The Roma and the Sinti

SEGREGATION

• Hitler saw the gypsies as lower in society,
• They were seen as social outcasts
• SS Chief Heinrich Himmler ordered the registration of all gypsies, and put them into three groups: Gypsies, Gypsy Mischlinge, and nomadic people

ANTI-GYPSY lAWS

• The laws were in effect even before Hitler came into power
• They included full sterilization of gypsies, and forced them out of bands and camps

DEPORTATION OF GYPSIES

• In 1936 Germany started a database for them
• In 1937 a major roundup was set against the Gypsies
• They were brought to one of eight concentration camps
• 5,000 gypsies were the first to be gassed in mobile vans in 1941

CHILDREN OF THE SINTI AND rOMA

• Between 1933 and 1939 many were taken as wards of the state
• Many went to handicapped schools, until they were excluded from public school in March 1941

COMPENSATION

• After the war, the Federal Republic agreed to compensate the Sinti and Roma for racial persecution
• They only compensated for 1943 and beyond, and didn't push the date back to 1938 until the 1960s