Roma Holocaust

Persecution of Roma began far before the Nazi regime in Germany, in fact, laws against Roma have existed in Germany since 1721, when Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl VI instituted the "first governmental plan to exterminate Romanies", the official "Office for Fighting the Gypsy Nuisance" began in 1899. In 1926, a law was created to cure the "Gypsy Plague". Clearly, Hitler did not invent discrimination against Gypsies, just as he did not invent discrimination against Jews. Roma are truly the forgotten victims of the holocaust- records suggest that 25% or more of the entire population of Roma were killed in the holocaust. However, schools rarely mention Roma victims of the Holocaust, or even the fact that Roma were targeted. The Roma and the Jewish people have faced a lot of similar discrimination, both groups were signaled out by Darwin in 1871 as not being "culturally advanced" like other "territorially settled people". Roma were treated much the same way as Jews during the holocaust, however many Jewish scholars purport that Hitler's Final Solution was directed specifically at Jews. It is important to note, though, that the Romani were included in The Final Solution from its beginnings, and that persecution and discrimination against the Romani people had been occurring since long before Hitler came to power. In the Romani language, the Holocaust is called Porajmos, which means 'devouring'. The genocide of the Roma wasn't formally recognized until 1982, and even then, West Germany denied reparations to the Romani, claiming that the Porajmos does not constitute a genocide because the Roma were killed because they were "criminals" and "antisocial".