Discrimination Against Roma and Sinti Survivors of Nazi Persecution

This article deploys evidence from the under-utilised archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS), also known as the Arolsen Archives, to trace the ways in which Roma and Sinti victims of Nazi persecution in Germany and Austria struggled to obtain recognition and compensation for their suffering in the immediate post-war period. The case studies that we have examined show that prejudicial attitudes, legal exclusions and continuities of personnel between the Nazi and the post-war era in the police force and the ITS itself contributed to the difficulties that Roma and Sinti faced. They also reveal the agency displayed by Roma and Sinti survivors in their efforts to obtain restitution in the early post-war period. Our study also reveals the utility of the ITS Digital Archive in researching the histories of Roma persecuted by the Nazis and their collaborators.