On the occasion of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tevacuation of the so-called \u201cRroma house\u201d in Duisburg, Jakob (2014) takes look \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tat the history of the three apartment buildings that housed up to 1,400 people \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tat peak times. Since 2009, the residential complex \u201cIn den Peschen\u201d, which had \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeen purchased by the real estate agent Branko Barisic, was in the headlines. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt was mostly due to the voices of angry residents who were complaining about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnoise, pollution, and petty crime. The Rroma themselves \u2013 if they really were \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tall Rroma from Romania and Bulgaria, as it was claimed \u2013 remained largely unheard \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand were stylised as a bunch of uneducated poverty immigrants abusing the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGerman social welfare system and spreading disorder and chaos. Again and again, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tculturalising arguments were evoked, one spoke of two colliding worlds, of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talleged anti-social behaviour and backwardness of immigrated Rroma. That the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigrants are socially disadvantaged families who are looking for better life \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin Germany was largely concealed. Likewise, that poverty has nothing to do with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tethnicity and therefore there are also poor ethnic Romanians, Bulgarians who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmove to Western Europe. However, that it a mass exodus of \u201cpoverty immigrants\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinto the German social welfare system occurred, as was repeatedly claimed, is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdoubtful: there were always well-educated migrants, who didn\u2019t receive any \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmedia attention. Critical statistics could not detect a mass influx from the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnew Schengen countries Romania and Bulgaria. Many stayed at home in their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfamiliar social environment.<\/p>\n
Jacob tries to show that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe immigrants were largely left by themselves in their attempt to integrate \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand that a little bit more help by the authorities and residents would not have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tallowed the situation to escalate in such a way: \u201cLittle by little, the citizen protests against the Roma mixed with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tright-wing radicals. In the Internet there were calls to attack the house. In \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe local elections in May, right wing extremists received nowhere more seats \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthan in North Rhine-Westphalia [NRW]. Pro NRW, which had demonstrated in front \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the house, has since then send four representatives into the city council, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe NPD one representative. The city saw the Roma mainly as a problem: a year \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tago, city director Reinhold Spaniel explained in the taz that the \u201csocial \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbehaviour of many Roma\u201d was \u201can impertinence\u201d. The city was \u201ccompletely \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toverwhelmed\u201d by them financially, Spaniel said. Duisburg feared the influx of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tother \u201ceconomic refugees\u201d and probably also an escalation of the situation. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoma should go. […] While the neighbours were giving interviews to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTV-crews, Horst Wilhelm B., former caretaker, sat separately on his scooter and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twatched the exodus of the Roma. \u201cThey are pigs\u201d, he says later quietly. He meant \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe neighbours. \u201cThey simply did not want any Gypsies here.\u201d They were already \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toffended when the children went to school and made \u200b\u200bsome noise. […] He \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thimself didn\u2019t want to live in the house any longer either, but the city didn\u2019t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdo anything to give the people a chance in Duisburg. \u201cMaybe\u201d, says B., \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201ceverything would not have been so bad if the people had got some help.\u201d\u201d <\/em>Jacob \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshows memorably that the integration of the people doesn\u2019t only depend on their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tadaptability and willingness to integrate, but also on the willingness to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tincorporate them by residents and authorities. When both sides endeavour a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuccessful integration, integration is usually effective. That this is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabsolutely possible prove the 110,000 to 130,000 Rroma who live integrated in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGermany, often since generations. They are mostly ignored by the media.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n