A series of chapters on national minorities in the Eastern European states, each with a historical introduction followed by an annotated bibliography (total of 982 entries). Sections on Jews are found in the chapters on Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. Includes books, pamphlets, and articles published between 1919-83, in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and European languages. Includes material on the activities of other minorities during World War II, such as Ukrainian collaboration with the Nazis.

This text aims to provide an introductory study of linguistic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe taking into account historical development, present situation, language maintenance and shift as well as language and educational policies of each country included in this study.

In recent news coverage of the dramatic political events in Eastern Europe, Gypsies have been a favourite sidebar topic. Some of the stories have been truly horrifying, others are written condescendingly and to amuse; but what has become clear is how little we really know about this people. In a concerted effort to uncover the modern history of the Rom in Eastern Europe, the authors examine the Gypsy experience in Albania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia, with special attention to the Nazi Holocaust as well as to the record of the forced settlement and education programmes instituted by communist regimes.

In this fully updated edition with a new foreword by Andre Liebich, David M. Crowe provides an overview of the life, history, and culture of the Gypsies, or Roma, from their entrance into the region in the Middle Ages up until the present, drawing from previously untapped East European, Russian, and traditional sources.

The year 1989 marked a turning point in world history, a watershed year of unprecedented drama and political significance. No matter how one looks at those events–as the fall of communism, the democratization of Eastern Europe, or the end of the cold war–it is important to understand how the world travelled the distance of time, space, and ideology to arrive at the Berlin Wall and tear it down. David Mason provides that understanding in a concise synthesis of history, politics, economics, sociology, literature, philosophy, and popular, as well as traditional, culture. He shows how all these elements combined to yield the year that effectively closed the twentieth century–and promised to launch the new century on a hopeful note. Starting with Poland's elections in June 1989, the countries of then-communist Eastern Europe one by one revolutionized their governments and their polities; Hungary opened its borders to the West, East Germany rushed through, Czechoslovakia elected Vaclav Havel president, Bulgaria changed both party and leadership, and Romania executed Ceausescu. Although Gorbachev enabled many of these changes, he did not cause them. The illumination of the complex symbiosis between dynamics in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is one of the greatest contributions this book makes. With undercurrents emphasizing the power of ideas, the spirit of youth, and the multifaceted force of culture and ethnicity, Mason takes the reader far beyond the events of change and into their impetus and outcomes. He applies theories of social movements, democratization, and economic transition with an even hand, showing the interaction of their effects not only regionally but worldwide. The concluding chapter puts the revolutions in Eastern Europe into international perspective and highlights their impact on East-West relations, security alliances, and economic integration. Mason discusses the European Community, the United States and the Soviet Union, and the Third World in relation to the new East-Central European configuration. Using delightful and provocative cartoons from Eastern European and Soviet presses, interesting photos, valuable tables of data, and illuminating figures, Mason emphasizes important points about the role of nationalism, ethnicity, public opinion, and harsh economic reality in the revolutionary process.

The oppression of minorities has been a theme in the history of Europe. It has been a cause of dispute over territory, often resulting in war. With nation states demanding undivided loyalty of its citizens, there has been discrimination and racism, which has often led to persecution, at its most extreme in the Nazi crusade against the Jews. This is a history of European minority communities. It deals with the dispersed minorities, the Jews and the gypsies, as well as the muslims of the Balkans and the diaspora of Germans in eastern Europe from the Middle Ages to 1945. Almost all countries have disadvantaged ethnic and linguistic minorities; whether minorities without their own states, such as the Breton, Scots, Vlachs and Kurds; or those such as the Russians in Estonia or the Greeks in Turkey, who form linguistic groups different from the native majorities. During wars the existence of alien communities often led to persecution, in turn bringing huge refugee migrations. The result has been the resettlement of European populations. Since World War II the demand for cheap labour has led to an influx of immigrants from outside Europe. This followed a wave in which workers from the poor Mediterranean countries travelled north to industrial heartlands. Although all EEC countries now operate strict controls on immigrants, there is pressure from the east, following the fall of Communism, and from the Third World, where birth rates outstrip that of Europe. The existence of this pressure is a determinant of Europe's history in the 21st century.