Genocide of Sinti and Roma during the Holocaust    

Ever since the Middle Ages, Europe has had a widespread Roma population with a diverse way of life. Much of Europe’s Roma population was persecuted and murdered during the Holocaust. 

Roma communities were forcibly relocated to concentration camps and sterilised. During the Second World War, Roma communities were murdered in mass shootings in areas occupied by Nazi Germany and countries allied with Nazi Germany.

During the Second World War, the Nazi regime started persecuting, relocating, sterilizing, and murdering the Roma population.  

Roma communities were by force moved to concentration camps and murdered in mass shootings or used as work camp labor in areas occupied by Nazi Germany and countries allied with Nazi Germany.  A special Roma section was set up in Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Roma groups staged an uprising on 16 May 1944.    

Roma

The Roma ancestors more than likely migrated from northern India over a thousand years ago. Roma arrived in southeastern Europe sometime around the 14th century and settled all over Europe. The oldest record of Romas in Sweden was found in Stockholm and dates back to 1512.  

The Roma people are made up of several ethnic groups with both similarities and differences in culture and language. This is partly because different Roma groups have been influenced by local cultures and local languages depending on where they have lived in Europe over the years. 

 Since Anno 2000, the Roma population has become one of five recognized national minorities in Sweden. The Roma national minority group is further divided into five groups: Travellers, Swedish Roma, Finnish Roma, Non-Nordic Roma, and Newly Arrived Roma.   

In Germanic countries, the terms Sinti and Roma distinguish the difference between the two ethnic minority groups. Since the 15th century, Sinti has been living in Western Europe, while Roma has been the group that settled in Eastern Europe.

Romani languages

The language of the Roma, which is made up of different varieties, is often collectively known as Romani Chib. The varieties of Romani Chib spoken in Sweden include: Swedish Romani, Kale, Lovari, Arli, Kalderash, Gurbeti and Bugurdzi. 

The word “rom” means “man” in Romani Chib, from there derived the name Roma, which is now the common name for this national minority.  

In the Swedish Romani variety spoken by Travellers, the word “rom” means “husband”. Therefore, many group members would prefer not to call themselves Roma, but instead refer to themselves as Travellers or Romani people.  

Travellers, who have lived in Sweden since at least the 17th century, have influenced the modern Swedish language with loanwords from the Swedish Romani variety. The informal words tjej (girl), jycke (dog), haja (to understand), kirra (to arrange) and vischan (countryside) are a few examples of such loanwords. 

Main photo: Rose-Marie's Shoe. Ola Myrin/SHM (CC-BY)