Sinti and Roma In Nazi Germany

Thanks Walter - I did know about it, in general, (as with gays and feminists etc.) - but I shall pop back and look with interest...

Source

Dagmar should see this....

I deplore the Nazi extermination of the Roma but one cannot really equate the cultural and social benefits given to mankind by the industrial and scientific work done in nineteenth and early twentieth century Germany with the emanations of a nomadic culture like the Gypsies!

Swiss National Anthem



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Das Deutschlandlied

Das Lied der Deutschen Song of the Germans
German Lyrics Literal English

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Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Germany, Germany above all,
Über alles in der Welt, Above everything in the world,
Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze When always, for protection,
Brüderlich zusammenhält, We stand together as brothers.
Von der Maas bis an die Memel, From the Maas to the Memel
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt - From the Etsch to the Belt -
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Germany, Germany above all
Über alles in der Welt. Above all in the world.

Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, German women, German loyalty,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang German wine and German song,
Sollen in der Welt behalten Shall retain in the world,
Ihren alten schönen Klang, Their old lovely ring
Uns zu edler Tat begeistern To inspire us to noble deeds
Unser ganzes Leben lang. Our whole life long.
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, German women, German loyalty,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang German wine and German song.

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Unity and law and freedom
für das deutsche Vaterland! For the German Fatherland
Danach lasst uns alle streben Let us all strive for that
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand! In brotherhood with heart and hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Unity and law and freedom
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand; Are the foundation for happiness
Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes, Bloom in the glow of happiness
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland. Bloom, German Fatherland.

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,* Germany, Germany above all*
Und im Unglück nun erst recht. And in misfortune all the more.
Nur im Unglück kann die Liebe Only in misfortune can love
Zeigen, ob sie stark und echt. Show if it's strong and true.
Und so soll es weiterklingen And so it should ring out
Von Geschlechte zu Geschlecht: From generation to generation:
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Germany, Germany above all,
Und im Unglück nun erst recht. And in misfortune

"I am not a racist, but Gypsies are vermin"

would make a great quote to illustrate oxymoron, no?

http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/36130/2/roma_holocaust_commemorated.html

ROMA, the largest minority in Europe, suffered horribly under the repressive Nazi regime during World War II. To commemorate the Roma victims of the Holocaust, international Roma organisations and Roma living in Poland have established August 2 as Roma Remembrance Day.

August 2 was chosen because it is the date in 1944 when Nazis murdered nearly 3,000 Roma men, women and children in gas chambers at Auschwitz, the Roma press agency Mecem wrote.

On December 16, 1942 the SS commander Heinrich Himmler signed the so-called Auschwitz Decree, in which he ordered the deportation of all Roma and Sinthi people from German-occupied countries to the concentration camps. This decree led to the extermination of at least half a million Roma and Sinti, Mecem wrote.

The Sinti are a sub-group of people related to Roma.

The largest concentration of European Roma was in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Beginning in December 1942, some 20,000 Roma from Slovakia, Bohemia, Moravia, the Netherlands, Belgium, north France, Poland and the then-Soviet states were transported there where most of them were executed.

To commemorate the Roma victims of the Holocaust, events take place in Auschwitz every year in early August.

For several years now August 2 has been marked as Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day in Slovakia as well, to remind the world that the Slovak WWII pro-Nazi satellite state also exposed the Roma to racially-motivated violence and murder.

A memorial to the Roma Holocaust in Slovakia lies in the southern Slovak town of Dunajská Streda, and this is where the remembrance ceremonies take place. In 2009 Dušan Čaplovič, the vice-prime minister, attended the events in Dunajská Streda and laid a wreath on the memorial.

“Mention of the Roma Holocaust was taboo in Slovakia for many years and many facts about the extermination of this minority by the Nazis during WWII were not generally known. Today knowledge of these events is still somewhat lacking even among the Roma,” Čaplovič said during the ceremony, as reported by the TASR newswire.

To fill this knowledge gap, several Roma NGOs have launched the project “Ma bisteren! " Nezabudnite!” (Don’t forget! in Roma and Slovak respectively), under which they have unveiled Roma Holocaust memorials in towns and villages around Slovakia, beginning with the first memorial in the Slovak National Uprising Museum in Banská Bystrica, TASR reported.

The number of Roma and Sinti living in the countries of the European Union is approximately 12 million. The European Parliament stated on January 31, 2008 that the Nazi plan to exterminate the Roma as well as the Jews must be fully acknowledged, wrote TASR.

