Recognizing the Roma: A Study of the Holocaust as Viewed in Romania.

Abstract

During the Second World War, the Roma, also known as the Gypsies, were another victim of the Holocaust who the Nazis and their allies persecuted throughout much of Europe. Despite this, post-war through present, recognition of Romani suffering and status as former victims have been slow among populations beyond the Roma themselves. Various efforts, from oral histories to film documentaries, have been undertaken alongside state truth commissions and transnational diplomacy to increase that recognition and its consequence. Focusing on Romania, the country with the largest number of Roma, I explore how oral histories, documentaries, and teacher training work on the Holocaust affect that recognition and inform public consciousness among Romanians and reshape Holocaust studies across the world. Drawing on cultural sociology to explore these mechanisms, especially in the education sector, I propose that the reproduction and transformation of inequalities might be understood better by exploring how recognition of the Roma's status during World War II and after has been changed, and how misrecognition endures. In this dissertation I examine two fundamental questions: 1) How and why do the Romanians and Roma understand and represent the Holocaust? and 2) How can misrecognition be changed? Romania makes for an interesting case study since until recently, the country’s leaders denied the Holocaust occurred there and a radical restructuring of that position in 2004 has led to substantial revisions in education to streamline curricula with European perspectives. The intersection of Holocaust education with civic education provides insightful data both about the ways in which the Holocaust has been taught traditionally and the barriers that either can preclude or enhance debate on citizenship and democracy.