Roma in Europe during The Holocaust

• published: 10 Sep 2015
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The course is designed so that we, each week, learn about a new historical period. During week 1 we will learn more about the lives of Roma in Europe during World War II. In addition, we will get a broader introduction to some of the important terms we will be using in the coming weeks. It is a common misconception that the Nazi’s only persecuted the Jewish people. In fact, they also persecuted the Roma people because they viewed them as “racially inferior”.  In German-occupied of Europe, the fate of Roma varied from country to country, depending on local circumstances. In December 1942, Himmler ordered the deportation of all Roma from the so-called Greater German Reich. Some 23,000 Roma, Sinti and Lalleri were deported to Auschwitz altogether.  It is not known precisely how many Roma were killed in the Holocaust. While exact figures or percentages cannot be ascertained, historians estimate that the Germans and their allies killed around 25 percent of all European Roma. Of slightly less than one million Roma believed to have been living in Europe before the war, the Germans and their Axis partners killed up to 220,000.