05 August 2009
Support bands I have seen #2
Spanish HM Band Baron Rojo supporting Hawkwind at the Southampton Gaumont October (or was it November?) 1982. I don't recall them going down that well but not as badly as the crowd treated Tandoori Cassette when they suppported the hawks at the Stroud Leisure Centre in December 1981!
04 August 2009
Mot so much Ahmadinejad than Ahmafeckingnutter
The Babylon and Beyond blog had an article which indicated that Ahmadinejad may be looking to be rather less than conciliatory after being sworn today as President president.
It would seem that Ahmadinejad may look to be rather more confrontational towards opposition. According to Babylon and Beyond this is borne out by comments comments he made to a gathering of educators associated with the pro-government Basiji militia last week
"A new period has begun," he told the Association of Basiji Scholars according to a report by the news website Farda News. "Let me take the oath of office, and wait for the government to begin its work. Then, we'll seize them by their collars and stick their heads to the ceiling," he said.
Ahmadinejad is now also reportedly claiming that he was the victim of electoral fraud rather than the perpetrator! According to a report by the reformist newspaper Entekhab, Ahmadinejad also boasted in a private meeting with aides that he actually received 30 million out of 40 million votes cast, not the 24 million he officially got.
I wonder what the colour of the sky is in his world?
03 August 2009
Going Iranian!
This is the text of an e-mail sent to me by an Iranian expatriate friend. I know it is probablyjust one of those hoax e-mails but I do love the sentiments
I teach at a NYC high school, and recently one student stood up to our
very intimidating principal, (something that almost never happens). When
he did not get permission for what he intended another student said "Let's
go iranian on him." By that he meant organize a protest. And so now they
"IRAN" anything they want to change. So it has become an a verb now and to
"Iran" the situation is to stand up to authority, well at least here in
this corner of the universe. And it is a huge bonus for me because I
cannot usually get them to even pay attention to another part of the
world.
Point being, even these students who get very small amounts of news equate
"Iranian" with bravery and I completely agree, and wish I had that kind of intestinal fortitude.
Well there you have it!
I teach at a NYC high school, and recently one student stood up to our
very intimidating principal, (something that almost never happens). When
he did not get permission for what he intended another student said "Let's
go iranian on him." By that he meant organize a protest. And so now they
"IRAN" anything they want to change. So it has become an a verb now and to
"Iran" the situation is to stand up to authority, well at least here in
this corner of the universe. And it is a huge bonus for me because I
cannot usually get them to even pay attention to another part of the
world.
Point being, even these students who get very small amounts of news equate
"Iranian" with bravery and I completely agree, and wish I had that kind of intestinal fortitude.
Well there you have it!
02 August 2009
Some things never change – Ceaucescu’s Romania.
In 1994 Academic and Romani human rights advocate Ian Hancock wrote an article called Ceauşescu’s Master Race and his Romani “Robot work Force” about the plight of Romani children in Romanian orphanages and the vile policies that led them to being there.
At the time of writing there were over 80,000 Children languishing in Romanian orphanages. This tragedy received extensive media coverage since the early 1990s, and the compassion of the world did turn toward them.
What the mainstream media did not report or did not widely report was that up to 80% of the infants in the orphanages were Romani, a fact that was not widely reported in the media reports. What is frightening is how so many Romani children ended up in the orphanages
Ceauscescu was essentially a Nazi (My words).
According to Ian Hancock’s article Ceauşescu had specific plans for the Romanies, which were grimly reminiscent of the centuries of Romani slavery in his country, not fully abolished until 1864. Ceaucescu also brought techniques of genetic engineering—based specifically on the race policies of Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany
The Romani children in the Romanian institutions are the result of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s plan to create a superior “Dacian” people by selective breeding and population engineering. Ceauşescu’s fascination with Hitler’s racial policies is no secret;. That was not too surprising, as Ceauşescu had always studied Hitler’s ‘charisma,’ and had repeatedly analysed the original Nazi films of Hitler’s speeches . . . In almost every speech, he recalls the Romanian people’s origins in proud
Roman and Dacian warriors, just as Hitler harped on the Aryans. . .”
Because he took pains to conceal his actions, however, and little documentation to substantiate them has so far come to light, the means by which he tried to accomplish his aims are only now being pieced together. The establishment of his “death camp” orphanages apparently pre-dated his open fascination with Hitler by some years:
Ceauşescu started the camps as early as 1965. there had been years of planning. When Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp, was discovered in January 1945, Nicolae Ceauşescu was 27 years old. Like the Nazis, Ceauşescu advocated racial purity. Years later, he would express his concern for, quote,“the new human type we intend to mold in our society.” Ceauşescu had Romania’s history books rewritten. He argued that the true Romanians were descended from Dacians, far more advanced than what he called the other “aboriginal” races . . . “superior even to ancient Rome.” Ceauşescu wanted a huge robot work force.
His intention was to breed on the one hand large numbers of “pure” Romanians and on the other, those who were to make up his “robot work force,” the status Romanies had endured as slaves for 550 years. In both cases, like the ancient Spartans, the weak were allowed to die, since they were of no use to either population. Women, married or not, were encouraged to have many children; they were rewarded publicly for having five or more, and birth control was made illegal. Romanian officials maintain that Romanies were not therefore discriminated against, since this policy affected them equally. The difference, however, lay in what was destined for each group. Because of the state of the Romanian economy, and the execution of Ceauşescu in December, 1989, this bizarre plan was never to materialize, but it has left a legacy in the surplus children who languish in the Romanian orphanages and whose bodies fill the mass graves reported by Terre des Hommes. That Romanies are treated as subhuman in modem Romania, where the very word Úigan (“Romani,” but synonymous with “slave” in the Romanian language), is the result of centuries of persecution rooted in Romanian history.
