Cartierul țiganesc de pe hotarul Târgului

Epis.47-The gypsy quarter on the border of the Fair.

In the Europe of the 18-19 centuries, it was sought to impose various methods of sedentarization of the Roma, of economic and social integration among the majority population. These methods had modest results, but still some categories of Roma progressed. In the Habsburg Empire Empress Maria Teresa and her son Joseph II (in 1783) tried, through the imposed legislation, to force the Roma to stop speaking Gypsy, to marry among themselves within the relatives of blood, to stop trading horses, to stop pitching tents in the forests or in the dirty areas of the settlements and... to stop eating the corpses of dead animals. After 200 years, these habits have not disappeared.

Many Roma tents, which lived in Transylvania at that time until recently, practiced the same customs. I made this introduction to be able to understand exactly the information that I will present to you in this episode. The city of Tg. Neamt did not have on its territory such Roma groups as the ones exposed above. However, they existed in the country almost everywhere where there were garbage pits. In the cities and especially near the boyar estates, there were areas where garbage was thrown. Do not imagine that in the centuries of after all, the garbage came from industrial activities. Practically, there is no locality where there is no place where everything is not thrown.

Animal corpses were the main source of livelihood from the garbage, sought by these groups of starving people. In the 19th century, in the Romanian Countries, foreign travelers passing through the area saw such gypsy tents pitched next to the boyar estates. These tents lived by eating and from animal corpses, (as the authors of the records say), from the dogs and dead cats found. They did not refuse either dead chickens or dead horses. In 1959, on the outskirts of the town of Tg. Neamt from Vânători, Comrade Bocănet, who was president of The "District Council" decided that some of the nomadic gypsies in the area of the district should be settled. Thus, the main tent of gypsies of this kind, which was stabilized at Tg. Neamt, was the one that initially worked on breaking the stone (for repairing roads) at the Pipirig quarry.

The chosen location was the poorly productive land in the Humulesti-Vânători area. Here the gypsies received a place in the house from the state and tried to integrate them into a sedentary life. It was difficult to get used to sedentarization for these poor people. They only knew how to make brick and adobe. Receiving a place to live, these gypsies who even now, they themselves say, came from Transylvania,..Baia Mare etc..also attracted other groups of gypsies from other neighboring communes. The authorities sought to settle them, but no the mayor didn't really want them in his locality. In Tg. Neamt District under the leadership of V. Bocăneț, this type of gypsies gathered from Războieni, Cornu Luncii Fălticeni, Borca, Capu Câmpului-Botosani...etc. in the colony from Humulesti - IMTF, on the border of the towns, gypsy families appeared, creating the community that still exists today.

In time, 2 areas were created, (colonies) of gypsies, called teclars (tile and brick workers) in the "Condrea" IMTF point and the "Bălțătescu" point towards the bridge from Vânători. Before being settled, these tents were in continuous movement with carts pulled by donkeys, from one locality to another, settling on the garbage pits of the villages. The researchers call these gypsies who lived on the garbage pits, burca gypsies. (burca-long coat from fur,..from sheep skin with hair on the outside).In the last centuries when they were nomads through the Habsburg Empire, they lived as they could..etc..as I said above. These wretched living outside the European rules, were atheists. They were neither Christians nor Muslims!

They were just human beings living in a world of theirs that was hard to accept. After the sedentarization of Humulesti-Vânători, some gypsies worked in the timber factory in Vânători, others at the brickyard, but even so the poverty and hunger they lived in was horrifying. If in 1960 there were 15 gypsy families, in 1974 they reached 23 families with 92 people. In 1992 their number was about 119 people, and by 2002 the colony had 213 people. In 10 years from 1992 until 2002 they doubled in number. During the communist regime they were ignored, scared with the militia and the prison. In 1980 in Tg. Neamt there was a murder in the tavern at "Zoiosu" (intersection rest. Intim area), these gypsies were involved Then the Gypsies, fearing the Romanians, all fled the colony. They hid in the forest at Bodești-Grumăzesti.

