Roma arrivals in the Belzec extermination camp await instructions

The Porajmos (also Porrajmos) literally Devouring, or Samudaripen (Mass killing) is a term coined by the Roma (Gypsy) people to describe attempts by the Nazi regime to exterminate most of the Roma peoples of Europe during The Holocaust. The phenomenon has been little studied and largely overshadowed by the Shoah (the Hebrew term for the Nazi campaign to exterminate Jews). The term was introduced into the literature by Roma scholar and activist Ian Hancock, in the early 1990s, though he did not coin the term.^[1] Public domain This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Public domain This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Bełżec was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust. ... Tzigane redirects here; for the composition by Maurice Ravel, see Tzigane (Ravel). ... National Socialism redirects here. ... This article is very long. ... This article is becoming very long. ... // The Holocaust is the name commonly applied since the mid 1970s to the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of various ethnic, religious and political groups during World War II by Nazi Germany, and especially to the destruction of European Jewry. ... Ian Hancock is a renowned Romani scholar. ...

Because the Roma communities of Eastern Europe were less organized than the Jewish communities, it is more difficult to assess the actual number of victims, though it is believed to range from 200,000 to 2,000,000. Only in recent years has the Roma community begun to demand acceptance among the victims of the Nazi regime. The response so far has been mixed.

Aryan racial purity

In the thousand years that nomadic Roma tribes wandered through Europe, they were subject to persecution and humiliation; they were stigmatized as habitual criminals, social misfits, and vagabonds. Given the Nazi predilection for "racial purity," it would seem inevitable that the Roma would be among their first victims. Nevertheless, in the earliest days of the Third Reich, the Roma posed a problem for Hitler's racial ideologues. The Gypsy language (Romani) is one of the Indo-Aryan languages, originating in northern India. Nazi anthropologists realized that Roma migrated into Europe from India, and were descendants of the Aryan occupants of the subcontinent, thought at the time to have invaded India from Europe. In other words, the Gypsies were no less Aryan than the Germans themselves. There are many famous Holocaust survivors who survived the Nazi genocides in Europe and went on to achievements of great fame and notability. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This is a list of people who helped Jewish people and others to escape from the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, often called rescuers. The list is not exhaustive, concentrating on famous cases, or people who saved the lives of many potential victims. ... Holocaust resources for main article The Holocaust. ... Book cover The Destruction of the European Jews is a three-volume work published in 1961 by historian Raul Hilberg. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Functionalism versus intentionalism is a historiographical debate about the origins of the Holocaust as well as most aspects of the Third Reich, such as foreign policy. ... Antiziganism is racism directed at the Roma people. ... Social stigma is severe social disapproval of personal characteristics or beliefs that are against cultural norms. ... A vagabond is a generally poor itinerant person. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with miscegenation. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Romani (or Romany) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Anthropology is the study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Nazi racialist Hans Günther added a socioeconomic component to the theory of racial purity. While he conceded that the Roma were, in fact, descended from Aryans, they were of poorer classes that mingled with the various "inferior" races they encountered during their wanderings, such as Dravidians, Semites, and Turkic peoples. This, he explained, accounted for their extreme poverty and nomadic lifestyle. While he conceded that there were some groups that were "purely Aryan," most Gypsies posed a threat to Aryan hegemony because of their racial mingling. It has been suggested that Hans F.K. Günther be merged into this article or section. ... Dravidian may refer to: Dravidian languages, including the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada languages spoken especially in southern India and Sri Lanka. ... Semitic is an adjective which in common parlance mistakenly refers specifically to Jewish things, while the term actually refers to things originating among speakers of Semitic languages or people descended from them, and in a linguistic context to the northeastern subfamily of Afro-Asiatic. ... This is the disambiguation page for the terms Turk, Turkey, Turkic, and Turkish. ...

In order to study the problem further, the Nazis established the Racial Hygiene and Demographic Biology Research Unit (Rassenhygienische und Bevölkerungsbiologische Forschungsstelle, Department L3 of the Reich Department of Health) in 1936. Headed by Dr. Robert Ritter and his assistant Eva Justin, the body was mandated to conduct an in-depth study of the "Gypsy question" (Zigeunerfrage) and to provide data required for formulating a new Reich Gypsy law. After extensive fieldwork in the spring of 1936, consisting of interviews and medical examinations to investigate genealogical and genetic data, it was determined that most Roma posed a danger to German racial purity and should be eliminated. No decision was made regarding the remainder (about 10 percent of the total Roma population of Europe), primarily Sinti and Lalleri tribes living in Germany, though several suggestions were made. At one point Heinrich Himmler even suggested the establishment of a remote reservation, where the "pure Gypsies" could continue their nomadic lifestyle unhindered. According to him: Robert Ritter (14 May 1901— circa 1951) was a German psychologist best known for his work that led to persecution and genocide of the Roma people in Nazi Germany (the Porajmos). ... Genealogy is the study and tracing of family pedigrees. ... For a non-technical introduction to the topic, please see Introduction to genetics. ... Sinti or Sinte (Singular masc. ...   (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ...

