“Like Jews?” The Nazi Persecution and Extermination of Soviet Roma Under the German Military Administration: A New Interpretation, Based on Soviet Sources

Abstract

The situation in the German occupied territories of the Soviet Union during the Second World War plays a key role in discussion of the comparability or incomparability of the Nazi genocide of Roma (“Gypsies”) with the Holocaust. At the same time, this same region, particularly the militarily administered parts, remains the most understudied area with regard to the Nazi persecution of Roma. This analysis of German and Soviet documents offers new insight into this topic and forces us to reconsider the relationship between the persecutions of the “Gypsies” and the Jews.