop and professionalise policemen, so they develope an understanding of the social contexts of minorities: “Prejudices are all around us in society. Police officers are, of course, not free of them. We use the professionalisation of police work against it. This requires that policemen know accurately the social context in which they work, in order to not give rise to prejudices and on the other side to be able to handle prejudices that exist in society. […] Not only among the police, but in our society as a whole, one must communicated that Rroma do not come from somewhere to Germany to establish themselves as a foreign body, but that they have been part of our country for centuries. They are not Sinti and Roma, who just come like that to Germany. They are German Sinti and Roma, or European citizens, who have a right to come, and we as Germans have the duty to integrate them. Of course they themselves have the obligation to contribute.” Wendt’s reference to the European history of the Rroma is important. Only through the understanding that Rroma are resident and integrated in Europe for centuries, and form a transnational ethnic minority, one can reduce prejudice against them. Them anti-social behaviour sometimes attributed to them than is rather the result of their exclusion than the outcome of a lacking will to integrate. Rroma belong to all professional groups and social classes. In Germany, there are an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma today. Before the genocide by the Nazis, there were many more.

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The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (2014) reports on the publication of a new study on right-wing extremism in Germany. According to the study commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, prejudices against minorities like the Rroma remain strong in Germany: “The Foundation publishes the study every two years and examines the extent to which right-wing extremist viewpoints are common among the population. This year, 2,000 citizens were interviewed between June and August. Explicitly right-wing extremist viewpoints have thus become much less common in recent years and are at a new low. […] Nonetheless, still ten percent of the population thinks that National Socialism had its good points – and that Germany would need a “leader” who “rules the country with a strong hand for the benefit of all.” […] The authors of the study warned that there was no cause for complacency. It may be possible that some citizens are simply afraid to express their right-wing viewpoints openly because of the NSU affair. […] Zick [one of the authors] said that there was a ruthless “market-shaped extremism” in Germany, which follows distinct efficiency thinking. People who do not perform enough for society, but rather generate costs, are rejected in this way of thinking. [….] Also other groups – as Muslims or Sinti and Roma – are faced with widespread prejudices in Germany, the study states. Approximately 38 percent of the population thinks that Sinti and Roma are prone to crime.” Due to the genocide of 500,000 to one and a half million Rroma, Germany has a historical responsibility towards the minority. However, the Federal Republic met this responsibly only very slowly: the genocide of the Rroma was not recognised until 1982. Before that, the Holocaust was trivialized with the remark that there had been persecution because of the “anti-social behaviour” of the “Gypsies”, but not due to an eugenically motivated racial fanaticism. An official memorial in honour of the murdered Rroma was not inaugurated until 2012. – For the study of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2,000 citizens were surveyed from June to August 2014 (compare Käfer 2014).

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26.11.2014 Halle: violence and inflammatory language against Rroma

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Bonath (2014) reports on violence and inflammatory language against Rroma in Halle. According to the journalist, right-wing extremist groups have repeatedly agitated against the minority and committed several attacks on Rroma in recent months: “Neo-Nazis have declared Roma families in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) as their target. On the right wing website “Hallemax”, there is call to a parade in the southern district Silberhöhe, with 3,000 planned participants […]. The Internet portal “Hallemax” is run by the avowed neo-Nazi Rolf Brückner. […] Brückner and his “comrades” have been raising a mob in Silberhöhe since months. Meanwhile, a “militia against Rom” was founded there; “patrols” have been mobilised. Repeatedly, there have been brutal attacks on people of foreign origin in the neighbourhood. The right-wing thugs did not even stop at children. Adolescents attacked a Romanian mother and her two-year-old son in early September. At the end of October, a ten-year-old dark-skinned girl was beaten up so hard that she had to be hospitalised. In early November, a van belonging to a Roma family caught fire in a parking lot.” Today, an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma live in the Federal Republic of Germany. Before the genocide by the Nazis, there were many more. Most of them speak perfectly German and have a job. Numerous media and politicians have strengthened prejudices against the minority with biased, unreflecting remarks about Rroma as poverty immigrants.

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26.11.2014 “De Maizière: discrimination [of Rroma] is not political persecution”

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Sirleschtov/Birnbaum (2014) spoke with Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister and member of the Christian Democrat Party. In the talk, De Maizière justifies his successful efforts to declare Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia to be safe countries of origin. He states that although Rroma are badly treated in these three countries, they are not politically persecuted. Therefore, a refugee status for Rroma from these countries can no longer be acceptable: “A part of the Greens criticise me, saying I play people who come to us against each other. But that would mean by implication that Germany has to accept anyone who comes here. […] That is why the distinction between real political persecution and others who leave their homes for other reasons is the rational way and the path laid out by our constitution. A bad treatment of the Roma in some Balkan countries is just no political persecution. This is hard for those affected, but this distinction is necessary.” Rroma are indeed not politically persecuted in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. Their integration is historically proven for the Balkans: since centuries, they belong to all social strata and professional groups. However, that does not mean that they are not exposed to massive discrimination in everyday life, especially since the strengthened nationalism of the Yugoslav Wars. The estimate how strong this discrimination is can only be critically evaluated in individual cases. Therefore, asylum applications should not be treated generally, but individually, to do justice to the fate of those persons affected.