Soon after Hiltler took power, the Nazis formulated policy based on their vision of biologically "pure" population, to create an "Aryan master race." The "Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases," proclaimed July 14, 1933, forced the sterilization of all persons who suffered from diseases considered hereditary, such as mental illness (schizophfrenia and manic depression), retardation ("congenital feeble-mindedness"), physical deformithy, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, and alcoholism.

Possum R FartBubble is, well, a FartBubble.

One of the main examples of the negative eugenics of the times is human sterilization. By sterilizing an individual, that individual could no longer reproduce or, in other words, spread his traits to his offspring. This would serve to be beneficial in the eyes of many eugenicists, however widespread sterilization of the general population did not really take place in the United States or most of the rest of the world. Thousands of United States citizens were sterilized, though.


nearly 30 states in the US had laws legalizing compulsory sterilization.
Over nine thousand prison inmates and patients of mental rehabilitation facilities were sterilized legally in the United States by 1929. California led the nation with 6,255 sterilizations of criminals and mental "defects." In 1937, Fortune magazine held a poll, revealing that sixty-three percent of those polled supported sterilization of habitual criminals and sixty-six percent endorsed the sterilization of the mentally deficient.

In Britain, the Eugenics Society--the Eugenics Education Society's new name as of 1926--actually distributed ten thousand informational pamphlets that explained the benefits of sterilization. The pamphlet was so popular that the Society had to produce ten thousand more! The editor of the well respected scientific journal Nature devoted a section of its publication to commentary about eugenics; one biologist recommended the use of "compulsory sterilization as a punishment for parents who have to resort to public assistance in order to support their children."

The new liberal eugenics?
Recently the blogosphere has bee alight over the issue of eugenics, and whether liberals are bringing it back in. Various strands of evidence are offered, including the fact that historically it was "progressives" who previously supported eugenics when it was hot in the early twentieth century. Another strand is simply that "eugenics" and "pro-choice" are the same thing. Another strand follows the debate about stem cell research and equates those in favor of it with eugenics.

http://www.long-sunday.net/long_sunday/2007/08/the-new-liberal.html

Thousands of Roma women were also sterilized without their knowledge and consent. It was quite the scandal in Slovakia few years back.

After World War II, public opinion towards eugenics and sterilization programs became more negative in the light of the connection with the genocidal policies of Nazi Germany, though a significant number of sterilizations continued in a few states until the early 1960s. The Oregon Board of Eugenics, later renamed the Board of Social Protection, existed until 1983, with the last forcible sterilization occurring in 1981.[24] Other forcible sterilizations in Oregon, operating outside of Eugenics law, still continue to this date[citation needed]. The U.S. commonwealth Puerto Rico had a sterilization program as well. Some states continued to have sterilization laws on the books for much longer after that, though they were rarely if ever used. California sterilized more than any other state by a wide margin, and was responsible for over a third of all sterilization operations. Information about the California sterilization program was produced into book form and widely disseminated by eugenicists E.S. Gosney and Paul B. Popenoe, which was said by the government of Adolf Hitler to be of key importance in proving that large-scale compulsory sterilization programs were feasible.[25] In recent years, the governors of many states have made public apologies for their past programs beginning with Virginia and followed by Oregon and California. None have offered to compensate those sterilized, however, citing that few are likely still living (and would of course have no affected offspring) and that inadequate records remain by which to verify them. At least one compensation case, Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital (1981), was filed in the courts on the grounds that the sterilization law was unconstitutional. It was rejected because the law was no longer in effect at the time of the filing. However, the petitioners were granted some compensation as the stipulations of the law itself, which required informing the patients about their operations, had not been carried out in many cases.

The 27 states where sterilization laws remained on the books (though not all were still in use) in 1956 were: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah,Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin.[26]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization

In the USA, eugenic supporters included Theodore Roosevelt, pre-1960's Democratic Party, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association and the National Research Council. Research was funded by distinguished philanthropies and carried out at prestigious universities. It was taught in college and high school classrooms. Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood of America to urge the legalization of contraception for the lower classes. In its time eugenics was touted by some as scientific and progressive, the natural application of knowledge about breeding to the arena of human life. Before the realization of death camps in World War II, the idea that eugenics would lead to genocide was not taken seriously by the average American.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics