Men were called up into the army but the delivery of call-up orders was complicated. Romany men were among the hero fighters, they excelled in Europe as well as in the Near East, especially as scouts and snipers. Upon their return from war, some of the soldiers could not find their relatives, many of them lost their homes. Romany women were employed in the war industry because of the lack of work force. Some of the Roma were warned before the planned German invasion into Britain about German plans to exterminate them, about lists of Roma being completed. Fortunately enough, Hitler did not enter Britain in the end.
After the war, provisional arrangements were installed in many spheres in Britain, which paradoxically lead to the improvement of the situation of the local Roma. Suddenly, their mobile homes that started to replace the original caravans became less visible because there were many other people living alike. Reconstruction of the country damaged by the war offered employment opportunities for many of the Roma, the new Labor government introduced a more tolerant approach to minorities and travelers-related issues were again discussed in the Parliament after quite a time.
Nevertheless, the days of improvement did not last long. It was only in the 1960’s that the attention of the British as well as the world public in general was turned once again to Romany issues. At this time, these were taken up by international organizations and the whole Europe witnessed the emancipation of the Romany nation. In the year 1971, the First World Romany Congress was held in London, the delegates of which agreed, among other things, on the official usage of the term “Rom”. The Second World Romany Congress in 1978 resulted in the establishment of the International Romani Union that became in 1979 an advisor member of the UN ECOSOC committee.
Different Romany associations came into being in Great Britain as well; the first one of these was the “Gypsy Council”, established in 1966 by a journalist, Grattan Puxon. He can be credited for drawing up public attention to the problems of the travelers once again; his efforts gained public support and culminated in the famous “Caravan Sites Act” draft.
The United Kingdom saw not only the birth of Romany emancipation but also of research on the Romany Holocaust. It was in Great Britain - and only in the late 1960’s - that the persecution of the Roma during the Second World War emerged as a subject of historical studies. Donald Kenrick, the first researcher in this particular field, states that all that was available for him in 1969 when he started this research were two pages on Romany genocide from The History of Jews by Hilberg. In order to help Romany applicants for war reparation, Kenrick and one of his colleagues pieced together a short study from hundreds of sources and publications on the Second World War. This study later became the basis of The Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies. According to Kenrick, it was only this book that inspired other historians to research this subject.
At the same time, on the other hand, nomadism in Britain reached a crisis, having been substantially restricted until there stayed only three caravan sites on the whole area of England and Wales. The “Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act” from 1960 made the creation of private caravan sites more difficult, introducing the condition to have a license for the placement of caravans and a planning permission. The Act was also directed against those who allowed the Travelers to stop at their estate.
In reaction to this situation, travelers as well as non-travelers became highly engaged in the improvement of the conditions of the Travelers and the revocation of the process of eliminating nomadism. As a result of their efforts, the already mentioned “Caravan Sites Act” was drafted in 1968. When it came into force in 1970, Travelers and their supporters celebrated it as a great victory. The Act obliged the local authorities to provide accommodation for travelers currently staying in their district in the form of caravan sites; made the Department of Environment responsible for the enforcement of the Act; allowed the creation of specific areas where the establishment of caravan sites can be prohibited; and defined the term “Gypsy” as including all travelers regardless of their ethnic origin who travel to earn their living. However, the local authorities were often disrespectful of this new legal norm, and continued to act upon the Act from 1960.

Sedentarization
About one half of the Roma currently living in Great Britain lead a sedentary way of life, others continue with their nomadic or semi-nomadic life-style. Several factors lie at the root of the increasing number of sedentarized Roma: first and foremost, the lack of available caravan sites; better employment opportunities and the effort to ensure peaceful life for the old and better education and health care for the young (the average state of health of a Rom living in Britain is on the level of the developing countries).
Even though the local authorities are obliged, according to the Act on Homeless People, to provide housing for every Rom who takes such an interest and does not own a plot, in practice this legal norm is often disrespected. On the contrary, the authorities try to prevent the Roma from settling down in the particular district, which is reflected for example in the growing number of decrees that make it more difficult to obtain certain permissions and licenses, for example, to park a caravan on one’s own land. This is also the reason way some of the settled Roma reenter the road after a short time. 

State Approach

Alongside with the restriction of nomadism, British Travelers face the problem of education of their children; education has previously been administered by the particular districts and in some of them, the access of these children to education was quite restricted. Responsible authorities have been solving the situation since the 1960’s; their efforts have however turned no results still in 1990. The Mary Delaney case from 1977, who was not registered in school because she stayed at an illegal site, was reflected in the 1980 Education Act. The right of all Traveler children to school attendance was explicitly encoded in 1981 by a circular letter issued by the Ministry of Education and Science and reconfirmed by the 1988 Education Reform Act.
Racism certainly cannot be said to be non-existent in the United Kingdom – for example the number of racially motivated crimes is higher in the UK than in the CR but, on the other hand, much smaller number of such crimes result in death of the victim. British media continue to present negative stereotypes of the Roma as well as other Travelers, the numbers of structural discrimination increase, sedentary citizens organize many demonstrations and draft petitions against caravan sites in their localities, sometimes they use violence to force out the Travelers, there are cases of Roma being refused to enter public space.
However, Great Britain also ranks among those countries that have officially admitted the existence of institutional racism that they have been trying to fight, alongside with discrimination, more effectively since the 1970’s. Some of the methods applied in the fight against racism and discrimination have had rather negative effects, the row of anti-discrimination laws from 1970’s in particular is however an important achievement. These included the Race Relations Acts from 1965, 1968, and 1976. The last one in this row that has replaced the former legal norms was amended in 2000. The Act now prohibits racial discrimination and the promotion of racism and replaces the former Race Relations Board with the Commission for Racial Equality. The commission is responsible for the investigation of possible breaches and for the promotion of equal opportunities. The Act was drafted by members of the Labor party who were however rather cautious not to take a too liberal stance vis-à-vis these issues.

Bad Times for Travelers
The situation of the British Travelers has rapidly deteriorated since the 1980’s. The pre-election rhetoric of the Conservatives in 1987 included the issue of replacements of caravan sites and restriction of nomadism. The government created in 1987 did not touch upon these issues in practice. The so-called New Age Travelers however became a highly discussed theme for the government formed in 1991.
This government introduced new legislature that restricts nomadism quite substantially. The circular letter issued by the Ministry of Environment in 1994 has made it even more difficult to obtain license for private site. The so-called Criminal Justice and Public Order Act repealed the Caravan Sites Act in 1994. Apart from these, quite a number of other measures was enforced that make the situation of Travelers even worse –for example the order allowing only two families to use one site at the same time. The Roma in Great Britain are becoming increasingly dependent on state social benefits and there are voices claiming that the British Travelers have definitely lost their freedom.