Modern research suggests that the arrival of the Roma in Europe was connected to the Islamic raids of northern India. It is possible that the first Roma arrived in Europe as captives. Slavery in the Balkans continued until the second half of the 19th centu ry, and may have begun already before the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. It has certainly influenced the destiny of the Roma in Europe, and still provides a key to understanding their current social and political situation in much the same way as under s tanding slavery is crucial to an understanding of the history and problems of African Americans.

Since the arrival of the Roma in Europe, migration from (south)East to the West was an attempt to escape enslavement and harassment and to attain freedom. The first migrations westwards in the late

l4th century followed the increasing decline of the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman conquests. The second wave of migration followed the abolition of slavery in the Rumanian principalities after 1864. To a large extent, displaced persons and survivors of Nazi occupation and persecution left eastern Europe and settled in the West in the years following World War II, as did many Jewish survivors. Many persons belonging to this third ''migration" still lack permanent resident status or citizenship of the coun tries they have settled in.

Pressure on the Romani populations in the communist countries -to assimilate, to avoid the urban centers, to be excluded from vocational training and decision making processes, as well as overt racism - led to emigration from those few countries which allo wed relative freedom of travel:

Yugoslavia, and later Poland. In the former, the situation of the Romani population prior to the collapse of the Federative Republic was an indication of the growing ethnic tension leading to overt acts of hostility and aggression. During this fourth wave of migration, the Roma were early victims of events which were later to affect the entire population of the region. Following restrictions on immigration in the West, these migrants had no other choice but to apply for political asylum in their countries o f refuge. Their applications having been rejected, they now lack a secure status after living in the West for as long as twenty years, and are threatened by deportation to what has become a conflict region. Beside being equally affected by the threats of c ivil war, the Roma have lost any formal Status they had possessed as one of the many ethnic groups in multinational former Yugoslavia, With the exception of Macedonia, whose constitution is, however, still in the making, they are not recognized by the ne w Republics as citizens. Romani families whose members were born in various different regions of the country are especially affected by ethnic evacuation measures.

A fifth migration began after the collapse of communist rule in eastern Europe. Increasing ethnic tension in Rumania and repeated assaults against Romani communities led to panic in many areas. Romani refugees from Rumania are often direct victims of such assaults. Others fear attacks against their own families, having witnessed that state institutions are not capable of granting protection and security, often refuse to intervene, or even take active part in abusing the Romani population.