At this stage, the movement in Germany arrival at a turning point, influenced by three parallel developments. The idea of German reunification was developing rapidly into a political perspective following the elections in East German in March 1990. The mon etary Union in July 1990 practically implemented the idea even before East Germany ceased to exist. This development was accompanied by announcements on the Part of leading politicians that the post-war era bad ended. With it, was the general understandin g , which some articulated overtly, but only a minority challenged, and with the end of the Allied jurisdiction ended Germany^'s moral responsibilities towards the victims of the war and its political responsibilities that were Part of them, and had been v i ew ed all along as politic restrictions.

It was in this context that debates began aiming at changes the most holy of the Federal Republic's political institutions, its constitution, revising both the guarantee to provide political Asylum for persecuted individuals, and the pledge not to involve the armed forces in any action outside the borders of the country. Especially the discussion on the asylum laws was accompanied by a display of aggression against immigrants which swept through the entire country, resulting in an increase of racist attacks against non-Germans, Foreigners were claimed to constitute a threat to German cultural identity and social sovereignty.

The uppermost position on the scapegoat scale was reserved for the Roma. The Rumanian revolution had led to the opening of a border which had been shut since the second world war, and given the practical obstacles ranking mobility difficulty even before th at, since the turn of the century. The Roma in Rumania numbering according to some estimates up to three million, are descendants of an enslaved population which even after the the abolition of slavery just over one

century ago largely remained in the margin of society, with no access to education and other social institutions. The fact that awareness of the Situation of Roma and their history in Rumania was totally nonexistent both in Germanys public opinion and in i ts politics, contributed to the shock Germany experienced when it was confronted with several thousand Romani refu gees from Rumania, who arrived in Germany, applying for asylum and appearing in the urban landscape begging for alms or trying to earn a liv i ng as street musicians. Although just part of the asylum-discussion that dominated Germany's political life follow i ng reunification focused explicitly and overtly on the Roma, the cause for panic needed not be mentioned in most campaigns which picture d t he open eastern borders as an existential threat to the country: the asylum debate was a debate on Gypsies.

Among the overt confrontations with Gypsies that emerged during this period was the arrival of several hundred Rumanian Roma in die town of Lebach in the Saar district in the Summer of 1990. Storekeepers and local authorities went on strike until the state government run by Social democrat Lafontaine shut down the asylum center and sent the applicants away. The incident encouraged Lafontaine, the enfant-terrible of German politics and yet a successful political survivalist, to grasp the opportunity and adju st his views on the asylum issue, only to become die first prominent member of the SPD to demand, along with die right-wing conservatives within the ruling Christian Democratic Party, that die constitutional right to asylum be abolished. Lafontain's twist gave the first signal and what was to become a change of course in the SPD, and finally resulted in the two-third majority required in the Bundestag in order to amend the constitution.

A further Gypsy-related issue was the discovery of the Karolinen-neighborhood in the center of Hamburg by a reporter of Germany's most influential weekly political magazine Der Spiegel. The neighborhood, known both as a working class area and as a multieth nic mosaic, attracted the attention of the Spiegel's editors, known for their sensitiveness to potential political scandals. Among the dozen or so nationalities living in die neighborhood were several Roma families. Although neither their number nor propo r tion was larger than in any other area in the city, the Roma in Karoline were noticeable: The neighborhood is situated between dense rail tracks, the exhibition grounds and the grounds that host the Hamburg fair three months a year. In its center there i s a small square, which, in die summertime, is the gathering place for die Roma, Their closed family structures and the fact that children spend more time outdoors with their older relations than with other non-Romani children, and that parents do not in te rv ene in their children's mischief and refuse to respond to neighbors' complaints by sanctioning them - all this gave outside spectators the impression that there was a Gypsy gang threatening peace in the area.

The key article in one of the issues of Der Spiegel in autumn 1990 was dedicated to die Gypsy threat in Karoline. It quoted only German neighbors, and only those who felt threatened by the Gypsies. It presented pictures of young and old women under the hea ding ''the pretty and the aged are preferred victims'', and it quoted a shopkeeper saying: ''I can't help it; when I look at these Gypsy kids I'm overwhelmed by the thought of gas chambers". The CDU-opposition in Hamburg's parliament responded by question i ng the Senate what it was doing against the Gypsy plague, and the latter reacted by demonstrating strength and sending police unit to patrol the neighborhood. When an old and sick lady died, whose had been assaulted weeks before her illness by children w ho were reported to be Roma, the police spokesman issued a statement entitled '' Gypsy gang claims first dead ", which was immediately placed as a front page heading by both daily newspapers in the city. TV-crews pilgrimed to the area to take pictures of H am burg's alleged Wild West, why e continuing political provocations by the opposition led the municipal council in Hamburg's Central District to adopt a social democratic motion calling for to '' restrict the numbers of Gypsies moving to the District" An ant i-Gypsy decree the tradition of which has been carried since the arrival of the Roma in die Middle Ages.

