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This article examines the political formula of Romanestan as conceived by Ionel Rotaru (1918–1982), a Romanian refugee in France after the Second World War. Romanestan is the most visible aspect of an ambitious plan demanding rights for those labelled Gypsies  throughout the world. This study is of interest because it sheds new  light on the problems of social and political readjustment after the  Second World War from the standpoint of racial exclusion. Rotaru’s  project was both the response to longstanding historical racist  aggression and also a crucial turning point in the formation of Romani  ethnic identity. What makes its study interesting is that the formula of  the Romanestan wove the right to exist of those regarded as Gypsies  into a creative transnational political project. Based on classified  documents, this article highlights the political nature of processes of  ethnicization and assesses the performative power of symbols.European History Quarterly, Volume 49, Issue 2, April 2019