At the time of writing there were over 80,000 Children languishing in Romanian orphanages. This tragedy received extensive media coverage since the early 1990s, and the compassion of the world did turn toward them.
What the mainstream media did not report or did not widely report was that up to 80% of the infants in the orphanages were Romani, a fact that was not widely reported in the media reports. What is frightening is how so many Romani children ended up in the orphanages
Ceauscescu was essentially a Nazi (My words).
According to Ian Hancock’s article Ceauşescu had specific plans for the Romanies, which were grimly reminiscent of the centuries of Romani slavery in his country, not fully abolished until 1864. Ceaucescu also brought techniques of genetic engineering—based specifically on the race policies of Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany
The Romani children in the Romanian institutions are the result of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s plan to create a superior “Dacian” people by selective breeding and population engineering. Ceauşescu’s fascination with Hitler’s racial policies is no secret;. That was not too surprising, as Ceauşescu had always studied Hitler’s ‘charisma,’ and had repeatedly analysed the original Nazi films of Hitler’s speeches . . . In almost every speech, he recalls the Romanian people’s origins in proud
Roman and Dacian warriors, just as Hitler harped on the Aryans. . .”
Because he took pains to conceal his actions, however, and little documentation to substantiate them has so far come to light, the means by which he tried to accomplish his aims are only now being pieced together. The establishment of his “death camp” orphanages apparently pre-dated his open fascination with Hitler by some years:
Ceauşescu started the camps as early as 1965. there had been years of planning. When Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp, was discovered in January 1945, Nicolae Ceauşescu was 27 years old. Like the Nazis, Ceauşescu advocated racial purity. Years later, he would express his concern for, quote,“the new human type we intend to mold in our society.” Ceauşescu had Romania’s history books rewritten. He argued that the true Romanians were descended from Dacians, far more advanced than what he called the other “aboriginal” races . . . “superior even to ancient Rome.” Ceauşescu wanted a huge robot work force.
His intention was to breed on the one hand large numbers of “pure” Romanians and on the other, those who were to make up his “robot work force,” the status Romanies had endured as slaves for 550 years. In both cases, like the ancient Spartans, the weak were allowed to die, since they were of no use to either population. Women, married or not, were encouraged to have many children; they were rewarded publicly for having five or more, and birth control was made illegal. Romanian officials maintain that Romanies were not therefore discriminated against, since this policy affected them equally. The difference, however, lay in what was destined for each group. Because of the state of the Romanian economy, and the execution of Ceauşescu in December, 1989, this bizarre plan was never to materialize, but it has left a legacy in the surplus children who languish in the Romanian orphanages and whose bodies fill the mass graves reported by Terre des Hommes. That Romanies are treated as subhuman in modem Romania, where the very word Úigan (“Romani,” but synonymous with “slave” in the Romanian language), is the result of centuries of persecution rooted in Romanian history.
O Porrajmos – Zigeunernacht, the destruction of the Zigeunerfamilienlager at Birkenau
Some readers may be curious as to why I posted yesterday a three-part timeline of persecution of the Roma in Europe and an item about the sterilisation of Roma women in Slovakia.
The reason is that today is the day that Romani commemorate the attempted destruction of their people by the Nazis. Apart from the Jews the Roma were the only other ethnic group to be targeted for extermination (Stating this does not in any way diminish the appalling acts of barbarity meted out by the Nazis on other victims).
Why 2 August? 65 years ago today Zigeunernacht (or the Night of the Gypsies) took place. The following is based on an article at I Survived
Inside the Zigeunerfailienlager
In December 1942, the Germans decreed that the Romani (Gypsies) should be imprisoned in concentration camps. Auschwitz was the camp chosen. The first transport arrived on February 26, 1943, and housed in the Familienzigeunerlager or Zigeunerfamilienlager ("Gypsy Family Camp"). It comprised 32 residential and 6 sanitation barracks in Section BIIe of Birkenau
A total of 20,967 men, women, and children were imprisoned in the family camp between February 26, 1943 and July 21, 1944. A further 1,700 Romani from Bialystok, were not entered in the records. They were suspected of carrying typhus, so they were sent straight to the gas chambers.
Most of the inmates died of disase.Some children also died at the hands of the evil Dr. Josef Mengele's during his perverted experiments. However this did not prevent the Nazis from deciding to destroy the family camp.
Romani children subjects of Mengele's vile experiments
In fact they intended to exterminate the Romani completely as early as May 1944. On May 15, Zigeunerfamilienlager director Unterscharfuehrer SS Georg Bonigut ordered the inmates to stay in their barracks. The next day, 50 to 60 SS men surrounded the camp. They attempted to force the prisoners out of the barracks, but failed to do so. Fearing casualties, the Germans withdrew. The Germans also feared that a mutiny could spread to other parts of the camp. On May 23, over 1,500 Gypsies were transferred from Birkenau to Auschwitz, from where they were subsequently transferred to Buchenwald. Two days later, 82 Gypsies were shipped to the Flossenburg camp and 144 Gypsy women to Ravensbrueck. Fewer than 3,000 people remained in the Family Camp.
The extermination of the Romanies in Birkenau occurred on the night of August 2/3, 1944, on orders from Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler. A ban on leaving the barracks was imposed on the evening of August 2. Despite resistance by the Gypsies, 2,897 men, women, and children were loaded on trucks, taken to gas chamber V, and exterminated. Their bodies were burned in pits next to the crematorium.
