Alexander Ramati
From Publishers Weekly (1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.) "Based on a true story, Ramati's novel depicts the atrocities committed by the Germans against the Gypsies during World War II. In the early 1940s, Roman Mirga learns that Gypsies in Germany are being rounded up and shipped to "relocation camps" for extermination. He warns his clan about the impending danger but is able to convince only a handful of them to flee with his familyto Hungary. When the Nazis invade, however, the Gypsies are deported to Auschwitz, and the family is able to spare Roman's younger sister only by dropping her from the deportation train while en route to the camp. At Auschwitz the Gypsies become slave workers; Roman is forced to help Dr. Mengele with his experiments on twins, and his father must play the violin for the Jews as they are herded into the gas chambers. Roman witnesses each member of his family die before he is able to escape. Awkward expository passages and one-dimensional characters vitiate the effect of this memorial to victims of Hitler's racial policies." (http://www.amazon.com/And-Violins-Stopped-Playing-Holocaust/dp/0531150283)
Isabel Fonseca
"Isabel Fonseca describes the four years she spent with Gypsies from Albania to Poland, listening to their stories, deciphering their taboos, and befriending their matriarchs, activists, and child prostitutes. A masterful work of personal reportage, this volume is also a vibrant portrait of a mysterious people and an essential document of a disappearing culture." (http://www.amazon.com/Bury-Me-Standing-Gypsies-Journey-ebook/dp/B004CFAVJO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398491124&sr=1-1&keywords=bury+me+standing)
Ceija Stojka
We Live in Seclusion: The Memories of a Romani
"...first published in 1988, [in this] sensational autobiography, Ceija narrates the immediate and words what she was going through as a child in Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen. Their records were until then the first published evidence of the horrors of the concentration and extermination camp from the experience of the Sinti and Roma. However, they broke not only the silence over the persecution of minorities in National Socialism, but also initiated a process of dealing with the hitherto almost unknown lifestyles and history of ethnic groups in secret crowded. For the second part of the book she tells in an interview with Karin Berger also on the time when she was still with her family traveled through Austria, as well as about her life after 1945, as today feels like a Gypsy woman and how they and their memories alive." ( http://www.amazon.de/leben-Verborgenen-Erinnerungen-einer-Rom-Zigeunerin/dp/3854522061)
--Translated by Google.
Note: Stojka was the first Romani writer in Austria, and among the first more broadly, to write an autobiographical account of the persecution of the Roma people in Austria during the Second World War. Her book is important as she wrote it to address the continuity of anti-Roma sentiment in Europe
following the War, and also as she called on other Roma and Sinti to share their own stories and
perspectives.
--Translated by Google.
Note: Stojka was the first Romani writer in Austria, and among the first more broadly, to write an autobiographical account of the persecution of the Roma people in Austria during the Second World War. Her book is important as she wrote it to address the continuity of anti-Roma sentiment in Europe
following the War, and also as she called on other Roma and Sinti to share their own stories and
perspectives.
Marina Gottlieb
"Toward the end of World War II, as Germany's hold on East Prussia grows increasingly tenuous, a childhood friendship between Manya Von Falken, the daughter of an aristrocratic family, and Joshi Karas, a Romani doctor, blossoms into unlikely love. But the young lovers are torn apart.Captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp, Joshi fights for survival, while Manya and her family flee and embark on ''The Great Trek'' out of East Prussia. Based on true stories passed down to author Marina Gottlieb Sarles from her grandparents, survivors of the trek, The Last Daughter of Prussia also tells the story of the brave Trakehner horses who led their owners across a dangerous frozen lagoon, the only open escape route.
Will Joshi and Manya find one another? Gottlieb Sarles creates a tapestry of characters from every corner of East Prussia, shedding light on an untold tragic moment in history." (http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Prussia-Marina-Gottlieb-Sarles/dp/0983918821)
Will Joshi and Manya find one another? Gottlieb Sarles creates a tapestry of characters from every corner of East Prussia, shedding light on an untold tragic moment in history." (http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Prussia-Marina-Gottlieb-Sarles/dp/0983918821)
Toby Sonneman
"On the morning after Kristallnacht, Toby Sonneman’s father walked through broken glass to apply for the visa that saved him from the fate of so many during the Third Reich. In examining her own family history, the author discovered the similarities between the fate of the Jews and the Gypsies in the Holocaust, both peoples selected on racial grounds for extermination by the Nazis.