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21.11.2014 German Federal Supreme Court asked to take a stance on its hostile judgments on Rroma

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Romani Rose, chairman of the central council of German Sinti and Rroma, has demanded the German Federal Supreme Court in a statement on the 4th Roseburg-symposium to take a stance on its jurisdiction against Rroma under National Socialism and in the post-war period. In 1956, the Federal Supreme Court (BGH) had largely rejected the claims of Holocaust survivors for compensation, on the grounds that there had been earlier official measures against Rroma: “In January of 1956, the Federal Supreme Court had largely denied compensation to “gypsies” who were persecuted by the Nazis. The exclusion and resettlement policy of the Nazis until 1943 was denied to have been motivated by their racial fanaticism, but was said to be part of the “usual police preventive measures”. The judges of the Federal Supreme Court justified their verdict with the suggestion that due to the nature of the people, there had always been measures against the “Gypsy plague”. Without any relativization it says: “They tend, as experience shows, towards crime, particularly thefts and frauds, they often lack the moral drives to respect the property of others, because they appertain like primitive men an unrestrained occupation instinct.” It was not until 1963 that at the Federal Supreme Court recognised that Rroma were persecuted in Nazi Germany before 1943. However, the racist police considerations, which allege a collective predisposition to crime for Rroma, were still recognised. Rose therefore demanded an official dissociation of the Federal Supreme Court from its past verdicts, as he stated at the symposium: ““Then, the Supreme Court adopted the justification strategy of the Nazis and their demagogic agitation”, criticized Rose. Until today, there has been no dissociation on part of the Federal Supreme Court. “We would appreciate it very much if such a statement – in whatever form – would be possible today.”” – In Auschwitz-Birkenau alone, 30,000 Rroma were murdered. Researchers estimate at least half a million casualties among the Rroma (Rath 2014).

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21.11.2014 Swiss German media: one-sided coverage of Rroma

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Schindler (2014) reports on the November 18th Rroma Foundation’s press conference. The foundation presented the results of their five-year study on the coverage of Rroma in the Swiss German print media. The result is devastating: the various newspapers (NZZ, Blick, 20 Minuten Tages-Anzeiger, Beobachter, Weltwoche, Wochenzeitung (WOZ)), despite their different political orientation, all report in a one-sided way on the Rroma. In the media representation, the minority is reduced to a minority of marginalised, criminal Rroma. The majority of integrated Rroma – in Switzerland 80,000 to 100,000 people – is hidden: “If the is a report on Roma in Switzerland, the texts are exclusively speaking of beggars, thieves, and prostitutes, which are organised in patriarchal clans and cause problems. How many Roma are living in Switzerland, how unobtrusively they live and how well they are integrated, the reader does not learn – unlike in Germany or France, where the media report more balanced, according to the study. In the international departments however, the attention reduces them to victims, the study states. They are described almost exclusively as poor, uneducated and socially excluded” (Schindler 2014). Sutter (2014) focuses on the social effect of this one-sided reporting, in her reportage for SRF 2 Kultur. She emphasizes that at the press conference Stéphane Laederich appealed to ethical responsibilities of journalists. They should ask themselves whether a mentioning of ethnicity in relation to criminal offenses is morally acceptable: ““We want to point out that the image of begging clans does not correspond to reality.” The stereotypes that can be repeatedly found come in part of the Western European middle Ages. The image of child stealing, pagan, thieving Roma has legitimized their persecution and murder several times in the past. In connection with the reporting in Switzerland, Stéphane Laederich speaks of “intellectual arson that can all too easily turn into a real arson.” Therefore a ticking time bomb in the current European climate where right-wing nationalists celebrate great successes in voting” (Sutter 2014). Now the journalists are asked to act. It is up to them to replace this one-sided reporting with a differentiated picture of minority, and to encourage the readers to think critically. That alone can be the aspiration of good journalism. Therefore, the reference that the media necessarily report about the negative or extraordinary, misses the concerns of the Rroma Foundation: journalism hast to be more than just information, it must provide a realistic notion of the world and its minorities (compare Jirat 2014).

