Starting in the second half of the 19th century, the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was affected by a new wave of immigrants. [
] Roma groups
from the east moved to Hungary, among them Lovara
from the Karpato-Ukraine.
Along with the increasing appearance of nomadic Vlach-groups
- seen from the point of view of
the Hungarian people as a real "invasion" - there were
growing complaints about "repeated criminal acts" and the
lack of an adequate law to fight this "public nuisance".
Another reason for complaint was a regulation by the Hungarian law
governing local authorities, obliging all municipalities to offer the
Roma accommodation and basic supplies. Due to the intense immigration of that
time, this regulation led to increasing problems in the various villages.
In 1907, 28 provinces demanded a common file against the Roma.
However, parliament was unable to present a political solution that would
satisfy both parties. Instead, the problem was transferred to an administrative
level. The decisions that were taken, such as a prohibition of begging and
forceful deportation to the original place of residence, document the
continuous repressive character of anti "gypsy-policies".
Due to the lack of financial resources and adequate economic structures,
Hungarian politics that until 1918 had aimed at making the Roma settle by
force, was bound to fail. Unable to achieve any kind of economic basis in the
villages, the Roma were literally forced to keep up their nomadic life-style in
order to survive. At the same time, prejudices and criminalising tendencies
grew among the resident population. A publication on the
"Hungarian legal system" played a significant part in this process.
Especially in the western Hungarian provinces (present Burgenland),
the inability and unwillingness of state and society to effectively deal with
the situation of the Roma led to dramatic changes: in order to stop the
continuous flow of Roma immigrants, as of the second half of the 19th century,
the Austrian government severely restricted immigration and ordered deportation of all Hungarian Roma encountered on Austrian territory. Along with the
exit-prohibition passed by Hungary in 1870, the bordering provinces within a
short amount of time experienced a massive increase in the Roma population. As the
affected communities were unable and/or unwilling to provide them with adequate
accommodation, the Roma were allowed to settle on worthless properties. This is
how the infamous "gypsy-colonies" on the outskirts of
villages and towns came into existance.
The great number of Roma and the economic backwardness of the region
impeded any form of integration. As the farming society itself suffered severe
economic difficulties at that time, conflicts between Roma and
Gadže were frequent.
During the First World War, many Roma served in the army. Women and
unfit men were obliged to do work according to the
"Kriegsleistungsgesetz". In 1916, the animals and
wagons of all
were handed over to the military. Horses, mules,
and donkeys could only be bought with special permission by the police.
With the annexation of Burgenland in 1921, thousands of Roma
were taken over into the newly founded Republic of Austria. As they could not
be sent out of the country, massive regulations were initiated. As early as
1922, the federal government of Burgenland ordered that all Roma had to stay in
their home communities and were to be kept from moving. In order to avoid
new cases of immigration, the Roma were counted and their "gypsy
In 1926, all Roma above the age of 14 residing in Burgenland were
officially registered by fingerprints and photographs. As of 1928, the federal
police station of Eisenstadt introduced a so-called "Zigeunerkartothek" ("gypsy-index"), which listed and identified about 8,000 Roma
by their names and fingerprints.
With the onset of the economic crisis, many Roma who had made a
living as helpers and wandering craftsmen found their existence threatened.
Unable to find any sources of income, many of them were obliged to beg and,
much to the chagrin of the majority population, came to depend more and more on
charity. Due to the economic emergency, theft and minor cases of fraud
increased, which tightened tensions between the Roma and the farming
population, causing an atmosphere of escalating hostility against the ethnic
Similarly as in Germany however, newly-released severe orders
significantly contributed to the increase of criminal acts committed by the
"gypsies". Many previous convictions resulted from offences
against the tightened law of registration and other administrative offences.
However, specific contexts were intentionally ignored in order to criminalise
the Roma. What is more: police-statistics were used in order to prove that
"gypsies" were "a-social" beings. Roma
settlements were increasingly seen as a "cultural shame". It
was especially the press of Burgenland that employed a more and more radical
language, thus helping to create anti-Roma sentiments among the population.
Among other things, the papers talked about a "spooky
growth" among "gypsies" and demanded that the
region be liberated quickly from this "plague". Several
conferences dealt with the question of how this could be achieved. One of these
conferences took place in Oberwart on January 15, 1933 and is memorable for the
"send the Roma to live on an island in the Pacific Ocean"” or
else, have them
Thus, Austria was no exception in laying the foundation for the
future persecution and extermination of the Roma already years and even decades
before this was to actually happen. Seen in this light, the call for a
"Burgenland free of gypsies" by the NSDAP was nothing new. As
opposed to other politicians of the time, leader Tobias Portschy was
determined to carry out his project of
"doing away with the gypsies by way of forced labour, deportation
and sterilisation" and thus find a
"national socialist solution" for the
In Hungary, following the breakdown of the monarchy, "gypsy
politics" existed only to a certain degree. This was due also to the
fact that the Horthy regime, which replaced the revolutionary
interim-government, payed the Roma hardly any attention. The few laws
passed at that time mostly aimed at a stricter supervision of the Roma, which
was justified by their allegedly high crime rate. In 1928, a new regulation
was passed, allowing for the registration of wandering gypsies by simultaneous
raids in various communities.
The II. novella of criminal law, in the year 1928 contained special
measures against "incorrigible criminals". Among these was
the admission of such individuals to "work-houses". This
novella was clearly directed against the Roma, whose living conditions at that
time however hardly differed from those of other
"declassified" groups of people. In 1931, the ministry of
inner affairs passed a law which almost entirely prohibited mobile jobs,
restricting work permission to the original place of residence, tying it to
a special permission by the local council. This new regulation deprived the
Roma of their economic basis. Finally, in 1938 a decree according to which any
Rom was to be seen primarily as a suspect, gave way to their persecution and
deportation as an ethnic group.