The Middle Ages reappeared in Germany to fight the Gypsies, and not only in Hamburg's decrees. A reporter for the Northern German Television was the first to document an ancient ritual which had come to life in the world's leading industrial country with t he awareness that Gypsies were posing a threat to Germany's peace and tranquility: Citizens and shopkeepers were placing brooms near their doorsteps, in the belief that the sight of a broom, the symbol of witchcraft would frighten the Gypsies and prevent t hem from entering. In one of the interviews a woman explained how effective the method was: Her mother had applied it in 1939, after the war had begun, and shortly after all the Gypsies disappeared, Instead of raising the question of how alive superstiti on was, the publicity led to a further spread of the phenomenon.

The emergence of anti-Gypsyism in Germany in 1990-1992 was thus connected only in part with the actual arrival of several thousand Roma refugees from Rumania and the confrontation with Europe's poorhouse which German society was indirectly forced into. It was equally a response to the consolidation of a Romani political civil rights movement challenging the traditional image of the helpless vagabonds, and with the change in political and moral thinking which accompanied reunification and ceremoniously ended the past-war era, and with it the burden of having to demonstrate one's commitment toward such values as the protection of minorities.

Reunification freed Germany of its moral responsibilities toward the minorities it had persecuted in the past, and made regulations such as the one adopted in Hamburg in November 1989 impossible. Apart from the changed political climate, the anti-asylum ca mpaign, and with it the racist uprising all over the country, resulted in a further restriction of the aliens act in January 1991 which now denied the Lander the authority to introduce special regulations. All policy issues affecting Foreigners were now s u bject to decisions taken by the Federal Government.

Thus, in addition to lack of interest and motivation, it became legally impossible for the government of Northrhine-Westfalia to implement its decree. Seeking an alternative to be able to present publically, the cabinet announced a ,,New Refugee Policy". I t now offered Roma to return voluntarily to Macedonia, promising those who did so support in finding jobs and housing. In order to prove its determination the government erected two rows of houses in the Roma-ghetto of Sutka in the outskirts of the Macedo n ia capital Skopje. The Federal Government engaged in a similar initiative, financing repairs in a Rumanian village for a complex of houses that had been destroyed during a pogrom against the local Romani community in 1990.

This was to be Germany's contribution to reducing Romani refugee movement out of those countries. In reality it was nothing more than a minor cosmetic decoration to a large-scale program to dispose of the Gypsy refugees. First steps were taken along the Po lish border, where German border patrol troops were strengthened, and on numerous occasions even opened fire at refugees trying to cross the border. But the attempt to keep refugees - mostly Gypsies - out of the country acquired a new quality with the agr e ement between the governments of Northrhine-Westfalia and Macedonia on the return of Roma. The treaty, which emerged as an attempt to disentangle the political outcome of the protest much in die Ruhr district in the beginning of 1990, defined the terms u nd er which refugees were to be sent to Macedonia and settled their, despite their recognition in Germany as de facto stateless.

In return for its willingness to take back its ex-citizens, the government of Macedonia was granted generous financial aid. Much of this aid, the politicians said, would be devoted to the repatriated Roma But the treaty does not mention Roma with a single word, no Roma representatives participated in draying or implementing the agreement, and none of the re- patriated families was granted any assistance upon arrival in the ghetto of Skopje.

With the Macedonia treaty in 1991 the policy of deporting Romani refugees first acquired an international dimension. Treaties followed with Rumania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, While on the one hand Germany began to internationalize its anti- Gypsy-refugee policies, at the same time it refused to participate in international efforts to improve the Situation of the Roma. Thus, in March 1992, Germany voted against the UN-Human Rights Commission's resolution on the '' Protection of Roma '', clai ming that '' the Roma are not a minority ''.

It was in this context that civil rights activists centered ,,round the Rom & Cinti Union realized that international efforts are necessary, and founded the Roma National Congress. The RNC's first appearance was at the CSCE's summit meeting in Helsinki in the spring of 1992, where it attained recognition as an NGO.