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19.11.2014 Rome e.V awarded with integration medal

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The Cologne “Rome e.V.” association, under the direction of Simone Treis, which is committed to the integration and acceptance of Rroma in Germany, was awarded the integration medal of the Bundestag. The school “Amaro Kher”, founded by the association, especially supervises Rroma children from refugee camps. Despite the very positive work of the association, stereotypes about Rroma are also reproduced here, when speaking about alphabetisation coursers and migrants. 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma have been living in Germany for generations, can read and write and are integrated. This integrated, invisible Rroma are not mentioned here: “Simone Treis is chairman of “Rome e.V.”, which since 1986 is committed to fight antiziganism and discrimination against Sinti and Roma. Her projects include literacy classes, social counselling and intercultural festivals. The goal is a lived practice of integration, which includes the Sinti and Roma into the society and at the same time indorses them in preserving their traditions. Because, according to Treis, many of them have the option of either hiding their culture or to face hostility. […] At the ceremony, Volker Beck pointed to the continuing problem of antiziganism in Germany. Education is the foundation for a free and independent life, this is particularly true for marginalized minorities such as Sinti and Roma, he stated” (Iding 2014).

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19.11.2014 “Till the end of the world”: differentiated and prejudiced views about Rroma in Germany

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The feature film “Till the End of the World” tells about the relationship between a German pensioner and a young Rrom who recently immigrated to Germany. In the beginning, the woman has major reservations about the Rroma who moved into her house. However, her prejudices are increasing changed after she meets a young, extremely musically talented Rrom. Despite the desire to portray the Rroma as differentiated and unbiased as possible, the film is not without clichés: “The widow Maria Nikolai (Horbiger) dares barely to go out the door, since more and more foreigners live in her neighbourhood, especially Roma refugees in her house which she regards as riffraff. But as it is: When shopping, her wallet falls out of her pocket – and it is the Roma boy Bero (Samy Abdel Fattah), which brings it back to her. When he later finds shelter in her apartment from extreme right-wing thugs, the pensioner recognises his musical talent. The music-loving woman encourages the boy, meets his family and can overcome some of her prejudices. […] Of course, the film does not address the problems and biographies of all Roma in Germany. At the heart is the situation of a refugee family that suffers from poverty, their cramped living situation and back-breaking jobs. […] And that the boy can play the accordion so beautifuly, is ultimately a decision for a cliché” (Sakowitz 2014). In Germany, according to assessments of the Foundation Rroma, there are an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma. Before the Nazi genocide, there were much more. Many have lived in Germany for generations, speak fluently German, have a job and send their children to school. They are the proof that the prejudices about the minority do not correspond to reality (compare Gangloff 2014, Hupertz 2014, Schilling-Strack 2014).

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19.11.2014 Stereotypes: criminal Rroma clans

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Guggisberg (2014) reports on criminal Rroma clans that allegedly force children into crime. Parents surrender their children to an omnipotent clan chief – to whom they are indebted – for begging and theft and some even end up in prostitution. Guggisberg uncritically reproduces the perspective of the “Wiener Drehscheibe”, a social service for begging and stealing children who have been arrested by the police. Guggisberg does not question that the social educator Norbert Ceipek – the head of the institution – who identifies each begging or stealing child as a victim of human trafficking, could himself be subject to prejudices and be providing misinformation on Rroma: “Ceipek opens another photo file. It shows a Roma village in Romania, which he recently visited. He tells of houses, cobbled together from planks and plastic sheeting, and dirt roads full of garbage. In the middle is a magnificent villa. “It belongs to the clan chief. He rules the villages as a state within a state”, says Ceipek […]. Many of the children dealt with in Vienna belong to the Roma. […] “The phenomenon of Eastern European gangs of beggars is not new. But since a couple of months, it taken new proportions”, says Ceipek. Very active are the Bosnian gangs, he states. Every few weeks, they would bring the children to different European cities, according to a rotating system. The social worker explains that his aim was to provide a perspective to the children, a little education. They might get on better path.”” Alexander Ott, head of the Foreign Police Bern, who has already been quoted repeatedly in articles about criminal Rroma gangs and trafficking of children, has his say. He reproduces the usual prejudices about hierarchical Rroma clans with a clan chief who leads children into crime: “The network of child traffickers reaches from Eastern Europe to Switzerland. “The victims are recruited in Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Often they come from large Roma families, are purchased or borrowed”, says Ott. One sends the boys to steal, urges them into prostitution, or forces them to beg. The instigators know well that the Swiss justice system cannot prosecute the perpetrators because of their young age. Adolescent burglars are booming in the autumn and winter months. Ott emphasises that they have to deal with highly professional, specialised and hierarchically-run clans, who practice their craft since generations.” Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. They are not hierarchically organised, as is often claimed, but structured largely egalitarian. So-called “Rroma kings” are self-elected and have purely representative character. Guggisberg and experts’ claim that behind begging children there is inevitably trafficking and organized crime, is wrong.