She traveled with an American Gypsy survivor to Munich, where she stayed with the formidable Rosa Mettbach. This is the story of Rosa and other members of an extended family who survived the Holocaust. Shared Sorrows tells the story of a Gypsy family against the backdrop of a Jewish one, detailing and examining their shared sufferings under the Nazis." (http://www.amazon.com/Shared-Sorrows-Family-Remembers-Holocaust-ebook/dp/B00IWGPG94/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398491743&sr=1-1&keywords=Shared+Sorrows%3A+A+Gypsy+family+remembers+the+Holocaust).
She traveled with an American Gypsy survivor to Munich, where she stayed with the formidable Rosa Mettbach. This is the story of Rosa and other members of an extended family who survived the Holocaust. Shared Sorrows tells the story of a Gypsy family against the backdrop of a Jewish one, detailing and examining their shared sufferings under the Nazis." (http://www.amazon.com/Shared-Sorrows-Family-Remembers-Holocaust-ebook/dp/B00IWGPG94/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398491743&sr=1-1&keywords=Shared+Sorrows%3A+A+Gypsy+family+remembers+the+Holocaust).
Yvonne slee
"This historical novel revolves around August, a full-blooded Gypsy, who was torn away from his real parents and his daughter, Elsa. It tells of the suffering and hardships they and their families were put through during two world wars and the periods in between, as well as the racism they had to contend with." (http://www.geocities.ws/daveauss/html/sinsexcerpts.html).
Cora Schwartz
"A beautifully written and important first novel by Cora Schwartz, based on the true story of her life living with a holocaust survivor. In a magical and haunting style, Ms. Schwartz weaves an intense love story that answers the question asked so many times since her husband s death: What was it really like living with a holocaust survivor? As Ms. Schwartz carries us along in a grand sweep through Yugoslavia, Russia and Romania in the 1960s, the depth of her relationship with Rudy becomes a tragic work of art as she allows us a peek into the soul of a holocaust victim in an artful and deeply moving way. The timeliness of this cannot be overstated now when there are those who deny the holocaust happened." (http://www.amazon.com/Gypsy-Tears-Loving-Holocaust-Survivor/dp/0976089696).
Janna Eliot
"Wartime Holland, 1944. Nazis occupy the land. Nine year old Settela - a Dutch Sinti Gypsy - tries to make sense of what's going on around her. But no one will tell her the truth. There are only sudden silences and unanswered questions. Distant gunshots and the rumble of German tanks on the roads.
Then, one dawn, policemen raid Settela's encampment. Settela and her family are hauled from their caravans and sent to Kamp Westerbork. Three days later they are transported to Auschwitz.
Struggling to understand the insanity of the adult world, Settela dreams of rescuing her people and leading them to safety.
Suitable for both adults and teenagers, Settela's Last Road tells a gripping story about an often ignored part of Holocaust Studies - the experiences of the Sinti/Romani people during the cataclysmic years of the Nazi regime." (http://www.amazon.com/Settelas-Last-Road-Janna-Eliot/dp/1425157025/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398492216&sr=1-1&keywords=Settela%27s+Last+Road).
Then, one dawn, policemen raid Settela's encampment. Settela and her family are hauled from their caravans and sent to Kamp Westerbork. Three days later they are transported to Auschwitz.
Struggling to understand the insanity of the adult world, Settela dreams of rescuing her people and leading them to safety.
Suitable for both adults and teenagers, Settela's Last Road tells a gripping story about an often ignored part of Holocaust Studies - the experiences of the Sinti/Romani people during the cataclysmic years of the Nazi regime." (http://www.amazon.com/Settelas-Last-Road-Janna-Eliot/dp/1425157025/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398492216&sr=1-1&keywords=Settela%27s+Last+Road).
