The Nazi persecution of the gypsies

Abstract

Roaming the countryside in caravans, earning their living as musicians, peddlars and fortune-tellers, the and their elusive way of life represented an affront to Nazi ideas of social order, hard work, and racial purity. They were branded as asocials, harassed, and eventually herded into concentration camps where many thousands were killed. But until now the story of their persecution has been overlooked or distorted. In The Nazi Persecution of the Guenter Lewy draws upon thousands of documents - many never before used - from German and Austrian archives to provide the most comprehensive and accurate study available of the fate of the under the Nazi regime. Lewy traces the escalating vilification of the as the Nazis insigated a widespread crackdown on the work-shy and itinerants. But he shows that Nazi policy towards was confused and changeable. At first, local officials persecuted Gypsies, and those who behaved in Gypsy-like fashion, for allegedly anti-social tendencies. Later, with the rise of race obsession, were seen as a threat to racial purity, though Himmler himself wavered, trying to save those he considered pure Gypsies descended from Aryan roots in India. Indeed, Lewy contradicts much existing scolarship in showing that, however much the were persecuted, there was no general programme of extermination analogous to the final solution for the Jews. Exploring in heart-rending detail the fates of individual and their families, The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies makes an important addition to our understanding both of the history of this mysterious people and of all facets of Nazi terror.

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