{"id":1623,"date":"2013-10-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/18-10-2013-rroma-in-germany\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:48:40","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:48:40","slug":"18-10-2013-rroma-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/18-10-2013-rroma-in-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"18.10.2013 Rroma in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Radio \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDreyeckland (2013) provides information on planned agreement between the state \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof Baden W\u00fcrttemberg and the National Association of German Sinti and Roma. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdraft contract recapitulates the historically documented exclusion of the Rroma, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe historical responsibility of Germany in dealing with minorities and the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoor introspection about the German Rroma policies. The objective of the treaty \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis a targeted promotion of Rroma in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Access to education and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthus also to the labour market should be strongly supported. The draft of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttreaty states: \u201cThe exclusion and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscrimination of Roma and Sinti dates back to the Middle Ages. The cruel \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpersecution and genocide by the Nazi regime brought immense suffering to Sinti \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand Roma in our country and effects people to this day. This injustice has only \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeen recognized politically embarrassing late, and has not yet worked out sufficiently. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEven the antiziganism is still existent and not overcome. Being aware of this \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparticular historic responsibility towards Sinti and Roma as citizens of our \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcountry and guided by the desire and motivation to promote the friendly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcoexistence.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Pekdemir \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHagen (2013) reports on Hasiba Dzemajlji who is engaged in Bielefeld for a better \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegration and recognition of the Rroma. Dzemajlji wants more Rroma in Germany, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma who have been living in the country for decades to publicly declare their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tidentity. For fear of exclusion and discrimination many people of Rroma origins \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tkeep it secret. Together with the organization Migovita, Dzemajlji wants to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstrengthen the self-confidence, especially of young Rroma, and facilitate their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taccess to education. She also wants to create a counter point to the still heavily \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trooted stereotypes, a new view that is characterized by heterogeneity and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcomplexity.<\/p>\n

Niewendick \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) discusses the increasing radicalisation of local residents and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoliticians, who make propaganda against immigrated Rroma: During the last one \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand a half years, systematically, rumours of \u201cthieving Kids\u201d, littering and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tother prejudices about immigrants Rroma have been spread. The tensions achieved \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta peak in the fire of the \u201cRroma houses\u201d on 9 October, a fire whose cause is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstill unclear. The heavily politicised situation manifests itself besides open \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdemonstrations for and against Rroma with questionable expressions such as \u201cproblem \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thouse\u201d and \u201cflood of poverty refugees poverty\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\topening of a new interim dormitory for refugees in Duisburg, Kleinw\u00e4chter (2013) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscussed the situation of Rroma in Kosovo. Bernd Mesovic, Vice-President of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPro Asyl Frankfurt is cited with gloomy assessments on the integration of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma in Kosovo: The situation of the Rroma in Kosovo is totally glossed over \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby the German authorities. In reality among them, very high unemployment \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprevails, and attacks are not tracked: \u201cOfficially, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthere are no attacks on them. Who issues a complaint, must fear reprisals. They \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcan hardly expect any help from the Albanian police. Under the Constitution, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tall these rights are guaranteed, as is the internationally agreed reintegration \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof returnees. But the funds for that are lacking. The Rroma themselves have no \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconfidence in the authorities dominated by Albanians, they are almost hermetically \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspatially sealed off from the Albanians and a kind of fair game for criminals.\u201d<\/em> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMesovic\u2019s statements show once again the discrepancies between official country \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tanalyses and the real experiences of migrants. Official assessments of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstability and legal security stand in contrast with personal experiences that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare difficult to objectify. The official view remains the decisive criterion \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor the assessment of migrants\u2019 fates.<\/p>\n

Onay (2013), \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta green politician from Lower Saxony, reports on a field trip to Serbia. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPurpose of the trip was a meeting between German and Serbian Rroma as well as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnon-Rroma, which was initiated by the organisations novels Aglonipe and the International \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYouth Meeting of Roma and non-Roma. At the meeting, issues such as the lack of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taccess of Rroma to schools, to health care, and to the labour market were \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscussed. On the subsequent trip to Stara Karaburma, Onay paints a bleak \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpicture of excluded Rroma living in ghetto-like conditions: Poor hygiene, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tglaring poverty, few or no prospects for the future. Onya\u2019s portrayal stands in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstark contrast to official country assessments that classify the situation of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma in Serbia as stable and safe. This contrasts with the fate of individuals \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsurveyed Rroma, which report massive violence against them.<\/p>\n

Bachmair \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) reports on a meeting of the German association \u201cAgainst Forgetting, for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdemocracy\u201d. At the meeting, eyewitnesses and relatives reported about the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuffering experienced by Rroma and criticised the lack of coming to terms about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe persecution and exclusion of Rroma in Germany. In his contribution, Romani \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRose criticised the continued employment of Nazis by the authorities of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFederal Republic of Germany, a fact that prevented the recognition of Rroma as victims \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor a long time: \u201cIn the offices, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsurvivors met the same officials who had sent them years before to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconcentration camps, and who refused them compensation and recognition as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvictims of Nazi persecution. Even police officers who had perecuted Gypsies, made \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tunhindered careers made in the Federal Republic. Only when Gypsies got organised \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand a 1980 hunger strike on the grounds of the former concentration camp at \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDachau drew attention to their situation, was their suffering recognized.\u201d<\/em> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe researcher Wolfgang Benz on racism expressed concern that the lessons of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tworld War II have never been applied or only very poorly on Rroma.<\/p>\n

In his \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshort, article, Schuhmann (2013) asks for less political correctness in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tname of minorities who commit a crime. Naming the origin – in the case of this \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle \u201cGypsy\u201d – helps to identify grievances among the stakeholders and to ask \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcritical question: \u201cIf the reader completes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe sentence “cheating gypsies on the road” with “of course – \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho else ?”, \u00a0a true nightmare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor journalists has become a reality. The police does not want that. Neither \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdoes the majority of readers who are quite capable of differentiating between \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminorities and criminals among those. […] To name their origins could pave \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe way for many other questions. Namely who exploit these women and what a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlife they are forced to lead.\u201d<\/em> Through this statement, Schuhmann relativises \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ther own reasoning. If the committed crimes, or respectively the exploitative \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trelationships have nothing to do with cultural background, why then is naming the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\torigin relevant? Schuhmann also assumes from fully mature, critical readers, who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcan recognise stereotypical reductions as such. This is to be doubted. Many \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treaders will be confirmed in their prejudices by one-sided reporting.<\/p>\n

Also, in an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle about criminals young Gypsy women, Schuhmann (2013\/II) uses the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstereotypes of organised Rroma groups: The testimony of a police officer who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspeaks of burglars networks, is quoted without comment. Also without comment is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe fact that one assigns physical characteristics to perpetrators: \u201cThe official explained what they should pay \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tattention to. Women, beggars, rather dark in type “Gypsy one cannot say”, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFuchs says with a glance at the present journalist.\u201d <\/em>that there is no \u201cculture \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof crime\u201d ought to be clear to every man of common sense. Just as there are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdelinquent Rroma, there are delinquent ethnic German, Swiss, etc. No one would \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tever get the idea to talk about organised crime.<\/p>\n

Unzensuriert.at \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013), in an absurdity not to be outdone, reports in an article about the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma the \u201cproblem house\u201d in Duisburg. According to the article, these Rroma have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcollected the rat traps that were installed by the urban pest control and sold \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto scrap dealers. The Rroma, called \u201cGypsies\u201d here, are brought in directly in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconjunction with a rat infestation: \u201cRat plague: Gypsies stealing traps.\u201d The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle is a prime example of uncritical, unreflective, populist journalism.<\/p>\n

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