Transnationale religiöse Netzwerke von Roma und Sinti

Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit sind transnationale religiöse Netzwerke von Roma und Sinti. Der methodische Zugang basiert auf Feldforschungen bei den jährlich stattfindenden Wallfahrten in Saintes Maries de la Mer und in Mariazell. Mittels Interviews mit Roma und Sinti sowie Priestern und SeelsorgerInnen der katholischen Kirche werden Beziehungen und Interaktionen in religiösen Netzwerken analysiert. Die katholische Kirche kreiert und erhält transnationale religiöse Netzwerke, denen lokale Individuen und Gruppen von Roma beitreten können. Der Vatikan veröffentlichte Empfehlungen für eine spezifische Pastoral mit Roma und Sinti. Diese Arbeit thematisiert Homogenisierungstendenzen innerhalb der katholischen Kirche sowie die Konstruktion von Identität. Rezente Studien zu transnationalen religiösen Bewegungen beziehen sich zudem auf die Analyse von religiösen Transformationen. Der Vergleich mit einer Studie von 1975 in Saintes Maries de la Mer zeigt Veränderungen von religiösen Praxen auf. Einschneidende Entwicklungen in den letzten fünfzig Jahren brachte zudem der Zuwachs an Roma und Sinti bei den evangelischen Pfingstkirchen. Es wird aufgezeigt, welche soziopolitischen Transformationen mit diesen Konversionen einhergehen. Zudem wird in dieser Arbeit thematisiert, inwiefern die katholische Kirche den Roma unterschiedliche Formen von sozialer Sicherheit bietet. Dabei wird auch auf die Verweigerung von Hilfe von Seiten der katholischen Kirche in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus hingewiesen und deren Bedeutung für die Beziehung von Roma zur katholischen Kirche.This diploma thesis focuses on transnational religious networks of Roma and Sinti. The methodological approach is based on fieldwork at the annually pilgrimages in Saintes Maries de la Mer in France and Mariazell in Austria. Through interviews with Roma and Priests, the author analyzes the relationships and interactions in religious networks of Roma. The Catholic church has created and mantains transnational religious networks, where local individuals and groups of Roma can join. The Vatican has published specific recommendations for a pastoral with Roma and Sinti. This thesis points out tendencies of homogenization in the Catholic church and the construction of identity. Recent studies on transnational religious movements focus also on religious transformations. The comparison with a study from the 1970s in Saintes Maries de la Mer illustrates transformations in religious practices. In the last fifty years, numerous Roma konverted to the Evangelical Pentecostal Churches. This thesis shows, how conversions transform socio-political relationships and the construction of multiple identities in Roma-societies. In addition, there are illustrated different forms of social security in religious communities. The Catholic church offers various kinds of material and spiritual aid to Roma and Sinti. This thesis concernes also the denial of aid of the Catholic church during the nationalsocialism and the significance for the relationship between the church and the Roma

Rezension: "Einfach weg! – Verschwundene Romasiedlungen im Burgenland" von Gerhard Baumgartner und Herbert Brettl

Karl Brousek rezensiert für die MEDIENIMPULSE den Band „Einfach weg!“, mit dem das tragische Verschwinden und die Vernichtung der burgenländischen Sintizze und Sinti bzw. Romnja und Roma breit dokumentiert werden. Gerhard Baumgartner und Herbert Brettl behandeln dabei ein sensibles Stück österreichischer Zeitgeschichte.Karl Brousek reviews the volume “Einfach weg!” for MEDIENIMPULSE, which broadly documents the tragic disappearance and extermination of the Burgenland Sintizze and Sinti or Romnja and Roma. Gerhard Baumgartner and Herbert Brettl deal with a sensitive piece of Austrian contemporary history