Out of a total of about 23,000 Romanies were imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau; approximately 21,000 of them perished. The remainder were transferred to other camps. They labored in industry. They were were also subjected to further criminal medical experiments including experiments on the effects of drinking sea water at Buchenwald.
The reason is that today is the day that Romani commemorate the attempted destruction of their people by the Nazis. Apart from the Jews the Roma were the only other ethnic group to be targeted for extermination (Stating this does not in any way diminish the appalling acts of barbarity meted out by the Nazis on other victims).
Why 2 August? 65 years ago today Zigeunernacht (or the Night of the Gypsies) took place. The following is based on an article at I Survived
Inside the ZigeunerfailienlagerIn December 1942, the Germans decreed that the Romani (Gypsies) should be imprisoned in concentration camps. Auschwitz was the camp chosen. The first transport arrived on February 26, 1943, and housed in the Familienzigeunerlager or Zigeunerfamilienlager ("Gypsy Family Camp"). It comprised 32 residential and 6 sanitation barracks in Section BIIe of Birkenau
A total of 20,967 men, women, and children were imprisoned in the family camp between February 26, 1943 and July 21, 1944. A further 1,700 Romani from Bialystok, were not entered in the records. They were suspected of carrying typhus, so they were sent straight to the gas chambers.
Most of the inmates died of disase.Some children also died at the hands of the evil Dr. Josef Mengele's during his perverted experiments. However this did not prevent the Nazis from deciding to destroy the family camp.
Romani children subjects of Mengele's vile experimentsIn fact they intended to exterminate the Romani completely as early as May 1944. On May 15, Zigeunerfamilienlager director Unterscharfuehrer SS Georg Bonigut ordered the inmates to stay in their barracks. The next day, 50 to 60 SS men surrounded the camp. They attempted to force the prisoners out of the barracks, but failed to do so. Fearing casualties, the Germans withdrew. The Germans also feared that a mutiny could spread to other parts of the camp. On May 23, over 1,500 Gypsies were transferred from Birkenau to Auschwitz, from where they were subsequently transferred to Buchenwald. Two days later, 82 Gypsies were shipped to the Flossenburg camp and 144 Gypsy women to Ravensbrueck. Fewer than 3,000 people remained in the Family Camp.
The extermination of the Romanies in Birkenau occurred on the night of August 2/3, 1944, on orders from Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler. A ban on leaving the barracks was imposed on the evening of August 2. Despite resistance by the Gypsies, 2,897 men, women, and children were loaded on trucks, taken to gas chamber V, and exterminated. Their bodies were burned in pits next to the crematorium.
Out of a total of about 23,000 Romanies were imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau; approximately 21,000 of them perished. The remainder were transferred to other camps. They labored in industry. They were were also subjected to further criminal medical experiments including experiments on the effects of drinking sea water at Buchenwald.
01 August 2009
Some Things Never Change: 1900-1945
1905. Alfred Dillmann's Zigeuner-Buch appears in Germany The introduction maintains that the German people are "suffering" from a "plague" of Roma, that they are "a pest against which society must unflaggingly defend itself," and that they "must be controlled by the police most severely," being "ruthlessly punished" when necessary. The notion of the particular dangers of mixed Romani and white individuals, whom Dillmann considers to constitute almost the entire Roma population, resurfaces in the Nuremburg Laws in 1935.
1906. On February 17th, the Prussian Minister of the Interior issues a directive entitled Die Bekämpfung des Zigeunerunwesens ("Combatting the Gypsy nuisance") which lists bilateral agreements guaranteeing the expulsion of Roma from those countries, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland.
1909. Recommendations coming from a "Gypsy policy conference" in Hungary include the confiscation of their animals and carts, and permanent branding for purposes of identification.
1914. A new law prohibits all further immigration of Roma into Sweden. The law is very efficient and Roma in Sweden are isolated from their relatives in other European countries. The law remains in effect until 1954. Norway and Denmark have similar laws during the same period.
1920. In Germany, psychiatrist Karl Binding and magistrate Alfred Hoche argue for the killing of those who are "Ballastexistenzen," i.e. whose lives are seen merely as ballast, or dead weight, within humanity; this includes Roma. The concept of Lebensunwertesleben, or "lives unworthy (or undeserving) of life," becomes central to Nazi race policy.
1926. The Swiss Pro Juventute Foundation begins, "in keeping with the theories of eugenics and progress," to take children away from Roma without their consent, to change their names, and to put them into foster homes. This program continues until 1973, and is not brought to light until the 1980s.
1928. In Bavaria, an ordinance is approved placing Sinti and Roma under permanent police surveillance. In May, the same law is reissued and reaffirmed. The act is in direct violation of the provisions of the Weimar Constitution.
1933. On May 26th, The Law to Legalize Eugenic Sterilization is introduced by the National Socialists (Nazi Party) in Germany. On July 14th, Hitler's cabinet passes the law against "lives not deserving of life" (Lebensunwertesleben), called The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring. It orders sterilization for certain categories of people, "specifically Gypsies and most of the Germans of black color" (called the "Rhineland Bastards,") The Law for the Revocation of German Citizenship is implemented against Roma without proof of German birth, as well as "Eastern Jews" (nearly 20 percent of all Jews in Germany in 1933).
.
