Julia Von Dem Knesebeck National Socialism in Post-War Germany
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hirty years passed before it was accepted, in West Germany and elsewhere, that the Roma (Germany’s Gypsies) THE ROMA STRUGGLE FOR COMPENSATION STRUGGLE THE ROMA Thad been Holocaust victims. And, similarly, it took thirty years for the West German state to admit that the sterilisation of Roma had been part of the ‘Final Solution’. Drawing on a substantial body of previously unseen sources, this book examines the history of the struggle of Roma for recognition as racially persecuted victims of Julia von dem Knesebeck National Socialism in post-war Germany. Since modern academics belatedly began to take an interest in them, the Roma have been described as ‘forgotten victims’. This book looks at the period in West Germany between the end of the War and the beginning of the Roma civil rights movement in the early 1980s, during which the Roma were largely passed over when it came to compensation. The complex reasons for this are at the heart of this Germany in Post-War book. In looking at how the West German compensation process for victims of racial, religious and political persecution affected Roma, Dr von dem Knesebeck shows not only how the Roma were treated but also how they themselves perceived the process. The case of the Roma reveals how the West German administrative and legal apparatus defined and classified National Socialist injustice, and in particular where pejorative attitudes were allowed to continue unchallenged. The main obstacle for Roma seeking compensation was the question, unresolved for many years, of whether National Socialist policies against Roma had been racially motivated as opposed to having been mere policing measures. The National Socialists’ view that Roma were essentially ‘asocial’, ‘workshy’ and criminal was shared by many Germans after the war, including some of those responsible for compensation. Rather than following a simple linear progression from refusal to recognition, the struggle for compensation went through several distinct stages. Paradoxically, success in claiming compensation was built largely on the Roma’s claim to be an ethnic minority. The Roma had to prove that they were a ‘race’ which had been subjected to National Socialist persecution, in spite of their invariably depicting themselves as German in autobiographic material. The author presents, for the first time, a full account of the changing perception of the persecution of the Roma, and of the means by which compensation was eventually achieved. Julia von dem Knesebeck read History at Cambridge University and gained her D.Phil. at Oxford University. Whilst at Oxford, she received a scholarship from the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Germany and was a research fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Julia von dem Knesebeck Julia von ISBN 978-1-907396-11-3 HERTFORDSHIRE 9 781907 396113 The Roma Struggle for Compensation in Post-War Germany The Roma Struggle for Compensation in Post-War Germany Julia von dem Knesebeck University of Hertfordshire Press First published in Great Britain in 2011 by University of Hertfordshire Press College Lane Hatfield Hertfordshire AL10 9AB UK © Julia von dem Knesebeck 2011 The right of Julia von dem Knesebeck to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-907396-11-3 Design by Tetragon Printed in Great Britain by MPG Biddles Ltd Front cover image: Dr Robert Ritter, Head of the Eugenic and Population Biological Research Station of the Reich Health Office, questions a woman who is believed to be a Rom, accompanied by a police officer (photo dated between 1936 and 1940, courtesy of the German Bundesarchiv). Back cover image: A Roma family poses in front of their hillside dwelling in Germany (photo dated between 1933 and 1937, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Stadtarchiv Ravensburg). This book has been published with the kind support of the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Re- sponsibility and Future’, Berlin (Stiftung ‘Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft’) and the Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S., Hamburg (Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S.). To my family Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations and Recurring German Terms xv Glossary xix Introduction 1 1: The Nature of Persecution 23 2: Victims’ Stories 51 3: The Early Post-War Years (1945–1953) 73 4: The Machinery of Compensation 99 5: How to Measure Disability 133 6: The Struggle for Recognition 161 7: Property Claims 195 Conclusion 221 Epilogue 227 Bibliography 241 Index 261 Preface In this book, Julia von dem Knesebeck examines the history of persecution of Sinti and Roma under National Socialist rule and the struggle for compensation that followed. The focus is on post-war West Germany through the period of the 1970s, with special attention given to the