Cyganie w Polsce: Dzieje i obyczaje

by Jerzy Ficowski

English (translation)Original Polish

Genres: History, Nonfiction

298 pages, Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 1965

About the author

A Polish poet, writer and translator (from Yiddish, Russian and Romani).

Reviews

[liv · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 some of the wording feels iffy to me but overall the arts and culture part of this was fantabulous

[Shomeret · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ethnographic sections are what sets this book apart for me. This is the first book I've read on gypsy cultures that has been this thorough in covering the practices of the various groups. This book gave me a completely different picture of the Kalderesh than I'd seen in The Church of Cheese: Gypsy Ritual in the American Heyday. The section devoted to images of gypsies throughout the centuries showed me that there has been an increasing Europeanization of their physical appearance. In earlier depictions light skin, light hair and European features were less common than in the later ones.

[Witoldzio · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a major contribution to our knowledge about Gypsies in Poland. It was published in 1989, which indicates that it cannot tell the story of the last three decades, in which the open EU borders facilitate nomadic lifestyle again. The book has no information about its author whatsoever and does not explain how he got involved in this kind of research. We are forced to search the internet for this information. The author maintains a non-judgmental attitude while not trying to beautify his topic either. He makes a connection between the criminalization of nomadic lifestyle resulting in the increase of criminal inclinations of the Gypsies. We feel sadness at the disappearance of customs, music, attire, but we also realize this as happened to folk customs everywhere in the western world. The most memorable chapter in the book is the chapter devoted to the Holocaust of the Gypsies. To my knowledge, this is one of the first serious efforts to document Nazi atrocities in this area. This was a slaughter of people who have never played any part in politics or history. The final chapter of the book talks about Papusza, the Gypsy poet who was ostracized by her own people. About half of the book consists of photographs and reproductions of other artwork, letting us see the world of the Gypsies. Again, this selection does not beautify but simply keeps us firmly grounded in reality. Particularly powerful are photos of Gypsies in Nazi camps, some photographed people marked by the photographer for execution. It is hard to imagine that a human took pictures of these people and selected them for murder. In the pictures you can also see that the disoriented victims had no clue what was going on.
Altogether, this publication, while being by definition a historical and sociological account, is very powerful. You will remember it and it will change the way you think about Gypsies.