The characteristics of transnational operating trafficker networks, as presented here, are questioned by social science research. Their existence itself is not denied, something that cannot be in the interest of combating injustice. But their manifestation, their number, their omnipotence and the motivations attributed to them have to be questioned. These are often tainted by ideological fallacies, brought into connection or even equated with ethnic groups such as Rroma. Furthermore, the equation of child migration and trafficking has to be set into context. The stereotype of Rroma as child traffickers dates back to their arrival in Western Europe, and is in part based on the racist notion that Rroma did actively recruit children for criminal gangs. Regarding the topic of child migration, social science studies convey a more complex notion on the subject and point out that crimes such as incitement to beg and steal or alleged child trafficking are often permeated by various morals in the analysis and assessment by authorities, who don’t appropriately consider the perspective and motivations of migrating children and their relatives, and instead force on them their own ideas and definitions on organised begging, criminal networks or child trafficking. Structural differences of the societies involved and resulting reasons for a migration are given too little consideration. In reality, behind begging children there are often simply impoverished families, in which the children contribute to the family income and who therefore do not correspond to bourgeois notions of a normal family and childhood. De facto child trafficking is rare according to the sociological studies. Furthermore, the incomes from begging are very modest, which makes them unattractive for organised crime.  Guggisberg, who states that 200’000 children are recruited annually by the trafficking mafia, contradicts this. 

At the end of the article, Guggisberg quotes another expert opinion by Norbert Ceipek, the director of the “Wiener Drehschreibe”: At 15, many of them would get married and have children themselves, so that the cycle of crime continues. Likewise, Guggisberg reproduces this racist prejudice uncritically. The majority of Rroma, who live integrated, go to work and send their children to school, remain unmentioned (compare Cree/Clapton/Smith 2012, O’Connell Davidson 2011, Oude Breuil 2008, Tabin et al 2012).

  • Cree, Viviene E./Clapton, Gary/Smith, Mark (2012) The Presentation of Child Trafficking in the UK: An Old and New Moral Panic? In: Br J Soc Work 44(2): 418-433.
  • Guggisberg, Rahel (2014) Das Schicksal der Roma-Kinder von Wien. In: Tages-Anzeiger online vom 14.11.2014. http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/leben/gesellschaft/Das-Schicksal-der-RomaKinder-von-Wien/story/14626308
  • O’Connell Davidson, Julia (2011) Moving children? Child trafficking, child migration, and child rights. In: Critical Social Policy 31(3):454-477.
  • Oude Breuil, Brenda Carina (2008) Precious children in a heartless world? The complexities of child trafficking in Marseille. In: Child Soc 22(3):223-234.
  • Tabin, Jean Pierre et al. (2012) Rapport sur la mendicité « rrom » avec ou sans enfant(s). Université de Lausanne.
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12.11.2014 Judgment of the European Court of Justice: Social abuse remains an exception nonetheless

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Various newspapers report on a recent judgment of the European Court of Justice. The object of the lawsuit was the complaint of an unemployed Romanian woman, who sued the German government, because it didn’t want to allow her to obtain any social funds. Since the woman was not actively seeking work, the European Court of Justice dismissed the complaint. However, the judgment, which is seen by some officials as a precedent against social tourism to Germany, should be seen in a critical context: social abuse is the exception, not the norm. The ethnicity of the applicant was considered by most of the media as “Romanian”. Nevertheless, in the context of the debate about the so-called “poverty immigration”, it was repeatedly claimed that primarily poor, uneducated Rroma would migrate to Germany. This polemical misrepresentation was far too little critically questioned and criticised. Therefore, it is important to rectify that most migrants are looking for work and are no social tourists: “Not social benefits in the host countries are the reasons that pull Romanians and Bulgarians abroad, but the better job and income opportunities. When in June, in Hamburg, a personnel secondment firm went broke and 230 workers from Romania and Bulgaria were left penniless, one wondered at the local job centre: only four of the persons concerned remained in the country, all the others went back home. […] Poverty migrants from Bulgaria and Romania constitute, according to figures from German or Belgian cities, only for ten percent of the immigrants – which is about the proportion of the poor population in both countries” (Mappes-Niediek 2014). Already now, 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma are living in Germany, many of them for generations. They have a job, speak German and are integrated. These invisible Rroma are constantly hidden in the often one-sided debate about the immigration of low skilled “poverty migrants”. In addition, not only Rroma migrate to Western Europe, but also ethnic Romanians, Bulgarians and members of other ethnic groups (compare Hacker-Walton 2014, Linke 2014, Preuss 2014).

