Country: Germany

Group: Roma

Date Finalized: 11/26/2020

Team: Maya Shrikant (lead), Michael Demangone, Colleen Clauss, Natasha Chandra

Content Warning: slavery, slave caste, concentration camps, lethal violence, genocide

Approximate Time Period: 1800-1945

Roma populations have a long history of subjection to forced labor in Germany. The data supporting instances of forced labor are consistent and reliable.

There are around 40,000 Roma living in Germany, though there is much uncertainty around the exact number because of a failing census effort and widespread discrimination against the minority population (Minority Rights Group, 2020). Along with the 40,000 Roma living in Germany, there are estimated to be up to 70,000 Sinti living in the country as well. The Sinti ethnic group is closely related to the Roma. The Sinti name came from German Roma who wanted to distinguish themselves as their own ethnic group (Minority Rights Group, 2020).

Until 1864, the Roma were a part of the slave caste bought and sold by German monasteries and large estate owners to work as craftsmen, blacksmith, horse dealers and toolmakers. Some Roma performed as musicians, circus actors and dancers. Even in 1920, Roma were subjected to civil servantry (USHMM, n.d.). During prewar Germany, the Roma were subjected to great deals of forced labor. In the year 1936, the German police relocated the Roma to Marzhan where they underwent forced labor in armament plants (The Holocaust Encyclopedia, n.d.). Municipal camps were also turned into forced-labor camps for the Roma and between the years 1938 & 1943, Roma were sent to concentration camps where they underwent a myriad of grueling tasks. (The Holocaust Encyclopedia, n.d.). A Sinti named Bubili, recalls being forced to work on a farm and bring in crops during his time at a concentration camp in Germany (Facing History and Ourselves, n.d.). The German authorities subjected Roma to arbitrary internment, forced labor, and mass murder (USHMM, n.d.). The treatment of Roma people was among the very worst of all the groups forced into labor by German authorities (Spoerer & Fleischhacker, 2002). Roma people experienced forced labor, with no option of ending their service, and no ability to voice their complaints (Spoerer & Fleischhacker, 2002; Martins-Heub, 1989). Spoerer & Fleischhacker (2002) described this condition as “less-than-slave labor.” Slavery was not formally abolished till 1926 with the the Slavery Convention ratification ( Reichsarbeitsdienstgesetz, 1935). The data quality for this group is a 2. Though there was plenty of evidence to support the instances of forced labor that Roma were subjected to, there is often coupling of documentation  of the Sinti ethnic group to the Roma and the location of forced labor incidences are not specific to the country within the Balkan states.

Sources

  1. Facing History and Ourselves. (n.d.). Targeting the Sinti and Roma. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-8/targeting-sinti-and-roma
  2. Martins-Heub, K. (1989). ‘Genocide in the 20th Century’ REFLECTIONS ON THE COLLECTIVE IDENTITY OF GERMAN ROMA AND SINTI (GYPSIES) AFTER NATIONAL SOCIALISM. Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 4(2), 193-211.
  3. Minority Rights Group. (n.d.). Roman/Sinti. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/romasinti/
  4. Reichsarbeitsdienstgesetz, 1935
  5. Spoerer, M., & Fleischhacker, J. (2002). Forced laborers in Nazi Germany: categories, numbers, and survivors. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 33(2), 169-204.
  6. The Holocaust Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Persecution of Roma (Gypsies) in Prewar Germany, 1933–1939. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/persecution-of-roma-gypsies-in-prewar-germany-1933-1939
  7. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 1939-1945. Retrieved November 20, 2020. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/genocide-of-european-roma-gypsies-1939-1945.