The nazi occupation and the fate of Roma in Ukraine: „white spots” and the future research areas Cover Image

Nazistowska polityka okupacyjna i losy Cyganów na Ukrainie: „biale plamy” i obszary dalszych badań
The nazi occupation and the fate of Roma in Ukraine: „white spots” and the future research areas

Author(s): Mikhail Tyaglyy
Subject(s): History, Social Sciences, Sociology, Recent History (1900 till today), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Muzeum Okręgowe w Tarnowie
Keywords: Roma; genocide; Ukraine

Summary/Abstract: The fate of the Romani population in Ukraine of the wartime period is still remaining understudied. The article deals with the data known to date on the Nazi policies towards Roma in various zones of the German rule (left-bank Ukraine under Wehrmacht administration, right-bank Ukraine under the civil rule of the Reichskommissariat Ukraina), as well as of the Romanian administered area of Transnistria. Survey of the sources on the subject known today brings to the preliminary conclusion that while in the zones under military rule the Roma primarily were regarded by the Wehrmacht and the SS as “unreliable elements” potentially dangerous for the security and therefore subjected to extermination with no difference between “sedentary” and “itinerant” Roma (with few exceptions like Crimea), the civil German authorities practiced more differentiated approaches to the “Gypsy question”; further research should be done to confirm or disprove this hypothesis as well as to describe the dynamics in the Roma policies’ in closer connection to the approaches of the lower-level authorities. The local non-Romani population’s attitude towards the persecution of the Roma is considered on both organizational (OUN and UPA) and individual levels; the issues requiring further examination are reviewed.

  • Issue Year: 3/2010
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 41-73
  • Page Count: 33
  • Language: English, Polish, Romany