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07.11.2014 German Bundestag adopts measures against “poverty immigration”

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Scholz (2014) reports on the adoption of measures by the German parliament, which shall limit the so-called “poverty immigration”. The ambivalent term was mistakenly repeatedly equated with a Rroma mass immigration in the political and media debate. However, the critical analyses did not detect any mass exodus from Romania and Bulgaria to Germany. In addition, there also immigrated ethnic Bulgarians and Romanians, as well as well-qualified workers. Despite this context, the Bundestag has decided on a set of measures that shall make immigration unattractive to low-skilled migrants. The movement of persons is not affected by the decision: “The right of residence for job search is limited to six months. In case of abuse, one has to face three years imprisonment or a fine. Municipalities receive onetime 25 million Euros by the federal government as a relief. Re-entry bans are now generally limited ex officio, and not only following request. Child benefit is paid only upon presentation of a tax number, to avoid double payments. Vaccinations for children and young people are paid by the statutory health insurgence. Undeclared work shall be combated by better data exchange between authorities. However, there will be no immigration quotas for citizens of EU states in Germany.” Along with the debate on the so-called “poverty immigrants”, there also was an in depth discussion on the situation of the Rroma in South-eastern Europe. There was no agreement among the various parties about the situation of the Rroma minority. While some pointed to the strong ghettoisation of the Rroma, disregarding integrated Rroma, others emphasised the discrimination against the minority. Also in this point, there was no agreement on whether Rroma are politically persecuted – therefore are systematically discriminated against – or are “only” exposed to everyday discrimination. In conjunction with the discussion on the status of safe countries of origin, the viewpoint prevailed that Rroma are affected by severe poverty, but are not affected by political persecution in South-eastern Europe. However, very one-sided and distorted ideas about the culture of the Rroma, based more on prejudice than on critically questioned knowledge continue to circulate. The debate barley every addressed the 110’000 to 130’000 Rroma that have been living integrated in Germany for generations.

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01.11.2014 Romani Rose condemns migration policy towards Rroma

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In a recent statement, Romani Rose, chairman of the central council of German Sinti and Rroma, criticised the repressive migration and asylum policy towards Rroma from Eastern Europe. 25 years after the end of the Soviet bloc, a new wall between East and West Europe menaces to emerge, fuelled by xenophobic policies and corresponding migration measures, particularly aimed against Rroma: “25 years after the fall of the wall, Romani Rose, chairman of the central council of German Sinti and Roma, cautions against a new division of Europe – at least for the members of his minority. The debate about the so-called poverty migration, which took place on the back of the Roma, has led to the situation in Eastern Europe “that someone with dark eyes and dark hair is arrested on the border”, Rose said during a visit to the of Bundestag Vice-President Claudia Roth (Green) at Central Council in Heidelberg. […] For the Roma of the Balkans, Roth called for a rapid improvement in the situation. “We must begin by acknowledging that there is a group-specific persecution: these people are persecuted and discriminated against because they are Roma”, Roth said. About the last point, however, there is no consensus. While most experts agree that Rroma are affected by severe economic hardship and discrimination in everyday life, there is no consensus on an ethnic-related persecution. This is disputed by various parties, which refer to the long, historically documented integration of Rroma in Eastern Europe. Comprehensive, objective studies on the situation of Rroma since the end of the Soviet bloc, about the rise of nationalism and the Yugoslav wars, which massively altered the socio-political situation – and renewed and ethnic divisions – are rare. Rose also expressed the wish that a museum about the Rroma history should be opened in Berlin. The monument alone conveys too little background knowledge about the history of exclusion and persecution of the minority, he stated (Rhein-Neckar Zeitung 2014).

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29.10.2014 Rroma mediators against prejudices

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Werkhäuser (2014) reports on a current project of the council of Europe, which, with specifically trained mediators, aims at reducing prejudices between the Rroma minority and majority populations of the European nation states. In addition to the prevention of racial prejudice, the ROMED-2 project aims to improve the access of Rroma to the labour market and to education: “He often gets asked the following, tells the Sinto Romeo Franz at the launch of new mediators program: “Mr. Franz, why are you discriminated against? Then he answers: “You don’t need to ask me, ask those who discriminate against me”, Franz tells with a wink, but the message is clear: Sinti and Roma in Germany have to deal with a variety of prejudices. This applies to the recently immigrated Rroma from South Eastern Europe as well as to those families, who have lived in Germany for centuries, like the one of Romeo Franz. […] With a million Euros per year for all 12 participating countries, including Bulgaria and Romania, the funding for the program is not exactly abundant. Therefore, in Germany, one resorts to mediators whose positions are already funded. But money is not the main problem, says Bunjes [coordinator for Rroma issues in the council of Europe. “The EU provides many resources for Roma projects that are not used.” In many places, the willingness to deal at all with the problems of the Roma is prevailing, he states.” It has been repeatedly pointed out by critics that Rroma themselves do too little for a successful integration. This statement negates persistent discrimination and structures of inequality that make it individual people very difficult to change their situation on their own (compare Lambeck 2014).  

