1989 something most unusual happened in the history of the European Roma
(Gypsies). Families from different tribes gathered to defend themselves
against the threat of new expulsion from a country in which they attemped
to settle - in this case the former West-Germany-

They had originally fled from Poland, Yugoslavia and Rumania due to
incrcasing discrimination following the disintegration of communist rule.

-"We are dead even before we've been borne. We live like ghosts, chased
from one town to the other, from one country to the other. Borne as Rom
means you have no chance. There is no place for us to stay. Wherever you
go, you are always a stranger. They say we came from lndia some thousands
years ago, but we have no country of our own. All we want is a plaec to
live, to send our children to school, to find some peace and rest. Bot
nobody wants us, we have no future."

This is what Vebija Adjovic, head of a faniäy of more then 30 members feels
about the fate of his fainily, of his people. He was the first to defend
himself against the German authorities, not willing to accept his and
family's deportation to a country which never was his native land, but only
another station of a long escape route through the European states. He was
the first - and more and more farnilies followed him to form the first
civil rights movement of the European Roma.

GELEM GELEM - a song sung by the survivors of Nazi terror on their way to
the death camps.

GELEM GELEM - a song connecting the different tribes of the Roma people
during their everlasting search for refuge across Europe

GELEM GELEM - sung by the Roma during their march through West Germany to
make people think about their fate and history, protesting against their
expulsion, demanding their right to settle down.

Following the reunification of the two German states, hostility and
violence against imigrants and ethnic minorities increases. The film GELEM
GELEM documents the struggle of the Roma for basic human rights. lt is the
struggle for the right to live where they want to live, the struggle for
the application of the European Parliament recommondations concerning the
protection of Romani culture and language in Europe.

Two years later, at the end of these actions, after a long series of
worthless declarations and broken promises, the Roma now stand where they
started off. But they have made an important new experience: they have
learnt to fight for their interests unwilling to beg for alms or to flee
any longer.


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