Persecution of Gypsies under the Nazis: Records

Papers relating to the persecution of Gypsies under the Nazis, 1934-1996, including personalstatements of Sinti and Roma on Nazi persecution; interview transcripts; copies of trialdocumentation; copies of journal articles; essays; photograph; correspondence; summary of aNuremberg document No. 4037 regarding the registering of Gypsies, 21 May 1943; photograph of anextract from a list of regulations concerning the treatment of Gypsies for the Militårbefehlshaber in Serbien, 30 May 1941; photograph of an extract of a report issued by Der Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und SD in which it is stated that 2100 Jews and gypsies were executed in revenge for the shooting of 21 German soldiers near Topola, Serbia, 9 Oct 1941; transcription of an official circular issued by the ministry of internal affairs, Prague, regarding the restriction of movement for Gypsies in Moravia and Bohemia, Dec 1941; translation of an official circular issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Bratislava, regarding the travel limitations of Gypsies on state railways, 13 Jun 1944 and copy of a map of the Gypsy ghetto in Lodz.

Around 1968 Grattan Puxon (Secretary of the Gypsy Council) was asked by Vanko Rouda (Secretary ofthe Comitè International Tsigane) to collect material which might help Gypsies in their reparations claims. At about the same time the Wiener Library was advertising grants for research into modern history. The two strands came together and after a meeting at Reading University it was agreed that Grattan Puxon and Donald Kenrick would work jointly on collecting material on the Gypsy genocide during the Nazi period.

As a result a volume of material was prepared, known as Gypsies Under the Nazis (611/16).

The original order in which the files were deposited has been retained. By and large each file reflects the subject content of the chapters in Destiny of Europe's Gypsies .

Open

Donald Kenrick

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

A further copy of Gypsies Under the Nazis can be found in Paris with the CIT (now known as the Comitè International Rom).

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

This work came to the attention of Professor Cohen of the University of Sussex who was editing a series on the Holocaust. It was agreed that the material which had been gathered would be turned into a book. for the series. This was Destiny of Europe's Gypsies . The book had 3 parts: 1) Before the Nazi period to show that the anti-Gypsy policy did not just suddenly emerge; 2) The Nazi period; 3) After 1945. This was to show how in many places discrimination continued.

The first draft of the book was completed in 1969 (and there are no bibliographical entries after that year) but not published until 1972. Destiny of Europe's Gypsies came out simultaneously in the US with a different cover and was translated along with the other books in the series into French and Italian. The German, Japanese and Romani translations contain some new material. A paperback edition of the French translation came out many years later. A revised Romani translation with illustrations also appeared some years afterwards.

Gypsies Under the Swastika is a revised edition of Destiny of Europe's Gypsies intended for the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II and published in 1995. The first part was shortened and the third part dropped completely. The notes and references were also dropped but some illustrations were added. It has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian and Czech (with some new material).