"Annihilation through labor": the killing of state prisoners in the Third Reich

One of the most distinctive features of Nazi society was the increasingly radical division of its members into “national comrades” and “community aliens.” The former were to be protected by the state and encouraged to procreate, while the latter were seen as political, social, racial, or eugenic threats and were to be ruthlessly eliminated from society. With the start of the Second World War, various nonlethal forms of discrimination against these “community aliens” were gradually replaced by policies geared to physical annihilation, culminating above all in the extermination of the European Jews. In view of a crime of this previously unimaginable magnitude, it is hardly surprising that when historians started in earnest to examine the genocidal policies of the Nazi dictatorship in the 1960s they focused on the development and administration of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question,” as the Nazis called it. But in the last two decades, the fate of other “community aliens” in the Third Reich, such as the Roma and Sinti (“Gypsies”), slave laborers, and the disabled, has been investigated too. Some historians have also begun to examine those who deviated in various other ways from the norms of society, people who were often classified in the Third Reich, and indeed before, as “asocials.” There was never an agreed definition as to who these people were, and the term was used to stigmatize a vast variety of nonnormative behavior. According to a 1938 directive by the head of the German security police, Reinhard Heydrich, any person could be classified as “asocial” who “demonstrates through conduct opposed to the community . . . that he does not want to adapt to the community.” During the Third Reich, such vague statements served as the basis for the persecution of juvenile delinquents, criminal offenders, vagrants, prostitutes, and homosexuals, among many others. Certain groups were simultaneously classified as racial and social outsiders and thus suffered “dual racism.” This was true in particular for the Sinti and Roma, who had been persecuted for their way of life long before the Nazi “seizure of power” in 1933. Historical research into the fate of the “asocials” has produced some valuable insights into the treatment of members of these marginal groups in the Third Reich, many of whom died in SS concentration or extermination camps. Yet despite this growing interest, the most comprehensive of all the extermination programs directed against “asocials” in the Third Reich has never been investigated. From late 1942 onward, over twenty thousand offenders classified as “asocial” were taken out of the state penal system and transferred to the police for “annihilation through labor.” At least two-thirds of them perished in concentration camps. But in the historical literature this program has either been dealt with in passing or completely ignored. Why have historians neglected the murder of state prisoners? There appears to be a reluctance to focus on offenders against the law in the Third Reich, unless their offences can be seen in some way as forms of political or social protest. In contrast to the racially or politically persecuted, not all common criminals can be described merely as innocent victims, and the often brutal behavior of criminal Kapos in concentration camps probably further alienated historians from dealing with the criminals. Another factor that explains the poor state of research is the inaccessibility of source material. Leading officials in the Ministry of Justice made sure that most files relating to the “annihilation through labor” of state prisoners were pulped before the end of the war.8 Yet individual documents have survived, scattered around various archives in Germany. They can be complemented by information gained from individual prisoner files, as well as from unpublished documents and testimonies collected in numerous postwar legal investigations. None of these criminal investigations ever led to the conviction of the prison officials involved—another reason for the lack of historical interest. Finally, German legal history after the war spread the myth that the legal administration had rejected or even resisted the Nazi regime. State penal institutions, if dealt with at all, were described as safe havens that had “nothing to do with the concentration camps.” Thus, until today, historians have largely ignored the state prison system and its inmates. This article will first describe the origins of the decision in 1942 for the extermination of certain state prisoners. Then the actual process of transfer will be investigated in detail, examining issues such as the background of the transferred inmates and the participation of prison officials. The article will also deal with the fate of the state prisoners after their transport to the Nazi concentration camps and the radicalization of policy against the prisoners remaining in the state penal institutions. Exploring these issues contributes to our knowledge of the treatment of deviants in the Third Reich. But this article will also address some wider issues concerning the nature of the Nazi dictatorship, such as the origins of extermination policies in the Third Reich. In recent years, a number of historians have argued that it was time to move beyond the “sterile debates” between so-called intentionalist historians, who focused on the murderous will and ideology of the Nazi leaders, above all Hitler, and so-called structuralist historians, who pointed to the dynamic and uncoordinated interactions between different agencies of the Nazi dictatorship that led to a “cumulative radicalization” (Hans Mommsen). Various historians have now put forward a synthesis of both positions, while ground-breaking empirical research into the “final solution” has posed new questions and provided new answers. Still, many of the more recent studies of Nazi genocide continue to explore central issues first raised in the debates between intentionalists and structuralists such as Hitler’s role in extermination policy, the interaction between regional officials and the decision makers in Berlin, and the role of racial ideology versus more material motives in Nazi mass murder. This study of the “annihilation through labor” of state prisoners addresses some of these general issues. It will also shed new light on the relation between the judiciary and the police in the Third Reich. The postwar portrait of a passive or even anti-Nazi judiciary has not gone unchallenged. Still, many historians continue to describe the judicial authorities and the police as having been in a constant state of conflict. They describe the Third Reich as a “dual state,” split between the “prerogative state” and the “normative state.” The latter was the traditional state apparatus, ensuring that normal life was ruled by legal norms. However, in matters that were thought to touch on the interest of the state, the “prerogative state” could override these legal norms, above all through the agency of the police, locking up all political, racial, and social suspects in SS concentration camps without trial. Thus, state attorneys and the police are seen as competing institutions of prosecution, while state penal institutions and concentration camps are described as competing institutions of confinement. A detailed investigation of the transfer of state prisoners can help to establish how far this picture of the “dual state” stands up to critical scrutiny

The Roma and Sinti in Germany: Orientalism and Exclusion from German Historical Narratives (Romantisiert, Kriminalisiert, und Abgewertet: Orientalismus und Narrative der Roma und Sinti in Deutschland)

The Roma and Sinti represent presence and absence in German culture. Although there has been a population of Roma and Sinti in Germany for centuries, they are often perceived by the German majority population as distinctly eastern and, as such, non-German. The perceptions of Roma by the German majority population mimic Orientalist assumptions, where the Roma are romanticized, criminalized, and generally devalued in comparison to Eurocentric narratives. Through an analysis of the Roma presence in German history, literature, and current events, one can see that the experience of the Roma in Germany is largely structured by the perceptions and assumptions of the dominant German population. These perceptions and assumptions shift depending on the needs, goals, and concerns of this dominant group

The social status of women belonging to an ethnic minority and the resulting consequences for the field of social work

