One of the persecuted minorities in Nazi-occupied Europe was the Roma, who like the Jews were slated for outright extermination. But whereas the Jews eventually got a national homeland, the Roma remained stateless. They face various forms of discrimination in several European countries to this day.
I am currently reading Keith Lowe's
Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II, which paints a harrowing picture of Europe in the immediate post-war period. He focuses among other things on the mass deportations of various ethnic groups, which resulted in the unprecedented cultural homogenisation of most central European countries, and it made me wonder:
What if, after WW2, the Roma had been given a national homeland of their own? Not necessarily out of any generous feelings by the Allies, but perhaps rather the opposite, as a way to get them all in one place so they're out of everyone's hair.
One possibility might be Austrian
Burgenland, which had a substantial Roma community before the war, perhaps with a bit of Hungarian territory added.
Thoughts?