In the week of September 18th - 25th, the Reichsminister for the Interior and Propaganda of Germany calls for the apprehension and arrest of Roma and Sinti, according to the "Law Against Habitual Criminals." Many Roma are sent to concentration camps as a result, and made to do penal labor
1934. Sweden passes a law on sterilization, which becomes harsher in 194l. Anyone, including Roma, seen as leading "a socially undesirable life" are to be sterilised. Allthough the law does not explicitly say so, it suggests that Gypsies and "Tattare" (Norwegian "Wanderer") are not socially desirable and thus must be sterilised to keep the Swedish race clean.
From January onwards, Roma in Germany are selected for transfer to camps for processing, which includes sterilization by injection or castration. Over the next three years, these camps will be established at Dachau, Dieselstrasse, Sachsenhausen, Marzahn and Vennhausen.
In July, two laws issued in Nuremburg forbid Germans from marrying "Jews, Negroes and Gypsies."
1935.In May, some five hundred Roma and Sinti are arrested because they are Gypsies, and incarcerated in a camp on Venloerstrasse in Cologne, Germany. This detention center is surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by armed police.
On September 15th, Roma and Sinti become subject to the restrictions of the National Citizenship Law (the Reichsbürgergesetz) and the Nuremberg Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbids intermarriage or sexual relationships between Aryan and non-Aryan peoples. It states: "A marriage cannot be concluded when the expected result will put the purity of German blood of future generations in danger." A policy statement issued by the Nazi Party reads "In Europe generally, only Jews and Gypsies come under consideration as members of an alien people." Gypsies, Jews and Blacks are considered "racially distinctive" minorities with "alien blood." On September 17th, the National Citizenship Law relegates Jews and Roma to the status of second class citizens, and deprives them of their civil rights.
1936. On March 7th, Gypsies and Jews both have their voting rights taken from them.
On March 20th, "action against the Gypsies" is instituted in Frankfurt am Main, when the City Council votes to put all Roma into an internment camp. The camp, on Dieselstrasse, is selected on September 22nd this year, and arrests and internment begin a year later.
In June, the main Nazi institution to deal with Roma, the Racial Hygiene and Criminal Biology and Research Unit (which is Department 13 of the National Ministry of Health) is established . Its expressed purpose is to determine whether the Romani people and the Afro-Europeans are Aryans or sub-humans (Untermenschen). By early 1942, Ritter has documented the genealogy of almost the entire German Roma and Sinti population.
In June and July, several hundred Roma and Sinti are transported to Dachau by order of the Minister of the Interior as "dependents of the Munich Centre for the Fight Against the Gypsy Nuisance." Attempts to escape are punishable by death.
In Bavaria, a deportation decree sends 400 Roma and Sinti to Dachau for forced labor.
Interpol in Vienna establishes the Centre for Combatting the Gypsy Menace, which has grown out of the earlier Bureau of Gypsy Affairs.
In Leipzig, Martin Block publishes his general study of Gypsies, and justifies Nazi racist attitudes by speaking of the "nauseating Gypsy smell," and the "involuntary feeling of mistrust or repulsion one feels in their presence."
1938. On June 12-18, Zigeuneraufrämungswoche, "Gypsy Clean-up Week," is in effect, and hundreds of Roma and Sinti throughout Germany and Austria are rounded up, beaten and imprisoned. This is the third such public action by the German state. Like Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night," or the "Night of Broken Glass" on November 9th this same year) for the Jews, it is a public sanctioning and approval of the official attitude towards members of an "inferior race."
In the USSR, Joseph Stalin bans the Romani language and culture.
1940. The French government opens internment camps for nomads. In Austria, internment camps are built at Maxglan, Slazburg, and Lackenbach.
At Buchenwald, 250 Romani children are used as guinea-pigs to test the Zyklon-B gas crystals.
1941. In Poland, a Gypsy camp is set up in the Jewish ghetto of Lodz for 5.000 inmates.
In Serbia, the German Military Command orders that all Gypsies will be treated as Jews. In November, it further orders the immediate arrest of all Gypsies and Jews, who are to be held as hostages.
All Sinti Gypsy families living in the Volga Republic are deported to Kazakhstan.
In Yugoslavia in October, the German army executes 2.100 Jewish and Gypsy hostages as reprisal for soldiers killed by partisans.
1942. Heinrich Himmler issues the order to deport the Gypsies in Greater Germany to the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In Poland, all Gypsies from the Lodz ghtetto are transported and gassed at Chelmo.
1943. Nazi leader Himmler orders all Gypsy camps closed, resulting in the liquidation of the Romani prisoners.
1944. Zigeunernacht, literally, Gypsy Night. On August 2, four thousand Roma are gassed and cremated in a single action at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
1933-45. O Porraimos, the Great Devouring. Up to 1,500,000 Sinti and Roma are killed in Europe by the Nazi regime and its puppet states. Determining the percentage or number of Roma who died in the Holocaust is not easy. Much of the Nazi documentation still remains to be analyzed, and many murders were not recorded,
Information in this post is taken from the timeline of Romani history on Patrin
1906. On February 17th, the Prussian Minister of the Interior issues a directive entitled Die Bekämpfung des Zigeunerunwesens ("Combatting the Gypsy nuisance") which lists bilateral agreements guaranteeing the expulsion of Roma from those countries, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland.
1909. Recommendations coming from a "Gypsy policy conference" in Hungary include the confiscation of their animals and carts, and permanent branding for purposes of identification.
1914. A new law prohibits all further immigration of Roma into Sweden. The law is very efficient and Roma in Sweden are isolated from their relatives in other European countries. The law remains in effect until 1954. Norway and Denmark have similar laws during the same period.
