A Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár évkönyve 25. 1998 (Debrecen, 1998)
Tanulmányok - Mónus Imre: A hajdúböszörményi cigányság története
Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár Évkönyve XXV 42 History of the Gypsy population in Hajdúböszörmény Imre Mónus Major scientific interest in the origins of the Gypsies started in the 18th century. Considerably large numbers of this ethnic group lived in India in the states Punjab and Maharasta, round Bombay. Following the waves of the Great Migration of Peoples they left their homeland between the 3rd-5th centuries A.D., and in the 12lh-13,h centuries they reached the Balkan Peninsula. They got into the territory of Hungary in the 15th century. In Transtibiscia one can find tax-assessments which show the presence of Gypsies in 1552. Their appearance in Hajdúböszörmény can be met with in the documents from 1705 of the Municipal Assembly. They lived in pits on the outskirts of the town. There occurred outbreaks of epidemics of typhoid fever among them. The population of the town were afraid of the spreading of the disease, therefore the Gypsies were sometimes enclosed in quarantine, then they had to be supplied with food by the town. At the time of the census for Gypsies in 1893 there were 154 Gypsy inhabitants registered in Hajdúböszörmény. The town tried to make them work and move into better houses, but without much success. In 1909 their number in the town was 552, out of which 357 lived in the pits. In 1923 they were settled to a single place near road 35, they were given regular medical control and a Gypsy chief was appointed to keep order among them. However they could not be got rid of dirt and the lice. The town employed them as scavengers, previously for delivering letters. Otherwise their occupations were making abode, tinkering, hawking. Many of them made their living by begging. They moved into abode houses round 1930, when illiterate courses were also organized for them. More acceptable Gypsy houses were built in 1960, which also meant the elimination of the Gypsy rows. The men capable of work were employed by the Town Management Company and Construction industrial firms until 1989, when after the change of the political system, in the course of privatization, as unskilled labour 90% of the Gypsy population became unemployed.
