Sinti and Roma - Gypsies

Students will understand how gypsies were persecuted during the Holocaust. Between 1933 and 1945 Sinti and Roma (Gypsies) suffered greatly as victims of Nazi persecution and genocide. Building on long-held prejudices, the Nazi regime viewed Gypsies both as “asocials” and as racial “inferiors”- believed to threaten the biological purity and strength of the superior “Aryan “ race. During WWII, the Nazis and their collaborators killed tens of thousands of Sinti and Roma men, women and children across German- occupied Europe.

A. Who were the “Gypsies”?
Sinta and Roma - Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust

Sinti Roma Gypsies Brochure - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 1939-1945 - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

C. Discuss the early prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination that existed towards the Gypsies.
Sinti and Roma: Victims of the Nazi Era 1933-1945

D. Print a map of Gypsy persecution from 1939-1945.
Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 1939-1945 - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

E. Discuss the history of Roma persecution in Europe from 1589 to the present.
The Roma Persecution by Harold Tanner - The Patrin Web Journal

F. Discuss Anti-Gypsy legislation.

Sinti Roma Gypsies Brochure - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

H. Explain Racial Science and the Gypsies.

Roma Victims of the Holocaust: Roma in Auschwitz (replacement site)

Roma & Sinti (Gypsies): A Photographic Exhibition (replacement site)

Sinti Roma Gypsies Brochure - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

I. Photo Archives- There are hundreds of photographs depicting prewar life, “racial” registration by German police and racial scientists, deportation, prisoner mug shots and imprisonment in internment, labor, and concentration camps. Select some of these photos and include them in your portfolio.

J. How many Gypsies were killed during the Holocaust?

Roma (Gypsies) in the Holocaust - The Patrin Web Journal