1920. In Germany, psychiatrist Karl Binding and magistrate Alfred Hoche argue for the killing of those who are "Ballastexistenzen," i.e. whose lives are seen merely as ballast, or dead weight, within humanity; this includes Roma. The concept of Lebensunwertesleben, or "lives unworthy (or undeserving) of life," becomes central to Nazi race policy.
1926. The Swiss Pro Juventute Foundation begins, "in keeping with the theories of eugenics and progress," to take children away from Roma without their consent, to change their names, and to put them into foster homes. This program continues until 1973, and is not brought to light until the 1980s.
1928. In Bavaria, an ordinance is approved placing Sinti and Roma under permanent police surveillance. In May, the same law is reissued and reaffirmed. The act is in direct violation of the provisions of the Weimar Constitution.
1933. On May 26th, The Law to Legalize Eugenic Sterilization is introduced by the National Socialists (Nazi Party) in Germany. On July 14th, Hitler's cabinet passes the law against "lives not deserving of life" (Lebensunwertesleben), called The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring. It orders sterilization for certain categories of people, "specifically Gypsies and most of the Germans of black color" (called the "Rhineland Bastards,") The Law for the Revocation of German Citizenship is implemented against Roma without proof of German birth, as well as "Eastern Jews" (nearly 20 percent of all Jews in Germany in 1933).
.
In the week of September 18th - 25th, the Reichsminister for the Interior and Propaganda of Germany calls for the apprehension and arrest of Roma and Sinti, according to the "Law Against Habitual Criminals." Many Roma are sent to concentration camps as a result, and made to do penal labor
1934. Sweden passes a law on sterilization, which becomes harsher in 194l. Anyone, including Roma, seen as leading "a socially undesirable life" are to be sterilised. Allthough the law does not explicitly say so, it suggests that Gypsies and "Tattare" (Norwegian "Wanderer") are not socially desirable and thus must be sterilised to keep the Swedish race clean.
From January onwards, Roma in Germany are selected for transfer to camps for processing, which includes sterilization by injection or castration. Over the next three years, these camps will be established at Dachau, Dieselstrasse, Sachsenhausen, Marzahn and Vennhausen.
In July, two laws issued in Nuremburg forbid Germans from marrying "Jews, Negroes and Gypsies."
1935.In May, some five hundred Roma and Sinti are arrested because they are Gypsies, and incarcerated in a camp on Venloerstrasse in Cologne, Germany. This detention center is surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by armed police.
On September 15th, Roma and Sinti become subject to the restrictions of the National Citizenship Law (the Reichsbürgergesetz) and the Nuremberg Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbids intermarriage or sexual relationships between Aryan and non-Aryan peoples. It states: "A marriage cannot be concluded when the expected result will put the purity of German blood of future generations in danger." A policy statement issued by the Nazi Party reads "In Europe generally, only Jews and Gypsies come under consideration as members of an alien people." Gypsies, Jews and Blacks are considered "racially distinctive" minorities with "alien blood." On September 17th, the National Citizenship Law relegates Jews and Roma to the status of second class citizens, and deprives them of their civil rights.
1936. On March 7th, Gypsies and Jews both have their voting rights taken from them.
On March 20th, "action against the Gypsies" is instituted in Frankfurt am Main, when the City Council votes to put all Roma into an internment camp. The camp, on Dieselstrasse, is selected on September 22nd this year, and arrests and internment begin a year later.
In June, the main Nazi institution to deal with Roma, the Racial Hygiene and Criminal Biology and Research Unit (which is Department 13 of the National Ministry of Health) is established . Its expressed purpose is to determine whether the Romani people and the Afro-Europeans are Aryans or sub-humans (Untermenschen). By early 1942, Ritter has documented the genealogy of almost the entire German Roma and Sinti population.
In June and July, several hundred Roma and Sinti are transported to Dachau by order of the Minister of the Interior as "dependents of the Munich Centre for the Fight Against the Gypsy Nuisance." Attempts to escape are punishable by death.
In Bavaria, a deportation decree sends 400 Roma and Sinti to Dachau for forced labor.
Interpol in Vienna establishes the Centre for Combatting the Gypsy Menace, which has grown out of the earlier Bureau of Gypsy Affairs.
In Leipzig, Martin Block publishes his general study of Gypsies, and justifies Nazi racist attitudes by speaking of the "nauseating Gypsy smell," and the "involuntary feeling of mistrust or repulsion one feels in their presence."
1938. On June 12-18, Zigeuneraufrämungswoche, "Gypsy Clean-up Week," is in effect, and hundreds of Roma and Sinti throughout Germany and Austria are rounded up, beaten and imprisoned. This is the third such public action by the German state. Like Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night," or the "Night of Broken Glass" on November 9th this same year) for the Jews, it is a public sanctioning and approval of the official attitude towards members of an "inferior race."
In the USSR, Joseph Stalin bans the Romani language and culture.
1940. The French government opens internment camps for nomads. In Austria, internment camps are built at Maxglan, Slazburg, and Lackenbach.
At Buchenwald, 250 Romani children are used as guinea-pigs to test the Zyklon-B gas crystals.
1941. In Poland, a Gypsy camp is set up in the Jewish ghetto of Lodz for 5.000 inmates.
In Serbia, the German Military Command orders that all Gypsies will be treated as Jews. In November, it further orders the immediate arrest of all Gypsies and Jews, who are to be held as hostages.
All Sinti Gypsy families living in the Volga Republic are deported to Kazakhstan.
In Yugoslavia in October, the German army executes 2.100 Jewish and Gypsy hostages as reprisal for soldiers killed by partisans.
