Romani people are one of ethnic groups in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. According to the 2002 census, there were 29,057 Romanis in Vojvodina or 1.43% of the population. They are Roma. The largest concentration of Romanis could be found in the municipalities of Nova Crnja (6.83%), Beočin (6.51%), and Novi Kneževac (5.04%).
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First Romanis settled in the territory of present-day Vojvodina during Ottoman rule in the 16th century. In Ottoman times, they mostly lived in the towns and cities, but also in the villages, usually in their separate quarters called "cigan-mala". They usually were forgers, manger makers or musicians. Especially large number of Romanis settled in the area in the 17th and 18th century, when Austrian authorities issued several provisions about Romani (in 1761, 1767, and 1783). During the 1848/1849 revolution, Romanis were on the side of the Serbs. During World War II, Romani people, together with Serbs and Jews, were persecuted by Axis authorities, thus many Romanis participated in anti-fascist struggle against Axis occupation.
Number of Romanis in Vojvodina by district (2002 census):
There are no settlements in Vojvodina with Romani majority, but there are several city neighbourhoods and suburbs populated mainly by Romanis:
Living in the multiethnic region of Vojvodina, Romani people are integrated with other ethnic groups, especially with Serbs, Romanians and Hungarians, thus, depending of the group with which they are integrated, Romanis are usually known as Serbian Roma, Romanian Roma, Hungarian Roma, etc.
The Banyash (Rudari) Roma in Vojvodina, live in 30 settlements of Banat and 7 in Bačka region. They are Romanian cultured Roma who were slaves in Wallachia and Moldavia until 1864 when slavery was abolished in Romania, some eventually settled in Serbia. They are either Roman Catholic or Orthodox, all Romanian speaking (Romanian: Băeşi) although the majority are bilingual (they lost the Romani language in the 15th century and has since spoken Romanian, and later, Serbian), other communities of Banyash exist in Romania, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia. The majority declares themselves as Romanians.[1]
Radio Television of Vojvodina broadcasts daily programme in Romani language and there are other publications in the Romani language as well.