A search for "the great halt" is not productive, so perhaps the phrase is fictional. The circumstance is not. The caravans came to a stop. Forced. "Zoli" refers to the great halt as following Law 74, passed in 1959. See Law 74 an an overview of the Gypsy community in Slovakia, and continuing bias at all levels against them, and suggestions for remedy, at ://www.slovakia.org/society-roma.htm. In the book, see references p. 121, 125. How it was done: the burning of the wheels of the caravans and wagons, at p. 123, 125, the sparks, the reddening iron hoops, the melting nails, the drunken outsiders watching, cheering. It took just three days. Horses shot or driven, requisitioned.
This forced settlement had a huge impact on some groups, others had already settled, most in their own shantytowns. There is one near Levice. See Slovakia Road Ways - Levice, Roma.
Read about the nomadic Vlach heritage, however, and this law and its effect on them, at "Vlach-Roma (Vlachi) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia at //romani.uni-graz.at/rombase/cgi-bin/art.cgi?src=data/ethn/groupscz/cz-vlax.en.xml. That site also points out that there is a difference in complexion between the Vlachi origins and the other, India-Pakistan likelihood. Would like to know more about when and where this started.
In "Zoli," her people refused to be resettled, had to be forced. Zoli at 179. Later, some accepted, probably, but see Zoli at 192, where she says so, being ironic, lying to meet the need of an inquisitor
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