Tuesday's Mental Musings

Post-1945
In Communist Eastern Europe, Romanies experienced assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom.[citation needed] The Romani language and Romani music were banned from public performance in Bulgaria.[dubious – discuss] In Czechoslovakia, they were labeled a "socially degraded stratum,"[citation needed] and Romani women were sterilized as part of a state policy to reduce their population. This policy was implemented with large financial incentives, threats of denying future welfare payments, with misinformation, or after administering drugs (Silverman 1995; Helsinki Watch 1991). An official inquiry from the Czech Republic, resulting in a report (December 2005), concluded that the Communist authorities had practiced an assimilation policy towards Romanies, which "included efforts by social services to control the birth rate in the Romani community" and that "the problem of sexual sterilization carried out in the Czech Republic, either with improper motivation or illegally, exists"[50] with new revealed cases up until 2004, in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.[51]

50. Denysenko, Marina (2007-03-12). "Sterilised Roma accuse Czechs". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6409699.stm.
51.^Thomas, Jeffrey (2006-08-16). "Coercive Sterilization of Romani Women Examined at Hearing: New report focuses on Czech Republic and Slovakia". Washington File. Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.