Zones 1, 2, and 3 of Nazi occupied Europe

I have been doing research for a paper at school and I found some very interesting information that I had heard someone had researched, but until yesterday, I had not seen it published before.

This chart breaks down the occupied countries of Europe by the extent of which the Nazis were involved in local governments. In countries like Poland and Austria, for example, the local governments ceased to exist and the Nazis ran everything. The second area is a little vague since the records of how many Roma living in the area are incomplete, but these governments had a little more freedom. Norway, for example. While there were more survivors, it is unknown how many Roma fled to Norway, so we have incomplete data in the second section. The third area is made of of countries who were either allies of Germany or governments who refused to send Jews and GYpsies to die. Italy, for example, preferred to exile Gypsies to small islands. This actually saved lives. Since Italy and Germany were the best of friends, the issue of deportation was not severely pressed. Other countries simply refused to obey the order and since the Nazis were not in direct countrol, there was little they could do about it.

So we know that the Nazis demanded Jews and Gypsies be handed over for extermination. We know that some nations refused. If the Nazis demanded both Jews and Gypsies be handed over, that both were considered a threat to Aryan blood, then we can say that the Gypsies were indeed a part of the Holocaust. The difference between the two is that more Jews died than Gypsies. Can we not simply celebrate the fact that both survived?

Two papers!

This weekend I will be working on two research papers that I hope to publish here soon.

The first is for my History of Czechs and Slavs class and will have two topics: The stories of the saints as used in folktales and the history of the Roma in the Czech lands.

I found some very good sources for the second paper last night and hope to have an outline by the end of the day.

The other paper is about the debate on the arguement of whether or not there was an order given to destroy the Roma during WWII. There are many who claim the victims were merely "collateral damage", which is disgusting.

Just a few notes

I have a paper I should be working on, and three presentations to be preparing for, but I have a few things on my mind I thought I would get on paper, or screen, so that I can reference them later.

I want to do some research into the timeline of the Romani migrations. I have a few textbooks to allow me to do this with some authority, so I purchased a world map today to work on just that.

In the same line, I want to see and understand the times and conditions of the area of Czechloslovakia. The CR and the Slovaks have many issues with the Roma and I am curious to see how far back it goes and when the animosity seems to have occured and why.

My paper needs a lot of work, but I think I can get a few answers from the USHMM next week to get me on my way. I need to create a list of documents I need this weekened.

As for my language studies, I need to put the pedal to the metal. I am behind and need to really get moving on the vocab and structure. I am behind, and I am ashamed of that. The next 14 days are going to be busy around here.

We will see what all this gets me. Can I still make it in the Honors Program?

Just catching up

It has been awhile since I've posted, but my time is currently divided between teaching, my own studies, and planning a spring concert. I think I'm having fun doing it, but sometimes I'm not so sure.

I am on spring break from college, so I have taken the time to update my website and get some writing done. My book, titled Petty Theft, is about a young Rom serving in the underground in WWII in Poland. Now that it is complete, I get to search for a publisher.Keep checking my webpage for scenes from the book.

Next on my list of 'things to do' is write a research paper on the topic of the "Final Solution to the Gypsy Menace" during the Holocaust. I have been researching the topic for almost 10 years, so I think the paper will flow smoothly, but I am running out of time. The paper is due at the end of May.

I'll be doing some teaching in honor of International Romani Day this year. I have two lectures scheduled at two different local high schools on the 9th and one on the 8th. I'll be speaking about the Romani Holocaust and the aftershocks that are still being felt by Roma today. What students seem to find fascinating is how little they hear of any other groups that were affected by the Holocaust beyond the Jews. Often students refer to the Holocaust as 'the Jewish Holocaust', which always opens the door to show that genocide was not a one-time event.

Speaking of the Holocaust, the Auschwitz sign has been in the news once more. A Polish court found the three men who stole the sign guilty and the man who started this obscene act is in the process of being extradited from Sweden to Poland. If you are interested in the details, here's the link.

Time to get back to work. I promise to be more deligent in the future.

The latest on the Auschwitz sign

Ok, NOW we are getting worried. According to the latest reports out of Poland regarding the theft of the sign from Auschwitz, the theft was a fundraising attempt to raise money for a series of attacks against the Swedish government by neo-Nazis.

This story was filed a few hours ago by Politics Daily by Delia Lloyd:

LONDON -- In a holiday season already marked by lapsed security, heightened anxiety and political recrimination, things just got a little bit worse. New developments in the investigation into the disappearance of the entrance sign at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland suggest that the theft was part of a larger far-right terrorist plot in Sweden.

The sign -- which famously read "Arbeicht Macht Frei" ("Work Sets You Free") -- was mysteriously stolen from the entrance to Auschwitz (now a museum) in the early hours of Dec. 18. The Polish government declared a state of emergency, closed its borders and launched a national-level search for the perpetrators of the crime, which was described by the head of the Israeli Holocaust Museum as "an act of war."

The theft was initially assumed to be the work of neo-Nazis, although a number of conspiracy theories also surfaced, pointing fingers at Germany, Russia . . . even Jews. The sign is considered by many to be the very embodiment of the Holocaust itself -- at once a symbol of death and defiance.