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29.10.2014 MiGAZIN: Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters have strong prejudices against Rroma

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The MiGZIN (2014) reports on the relationship of voters of the right-wing Euro-sceptic party Alternative for Germany (AFD) towards Rroma. Occasion for the analysis of the relationship between party affiliation and socio-political attitudes is the study „Die Parteien und das Wählerherz 2014“ of the University of Leipzig. The researchers surveyed 2400 Germans from 18 to 91 years about their electoral behaviour and political opinions. Regarding the relationship towards Rroma, the study states: “About 96 percent of the NPD voters have a problem with having Sinti and Roma in their living environment and think they tend to crime. 91 percent want to remove Sinti and Roma from the inner cities. The corresponding values ​​for the followers of the AfD are at 75 percent and 73 percent. Also the majority of non-voters and supporters of the CDU/ CSU and SPD are rather Gypsy hostile. The most liberal are the supporters of the Green Party, but also among them, a third rejects Sinti and Roma.” The study also examined correlations between the level of educational attainment, income, and susceptibility to right-wing nationalist ideas: “Among the voters of the NPD and the non-voters we find the largest group poor people. One sixth of the NPD voters and one-fifth of non-voters have a monthly income of less than 1000 Euros. Among the voters of the FDP and the AfD there are few with a low income. Only 26.1 percent of the voters of the NPD have a monthly household income of more than 2500 Euros. In contrast, 55.6 percent of the FDP voters, 48.3 percent of the Pirate Party supporters, and 47.3 percent of the Green Party voters have an income of more than 2500 Euros. Among the voters of the Green Party, one finds the most people with higher education, 43.5 percent of them have high school diploma. In contrast, only 8.8 percent of non-voters and 13 percent of the NPD voters have the high school diploma.” The study shows that lack of education and economic deprivation increase the susceptibility to right-wing nationalist positions. It is therefore the duty of politics to promote the higher education of as many people as possible and to ensure the economic appreciation of the different professional groups. The study’s identified characteristics do of course not mean that poor uneducated people are automatically susceptible to extreme viewpoints. However, they have a higher statistical probability than other groups to sympathise with these positions and to be politically manipulated. In Germany, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma. Before the genocide by the Nazis, there were much more. Many have lived in Germany for generations, speak fluently German, go to work and send their children to school. They are the proof that the stereotypes about the minority are inconsistent with reality (compare Decker/Brähler 2014, Universität Leipzig 2014). 

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24.10.2014 Uncertain situation for immigrant Rroma in Enneptal continues

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Gruber (2014) reports on the ongoing ambiguous situation for the Rroma immigrants in Enneptal. Most of the approximately 100 Rroma, many of them children, moved after the expulsion from Duisburg to the city. Since, they had to handle several chicanes of the new owner: he tried to evade them again shortly after their arrival in the municipality, what turned out to be illegal. The immediate future of the Rroma families is therefore still unclear. After all, all children are enrolled in local schools and the families are actively supported in their integration efforts by the association future-oriented assistance (ZOF). The latest challenge is not functioning heaters, which, in regard to the dawning winter, poses a serious problem: “Now the families with many small children and infants are threatened to live in homes without heating – and the cold months are just around the corner. There are different sources regarding how many people are affected. The city and the social workers from the association future-oriented assistance (ZOF) estimate 70 people, who still live in the tenements at the Hagener Strasse 138 a and 138 b. The Roma themselves speak of 60 people, divided into six families. The city Ennepetal is informed. It wants to talk to the landlord, with the aim that he performs his duties and ensures proper conditions in the apartments. […] The municipal commitment to improve the situation has also to be seen in context of a threat to the children’s welfare. Infants and young children in homes without a working heater can quickly become a case for the youth welfare services.” The association future-oriented assistance (ZOF) also wants to enable the best possible inclusion of the adults into the labour market; among others with language courses. – In Germany, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there live 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma. The majority of them have lived in Germany for generations and are well integrated. They are completely negated in the one-sided media debate about “poverty of immigrants”, that are usually equated with poor Rroma from Southeast Europe.

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24.10.2014 URA-2: controversial return assistance project in the Kosovo

