The Romani Or Gypsies: The Rise Of Nazis

The Romani or Gypsies began as migrants who have been in a state of siege for most recorded history. They were resented and seen as untrustworthy and from the late 1400’s legislation was issued to banish the Romani in places such as the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. With no country of origin to return to, they continued to move throughout Europe. Their traditions and customs went with them, their brightly coloured clothes and the Romani language were resented in most places they travelled, to the point they would be banned from wearing traditional clothing. The rise of Nazis began a resurgence in discrimination against their rights and way of life. At the end of World War II the Porajmos was left unmentioned and gypsies were still seen as pests.

While the Nazis rounded up Jews and Gypsies along with homosexuals and the disabled to systematically kill them the Czechoslovakian police ran their own ‘work camp’, Lety. Later covered up by Czech Republic as a “Nazi camp” was a Czech guard run camp that caused the death of thousands of Gypsy men, women and children. The official lie was that “all [of] the inmates died of typhus” but in reality only eight had. Many around the camp knew of the atrocities being committed in the camp but it was “not for [them] to say’ what truly occurred. The cover up can be simply explained by the standpoint of a Czech local historian, “Gypsies aren’t worth writing about.’ Society does not care to write up and face in fear of not only what they let happen but the fear of the Romani people. Gypsies were feared for being outsiders and having a different culture to those of the Europeans. This persecution caused changes within the Romani

The Porajamos and other sites of persecution throughout history have caused a hatred and fear of being known as a gypsy (quote from grandpa about Great Grandma Emily’s hatred of being from a gypsy family). Gypsies were not allowed to practice music as a profession, where barred from boxing and only plied in their traditional trades when it suited the Europeans. This lead to what some gypsies saw as a tradition and other’s a construct of all societies, thievery. A nephew of on Lety survivor urges his aunt to “tell them the truth about Gypsies--- how you taught us to steal. How we weren’t real gypsies unless we stole.” She however saw it as something that every culture does. It shows the divide in culture and generations. Gypsies were legally only allowed to practice cultural traditions when it suited the larger societies within Europe, with laws in place banning many of the traditional