HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Racism in Romania is directed against various minority groups, prominently
Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...
, but there are also problems with
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
and other forms of
discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
. In particular,
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the subsequent era of communist rule both established hatred and xenophobic feelings which still influence contemporary Romanian discourse.


Roma

Belonging to the lowest social classes, the Romani are caught in a vicious circle of poverty reinforced by segregation. Prejudice against Romani people is common among the Romanians, who stereotype the Romani as being thieves, dirty and lazy. Violence against Romani is also common in
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, especially
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...
, such cases of excessive force being not adequately investigated or sanctioned. Several anti-Romani riots occurred in the last decades, notable of which being the
1993 Hădăreni riots The 1993 Hădăreni riots (, ) were a series of riots in the village of Chețani, Hădăreni, Mureș County, Romania, involving Romanians and Hungarians on the one side against Romani people, Roma on the other side, ending with three (or four, acco ...
, in which a mob of Romanians and Hungarians, in response to the killing of a Romanian by a Romani, burnt down 13 houses belonging to the Romani, lynched three Romani people and forced 130 people to flee the village."Hadareni Journal; Death Is a Neighbor, and the Gypsies Are Terrified"
in ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', October 27, 1993


Discrimination

The Romani are discriminated on the access to healthcare, which leads to a generally poorer health status, the life expectancy of the Romani minority being 10 years lower than the Romanian average.Delia-Luiza Niță
ENAR Shadow Report 2008: Racism in Romania
European Network Against Racism The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) is an EU-wide network of anti-racist Non-governmental organization, NGOs. ENAR aims to end structural racism and discrimination and advocates for equality and solidarity for all Europeans. It connects ...
Within the Romanian education system there is discrimination and segregation, which leads to higher drop-out rates and lower qualifications for the Romani students.


Segregation

In
Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; ; ; ) is a Municipiu, city along the Săsar, Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș, a subregion of Transylvania. It is situated about from Buchare ...
, Mayor Cătălin Cherecheș built a 2-metre high, 100-metre long concrete wall to separate 3 buildings where the Romani community lives from a highly circulated road, arguing that this would bring "order and discipline" into the area. Part of the Romani community agrees with the decisions as it made a safer environment for their children and fewer car accidents."Roma community segregation still plaguing Romania"
''SETimes'', July 18, 2011


History

In
Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...
and
Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...
, the Romani people were enslaved for centuries, belonging to the state, church or
boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...
s (nobles) until slavery was gradually abolished during the 1840s and 1850s (see Slavery in Romania).


Antisemitism

The presence of Jews in Romania is documented back to the 17th century. Since then the level of discrimination has varied. It increased sharply in the 1930s under the influence of the
Iron Guard The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...
. Romania also organized death camps for Jews in the occupied
Transnistria Governorate The Transnistria Governorate () was a Romanian-administered territory between the Dniester and Southern Bug, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. A Romanian civilian administration governed the territo ...
, such as the one at the Bogdanovka concentration camp, and the Romanian Army was involved in the 1941 Odessa massacre. After World War II, most of those Jews who had survived emigrated to Israel. Prejudice continued under the
Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the second president of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, ...
government (2000–2004), although the desire to join the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
led to a greater acknowledgement of past Romanian crimes, with Iliescu finally admitting to the genocide of Romanian Jews in 2004.


Notes


References

* Viorel Achim, ''The Roma in Romanian History'', Central European University Press, Budapest, 2004. {{Europe topic, Racism in
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
Society of Romania