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Baeck (2014) reports on the German return assistance project URA-2 in the Kosovo. The controversial aid program is supposed to help deported families or voluntarily returnees from Germany with their reintegration. According to Baeck however, the aid project doesn’t not fulfil this task. The program is more a political representation project, than that real integration assistance is being provided, Baeck criticizes: ““Ura” – means “bridge” in Albanian and is a project for “returnees” in the Kosovo, which Lower Saxony finances since 2009 with six other provinces and the federal government. Just recently, Lower Saxony decided to extend it until 2015. […] During a visit in February, the door to the URA-2-building is closed. […] People should actually queue here: anywhere in Prishtina, one encounters deportees, who wear rags and live in the worst conditions, in shacks or demolished houses. This morning, there is no one to be seen of all these people in the URA-2 building. […] URA 2 seems to be more effective in Germany. By default, during asylum procedures in Lower Saxony, the authorities refer to the assistances that are listed on leaflets. The project serves as a mean to overturn in advance possible reasons that could hinder a deportation – for example health reasons.” Baeck sees the return assistance project as an excuse to have arguments for the deportation of immigrants back to the Kosovo. The Rroma constitute the largest group of those affected. All the promises that are made in the information brochure of URA-2, are not adhered to, Baeck criticizes: “In the brochures of URA 2, one can read of “support with administrative procedures” and “psychological support”, of grants for rent, medicine, school supplies, or the initial furnishing of an apartment. To promote the integration into the labour market, one time training costs can be paid, up to 170 Euros, when starting a business even several thousand Euros. Who is returning from Germany “voluntarily”, receives more than “repatriated persons.”” Rroma are not politically persecuted in Kosovo. However, that does not mean that they are not there affected by severe poverty and a wide variety discriminations. This is given too little consideration when deporting people back. – Before the war, 100’000 to 300’000 well integrated Rroma lived in the Kosovo. Today, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there are around 40’000.

  • Baeck, Jean-Philipp (2014) Niedersachsens Trojaner in Prishtina. In: Die Tageszeitung (TAZ) online vom 17.10.2014. http://www.taz.de/!147939/
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22.10.2014 Integration assistance for Rroma in Berlin

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Lange (2014) reports on a successful integration project of immigrant Rroma in Berlin. The tenement house in the Scharnweberstraße in Reinickendorf was previously regularly the scene of conflicts, according to Lange: many homes were overcrowded, hygiene standards were not met, there were repeatedly conflicts between the new tenants and long-time residents. Thanks to an integration project, which took into account both parties, these difficulties could be overcome: “Just a year ago, the house on the Scharnweberstraße 111 in Reinickendorf was as an example of failed integration. Overcrowding of flats, conflicts between long-time residents and the Roma families, daily complaints to the police, daily visits of the health office. […] The first step in improving the “oppressive conditions”, as Kerstin Kirsch of the Gewobag tenant advisory calls it, was the purchase of the house by the local housing association. All apartments were renovated and the Roma families, who were previously known only as lodgers, became the main tenants. For the long-time residents it was time to reduce prejudices, for the new tenants from Romania, to take responsibility in the neighbourhood. Both sides became help from the Phinove association that accompanies Roma families during their start in Berlin, and is supported by the commissioner for integration and migration, Monika Lüke.” The integration project described here is indeed positive. However, the context is discussed too little: in the past few months, in the media and in politics there have been fierce debates about so-called “poverty immigrants” that were often collectively referred to as poor, uneducated Rroma from Romania or Bulgaria. Therewith, a one-sided notion of the minority was established among a broad public: Rroma are supposedly poorly educated, have many children, and come from the slums of Eastern Europe to benefit from the German welfare state, which they then become dependent of. Of course, there are marginalised Rroma corresponding to these ideas. But they only represent a minority of the minority. There are also well-educated Rroma, who belong to the middle- or even the upper class. In addition, already now 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma live in Germany. Many of them have been in Germany for generations, speak fluently German and are integrated. They are the living proof that integration is possible without problems (compare Biermann 2014, Briest 2014, Klüber 2014).

Memarina (2014) reports on the opening of two emergency apartments for immigrant Rroma families in Berlin. The apartments are intended as interim solutions until the families can find permanent accommodation. They are allowed to stay for a maximum of one month. Monika Lüke, commissioner for integration in Berlin, stated that one wants to create up to ten such flats: “In July 2013, the Senate had adopted a Roma action plan. It was planned to set up an entire house for homeless families. But nothing came of it, it was obviously the resistance in the districts. That’s why Lüke is now focussing on decentralized solutions – together with the Aachen estate and housing company, that owns the first two emergency apartments” (compare rbb 2014).

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17.10.2014 People in Need Slovakia: segregated Rroma particularly affected by human trafficking

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The Slovak Spectator (2014) reports on a new study by the Slovak organization “People in Need Slovakia”. According to the research of the organisation, segregated Rroma in Slovakia, aged between 16 and 25 as well as 25 and 35 years are particularly affected by human trafficking for forced labour, organised begging and forced prostitution: “According to Timea Stránska, head of the organisation, Roma are abused, especially for forced labour, mostly in countries like Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Germany. “In Great Britain this concerns especially cities like Peterborough, Sheffield, Leicester, Derby and Birmingham,” Stránska said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Another revelation shows that victims of human trafficking are lured while in the settlements after meeting with traffickers. “Often it also happens that the victim is recruited by their distance relatives or someone from their surroundings,” Stránska added. Except for forced labour, the human trafficking victims are also abused for prostitution and begging. In cases of children, there are mostly cases when young Roma girls are forced to be prostitutes.” The characteristics of transnational operating trafficker networks, as presented here, are being questionned by social science research. Their existence itself is not denied but their manifestation, their numbers, omnipotence, and the motivations attributed to them have to be questioned. Ideological fallacies are brought into connection or even equated with ethnic groups such as the Rroma in this context. Regarding the de facto human trafficking, social science studies convey a more complex notion of the subject. These studies point out the analysis of crimes such as incitement to beg and steal and forced migration for indentured labour is often permeated by various definitions and morals in and assessment by authorities and aid organizations, who don’t appropriately consider the perspective and motivations of migrating persons, and instead force on them their own ideas about organised begging, criminal networks or human trafficking. Structural differences of the societies involved and resulting reasons for a migration are given too little consideration, as well as the agency of migrants themselves (compare Augustin 2007, Oude Breuil et al 2011, Tabin et al 2012).