"...The aim of measures taken by the State to defend the homogeneity of the German nation must be the physical separation of Gypsydom from the German nation, the prevention of miscegenation, and finally, the regulation of the way of life of pure and part-Gypsies."

It has been suggested that Anti-miscegenation laws be merged into this article or section. ...

Loss of citizenship

On January 3, 1936, the Nuremberg laws, prohibiting marriages between Jews and Aryans, was extended to Gypsies as well. Gypsies, like Jews, lost their right to vote on March 7, 1936. January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were denaturalization laws passed by the government of Nazi Germany. ... March 7 is the 66th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (67th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Extermination

The vast majority of Roma were to suffer the same indignities as the Jews, and in some instances, they suffered even more brutally. According to Porajmos historian Ian Hancock, proportionately, the Roma death toll equaled "and almost certainly exceed[ed], that of Jewish victims."^[2] They were herded into ghettos, including the Warsaw Ghetto (April–June, 1942), where they formed a distinct subclass. According to Ghetto diarist Emmanuel Ringelblum, the Gypsies were sent to the Warsaw Ghetto because the Germans wanted Ian Hancock is a renowned Romani scholar. ... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background are united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. ... The Ghetto Heroes Memorial The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany in General Government during the Holocaust in World War II. In the three years of its existence, starvation, disease and deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps dropped the population of the... Emanuel Ringelblum (1900-1944) was a Polish-Jewish historian, politician and social worker, known for his Notes on the Refugees in Zbąszyn chronicling the deportation of Jews from the town of Zbąszyn and the so-called Ringelblums Archives of the Warsaw Ghetto. ...

"..To toss into the Ghetto everything that is characteristically dirty, shabby, bizarre, of which one ought to be frightened, and which anyway has to be destroyed."

Further east, teams of Einsatzgruppen tracked down Roma encampments and murdered the inhabitants on the spot, leaving no records of the victims. A member of Einsatzgruppe D is just about to shoot a Jewish man kneeling before a filled mass grave in Vinnitsa, Ukraine, in 1942. ...

Map of persecution of Roma (Gypsies)

Gypsies were also victims of the puppet regimes that cooperated with the Third Reich during the war, especially the notorious Ustashe regime in Croatia. In Jasenovac concentration camp, along with Serbs and Jews, tens of thousands of Gypsies were killed. roma holocaust - public domain map This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... roma holocaust - public domain map This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The Ustaše (often spelled Ustashe in English; singular Ustaša or Ustasha) was a Croatian right-wing organisation put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers in 1941. ... Jasenovac concentration camp (in Croatian: Logor Jasenovac in Serbian: Логор Јасеновац) was the largest concentration and extermination camp in Croatia during World War II. It was established by the UstaÅ¡a (Ustasha) regime of the Independent State of Croatia in August 1941. ... Languages Serbian Religions Predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christian Related ethnic groups Other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs See Cognate peoples below Serbs (Serbian: Срби or Srbi) are a South Slavic people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia. ...

On December 16, 1942, Himmler ordered that the Roma candidates for extermination should be deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. To the Roma people of Europe, this order was equivalent to the January 20 decision of that same year, made at the Wannsee Conference, at which Nazi bureaucrats decided on the "Final Solution" of the "Jewish problem". Himmler then on November 15, 1943 ordered that Gypsies and "part-Gypsies" were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps."-1... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Auschwitz (Konzentrationslager Auschwitz) was the largest of the Nazi German concentration camps. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on January 20, 1942. ... In a February 26, 1942, letter to German diplomat Martin Luther, Reinhard Heydrich follows up on the Wannsee Conference by asking Luther for administrative assistance in the implementation of the Endlösung der Judenfrage (Final Solution of the Jewish Question). ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...

According to testimonies of Jewish and Nazi witnesses, Gypsies sent to the death camps often suffered even worse than Jews. In some instances, the Nazis were so appalled by the sight of Roma arriving in the transports that they would not even let them in the gates of the camps for selection and simply murdered them by the railway platforms. In one remarkable instance, the victims were so terrified that they would be killed on the spot that they actually stormed the gates of the death camp, demanding to be allowed in—they were promptly led to the gas chambers, all the while believing that they would find sanctuary there.^{[citation needed]} // For other uses, see Gas chamber (disambiguation). ...

