„Vom wandernden Zigeunervolke” : siebenbürgische Quellen als Baustein der deutschsprachigen Zigeunerkonstruktion

The paper analyzes the handling of sources in the historic and ethnographic literature about Roma. In it a tradition of copying can be found without sufficient acknowledgement of sources, the unchecked assumpti on of foreign statements and inadmissible generalization. These characteristic features are integrated into a pejorative structure. The historic and ethnographic literature is characterized by a moralizing condemnation of those referred to as „gypsies” whereas the social realities remain largely hidden. It is based on only a few sources, in which statements about Roma in the Transylvanian area take a key role. Texts from the 17th to the 19th century are referred to in context of this aspect and are analyzed on their contents