Non Jewish Victims of Nazi Germany

They are said to have migrated from Eastern Europe and Hungary and had settled in the German territory for more than 600 years (Weindling, 315). The Roma settled in this region between 80 and 150 years earlier as compared to the Sinti. They were referred to as gypsies and were regarded as outcasts. They had different customs, language, and a different appearance. When they settled, they did not settle into the European communities but continued practicing their nomadic lifestyle. These laws were discriminating and were used to enact the hatred the Germans had towards the gypsies following the stereotypes in place. By this time, the gypsies' population had risen to 26000 people. Some of these laws included putting an end to the bearing of offspring’s suffering from hereditary diseases.

The people of Roma and Sinti were sterilized following this law since they were considered outcast. This law was to protect the honor together with the blood of the Germans. They were all imprisoned in different concentration camps. The intermarriage between Germans and gypsies was prohibited because the gypsies had alien blood. They were constantly denied civil rights and were referred to as a nuisance. An office was opened in Munich in June 1936 that was meant to combat the nuisance from the gypsies. Data about the gypsies was collected and this office became the headquarters of the data bank on gypsies. They were put in internment camps. The conditions in these camps were not favorable for human beings leading to many gypsies perishing.

There were several camps made for the extermination of the gypsies by the Nazi. These internment camps were just places where the gypsies were sent before they were sent to termination camps. A law for crime prevention was introduced in 1937 which made all the gypsies in the camp's prisoners with labels (Weindling, 317). This is today referred to as the Holocaust. After the resettlement of the gypsies, there followed a mass murder of the Gypsies along with the Jews (Milton, 269). Around 5000 gypsies were deported and put in camps at Lodi Ghetto. These were the first gypsies to be murdered in the gas chambers. More gypsies were imprisoned in the following years and again murdered by use of gas from the vans. As if this was not enough, gypsies were shot at by the police during the war with allegations that they were spies.