Margarete Kraus, a Czech Roma who survived the Holocaust

Part of the Wiener Holocaust Library’s free series of educational events for students and teachers, drawing on our unique archive collection.

On 16 December 1942, a decree was issued by Himmler to move all Sinti and Roma in Reich Territory to Auschwitz, where a special camp had been built to hold them. Following the order, more than 22,000 Roma (most of the remaining Roma in Germany) were rounded up and sent. Just a few survived.

This workshop marks 81 years since that decree and yet little is known about the genocide carried out against the Roma and Sinti communities of Europe by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War.  Referred to as ‘the forgotten Holocaust’ by Professor Eve Rosenhaft, this workshop draws upon The Wiener Holocaust Library’s collections of material on the genocide to uncover the story of this understudied aspect of Nazi persecution.

Aims:

• To find out who the Roma are
• To gain an overview of Roma history in Europe
• To consider Nazi policies towards Roma

Virtual Event guidelines:

1. The Library will send you a Zoom link and joining instructions via email prior to the event. Please check your junk email folders.
2. Please try and join 5 minutes before the event start time and we will let you into the room (do try and bear with us if this takes a few minutes).
3. If you would like to ask a question during the event, please type your question into the chat function, and we will endeavour to answer as many questions as possible during the Q&A. Your webcam will not be seen during this event.

This event is free, although registration via the link below is required. Please note that our free events are run by staff volunteers. Thank you for your patience should we have any technical or audio difficulties. We will do our best to correct them but this is not always possible.