The Nazi Genocide of the Roma: Reassessment and Commemoration

283 Pages·2013·2.73 MB·English

by  Anton Weiss-Wendt (ed.)

T N G R
HE AZI ENOCIDE OF THE OMA
War and Genocide
General Editors: Omer Bartov, Brown University; A. Dirk Moses, European
University Institute, Florence, Italy/University of Sydney
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Edited by Jonathan Petropoulos and Reassessment and Commemoration
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T N G R
HE AZI ENOCIDE OF THE OMA
Reassessment and Commemoration
Edited by
Anton Weiss-Wendt
berghahn
N E W Y O R K (cid:127) O X F O R D
www.berghahnbooks.com
First published in 2013 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
©2013 Anton Weiss-Wendt
All rights reserved.
Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes
of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Nazi genocide of the Roma : reassessment and commemoration ; edited by
Anton Weiss-Wendt.
pages cm. — (Studies on war and genocide ; volume 17)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-85745-842-1 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-85745-843-8
(institutional ebook)
1. Romanies—Nazi persecution—Congresses. 2. World War, 1939–1945—
Atrocities—Congresses. 3. Romanies—Germany—History—20th century—
Congresses. 4. Germany—Ethnic relations—Congresses. I. Weiss-Wendt,
Anton, 1973– editor of compilation.
D804.5.G85N39 2013
940.53’1808991497—dc23
2012037868
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0-85745–842–1 (hardback)
ISBN 978–0-85745–843–8 (institutional ebook)
To Michael Zimmerman (1951–2007),
historian and humanitarian

C
ONTENTS
R
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Anton Weiss-Wendt
Chapter 1
Assimilation and Persecution: An Overview of Attitudes toward
Gypsies in France 27
Shannon L. Fogg
Chapter 2
Genocidal Trajectory: Persecution of Gypsies in Austria, 1938–1945 44
Florian Freund
Chapter 3
Ustaša Mass Violence Against Gypsies in Croatia, 1941–1942 72
Alexander Korb
Chapter 4
Ethnic Cleansing or “Crime Prevention”? Deportation of
Romanian Roma 96
Vladimir Solonari
Chapter 5
Nazi Occupation Policies and the Mass Murder of the Roma
in Ukraine 120
Mikhail Tyaglyy
Chapter 6
The Nazi Persecution of Roma in Northwestern Russia:
The Operational Area of the Army Group North, 1941–1944 153
Martin Holler
viii Contents
Chapter 7
The Justice System of the Federal Republic of Germany and
the Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies 181
Gilad Margalit
Chapter 8
Disentangling the Hierarchy of Victimhood: Commemorating Sinti
and Roma and Jews in Germany’s National Narrative 205
Nadine Blumer
Chapter 9
The Aftermath of the Roma Genocide: From Implicit Memories
to Commemoration 229
Sławomir Kapralski
Selected Bibliography 252
Notes on Contributors 260
Index 263
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
R
I
want to acknowledge several individuals who have been very helpful
at the earlier stage of this book project: Charles Westin and Mats Deland
of Stockholm University, and Joackim Scheele and Oscar Österberg of
Living History Forum. A special thank you goes to Winfried Etzel, who
has translated from German Florian Freund’s chapter, and Samantha
Fox, who has copyedited several chapters in this volume. I also thank
my colleagues at the Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Religious
Minorities in Oslo who have lent their full support to this book project.
Finally, I want to express my gratitude to the editorial staff of Berghahn
Books and the two anonymous readers whose pointed comments have
helped to improve the overall quality of the manuscript.
More than anyone else, however, this volume owes to the late Mi-
chael Zimmermann, the scholar who has perhaps contributed most to
the study of the Nazi genocide of the Roma. Published in 1996, his mag-
isterial work Rassenutopie und Genozid. Die nationalsozialistische “Lö-
sung der Zigeunerfrage” remains the most comprehensive account to
date. Based on the broadest possible reading of sources, Zimmermann’s
analysis struck an effective balance between the Intentionalist and
Functionalist interpretations. Zimmermann was also the fi rst to make
a comparison between Nazi and Soviet policies toward the Roma in the
1930s. Zimmermann advanced research in his capacity as a founding
member of the Sinti and Roma working group at the Fritz Bauer In-
stitute in Frankfurt am Main and the co-editor of Romani Studies. Be-
side his mastery of sources and ability to contextualize, Zimmermann
has projected a certain sense of humanity. Unlike many other scholars,