The Roma and Sinti Holocaust, (or Porajmos, ‘Devouring’) perpetrated by the Nazis during WWII is estimated to have murdered between 200,000 and 500,000 innocent adults and children, approximately 25% of the pre-war European population. The 1935 Nurenberg laws designated Gypsies, (or ‘Zeiguner’) as ‘enemies of the race-based state’ and ‘asocials’ with ‘alien blood’. This first led to their civil rights being removed, reportedly with local collaboration, and in 1943 Heinrich Himmler ordered that all Gypsies be deported to concentration camps. Auschwitz-Birkenau housed the Gypsy Family Camp to which 23,000 people were deported and 4000, mainly women and children were murdered in the gas chambers. The doctor who carried out many of these experiments was Josef Mengele.

Source: The Guardian January 24, 2024 12:25 UTC