"Like the Jews, Gypsies were singled out by the Nazis for racial persecution and annihilation. They were 'nonpersons,' of 'foreign blood,' 'labor-shy,' and as such were termed asocials. To a degree, they shared the fate of the Jews in their ghettos, in the extermination camps, before firing squads, as medical guinea pigs, and being injected with lethal substances."Greetings everybody. Another week, another blog... Another illness Danielley falls prey too. Sigh, that's life. This week the blog assignment was to learn stuff about the Holocaust. I decided to pick the gypsies, and while I think a lot of people are going to pick, I'm often wrong. And if nobody picked the gypsies I was going to be REALLY mad. Because I wanted to learn about them. So I picked 'em. So there.So the first thing I found out that was pretty interesting about the gypsies was that another name for them was the Romani or Roma. They're a very old culture of nomads and nobody really knows where they came from, though it's thought to be from the Middle East because of their native language. The term 'gypsy' actually comes from Egyptian, which was once thought to be their heritage, though it really isn't. The Romani place in history lies in caravans, dancing for gold and giving fortune readings via tarot cards. Unfortunately, they go down in history as being persecuted as petty thieves and liars."By the end of the war, 15,000 of the 20,000 Gypsies who had been in Germany in 1939 had died."During the Nazi regime the gypsies were disliked... to say the least. Not as strongly disliked as the Jews however, and obviously not nearly as publicized. Anywho, in the Nuremberg Laws of '35 they were classified as 'un-Aryan', they were forced to settle, and many were sent off to concentration camps. Gypsy women who were married to 'perfect' Germans were spared and sterilized so that they could not have children (if you can really call that spared). Once a Romani girl reached age twelve she, too, was often sterilized. Romani were forced to wear black or green triangles to identify them as petty crooks, similar to the Jewish Germans wearing the Star of David.
"...shooting Jews was easier, they stood still, while the Gypsies cry out, howl, and move constantly, even when they are already standing on the shooting ground. " - HimmlerLike the Jews, many Gypsies were experimented on in concentration camps. Among these cruel tests was one to determine that Romani and German blood was actually different. Because God forbid Germans actually be persecuting people just like them. Others were turned before firing squads to be exterminated. They had to stand naked in front of their pre-dug graves and be shot. Some just jumped into the graves and pretended to be dead. Between 500,000 and 600,000 estimated gypsies were systematically murdered during the Holocaust.
^ Gypsy ChildrenGermans were not the only country persecuting gypsies, however. Throughout history, much of Europe has looked down upon the Romani people. They were enslaved in Romania until 1864, were outright murdered in the Soviet Union for being spies, and even today they struggle to gain a voice in the United Nations. Roughly 20,000 gypsies live in the United States, and tragically even we are to blame for prejudice against them. They are often portrayed negatively in movies and in the media. Perhaps someday soon these people will be understood and their story of misunderstanding and downright torture can finally be heard by a receptive audience.Though perhaps not.Needless to say, I'm pretty sickened by this blog. It's cruel, it's unusual, and a part of me wishes we didn't have to learn about this. Though honestly, it's what's right. War is often viewed as unnecessary in many peoples' opinions, but I honestly believe that if it means presenting another psychotic lunatic like Hitler taking control again, maybe it's worth it. No, not maybe.Definitely.
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