Forgotten victims: The Genocide of the roma and sinti
Lara Sebire-Hawkins, the Wiener Holocaust Library
The genocide carried out against the Roma and Sinti communities of Europe by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War – the persecution and murder of as many as 500,000 people – has been referred to as ‘the forgotten Holocaust’ by Professor Eve Rosenhaft. After the war, survivors and relatives of victims struggled to gain recognition and compensation for the persecution and losses they had suffered. In Britain and Europe today, prejudice and discrimination against Roma and Sinti remain common.
During the Nazi era (1933-1945), the Roma and Sinti communities were targeted for persecution and murder. The Nazis built on historical prejudices, viewing these communities as ‘anti-social’ and ‘racially inferior’. They enacted discriminatory measures against Roma and Sinti, including confinement in special camps and a massive programme of pseudo racial science investigation.
Many Roma and Sinti were forcibly sterilised. The Second World War saw an escalation in Nazi persecution against the Roma and Sinti. Jews, Roma and Sinti people faced violence, deportations to ghettos and camps and then genocide as the German army invaded Poland (1939), the Low Countries and France (1940), and the Soviet Union (1941). In the Soviet territories, the Nazis and their collaborators massacred thousands of Roma and Sinti in mass shootings.
The genocide also occurred in pro-Nazi states, such as Croatia. From January 1943, all Roma and Sinti from across Europe were deported to the Zigeunerlager (‘Gypsy camp’) at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where it is estimated that 21,000 people were murdered. On 31 July – 2 August 1944, the Nazis liquidated the Zigeunerlager and killed over 4,000 men, women and children
The Wiener Holocaust Library’s exhibition explores Roma and Sinti life in Germany and Austria prior to the Second World War, and the genocidal policies that started in German-occupied Poland in 1940. It also examines the post-war lives and legacies for Roma and Sinti. The exhibition reflects on the situation in Britain and Europe today and explore why the Roma and Sinti communities are still ‘forgotten’ victims of genocide.
The Wiener Holocaust Library’s autumn 2019 exhibition, Forgotten Victims: The Genocide of the Roma and Sinti draws upon the Library’s collections to uncover the story of this little known aspect of Nazi persecution. The Library’s archives hold a wide range of relevant materials including eyewitness accounts, photographs, documents and books.
All pictures in the article: the Wiener Library. Photograph of a Roma man, thought to be Jozef Kwiek, ‘Gypsy King’, Belzec, German-occupied Poland, 1940. Romani families in the background.