GYPSIES IN AUSCHWITZ

Historians disagree about the origins of the Roma people, although more and more consider that they entered the heart of the continent following the advance of the Ottoman armies (to divide over time into regional groups such as the Calós/ Gitanos of Spain, the Manouches of France, the Sinti of Central Europe or the Romovians of the South and East). In Europe, most Roma were nomadic, partly by choice and also because much of society refused to tolerate their presence. Before the modern era, they fulfilled a modest but important economic function: they worked in metalwork, raised horses, trained bears (for entertainment) and played music. However, the ambition to homogenize the nation states of modern Europe caused friction with the collective, which continued to use its own language and social structure, based on clans.