Thousands of Roma—descendants of medieval migrants who arrived in Europe from India more than a millennium ago—in Serbia, and in the rest of the Balkans, were historically shunned and even targeted by the Nazis. But in some nations, they still face discrimination
Faced prosecution under
Nazis Roma, also known as Gypsies, account for around 10 per cent of Slovakia’s population—secondlargest ethnic minority in the country. A substantial minority live in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Macedonia. There are also Roma communities scattered across Western Europe, according to the New York Times
“Many Europeans associate Roma with crime, particularly wellorganized gangs of young Roma pickpockets who prey on local residents and tourists alike in the Continent’s wealthier cities,” Andrew Higgins, the then Brussels bureau chief, wrote in the Times in 2013. The Roma also faced persecution under the Nazi regime. Thousands were killed in concentration camps—including Auschwitz-Birkenau
Only 15 per cent Roma kids complete primary school
In Serbia, the Roma community officially numbers 1,50,000. But rights groups and the Council of Europe estimate the actual number to be three to four times higher. According to Ljuan Koka, of the Belgradebased Centre for Education of Roma and Ethnic Communities, only 15 per cent of Roma complete primary school, meaning at the age of 15, compared with 93 per cent of all Serbian pupils. And just seven to eight percent of Roma children go on to high school