Anti-ziganism

Antiziganism (also known as anti-Romanyism, anti-Romani sentiment or antigypsyism) is hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed at the Romani people as an ethnic group, or people perceived as being of Romani heritage.

The root Zigan (pronounced [ˈtsiɡaːn]) comes from the term Cingane (alt. Tsinganoi, Zigar, Zigeuner) which probably derives from Athinganoi, the name of a Christian sect with whom the Romani became associated in the Middle Ages. According to Martin Holler, the English term anti-Gypsyism stems from the mid-1980s, and became mainstream in the 2000s and 2010s, whereas the term antiziganism was borrowed from the German Antiziganismus more recently.

In the early 13th-century Byzantine records, the Atsínganoi are mentioned as "wizards ... who are inspired satanically and pretend to predict the unknown". By the 16th century, many Romani in Eastern and Central Europe worked as musicians, metal craftsmen, and soldiers. As the Ottoman Empire expanded, they relegated Romani, seen as having "no visible permanent professional affiliation", to the lowest rung of the social ladder. In Royal Hungary in the 16th century at the time of the Turkish occupation, the Crown developed strong anti-Romani policies, as this people were considered suspect as Turkish spies or as a fifth column. In this atmosphere, they were expelled from many locations and increasingly adopted a nomadic way of life.

The first anti-Romani legislation was issued in March of Moravia in 1538, and three years later, Ferdinand I ordered that Romani in his realm be expelled after a series of fires in Prague. Seven years later, the Diet of Augsburg declared that "whosoever kills a Gypsy, will be guilty of no murder". In 1556, the government stepped in to "forbid the drowning of Romani women and children".

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