  • Augustin, Laura Maria (2007) Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry. London/New York: Zed Books.
  • Oude Breuil, B.C., Siegel, D., Reenen, P. van, Beijer, A. & Roos, Y.B. (2011) Human trafficking revisited: Legal,  enforcement and ethnographic narratives on sex trafficking to Western Europe. In: Trends in organized crime, 14, 30-46.
  • Tabin, Jean Pierre et al. (2012) Rapport sur la mendicité « rrom » avec ou sans enfant(s). Université de Lausanne.
  • The Slowak Spectator (2014) Segregated Roma the most frequent victims of human trafficking. In: The Slowak Spectator online vom 14.10.2014. http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/55563/10/segregated_roma_the_most_frequent_victims_of_human_trafficking.html
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17.10.2014 Visible Rroma in Berlin

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Flatau (2014/I) reports on illegal camping Rroma immigrants in the Görlitzer Park of Berlin. The homeless Rroma families are supposed to receive integration support at the initiative of the leaders from the district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg: “The district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg wants to develop a new plan of action to deal with the homeless Eastern Europeans. For this purpose, the “workgroup immigration” was founded. This interdepartmental workgroup was “absolutely necessary”, said mayor Monika Herrmann (Green). The panel will ensure that the Roma families get a minimum health care in the future, and children and young people are enrolled in day care centres and schools. With the senate authorities, a first Berlin contact point for Roma shall be initiated. In addition, the district office has applied for 1.2 million Euro subsidies from the EU, to fund language courses and further support. However, the office cannot provide accommodations, said city counciler Beckers. But he knew of intensive efforts of the commissioners for integration of the Senate in providing housing for Roma families. This was preceded by protests against the illegal camping Roma families. This season, more people than in past years had stayed in the Görlitzer Park and in vehicles at the Görlitzer Strasse […].” However, the media focus on homeless Rroma immigrants casts a bad light on the situation of Rroma in Germany. While the media and politicians are concerned almost exclusively with the recently immigrated Rroma, they neglect the majority of the 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma, which have been living integrated in Germany for generations and speak perfectly German. They are the proof that integration is possible without problems (compare Flatau 2014/II).

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10.10.2014 Centuries-old prejudices exacerbate integration

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Petersen (2014) reports on the integration of recently immigrated Rroma families in Berlin. According to the journalist and the CDU (Christian Democratic Union), the findings are sobering. As reasons for the supposedly difficult integration, the journalist refers to common prejudices about Rroma, which are thoughtlessly reproduced: „According to the CDU, the integration of Roma in Berlin is threatened to fail! Meanwhile, approximately 10,000 Roma live in the capital, tendency increasing. However, often they cannot be integrated: centuries-old traditions and clan structures can rarely be influenced by western strategies of integration.“ Petersen conveys the notion of a culture as corset, to which all Rroma subject to. Tellingly he doesn’t mention the prejudices, which exist since centuries and essentially contribute to their marginalisation. A worldview that builds on prototypical conceptions of men, and reduces the possibilities of a person to his or her will to act, is very reductionist. Apart from the prejudices and discriminations that impede an integration, the following measures are supposed to be applied to better include the immigrant Rroma: „Representatives from the youth welfare and the public health office, the school board and the police from Berlin and Rumania shall together visit the Roma-families. In the process, proposals shall be made to the families and on the other hand, there shall be sanctions, if for instance the children don’t go to school. Only with decisive actions can the integration succeed, the youth and health town councillor of Neukölln, Falko Liecke (41), stated. “So far, the plan of action of the senate is a paper tiger.” Liecke developed the seven-point plan together with Christina Schwarzer (38, CDU), MP of Neukölln, after a trip to Rumania.“ The plan of action also includes registering the Rroma, not an unproblematic plan, as this would be an ethnic register, and the creation of more day schools and support in health insurance. According to the Rroma Foundation, an estimated 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma live in Germany. The majority of them are well integrated, work, send their children to school, and have their own apartments.

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