Federal Compensation Laws. The selection of this particular timeframe is based on the fact that the deadline for filing claims under the Federal Compensation Law (BEG) expired shortly before that time, and thus officials in the compensation claims offices were forced to arrive at a final determination concerning that period of history. The study shows unequivocally that the Sinti and Roma – referred to here under the term ‘Roma’ – had to fight for decades (and, initially, in vain) for recognition as racially persecuted victims of National Socialism and of a genocide that was analagous to the mass murder of the Jews. In post-war West Germany, they were subjected to further indignities when the injustices they had suffered in the years leading up to 1943 – their racially motivated persecution by the Nazi regime – were not recognised as such, but were instead largely misconstrued by post-war legal experts as ‘justifiable actions’ on the part of the National Socialist state. Contemporary historian Julia von dem Knesebeck outlines the manner in which discriminatory practices and prejudices already in place prior to the advent of the Nazi regime – the treatment of Sinti and Roma as ‘asocials’, ‘vagrants’ and ‘criminal elements’ – established the framework for presenting subsequent National Socialist injustices as a mere tightening of repressive social and preven- tative criminal measures brought on by the onset of war. In post-war Germany, compensation was denied to Sinti and Roma on the basis of the same specious arguments used to persecute them under National Socialism: they had allegedly committed crimes as ‘asocials’ and thus had no legitimate claim to compensa- tion. This author’s far-reaching perspective is particularly significant because it identifies a widespread mechanism evident in the framing and re-framing of acts of injustice that ought to be taken into consideration with regard to contempo- rary political conflicts and government interventions, especially when minority populations are involved. To put it more bluntly: when dealing with social conflict situations, it is particularly imperative that we develop a prophylactic political consciousness of sensitivity in order to prevent disadvantages from degenerating into political and social discrimination and eventually into persecution – persecu- tion which may in turn be re-framed as legitimate acts of state and society, and which may even be employed to perpetuate ongoing discrimination. x THE ROMA Struggle FOR Compensation Today, we also take umbrage at the compensation authority’s basic attitude at that time. The denial of the racial nature of the Roma and Sinti’s persecution and its reframing as legitimate policing measures targeted at ‘asocials’ allowed concentration camp imprisonment to be portrayed as a constitutionally allowed restriction of freedom. It is true that post-war Germany suffered from a lack of awareness and political will to recognise the injustice of the incarceration of human individuals in concentration camps based on their ostracism as ‘aso- cials’ under National Socialism. In the law on the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ (Stiftung ‘Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft’ – Foundation EVZ) this is however regulated in favour of the victims. At the same time – as the author illustrates and clarifies – it is remarkable to note how relatively successful the struggle to regain control of confiscated property was for Sinti and Roma. What is more, the author sheds light on the struggle of Sinti and Roma for compensation as a process in which the self-organisation of the victims si- multaneously served as a fundamental building block in the development of a paradigmatic shift in social consciousness. Unlike the Jews, whose compensa- tion claims against Germany were supported by many governments, including that of the United States, and were turned into political capital with the aid of internationally recognised, competent organisations very early on, for decades the Sinti and Roma lacked any appreciable political lobby. This confirms yet again that it was ultimately the political process and public pressure that were responsible for the transformation of the Sinti and Roma’s situation over the past thirty years in Germany. Still, it is safe to say that no amount of retrospective recognition and compensation will ever succeed in making up for past omissions. The descendants of those who were treated so poorly not only participated vicariously in the fate of the persecuted generation but were subject to tangible forms of discrimination themselves. Julia von dem Knesebeck’s work is captivating for the breadth of sources upon which it is based, some of which had not been examined previously. Her methodological approach is informed by an empathetic affinity for Sinti and Roma: by taking written testimony and interviews into account in her work, she also acknowledges the Sinti and Roma as subjects.