According to my mother, a Gypsy prince was buried in Allentown in around 1970, she knew about such things. She was born in Galgo, Hungary, an area of Transylvania, now part of Romania, near present day Gilgau. In Galgo, the Jews and Gypsies lived on the edge of town. In the early 20's, my grandparents, along with their Gypsy neighbors, came to Bethlehem to work at the Steel. On weekends, to make extra money, my grandparents would open their house and show Hungarian movies. None of their relatives, Jew or Gypsy, save one cousin, survived the nazi's; even the cemeteries were desecrated. As you can see from the document above, my grandfather earned his citizenship the hard way.
REPRINTED FROM DEC. 23, 2007
UPDATE: The Morning Call has the story about the Gypsies coming to Allentown.
*Gypsy* is derivative of *gypped*...as you doubtless know, Rroma were targeted aggressively by NAZIs and put to death in untold numbers. The Rroma never gave up, and were defiantly disobedient even in the death camps. The NAZIs were afraid of Rroma because that population could never be truly tracked nor was their language written- so Rroma history and families had a certain immortality. Please refrain from employing this racial/ethnic slur when discussing a proud multi-ethnic people who joined Jews in the gas chambers and ovens, and who have yet to receive full historic consideration in the historic narrative of The Holocaust.
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