The governments of Nazi German allies, such as Hungary and Romania, also contributed to the Nazi plan of Roma extermination, but this was implemented on a smaller scale and most Hungarian and Romanian Roma people survived. The Hungarian government sent to Auschwitz between 30,000 and 70,000 Roma^{[citation needed]} people while the Croatian government sent 26,000^[3]; of the Roma killed, about half were at the Jasenovac concentration camp. Similarly, the Romanian government of Ion Antonescu had its own concentration camps in Transnistria where 25,000 Roma people were deported, of whom 11,000 died^[4]. Office Prime Minister, Conducător of Romania Term of office from September 4, 1940 until August 23, 1944 Profession Soldier, politician Political party none, formally allied with the Iron Guard Spouse Rasela Mendel Date of birth June 15, 1882 Place of birth Piteşti, Romania Date of death June 1... For the region during the Second World War, see Transnistria (World War II). ...

In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Roma internees were sent to the Lety and Hodonín camps before being transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau for gassing. What makes the Lety camp unique is that it was staffed by Czech guards, who could be even more brutal than the Germans, as testified in Paul Polansky's book Black Silence. Capital Prague Language(s) Czech, German Politcal structure Protectorate Reichsprotector  - 1939-1941 Konstantin von Neurath  - 1941-1942 Reinhard Heydrich (acting)  - 1942-1943 Kurt Daluege (acting) Staatspresident  - 1939-1945 Emil Hácha Historical era World War II  - Occupation March 15, 1939  - Fall of Prague May 13, 1945 Currency Bohemian and Moravian... Location of Lety in the Czech Republic Location of Hodonín in the Czech Republic Concentration camps in Lety and Hodonín were World War II internment camps for Roma (Gypsies) from area of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (larger part of the Czech Republic today). ... Paul Polansky is an activist working for the rights of the Roma people (also called gypsies). ...

Notes

1. ^ On the word Porrajmos – Ian Hancock
2. ^ "Jewish Responses to the Porrajmos (The Romani Holocaust)," Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota (accessed June 24, 2005)
3. ^ Jasenovac, at the Jewish Virtual Library.
4. ^ The report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (PDF), from Yad Vashem

Washington Avenue Bridge at night The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, almost always abbreviated U of M, and sometimes referred to as The U by locals, is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system. ... The Jewish Virtual Library, is an online Jewish Encyclopedia which includes about 10,000 articles and 5,000 photographs and maps. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ... An exterior view of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. ...

See also

• Antiziganism

Antiziganism is racism directed at the Roma people. ...

Further reading

• Fonseca, Isabel: Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies And Their Journey, London, Vintage, 1996. Chapter 7, The Devouring
• ""Gypsies" as Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany" by Sybil H. Milton in Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany, edited by Robert Gellately and Nathan Stoltzfus (2001, hardcover, ISBN 0-691-00748-9; paperback, ISBN 0-691-08684-2).
• Paul Polansky, Black Silence: The Lety Survivors Speak ISBN 0-89304-241-2
• Romani Rose, The Nazi Genocide of the Sinti and Roma (Heidelberg: Documentary and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, 1995)
• State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Memorial Book: The Gypsies at Auschwitz-Birkenau (New York: K.G. Saur, 1993)
• Klamper, Elisabeth. Persecution and Annihilation of Roma and Sinti in Austria, 1938-1945, Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society 5, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1993)
• Milton, Sybil. The Holocaust: The Gypsies, in William S. Parsons, Israel Chamy, and Samuel Totten, eds., Genocide in the Twentieth Century: An Anthology of Critical Essays and Oral History (New York, 1995), pp. 209-64.
• Tyrnauer, Gabrielle. Gypsies and the Holocaust: A Bibliography and Introductory Essay (Montreal, 1989)

Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany is a book edited by Robert Gellately and Nathan Stoltzfus. ...

External links

• Historical Amnesia: The Romani Holocaust - Desicritics
• Extensive online resorce on the Holocaust of the Romanies from Holocaust Survivors' Network -- iSurvived.org
• Histories, Narratives and Documents of the Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota
• (German)/(English) - Oskar "Romany" Rose
• A Brief Romani Holocaust Chronology
• Roma-Sinti Genocide (Parajmos) Resources, Prevent Genocide International
• Memorial of Poraimos (Romani)