19.09.2014 Harassment of immigrant Rroma in Enneptal

Gruber (2014) reports on the fate of some 100 Rroma in Enneptal. Many of them moved to Hasperbach after their expulsion from Duisburg. Now they face a renewed one. The landlord of the apartment building in the Hagener Strasse has informed the Rroma families that their leases will not be renewed. No clear explanation for the termination was given. However, it is assumed that reservations and discontent against the Rroma minority played a significant role. The decision is heavily criticised, in particular by social workers who were committed to a rapid and long-term integration of the families: “The social worker from the association “future-oriented fostering” (ZOF) however speak of a human tragedy, if the announcement should become reality. The Roma would exactly experience the same thing as in Ennepetal as this population experienced for centuries in all countries and places. They will be deprived of any chance to settle down permanently somewhere and to integrate into the society. This is unfortunate, especially in Ennepetal, said ZOF project manager Eduard Pusic, because here, in close cooperation with the city, politics, the food pantry, child protection, and residents, successful structures were created within a very short time which enabled the Roma a perspective that now is threatened to lapse.” The association ensured that the Rroma children were enrolled in local schools and that the women and infants received care. An expulsion would mean that the integration efforts of both sides will be unmade and that they have to restart at a different location from zero again.