From 1957 to 1973, Hans Silvester was not racing around Ethiopia as today, but Europe and North America instead. During these years, he lived a nomadic life next to tziganes, romas and gypsies, sharing their shelters and sheds, the sadness and the joy.

Originally from the boundaries of India and Pakistan, the tziganes, romas and gypsies have roamed the world for more than a hundred years, ignoring borders and rules. Even if some of them, after contact with Occident have settled down, they all remain nomads deep in their hearts. They still don’t hesitate to travel miles to attend a pilgrimage or a celebration.

Theirs is a way of life that is often frowned upon by sedentary cultures and particularly by authorities. They have always been times persecuted and have also paid a high toll from the Nazi regime.

As the collective unconscious blames these “travelers” for all wrongdoings, they are proud of their ancestral traditions, of their close-to-nature way of life, giving us sedentary people a real lesson of liberty.

This work was published in 1974 by “Le Chêne” Editions, along with a text from Jean-Paul Clébert. It was dated by the period and has become a reference almost impossible to find. La Martinière Publishing must be congratulated for the re-edition of this work, a new version, faithful to the old original but nevertheless revisited.

We cannot be anything but surprised by the topicality of this subject. We cannot but state the saddening permanence of the disgrace that lays on these nomadic and ignored people.

Michel Puech

Tsiganes et Gitans
Photographs by Hans Silvester, text by Jean-Paul Clébert
Editions de la Martinière (February 10, 2011)
Paperback: 237 pages
Format : 220 mm (long) x 270 mm (height)
ISBN-10 : 2732445126
ISBN-13 : 978-2732445120
39,90 euros