The Romanys (or Roma) are a nomadic Caucasoid people, also called Gypsy as they were once thought to originate from Egypt. They are believed to have originated in north west India, and live throughout the world. The Romany language (spoken in different dialects in every country where Gypsies live) is a member of the Indo-European family. Romanys have suffered widespread persecution throughout their history in almost every country they have visited. During the Second World War Romanies were also exterminated by the Nazi regime and in Switzerland, Romany babies were forcibly removed from the parents and adopted by non-Romany families until 1973, in an effort to prevent the spread of the Romany population. The Romany tradition has many taboos (for example, when bathing separate towels must be used for drying the upper and lower parts of the body) which, not being understood by non-Romanies lead almost all Romanies to consider non-Romanies as unclean and as such marriage between Romanies and non-Romanies
has always been very strongly discouraged by Romanies. Research Romany
Abbreviations
People
Research Romany