Yenish culture also has its own dialect, which includes a 600-word basic vocabulary, but they have no spelling. The word Yenish was first used for a language formed from a mixture of German, Yiddish, Hebrew, Romani, and German-based Argo, Rot Welsh. The Yenish language includes a basic vocabulary of about 600 words. From the beginning of the 20th century, Switzerland tried to eradicate the traditional, migratory way of life of the Yenish and to settle them. A key player in this process was the Swiss child protection organization Pro Juventute and the Children of the Highway (Kinder der Landstrasse) program, which ran from 1926 till 1973. 

Children of Highway Program

The children were taken out of their families and could no longer meet their parents at all. Most of the children were placed in orphanages, church-maintained orphanages, or other special institutions. Because they were inherited as social, criminal, or mentally handicapped because of their origins, they were often admitted to institutions for children with special educational needs or disabilities after psychiatric examinations, where in many cases they received involuntary treatment, most often electroshock therapy. Hardly any of the children had reached high school or vocational training, and most of them later worked as maids. Thus, the program did not help their social uplift. Marriage of the Yenish was banned, and many Yenish women were sterilized. 

Afterlife 

The number of victims, especially children, is obscured. While data on 585 victims can be found in the Pro Juventute’s archive, it is estimated that there could have been as many as 2,000 victims of the pogrom. The Swiss Federation has apologized to the Yenish, but all documents related to the genocide have been encrypted for a hundred years, leading to historical oblivion, so their way of life remains in danger. Almost no information about the Yenish genocide can be found on the net. Pro Juventute is an organization that still exists today, condemning the entire program.