Anti-Romani sentiment
19th century
### 19th century

Governments regularly cited petty theft committed by Romani as justification for regulating and persecuting them. In 1899, the  ( *Intelligence service for the security police concerning gypsies*) was set up in [Munich](/wiki/Munich "Munich") under the direction of , and catalogued data on all Romani individuals throughout the German\-speaking lands. It did not officially close down until 1970\. The results were published in 1905 in Dillmann's *Zigeuner\-Buch*, which was used in the following years as justification for the [Porajmos](/wiki/Porajmos "Porajmos"). It described the Romani people as a "plague" and a "menace", but almost exclusively characterized "Gypsy crime" as trespassing and the theft of food.

In the United States during Congressional debate in 1866 over the [Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution](/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution "Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution") which would subsequently [grant citizenship](/wiki/Jus_soli "Jus soli") to all persons born within U.S. territory, an objection raised was that a consequence of enacting the amendment would be to grant citizenship to Roma and other groups perceived by some as undesirable. *[Congressional Globe](/wiki/Congressional_Globe "Congressional Globe")*, 1st Session, [39th Congress](/wiki/39th_United_States_Congress "39th United States Congress"), [p. 2891](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=073/llcg073.db&recNum=12) (1866\)

[Pennsylvania](/wiki/Pennsylvania "Pennsylvania") Senator [Edgar Cowan](/wiki/Edgar_Cowan "Edgar Cowan") stated, 

In response Senator [John Conness](/wiki/John_Conness "John Conness") of California observed, 

[Bulgaria](/wiki/Bulgaria "Bulgaria") 1876: a pogrom, by villagers of [Koprivshtitsa](/wiki/Koprivshtitsa "Koprivshtitsa") massacre the Muslim Roma.[Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies)](https://www.gitanos.org/documentos/1.1-KEN-his_HistoricalDictionaryoftheGypsies.pdf)


What was the impact of the 'Zigeuner-Buch' on public opinion about Romani people?