Forced settlement of the Roma in Poland – the 60th anniversary of the 1964 ban on wandering
Forced settlement of the Roma in Poland – the 60th anniversary of the 1964 ban on wandering

Summary/Abstract: The history of the Roma in post-war Poland under the communist rule shows the utopian nature of the previousideologically driven system. The state authorities of the Polish People’s Republic sought to achievethe goal of a homogeneous society in which there was no place for ethnic minorities or cultural differences.Set against the background of the processes of ethnic homogenisation of the Polish society, Romani peoplewere a highly distinct group, standing out from the rest of society. They never hid their identity. The state’spursuit of its vision of a homogeneous socialist society left its mark on the lives of Romani people, who weredenied the right to wander by the authorities in 1964. Ultimately, the consequence of the forced settlementwas that instead of the opening up to the changing reality expected by the authorities, Romani people werefaced with the need to protect their own cultural identity from external threats. The collapse of the communistsystem in Poland and the political changes initiated in 1989 put an end to the forced assimilation of Romanipeople. In the new political reality, the myth of a unified ethnic structure of the Polish state was abandoned.

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