The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies

by Guenter Lewy

Overview

Roaming the countryside in caravans, earning their living as musicians, peddlers, and fortune-tellers, the Gypsies and their elusive way of life represented an affront to Nazi ideas of social order, hard work, and racial purity. They were branded as "asocials," harassed, and eventually herded into concentration camps where many thousands were killed. But until now the story of their persecution has either been overlooked or distorted.
In The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies, Guenter Lewy draws upon thousands of documents—many never before used—from German and Austrian archives to provide the most comprehensive and accurate study available of the fate of the Gypsies under the Nazi regime. Lewy traces the escalating vilification of the Gypsies as the Nazis instigated a widespread crackdown on the "work-shy" and "itinerants." But he shows that Nazi policy towards Gypsies was confused and changeable. At first, local officials persecuted gypsies, and those who behaved in gypsy-like fashion, for allegedly anti-social tendencies. Later, with the rise of race obsession, Gypsies were seen as a threat to German racial purity, though Himmler himself wavered, trying to save those he considered "pure Gypsies" descended from Aryan roots in India. Indeed, Lewy contradicts much existing scholarship in showing that, however much the Gypsies were persecuted, there was no general program of extermination analogous to the "final solution" for the Jews.
Exploring in heart-rending detail the fates of individual Gypsies and their families, The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies makes an important addition to our understanding both of the history of this mysterious people and of all facets of the Nazi terror.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195142402
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/24/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.72(d)
Lexile:	1500L (what's this?)

About the Author

Guenter Lewy is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of many books, including The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany and Religion and Revolution (OUP). He lives in Washington, D.C.

What People are Saying About This

Klemens von Klemperer

In his level-headed way Guenter Lewy challenges many stereotypes about the Gypsies, exploring their culture including their 'ritual purity'. He also argues that despite all Nazi crimes against them the Third Reich's policy towards them lacked the single-mindedness of its murderous assault on the Jews. Meticulously researched, this book is innovative and courageous in its conclusions.
—(Klemens von Klemperer, Department of History, Smith College)

Saul Friedlander

Guenter Lewy's The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies is an outstanding achievement. It will become the standard work on the subject. It documents and analyses an aspect of Nazi criminality that hasn't received sufficient attention and corrects some unfounded statements. It is a work of great compassion and exemplary scholarship.
—(Saul Friedlander, Department of History, Tel Aviv University and University of California, Los Angeles)

Raul Hilberg

Lewy's account of Nazi measures against the powerless Gypsies is unsurpassed in the English language. It tells a story in painstaking, footnoted detail that is totally bizarre. This book is a platform for much reflection.
—(Raul Hilber, author of The Destruction of the European Jews)

Editorial Reviews

"Lewy's study is an extremely important addition to the study of the persecution of the Gypsies during the Nazi period, a subject that has been little researched until now...Lewy's meticulously researched and methodically presented study is based on the study of primary documents in archives and in various governmental agencies. The book includes some photos and reproductions of documents and an extensive bibliography."—Multicultural Review

"Guenter Lewy's The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies is an outstanding achievement. It will become the standard work on the subject. It documents and analyses an aspect of Nazi criminality that hasn't received sufficient attention and corrects some unfounded statements. It is a work of great compassion and exemplary scholarship."—Saul Friedlander, Department of History, Tel Aviv University and University of California, Los Angeles

"Lewy's account of Nazi measures against the powerless Gypsies is unsurpassed in the English language. It tells a story in painstaking, footnoted detail that is totally bizarre. This book is a platform for much reflection."—Raul Hilber, author of The Destruction of the European Jews

"In his level-headed way Guenter Lewy challenges many stereotypes about the Gypsies, exploring their culture including their 'ritual purity'. He also argues that despite all Nazi crimes against them the Third Reich's policy towards them lacked the single-mindedness of its murderous assault on the Jews. Meticulously researched, this book is innovative and courageous in its conclusions."—Klemens von Klemperer, Department of History, Smith College

"A moving account of the fate of a small people caught in a maelstrom."—Kirkus

"The tragic story of the Gypsies during Nazi Germany is presented in this comprehensive volume, which provides details on the fates of individuals and families...Lewy contradicts existing scholarship in showing that however much they were persecuted, there was no general program of extermination that was comparable to the 'final solution' of the Jews."—The Topeka Capital-Journal

"In The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies, Lewy...draws upon thousands of documents—never before used—from German and Austrian archives to provide the most comprehensive and accurate study available of the fate of the Gypsies under the Nazi regime."—Gadfly Online

"The sterling value of Mr. Lewy's book rests on his research of the available sources including 29 German and Austrian archives at federal and other levels...These...give the book the air of social history at its soberest but best"—Washington Times

"Lewy has written a major work on the Nazi persecution of the Gypsies which is accessible to the general reader as well as to scholars."—The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Based on solid archival sources, this should become the standard work on the subject."—Frederic Krome, Library Journal

"A startling new interpretion of the Nazi policy toward the Gypsies. Lewy argues that in contrast to the Final Solution of the 'Jewish Question', the Nazis had no comparable plan to exterminate the Gypsies. And when the latter were sent to the concentration camps for extermination, it was not solely because of their biological existence, like the Jews, but because their wandering way of life challenged the social and cultural construct of the Third Reich...His theory may be controversial, but he argues his case carefully."—Publisher's Weekly

"[E]specially welcome. Mr. Lewy's account id the most comprehensive treatment of the subject in English to date."—Tom Gross, Wall Street Journal

