Material relating to the persecution of the Gypsies under the Nazis

Identifier
WL611
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 70561
Dates
1 Jan 1934 - 31 Jan 1996
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Biographical History

Readers need to book  a reading room terminal to access this digital content 

The papers in this deposit were collected as a result of research into the fate of the Gypsies under the Nazis. The following account, supplied by Donald Kenrick, puts the papers in context. 

“Around 1968 Grattan Puxon (Secretary of the Gypsy Council) was asked by Vanko Rouda (Secretary of the Comité International Tsigane) to collect material which might help Gypsies in their reparations claims. At about the same time the Institute for Contemporary History was advertising grants for research into modern history.
The two strands came together and after a meeting at Reading University it was agreed that Grattan Puxon and I would work jointly on collecting material on the Gypsy genocide during the Nazi period.
As a result we prepared a volume of material which is the green-bound volume known as Gypsies Under the Nazis (611/16). One copy of this is in the Wiener Library and the other in Paris with the CIT (now known as the Comite International Rom).
Our work came to the attention of Professor Cohen of the University of Sussex who was editing a series on the Holocaust. It was agreed that we would turn the material we had gathered into a book for the series. This was Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies.
The book had 3 parts:1) Before the Nazi period. To show that the anti- Gypsy policy did not just suddenly emerge2) The Nazi period3) After 1945. This was to show how in many places discrimination continued.
The first draft of the book was completed in 1969 (and there are no bibliographical entries after that year) but not published until 1972. Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies came out simultaneously in the US with a different cover and was translated along with the other books in the series into French and Italian. The German, Japanese and Romani translations contain some new material. A paperback edition of the French translation came out many years later. A revised Romani translation with illustrations also appeared some years afterwards.
Gypsies Under the Swastika is a revised edition of Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies intended for the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II and published in 1995. The first part of Destiny was shortened and the third part dropped completely. The notes and references were also dropped but some illustrations were added. It has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian and Czech (with some new material).”

Acquisition

Donor: Donald Kenrick

Scope and Content

Readers need to book  a reading room terminal to access this digital content 

System of Arrangement

The original order in which the files were deposited has been retained. By and large each file reflects the subject content of the chapters in Destiny of Europe's Gypsies

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Related Units of Description

  • Note: the following journals and pamphlets were also deposited with this collection but are now catalogued in the miscellaneous journals and pamphlets series respectively.

    Gypsy History in Germany and Neighbouring Lands: A chronology leading to the Holocaust, by Ian Hancock, International Romani Union, Buda, Texas, July 1988 
    International Network on Holocaust and Genocide, Volume 11, Issue 4, 1995
    Mitteilungen zur Zigeunerkunde beiheft 4: Ein Menschenalter danach, Anmerkungen zur Geschichtsschreibung der Zigeunerverfolgung mit 8 Abbildungen, von Hermann Arnold, Eberwein-Felk Mainz, 1977
    Historische Tatsachen Nr.23: Zigeuner bewältigen ½ Million, Verlag für Volkstum und Zeitgeschichtsforschung, 1985
    Études Tsiganes, Nos 2-3, Apr-Jul 1959
    Études Tsiganes, Nos 1-2, Jan- Jun 1963
    Études Tsiganes, No. 3, 1987
    La Voix Mondiale Tzigane, No. 1, Jan 1962
    La Voix Mondiale Tzigane, No. 27, Oct 1966
    Lacio Drom, Anno 1 No. 3, Jul 1965
    Lacio Drom, Anno 2 No. 2, Apr 1966

Subjects

Places

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.