This thesis analyzes the history and current circumstances women belonging to ethnic minorities find themselves in. It also examines how social work deals with this issue. The situation of Indigenous women in Canada as well as Sinti and Roma women in Germany will serve as an example. Within Germany, there are no comparable Indigenous groups that went through a history similar to that of the Indigenous people of Canada. Thus, within the realms of possibility, it is intended to compare their situation to that of Sinti and Roma women and their communities in Germany. After comparing both groups and their current situation, possible consequences and improvements for the field of social work will be indicate

The Modern European: An Analysis of Ethnic Minority Identity in the Twenty-First Century

The Modern European: An Analysis of Ethnic Minority Identity in the Twenty-First Centur

“When a breach arises”: Good burocratic action and informal scrap metal collection in Northern Italy

This paper analyses affirmative bureaucratic intervention into the informal commercial practices of scrap metal collection among the Sinti in a North-Italian province. To contextualize these events it is vital to examine institutional logics, and how they resonate with public officials’ sense of self as well as political loyalties. In everyday bureaucracy Gypsies are considered to be perplexing subjects, provoking contrasting images of poverty and excess. These cultural representations are the opposite of the idea of a decent social-work client. Hence, bureaucratic intervention on behalf of the Sinti put the former in a deontological and moral limbo, one which stimulates them to navigate the political and organisational structures of their organisations in a creative way. This paper aims to bring a positive example of where the social and institutional discrimination against Roma and Sinti in Italy and Europe can be broken. Even if it is not possible to reverse this discrimination, it at least introduces affirmative bureaucratic action as an enlightening direction for anthropological study.In questo articolo analizzo i provvedimenti amministrativi rivolti a legalizzare le pratiche informali di raccolta di ferro vecchio. Prendo in esame un momento particolare, che ha visto l’affermarsi di procedure amministrative in favore dei Sinti di una provincia del Nord Italia. Per contestualizzare gli eventi analizzati è necessario distinguere le logiche istituzionali, il modo in cui vengono fatte proprie dai dirigenti pubblici così come il loro lealismo. Per l’amministrazione gli “zingari” sono soggetti sconcertanti, che suscitano immagini contrastanti di povertà ed eccessi. Rappresentazioni culturali che entrano in contrasto con quello che dovrebbe essere il prototipo della persona presa in carico dai servizi sociali. Per questo i dirigenti pubblici che agiscono in favore dei Sinti si trovano spesso in un limbo deontologico e morale capace di stimolare percorsi creativi attraverso remore istituzionali, strutture verticistiche e incarichi politici. L’articolo si prefigge di riequilibrare il dibattito sulle discriminazioni istituzionali nei confronti di Roma e Sinti in Italia e in Europa. Anche se non è possibile invertire queste tristi realtà, propongo di prendere in considerazione le azioni positive del sistema amministrativo almeno come stimolo significativo per una riflessione antropologica sulle istituzioni

The Diversity of Languages in the Alpine-Adriatic Region II. Linguistic Minorities and Enclaves in Austria and Western Hungary

Die ethnischen Volksgruppen und kleinere Sprachgemeinschaften im multikulturellen Alpen-Adria Raum stellen seit jeher eine bedeutende Schnittstelle zwischen Sprachen und Kulturen mit vielfältiger Tradition dar. In diesem Raum befinden sich national homogene und national gemischte Gebiete. Zu den Minoritäten der Italiener, Kroaten, Österreicher, Slowenen und Ungarn, die in Mehrheits- und Minderheitssituationen leben, kommen noch die Gruppen der Roma und Sinti sowie die so genannten “neuen“ Bevölkerungsgruppen aus dem südslawischen Raum (Bosnier, Kroaten, Serben u. a.), die sich in einigen Gebieten nach dem Zerfall des ehemaligen Jugoslawien angesiedelt haben. Sie alle stellen räumlich, politisch und sozioökonomisch ein Wesenselement dieser Region dar. Der vorliegende Beitrag behandelt die autochtonen slowenischen Minderheiten in Kärnten und der Steiermark, die Volksgruppen der Kroaten, Ungarn und Roma im Burgenland sowie die ethnischen Minderheiten der Ungarndeutschen, Kroaten und Roma im Komitat Győr-Moson-Sopron in Westungarn. Alle diese Minoritäten machten eine mehr oder minder gemeinsame geschichtliche und kulturelle Entwicklung durch, litten unter Diskriminierung, Verfolgung und Vertreibung, waren aber voneinander durch politische Grenzen getrennt. Die Rechte der Volksgruppen und kleineren Sprachgemeinschaften sind heute in nationalen und europäischen Gesetzen und Verordnungen verankert. Die Europäische Charta der Regional- oder Minderheitensprachen von 1992, der wohl bedeutendste Markstein für die Geschichte und Gegenwart der europäischen Sprachminderheiten, schaffte wichtige Grundlagen für den Schutz und Fortbestand von Volksgruppen und kleineren Sprachgemeinschaften. Durch die Öffnung der Grenzen und den europäischen Integrationsprozess sind nun verstärkte wechselseitige Kooperationen möglich. Die gegenseitige Unterstützung und Stärkung des Identitätsbewusstseins einzelner Minoritäten eröffnet zukunftsweisende Perspektiven für die vielfältigen Sprachen und Kulturen dieses Raumes