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Attitudes Towards Gypsies in Ukraine (1989)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Valentin Sazhin
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Extract

Gypsies are one of the most famous though least known national minorities, representatives of which can be found in many countries. Several works have been written about them but no analysis has yet been made of the interrelationship between Gypsies and the nationalities among whom they live. An analysis of this kind is timely in that it would give governments a means with which to alleviate ethnic tensions by amending their present faulty nationality minority policies.

The author of this article has recently made a detailed sociological study by means of a lengthy questionnaire of the attitudes of various nationality groups towards each other in Ukraine. Included in it are questions either directly or indirectly relating to the Gypsies. This ethnic group, despite its relatively small size, is well known throughout Ukraine. Gypsies stand out from the rest of the population by their way of life and by their appearance; as a rule, they speak their own language, even though they know the languages of other nationalities. Most of the population of Ukraine comes in contact with Gypsies, though most often with their worst representatives (swindlers, extortionists, etc.). They meet these Gypsies in the most populous places—at railroad stations, outside large stores, and in marketplaces.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 19 , Issue 3: Special Issue - The Gypsies in Eastern Europe , Fall 1991 , pp. 337 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by the Association for the Study of the Nationalities of the USSR and Eastern Europe, Inc. 

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References

Notes

1. This was one of the working hypotheses which was confirmed in the course of this investigation.Google Scholar

2. Wedeck, H.E., Dictionary of Gypsy Life and Lore, London, 1973, p. 170.Google Scholar

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4. McDowell, B., Gypsies, Wanderers of the World, Washington, 1970, p. 16; Wedeck, op. cit., p. 390. Google Scholar

5. It looks like this in practice. All of the Gypsies, like other Soviet citizens, must have passports with stamps of registration (propiski), i.e. they are settled formally, but in practice the majority of them spend most of the year traveling, generally using public transportation.Google Scholar

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7. Data of the national groups numbers in Ukraine according to the materials of the census of 1989 had not been published at the time of writing of this article. Therefore, it was based on estimation. One can find data on Gypsy populations in the countries of the world in S.I. Brook, op. cit. Google Scholar

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10. Gypsies have the highest birthrate among nationalities in Ukraine. However, they also have the highest death rate. In spite of this last fact, the natural increase of this national group in Ukraine is very appreciable nonetheless.Google Scholar

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12. Ibid. Google Scholar

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14. Ogonek, no. 30 (1989).Google Scholar

15. Beyond a doubt Moldavians and Rumanians are people who were divided for purely political reasons. This division was kept in the investigation, however, because the opposition of two parts of this group toward each other continued into 1989 in Ukraine, in particular in Chernovtsy district.Google Scholar

16. The composition of regions are adduced in Table 1.Google Scholar

17. A preservation of communal structure (the Gypsy community is called a tabor) always prevents any kind of assimilation.Google Scholar

18. Cultural assimilation in this context means the levelling of living and cultural standards of any national, confessional or other group with the standards of the majority of the population living within this territory. For example, Jews in Ukraine and in the USSR, on the whole, have assimilated culturally to a considerable degree with Russians, Ukrainians and other nationalities, though their ethnic consciousness as a rule remains, despite all this, unchanged.Google Scholar

19. Table 1.Google Scholar

20. In this case the information from the questionnaire is not representative, because only small numbers of Gypsies were surveyed.Google Scholar

21. The number of responses of indifference both with respect to Gypsies and in other questions usually is less in towns because of the higher general educational level of the urban population.Google Scholar

22. Table 1.Google Scholar

23. Ibid. Google Scholar

24. Ibid. Google Scholar

25. Ibid. Google Scholar

26. Ibid. Russians who live in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, russified national minorities, and also a large portion of russified Ukrainians, have not opposed Moscow. Hence, there are great-power tendencies among these groups.Google Scholar

27. Ibid. Google Scholar

28. Ibid. Google Scholar

29. Ibid. Google Scholar

30. Ibid. Google Scholar

31. Ibid. Google Scholar

32. Ibid. Google Scholar

33. Ibid. Google Scholar

34. Kiev, Kharkov, Dniepropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odessa are the largest cities of Ukraine with populations of more than 1 million each.Google Scholar

35. Table 1.Google Scholar

36. Ibid. Google Scholar

37. Ibid. Google Scholar

38. Ibid. Google Scholar

39. Well-educated people in this context have higher and secondary special education, including unfinished degrees.Google Scholar

40. Ibid. Google Scholar

41. Ibid. In this investigation the young age group is comprised of respondents under 30, the middle one - from 30-50, and the old one - over 50.Google Scholar

42. Ibid. Google Scholar

43. Ibid. Google Scholar

44. Ibid. Google Scholar

45. Ibid. Google Scholar

46. Ibid. Google Scholar

47. Ibid. Google Scholar

48. Ibid. Google Scholar

49. Ibid. Google Scholar

50. Izvestiia, June 16, 1990.Google Scholar