Then, just before Christmas, Polish police arrested five men in connection with the theft, after recovering the sign (which had been cut into three pieces). Early reports labeled these men as "ordinary criminals," dismissing the idea that they were "far-right sympathizers." The thieves returned to Auschwitz with the police to demonstrate how shockingly easy it had been to breach security (although they made the fateful error of dropping the "i" in "Frei" on their way out, ultimately leading to their capture). For the moment, at least, the entire affair looked like the work of a bunch of common thugs, out for financial gain.

Over the past few days, however, this eerie and disturbing tale has grown decidedly darker. It now appears that while the thieves were not themselves neo-Nazi sympathizers, their sponsors were. Apparently, the theft was inspired by a far-right neo-Nazi group in Sweden that planned to sell the sign to a collector of Nazi memorabilia, the proceeds of which would then be used to finance a string of terror attacks in Sweden. The Swedish security service has already been investigating an alleged neo-Nazi plot to blow up the Riksdagen (the parliament building in Stockholm), as well as the foreign ministry and the home of the prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt. The aim of that plot was to create as much disruption as possible ahead of the 2010 parliamentary elections.

Swedish officials have not yet commented on whether the sign theft was directly connected to those specific plans. But the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet -- which has been out in front on this story from the beginning -- thinks that there is. The paper has revealed that there is a neo-Nazi group in Sweden -- the financial arm of which has been specializing in this sort of "art" robbery -- which it then uses to help fund its military arm. The militants are believed to have Russian weapons, explosives and machine guns and an assault group of five people to carry out attacks.

As a reporter for The Guardian noted, this whole incident has the feel of a Stieg Larsson thriller. Larsson was a world-famous writer of Swedish murder mysteries who was also an expert on right-wing extremism in his own country. Curiously enough, I just finished reading Larsson's break-out thriller -- "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" -- last night, and I'd have to concur with the analogy.

Tragically, however, this is a case where truth is not only -- as the saying goes -- stranger than fiction, but sadder, too, and much more terrifying.

Auschwitz Sign

So last night, some really sick sons of bitches vandalized Auschwitz, a sacred site to millions of the dead and the living, by stealing the sign from the gate.

"Work makes one free" was the meaning of the words written in German. The sign stood above the heads of those prisoners being marched in and out every day for slave labor in factories and construction sites. It gave a hint of a promise that if you worked hard enough, you may someday be free.

So last night, between 3 and 5am, some jerks stole it. They carried the sign to a waiting getaway truck and took off. The act is deplorable. No amount of damage done to the campsite can erase what happened there. Even if the camp itself were to burn down, it would still be the site of genocide and murder, pain and torment, torture and experimentations. You can try to blot out the stain the Nazis and their citizen collaborators made against mankind, but you can never erase it. The Nazis and those Germans who did not stand up against Hitler must live with the fact that they have blood on their hands.

May the Lord weaken the hearts of these sick assholes and allow the sign to be found and bring them to justice.

Insurance, the President, and Gypsies

I never thought these things would have something in common, but low and behold, they do! President Obama stated that he didn't want the American people to get 'gyped' by insurance companies. Yes, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize said that.

I've heard the phrase 'sticks and stones' before, and there are activists out there who claim that words only hurt if we let them. The problem is, words DO hurt, especially when they are being spoken by one of the most powerful men in the world.

You need words to declare war, you need words to talk peace. You need words to spread the word of God and you need words to spread the message of hate. Words uplift and commend and they knock down and destroy. Everyday we are judged on our ability to use words. Judgement calls are made, all based on words.

And then there is that word that we can't seem to get rid of. The stigma of "Gypsy". To the outsider, the word means 'thief', 'con-artist', and 'vagrant'. Few outsiders know what it really means, and the past few days have been interesting watching people discover the origin of the word and who we really are.

The problem with words is that they tend to stick in people's minds. I just read a blog on a website stating that the gays and lesbians are feeling 'gyped' by Obama. Words, when spoken by people of authority, carry even more weight and the abilty to do more damage than the same word spoken by the average man.

So, the President used the phrase 'gyped'. I was waiting for 'so lets Jew 'em down!' to follow. I was stunned. I had hopes, I really did, that perhaps somewhere in the world someone would begin to see. Madonna stepped up to the plate and the world took notice for awhile. Now the President himself has taken the bat in hand. This could actually be a good thing.

Yes, I said a good thing. We are beginning to come together, even stronger than ever. There are hundreds of blogs out there about Obama's statement, some good and some bad, but they are out there. People are talking. And we are writing.

The world is starting to see us. They have to. We need to use the momentum that is happening around us to make the world a better place for us and for our children, and even for the outsiders. Step forward and take a stand. Write the President at WhiteHouse.gov. Write you local congressman, senator, and the editors to your paper. It doesn't have to be a flowery speech worthy of publication, just add your voice to those around you. The world needs to see that even though we are separated around the globe, we are united in voice.

Someone once told me "you need to find your voice. Look inside. And when you do find it, start screaming until someone takes notice." So, my friends, start screaming.