Recently ( vor kurzem ) a new law ( Ein neues Gesetz)  was passed in Europe with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordering authorities to deport illegal Roma immigrants to Romania and dismantle their camps. Moreover, immigrants who have obtained French citizenship can now be stripped of their citizenship for breaking the law. France’s Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said that this punishment will apply to all felonies.

We all like to believe that discrimination no longer exists, Germans want to be seen today as a new society, where we accept Turkish communities and other nationals and beliefs, most often we tend to make a face when we are reminded of our WWII, and we try to convince everyone that we have changed over the coarse of time, sometimes not even wanting to be marked by our past, we are a new Germany and have learned from our mistakes.

Yet…to me as a German reader and writer, I question the following:

To give somewhat of history:

Roma’s or more often called Gypsies are a ethnic group whom originated in Northern India, over thousands of years ago, with persecution and slavery they migrated into Europe, in this case Germany is no exception, which has a high population. 60% of all modern Germans can trace DNA to Romas.

Persecution of Roma (Gypsies) in Germany, and indeed in all of Europe, preceded the Nazi takeover of power in 1933. The police in Bavaria, Germany, maintained a central registry of Roma as early as 1899, and later established a commission to coordinate police action against Roma in Munich. In 1933, police in Germany began more rigorous enforcement of pre-Nazi legislation against those who followed a lifestyle labeled “Gypsy.” The Nazis judged such people to be racially “undesirable” and enacted systematic measures of persecution against the Roma.

In 1936, the Nazis centralized all police power in Germany under Heinrich Himmler, SS chief and chief of the German police. Consequently, police policy toward Roma was also centralized. In Berlin, Himmler established the Reich Central Office for the Suppression of the Gypsy Nuisance. This agency took over and extended bureaucratic measures to systematically persecute Roma.

One of the agency’s first decisions was to subject Roma to race laws. After 1936, Roma became subject to the Nuremberg laws, the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny, and the Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals. Many Roma who came to the attention of the state were required to be sterilized, even till 1997 Roma women were forced sterilized in some parts of Europe, including Scandinavian countries.

Romani individuals were also arrested as “asocials” or “habitual criminals” and sent to concentration camps. Nearly every concentration camp in Germany had Romani prisoners. In the camps, all prisoners wore markings of various shapes and colors, which identified them by category of prisoner. Roma wore black triangular patches, the symbol for “asocials,” or green ones, the symbol for “professional” criminals.

Right now, ( Momentan ) in the year 2010 Germany plans  to deport 12,000 Roma people ( die Menschen )  to Kosovo over the next one or two years. They came in 1999 after fleeing the bombing in Yugoslavia and the Kosovo war. Their children, ( Ihre Kinder) who have grown up since then, do not even speak Serbian or Albanian, only German.

For the German state, there is no need to throw ( Rausschmeissen ) people into such an existential crisis who have for the most part lived and worked with their families in Germany for more than a decade.

Has the German state even considered the mental affect of the children whom consider Germany their home? Attending school, suddenly having to relocate and the effects this causes? Having come to the US myself as a young teenager and learning a new language in the process, I know what the challenges any child faces, either in school or daily life, thus I do think the German state should reconsider  their plans, not only does this show lack of  tolerance that Germany wants to pride itself on, but anyone it seems, whom is either ethnic or indifferent from German is being reminded of the Third Reich! Does this really justify what Germany is and wants to represent itself on?

Recently- Vor Kurzem

New Law- neues Gesetz

Right now- Momentan

People- Menschen

Throw out- Rausschmeissen

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