1942. Heinrich Himmler issues the order to deport the Gypsies in Greater Germany to the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In Poland, all Gypsies from the Lodz ghtetto are transported and gassed at Chelmo.
1943. Nazi leader Himmler orders all Gypsy camps closed, resulting in the liquidation of the Romani prisoners.
1944. Zigeunernacht, literally, Gypsy Night. On August 2, four thousand Roma are gassed and cremated in a single action at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
1933-45. O Porraimos, the Great Devouring. Up to 1,500,000 Sinti and Roma are killed in Europe by the Nazi regime and its puppet states. Determining the percentage or number of Roma who died in the Holocaust is not easy. Much of the Nazi documentation still remains to be analyzed, and many murders were not recorded,
Information in this post is taken from the timeline of Romani history on Patrin
Some Things Never Change: 1600-1900
1619. Philip III declares all Gitanos are to be banished from the kingdom of Spain within six months, or to settle in a locality with over 1,000 inhabitants. The dress, name and language of the Gitanos is banned. The punishment is death.
1637. The first anti-Gypsy law in Sweden is enacted. All Roma should be expelled from the country within one year. If any Roma are found in Sweden after that date the men will be hanged and the women and children will be driven out from the country.
1646. An ordinance passed in Berne gives anyone the right "personally to kill or liquidate by
1661. Johann Georg II, elector of Saxony, imposes the death penalty to any Roma caught in his territory.
1685. Portugal deports Roma to Brasil, and makes it a crime to speak Romani.
1710. In Prague, Joseph I issues an edict that all adult Roma men will be hanged without trial and that boys and women be mutilated. In Bohemia, the left ear is to be cut off. In Moravia the right ear is to be cut off. Lodging or otherwise aiding Roma is punishable by up to six months forced labour. Prince Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz issues orders that all Roma can be flogged, branded, expelled, or executed if they return. Children under ten are to be removed and raised by Christian families.
1714. British merchants and planters apply to the Privy Council to ship Gypsies to the Caribbean, avowedly to be used as slaves. In Mainz, all Roma are to be executed without trial on the grounds that their way of life is outlawed.
1721. Emperor Karl VI of the Austro-Hungarian empire orders the extermination of Roma throughout his domain.
1726. Gitanos in Spain are forbidden to appeal against the sentences of the courts. Charles VI passes a law that any Rom found in the country are to be killed instantly. Romani women and children are to have their ears cut off and whipped all the way to the border.
1728. The town council of Aachen passes an ordinance condemning Roma to death. "Captured Gypsies, whether they resist or not, shall be put to death immediately. However, those seized who do not resort to counter-attack shall be granted no more than a half an hour to kneel, if they so wish, beg God almighty to forgive them their sins and to prepare themselves for death."
1734. Frederick William I decrees that any Roma caught in his territory, man or woman, will be hanged without trial. A reward is offered.
1745. Gitanos in Spain must settle in assigned places within two weeks. The punishment for failure is execution. "It is legal to fire upon them to take their life." The Churches no longer provide asylum. Armed troops are ordered to comb the countryside.
Early 1800s. "Gypsy hunts" (Heidenjachten) are a common and popular sport in Germany.
1803. Napolean Bonaparte prohibits residence of Roma in France. Children, women and the aged are sentenced to the poor house. Young men are given their choice of joining the navy or army. Adult men are sent to forced labour.
1830. Authorities in Nordhausen, Germany remove Roma children from their families for fostering with non-Roma.
1842. The hospodar of Moldavia, Mihail Sturdza, emancipates all state slaves; however, in Wallachia and Moldavia private ownership of Romani slaves is still legally permitted.
1856. The Slobuzenja. Abolition of slavery in Romania; large-scale emigrations of Roma to western Europe and America begin.
1868. In Holland, Richard Liebich's work on Roma introduces the phrase "lives unworthy of life" with specific reference to them, and later used as a racial category against Roma in Nazi Germany.
1876. Cesare Lombroso publishes his influential work L'uomo deliquente, which contains a lengthy chapter on the genetically criminal character of the Roma. This is translated into many languages, including German and English, and has a profound effect upon western legal attitudes.
1890. The Swabian parliament organizes a conference on the "Gypsy Scum" (Das Zigeunergeschmeiß), and suggests means by which the presence of Roma could be signalled from village to village by ringing church bells. The military is empowered to apprehend and move Roma on.
1899. An Information Agency, the Central Office for Fighting the Gypsy Nuisance (Nachrichtendienst in Bezug auf die Zigeuner), is established in Munich under the direction of Alfred Dillmann to collate reports on Roma movement throughout German lands, and a register of all Gypsies over the age of six is begun. This includes obtaining photographs, fingerprints and other genealogical data, and particularly information relating to "criminality." This leads to two initiatives: Dillmann's Zigeuner-Buch (1905), and the December 1911 conference. This agency does not officially close down until 1970.
Information in this post is taken from the timeline of Romani history on Patrin
1637. The first anti-Gypsy law in Sweden is enacted. All Roma should be expelled from the country within one year. If any Roma are found in Sweden after that date the men will be hanged and the women and children will be driven out from the country.
1646. An ordinance passed in Berne gives anyone the right "personally to kill or liquidate by
1661. Johann Georg II, elector of Saxony, imposes the death penalty to any Roma caught in his territory.
1685. Portugal deports Roma to Brasil, and makes it a crime to speak Romani.
1710. In Prague, Joseph I issues an edict that all adult Roma men will be hanged without trial and that boys and women be mutilated. In Bohemia, the left ear is to be cut off. In Moravia the right ear is to be cut off. Lodging or otherwise aiding Roma is punishable by up to six months forced labour. Prince Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz issues orders that all Roma can be flogged, branded, expelled, or executed if they return. Children under ten are to be removed and raised by Christian families.
