Tuesday, June 24, 2014

What I Learned Today... (#3)

As I continue to collect more newspaper articles from the 1930s, I'm starting to make connections between the generalized information in the articles and true historical facts.

Today, I found an article entitled "Nazis Turn Ire On the Gypsies" from the Washington Post published in late November 1937. The last paragraph in this short article, which I've provided below, documents the creation of a "special location" for "gypsies" (i.e., Sinti and Roma) in Frankfurt am Main. Last week I read about two of these "special locations" in a textbook about the Roma Holocaust. One of these areas was on Dieselstrasse, a Roma-only internment camp in Frankfurt am Main, which opened in August of 1937. I believe the author of the Post article is in fact writing about Dieselstrasse.

It's interesting how "special location"--as opposed to "internment camp"--seems to mitigate the cruelty of Nazi racial policies toward Sinti and Roma. This phrasal choice may have been intentional, or perhaps the secrecy of the Third Reich veiled the true nature of this "special location." With time I hope to decipher the reason for such ambiguous language.


Excerpt from the Washington Post:

"At Frankfurt-on-the-Main the police raided a Gypsy encampment and removed the entire band to a special location now under strict control. Punctually at 8 a.m. every man, woman, and child must answer the rollcall for inspection, and no Gypsy may be away over night without a special permit."

Nazis turn ire on the gypsies. (1937, Nov 21). The Washington Post (1923-1954) Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/docview/150842826?accountid=14667

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