"A reasoned, academic overview of the often historically neglected Nazi persecution of the gypsies. The book is very accessible to the general reader, filled with poignant details of individual and community struggles with the growing Nazi terror."—ForeWord

"Our understanding about the persecution of the Gypsies by the Nazis has been fairly limited until now. To date, there has been only one work on the subject in English and it is highly inadequate. Part of the reason for this paucity of information is that there were few Gypsy intellectuals, and not one Gypsy was called to testify at any of the tribunals that followed the war. Moreover, many of the experiences in the camps...violated a number of Gypsy tabus so that the survivors were reluctant to discuss what had transpired. Outsiders who sought to penetrate this wall of silence were generally rebuffed...Drawing on documentary material from twenty-nine Austrian and German archives, the National Archives and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum...,Lewy has written a groundbreaking work. By examining the decrees promulgated in Berlin and determining how these policies were implemented at the local level, he has provided a detailed account of the persecution of the Gypsies."—Together

From the Publisher

Lewy's study is an extremely important addition to the study of the persecution of the Gypsies during the Nazi period, a subject that has been little researched until now....Lewy's meticulously researched and methodically presented study is based on the study of primary documents in archives and in various governmental agencies. The book includes some photos and reproductions of documents and an extensive bibliography.

Multicultural Review

In The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies, Mr. Lewy's account of the Nazi era is the most comprehensive and accurate treatment of the subject in English to date.
— Wall Street Journal

Tom Gross

The Nationalist Socialist dream of a pure society demanded elimination not only of the Jews but of all those who challenged the homogeneity of a racial and cultural utopia. Europe's Gypsies presented a particular problem for the race-obsessed Nazis: on the one hand they were viewed as antisocial liars and thieves, as "work-shy" and as wanderers without a homeland. Yet they supposedly descended from "Aryan" roots in India. Hence Lewy finds policies concerning them to be often contradictory and fluctuating. A professor emeritus of political science at UMass (Amherst), Lewy has plumbed the archives and, through meticulous documentation and a painstaking reconstruction of events, arrived at a startling new interpretation of the Nazi policy toward the Gypsies. Lewy argues that in contrast to the Final Solution of the "Jewish Question," the Nazis had no comparable plan to exterminate the Gypsies. And when the latter were sent to the concentration camps for extermination, it was not solely because of their biological existence, like the Jews, but because their wandering way of life challenged the social and cultural construct of the Third Reich. An important facet in the Gypsies' fate, according to Lewy, was ordinary Germans' insistence on measures against them, something the Nazi regime did not have to foster. Lewy shows how Nazi persecution of the Gypsies evolved through the 1930s: at first, local officials were responsible for measures of control and harassment; eventually, the racial laws written against Jews were directed against Gypsies. Lewy traces this sequence of events in detail; his theory may be controversial, but he argues his case carefully. 20 b&w photos. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This book by Lewy (emeritus, political science, Univ. of Massachusetts) addresses an important need in the historiography of the Nazi era. His systematic study of the persecution of the Gypsies places their story in the context of German racial law. Since many Gypsies lived an indigent life and were often shunned as thieves, they were initially classified as "work shy" by the Nazis. As Nazi racial laws further defined "racial pollution," the Gypsies found themselves stigmatized as a foreign element potentially dangerous to the Aryan racial utopia. Of particular interest is Lewy's analysis of how some Gypsies managed to survive by being classified as "socially adjusted," meaning they had jobs and permanent residence, and therefore could avoid deportation (although not sterilization). Based on solid archival sources, this should become the standard work on the subject. Recommended for most public and academic libraries.--Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Gypsies, by their very nature, affronted the principles of social order, hard work and racial purity espoused by the Nazis. Lewy, in his well researched, comprehensive study, traces the evolution of Nazi policies from one of general disinterest when Hitler first came to power to one concerned with "social conduct" as evidenced by Gypsies "itinerant" and "workshy" lifestyle. Only later, Lewy shows, did Nazi policy, reflecting an obsession with racial purity, promulgate sterilization and incarnation.
But even then, although there were deportations to concentration camps from which no one was expected to return, there was no "final solution" for gypsies analogous to the systematic extermination of the Jews. This was so, in part, because the gypsies were protected by Himmler's belief that Gypsies were descendants (or at least closely related) of a very early Indo-Germanic people and as such should to be allowed "a certain freedom of movement, so that they can itinerate in a fixed area, live according to their customs and mores and follow an appropriate traditional occupation."
Because of this perceived Aryan origin, "pure" Gypsies could, in Himmler's mind, be considered potentially valuable as an addition to the German blood pool and thus deserving of some protection. Mixed blood (mischlinge) Gypsies, however, were given no special consideration.
Basically, because there was a gradual radicalization of Nazi policy toward the Gypsies, because the actual number of Gypsy victims cannot be accurately determined, and because it is impossible to demonstrate the existence of "a priori program to destroy the Gypsies," Lewy breaks ranks with many historians, especially those in the Gypsy community, in his refusal to use the terms "genocide" or "holocaust" in relation to the horrendous losses of life experienced by the Gypsies under the Nazis. Lewy believes that although the Gypsies were sent to concentration camps for stays of unlimited duration and although they experienced very high death rates, there was no program or policy of systematic destruction of Gypsies in place.
Lewy, a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, has written a reasoned, academic overview of the often historically neglected Nazi persecution of the Gypsies. The book is very accessible to the general reader, filled with poignant details of individual and community struggles with the growing Nazi terror.
—Foreword (January)

Reid