1714. British merchants and planters apply to the Privy Council to ship Gypsies to the Caribbean, avowedly to be used as slaves. In Mainz, all Roma are to be executed without trial on the grounds that their way of life is outlawed.
1721. Emperor Karl VI of the Austro-Hungarian empire orders the extermination of Roma throughout his domain.
1726. Gitanos in Spain are forbidden to appeal against the sentences of the courts. Charles VI passes a law that any Rom found in the country are to be killed instantly. Romani women and children are to have their ears cut off and whipped all the way to the border.
1728. The town council of Aachen passes an ordinance condemning Roma to death. "Captured Gypsies, whether they resist or not, shall be put to death immediately. However, those seized who do not resort to counter-attack shall be granted no more than a half an hour to kneel, if they so wish, beg God almighty to forgive them their sins and to prepare themselves for death."
1734. Frederick William I decrees that any Roma caught in his territory, man or woman, will be hanged without trial. A reward is offered.
1745. Gitanos in Spain must settle in assigned places within two weeks. The punishment for failure is execution. "It is legal to fire upon them to take their life." The Churches no longer provide asylum. Armed troops are ordered to comb the countryside.
Early 1800s. "Gypsy hunts" (Heidenjachten) are a common and popular sport in Germany.
1803. Napolean Bonaparte prohibits residence of Roma in France. Children, women and the aged are sentenced to the poor house. Young men are given their choice of joining the navy or army. Adult men are sent to forced labour.
1830. Authorities in Nordhausen, Germany remove Roma children from their families for fostering with non-Roma.
1842. The hospodar of Moldavia, Mihail Sturdza, emancipates all state slaves; however, in Wallachia and Moldavia private ownership of Romani slaves is still legally permitted.
1856. The Slobuzenja. Abolition of slavery in Romania; large-scale emigrations of Roma to western Europe and America begin.
1868. In Holland, Richard Liebich's work on Roma introduces the phrase "lives unworthy of life" with specific reference to them, and later used as a racial category against Roma in Nazi Germany.
1876. Cesare Lombroso publishes his influential work L'uomo deliquente, which contains a lengthy chapter on the genetically criminal character of the Roma. This is translated into many languages, including German and English, and has a profound effect upon western legal attitudes.
1890. The Swabian parliament organizes a conference on the "Gypsy Scum" (Das Zigeunergeschmeiß), and suggests means by which the presence of Roma could be signalled from village to village by ringing church bells. The military is empowered to apprehend and move Roma on.
1899. An Information Agency, the Central Office for Fighting the Gypsy Nuisance (Nachrichtendienst in Bezug auf die Zigeuner), is established in Munich under the direction of Alfred Dillmann to collate reports on Roma movement throughout German lands, and a register of all Gypsies over the age of six is begun. This includes obtaining photographs, fingerprints and other genealogical data, and particularly information relating to "criminality." This leads to two initiatives: Dillmann's Zigeuner-Buch (1905), and the December 1911 conference. This agency does not officially close down until 1970.
Information in this post is taken from the timeline of Romani history on Patrin
Some things never change: 21st Century
In April a Commission on Cooperation & Security in Europe (aka the US Helsinki Commission) press release reported that European Court on Human Rights had issued a decision awarding damages to eight Romani women. The plaintiffs had sued the Slovak Government in connection with investigations into sterilization without informed consent.
Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission stated, “I have personally expressed my concern to both Czech and Slovak officials regarding the sterilization without informed consent of Romani women. Neither government has done enough to acknowledge this past practice or to provide victims with remedies."
According to the release the Czechoslovak communist state that targeted orifinally Romani women for sterilization. While the policy officially ended with the fall of communism, the practice continued in both the Czech and Slovak Republics.
As late as October 2000 Slovak Government national strategy paper reportedly stated, “[i]f we do not succeed in integrating the Romani population and modify their reproduction[,] the percentage of nonqualified and handicapped persons in the population will increase.”
In 2001, the spokesperson for the Slovakian Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities threatened that women who came forward alleging wrongful sterilization would go to jail. That year Romani activist Alexander Patkolo was threatened with the criminal charge of “spreading alarming information” for even suggesting that Romani women had been sterilized without informed consent.
In 2002, (then)opposition MP Robert Fico ran on a parliamentary campaign pledge to “actively effect the irresponsible growth of the Roman[i] population.” Robert Fico is now Prime Minister of Slovakia, supported by a coalition including vile right wing demagogues like Jan Slota.
On December 13, 2006, Slovakia’s highest court ruled that the regional prosecution’s investigation in the cases of three Romani women alleging wrongful sterilization had been so faulty that it violated both the Slovak Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission stated, “I have personally expressed my concern to both Czech and Slovak officials regarding the sterilization without informed consent of Romani women. Neither government has done enough to acknowledge this past practice or to provide victims with remedies."
According to the release the Czechoslovak communist state that targeted orifinally Romani women for sterilization. While the policy officially ended with the fall of communism, the practice continued in both the Czech and Slovak Republics.
As late as October 2000 Slovak Government national strategy paper reportedly stated, “[i]f we do not succeed in integrating the Romani population and modify their reproduction[,] the percentage of nonqualified and handicapped persons in the population will increase.”
In 2001, the spokesperson for the Slovakian Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities threatened that women who came forward alleging wrongful sterilization would go to jail. That year Romani activist Alexander Patkolo was threatened with the criminal charge of “spreading alarming information” for even suggesting that Romani women had been sterilized without informed consent.