While they were away from the colony, the IMTF drivers burned all the shacks in the vicinity of the garage. And they were fed up with the sneaking of these rascals, always in an unimaginable hunger. I personally saw it in the winter of 1995, when I was working at IMTF (Intreprendrea Mecanica de Transport Forestier) a nylon wagon roll placed on the ground under which about 5-6 children survived, aged from 2 to 14 years. They were undressed or covered with old clothes collected from the garbage. Next to this pile was a horse corpse, from which the older ones cut pieces of meat that they boiled in a rusty cauldron. The horse had died, it had not been sacrificed as there were no traces. of blood. In order not to die of hunger, the corpse of a dead horse was the only solution for survival. Hard to believe such a thing... but I saw with my own eyes the scene I am describing. Later I was very attentive to their behavior. -I have seen many times having on them dead chickens taken from bins, cow heads or putrid meat from the market...which they took to consume. After the year 2000, the democratic Romanian state, together with the European Union, tried and even managed to a large extent to somehow change the fate of these garbage dwellers. Of course, it is difficult that in 20 years, someone will make them live differently.

Their centuries-old culture of living in tents in poor areas, through forests, always beggars through the doors of churches or through the gates of the residents, consumers of corpses from the garbage ... is hard to forget. Vânatori City Hall together with the Sòros Foundation and the EU have invested a lot in the colonies. After 2000 they built houses for them, with access to electricity and water. Their life was extremely difficult. They rarely reached the age of 50. They had no documents, they were atheists, they had no access to school or health care. They lived maddened by hunger and misery. They lived on crimes of all kinds without fearing prison. Prison for them was heaven on earth. There they had a bed, water, food and warmth.

The Vânători Colony was also under the care of the former mayor Ticu. In M-rea Neamt, in the old days, there was a ... "Bucătaru", and the mayor Ticu was his maternal nephew. He always maintained that these gypsies from the colonies.. they are also Romanians. Draw your own conclusion about this mayor and why he protects them!!! Currently in the colonies, thanks to the involvement of the mayor's office led by mayor Adriana Petraru, their lives have changed for the better. However, it is difficult that in only 20 years for these people to become civilized. Their children go to school, and you can already see the difference.

When I ask school gypsy children what they are, they answer me that they go to school to "stop being gypsies". A hopeful answer because in the next 25 years, this troubled area will raise its standard for a living. Some young people from these gypsies have started to organize themselves into teams of agricultural workers. They go to the farms in the south of the country and work seasonally. trade, children going to school created progress.

Progress can be felt, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I know that the presence of these people in the process of civilization is hard to accept by the local Romanians. Their problem will be solved only by the school and the involvement of the state. From eating horses and dead chickens, to citizens integrated in civilization, it takes about 20-30-40 years. Romanians in general, the lordship, the nobility and the church... hundreds of years and - they used and tolerated. Now the time has come for their integration, which is not easy at all. I have attached some photos to this episode to understand that these gypsies have also progressed.

With the help of Mrs. Carmen Andrei, the health mediator at Vânători City Hall, I managed to write this episode. Only in this way, the gypsy beggars from Vânători, will disappear in time from Tg. Neamt. There is no other solution! (Source-professor Neculai Florean, Carmen Andrei , the gypsy Lăzăroiu my friend, my own memories from 1980 when I visited the burnt colony, youtube,, The needy Roma from Vânători, Documents Council of Europe-educational project).

Vânatori Neamt-former head of the gypsy colony from IMTF Condrea (now deceased) together with the health mediator Mrs. Carmen Andrei-photo 2010.

Vânători Neamt-Colonia tiganeasca- the house from before 2010. Shack with a roof made of recovered burnt beams.

Vânători Neamt-interior of the "luxury" gypsy house before 2010-IMTFA colony They had a bed, a stove and a roof!

German hunters - house before 2000. 10 people lived in 6-7 sqm

Vânători Neamt-family of gypsies with the so-called house! Photo-2010

German hunters. The horse of the gypsies lived in the house together with their family. In this way, there was more warmth in the shelter that can hardly be called a home!