Isabel Fonseca has done extensive research among the Gypsies or Roma as they are called now, to write this
book. Touring in Albania, Romania, Austria and Germany and other European countries she has collected information which shows how the Gypsies were
tortured and hounded throughout
history. They were also the victims of the Holocaust, along with the Jews. They have always been viewed as thieves and liars whereas there is only as much criminality in them as in the rest of mankind. The Gypsies arrived in eastern Europe several centuries ago when 10,000 bards and singers were sent to the
king of Persia by the Sultan of Delhi. Wandering, they ended up in Europe.Since they were racially and culturally different from the natives, they were the natural targets for bullying and aggression. Fonseca gives a graphic account of the horrors faced by the Gypsies throuout their history in Europe. They were butchered,tortured, raped and subjected to all sorts of humiliations by the local populations. Fonseca cites a dissertation published by Universityos Gottingen in 1783. This describes how a group of Gypsies were tortured , hanged and quartred, broken on the wheel and their women beheaded to make them confess to the crime of
cannibalism. Later, an inquiry instituted bt the king revealed that all the
alleged victims of the alleged cannibalism were alive! Fonseca says that the Gypsies , along with the Jews were the “ancient scapegoats.” She has done yeoman service to yhe case of the Gypsies by writing this book.
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