In 2002, (then)opposition MP Robert Fico ran on a parliamentary campaign pledge to “actively effect the irresponsible growth of the Roman[i] population.” Robert Fico is now Prime Minister of Slovakia, supported by a coalition including vile right wing demagogues like Jan Slota.
On December 13, 2006, Slovakia’s highest court ruled that the regional prosecution’s investigation in the cases of three Romani women alleging wrongful sterilization had been so faulty that it violated both the Slovak Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Some things never change: 1300-1600
c.1300. The Romani Aresajipe; the arrival of Roma in Europe.
c.1300. Romani groups begin to be enslaved in southeast Europe.
1445. Prince Vlad Dracul of Wallachia transports some 12,000 persons "who looked like Egyptians" from Bulgaria for slave labour.
1471. 17,000 Roma are transported into Moldavia by Stephan the Great for slave labour.
1496-1498. The Reichstag (parliament) in Landau and Freiburg declares Roma traitors to the Christian countries, spies in the pay of the Turks, and carriers of the plague.
1499. Medina del Campo in Spain orders Gitanos to find a trade and master, cease travelling with other Gitanos, all within sixty days. Punishment for failure to obey is 100 lashes and banishment. Repeat offences are punished by amputation of ears, sixty days in chains, and banishment. Third-time offenders become the slaves of those who capture them.
1500. At the request of Maximilian I, the Augsburg Reichstag declares Roma traitors to the Christian countries, and accuses them of witchcraft, kidnapping of children, and banditry.
1510. Roma are prohibited by the Grand Council of France from residence. The punishment is banishment. A second offence results in hanging.
1512. Roma are first recorded in Sweden on 29 September. They are welcomed by the city and given lodging and money for their stay. A few years later, King Gustav Vasa (1521-1560), suspects that the Roma are spies and orders that they be driven out from the country.
1525. Charles V issues an edict in Holland ordering all those that call themselves Egyptians to leave the country within two days.
1530. The first law expelling Gypsies from England is introduced. Henry VIII forbids the transportation of Gypsies into England. The fine is forty pounds for ship's owner or captain.
The Gypsy passengers are punished by hanging.
1536. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Denmark.
1538. Deportation of Roma in Portugal to colonies begins.
1540. Gypsies are allowed to live under their own laws in Scotland. 1541. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Scotland.
1547. Edward VI of England institutes law requiring that Gypsies be seized and "branded with a 'V' on their breast, and then enslaved for two years." If escapees are caught they will be branded with an "S" and made slaves for life.
1554. In the reign of Philip and Mary, an Act is passed which decrees that that the death penalty shall be imposed for being a Gypsy, or anyone who "shall become of the fellowship or company of Egyptians."
c.1300. Romani groups begin to be enslaved in southeast Europe.
1445. Prince Vlad Dracul of Wallachia transports some 12,000 persons "who looked like Egyptians" from Bulgaria for slave labour.
1471. 17,000 Roma are transported into Moldavia by Stephan the Great for slave labour.
1496-1498. The Reichstag (parliament) in Landau and Freiburg declares Roma traitors to the Christian countries, spies in the pay of the Turks, and carriers of the plague.
1499. Medina del Campo in Spain orders Gitanos to find a trade and master, cease travelling with other Gitanos, all within sixty days. Punishment for failure to obey is 100 lashes and banishment. Repeat offences are punished by amputation of ears, sixty days in chains, and banishment. Third-time offenders become the slaves of those who capture them.
1500. At the request of Maximilian I, the Augsburg Reichstag declares Roma traitors to the Christian countries, and accuses them of witchcraft, kidnapping of children, and banditry.
1510. Roma are prohibited by the Grand Council of France from residence. The punishment is banishment. A second offence results in hanging.
1512. Roma are first recorded in Sweden on 29 September. They are welcomed by the city and given lodging and money for their stay. A few years later, King Gustav Vasa (1521-1560), suspects that the Roma are spies and orders that they be driven out from the country.
1525. Charles V issues an edict in Holland ordering all those that call themselves Egyptians to leave the country within two days.
1530. The first law expelling Gypsies from England is introduced. Henry VIII forbids the transportation of Gypsies into England. The fine is forty pounds for ship's owner or captain.
The Gypsy passengers are punished by hanging.
1536. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Denmark.
1538. Deportation of Roma in Portugal to colonies begins.
1540. Gypsies are allowed to live under their own laws in Scotland. 1541. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Scotland.
1547. Edward VI of England institutes law requiring that Gypsies be seized and "branded with a 'V' on their breast, and then enslaved for two years." If escapees are caught they will be branded with an "S" and made slaves for life.
1554. In the reign of Philip and Mary, an Act is passed which decrees that that the death penalty shall be imposed for being a Gypsy, or anyone who "shall become of the fellowship or company of Egyptians."
1562. An Act is passed in England "for further punishment of Vagabonds, calling themselves Egyptians." Any Gypsy born in England and Wales is not compelled to leave the country if they quit their idle and ungodly life and company. All others should suffer death and loss of lands and goods.
1568. Pope Pius V orders the expulsion of all Roma from the domain of the Roman Catholic Church.
1573. Gypsies in Scotland are ordered to leave the country or settle down.
1578. At the General Warsaw Seym, King Stephen Báthory pronounces an edict threatening sanctions against anyone who harbours Roma on their lands. They are punished as accomplices of outlaws.
1589. In Denmark, the death penalty is ordered for any Roma not leaving the country.
Information in this post is taken from the timeline of Romani history on Patrin
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