Pierwsze organizacje Cyganów/Romów
The first Gypsy/Roma organizations

Summary/Abstract: Over the past two decades the Roma issue has become one of the most current topics in European public space and also became especially relevant within academia. Despite of this there are still under-researched topics, such as history of the emer gence and development of Roma emancipatory movement on the eve of modern times. On base of archival research the article presents the first certainly documented testimony of Roma aspiration towards civil emancipation in “A letter to the editor” published in 1868; first attempt for self-organization of Roma from Bulgarian town of Vidin from 1910, the creation and activities of the first organizations in city of Sofia from 1919 and others. The article revails previously unknown facts about the history of Roma movement, reflecting the first of all attempts for empowerment of the Roma communities in the pre-industrial period and their struggle for equality in Eastern Europe. At the end in the article is proposed an explanation about the reasons for the rapid development of Roma movement especially in Southeastern Europe in context of their societal position.

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