Walter Winter
"This rare account from a survivor of Gypsy concentration camps during World War II relates how German Sinto Walter Winter was discharged from the German navy in 1943 on racial grounds and was deported to Auschwitz with his brother and sister. The atrocities he witnessed, including the death of his wife and unborn child, are told in stark, unflinching detail. As well as reporting horrific persecutions, Winter recalls moments of personal bravery in which he beat up an SS guard and confronted the notorious Dr. Mengele to request extra rations for starving Sinti children on his block. As the Gypsy culture is generally predisposed not to dwell on the past, this memoir tells a rare story infused with a quiet hopefulness that suggests Winter retained his spirit, courage, and sense of fairness in the face of unspeakable cruelty." (http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Time-Memoirs-Survived-Auschwitz/dp/1902806387/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398492283&sr=1-1&keywords=Winter+Time%3A+Memoirs+of+a+German+Sinto+who+survived+Auschwitz).
stefan kanfer
"A searing, unforgettable first-person novel about a Gypsy survivor of the Nazi death camps, brought to New York City by Jews who try to understand and repair the damage done to his soul." (http://www.stefankanfer.com/the-eighth-sin.html).
Jerzy Kozinski
"Originally published in 1965, The Painted Bird established Jerzy Kosinski as a major literary figure. Kosinski's story follows a dark-haired, olive-skinned boy, abandoned by his parents during World War II, as he wanders alone from one village to another, sometimes hounded and tortured, only rarely sheltered and cared for. Through the juxtaposition of adolescence and the most brutal of adult experiences, Kosinski sums up a Bosch-like world of harrowing excess where senseless violence and untempered hatred are the norm. Through sparse prose and vivid imagery, Kosinski's novel is a story of mythic proportion, even more relevant to today's society than it was upon its original publication." (http://www.amazon.com/The-Painted-Bird-Jerzy-Kosinski/dp/080213422X).
*note: The text is important because, though fictionalized, describes anti-Semitic sentiments in the general populace in ways that implicate them in the violence directed by Nazi Germany at the Roma and the Jews.
*note: The text is important because, though fictionalized, describes anti-Semitic sentiments in the general populace in ways that implicate them in the violence directed by Nazi Germany at the Roma and the Jews.
Caroline p. Cooper
"The Forgotten Holocaust, a story of the forgotten Romani holocaust, encompasses a rich cast of characters, both Romani and Gadje (non-Romani), set over three generations, stretching from England, Holland and Poland to life in a new world.
Can you ever truly escape past nightmares that dog your footsteps? Or do you confront them head on, so that you can live the rest of your life in peace?
Auschwitz prisoner Gil Webb suffers the unremitting brutal terror of the purpose-built Gypsy Camp, the Zigeunerlager, where thousands of his fellow Romanies are indiscriminately annihilated in World War Two." (http://australianselfpublishinggroup.com/books/published-books/the-forgotten-holocaust-a-gypsys-journey-from-auschwitz-to-freedom/).
Can you ever truly escape past nightmares that dog your footsteps? Or do you confront them head on, so that you can live the rest of your life in peace?
Auschwitz prisoner Gil Webb suffers the unremitting brutal terror of the purpose-built Gypsy Camp, the Zigeunerlager, where thousands of his fellow Romanies are indiscriminately annihilated in World War Two." (http://australianselfpublishinggroup.com/books/published-books/the-forgotten-holocaust-a-gypsys-journey-from-auschwitz-to-freedom/).
Sonia meyer
"In 1956 Khrushchev s Thaw triggers the Hungarian Revolution and upheaval in the Soviet Empire. During Khrushchev s first state visit to Helsinki, Dosha, star rider of the Soviet Dressage Team and her horse defect with the help of local Gypsies. The novel follows the life of Dosha, a Gypsy in disguise. It offers unique insight into the tribal life of nomadic Gypsies, who under Stalin joined partisans fighting Nazi invaders, only to face entrapment during Khrushchev s Thaw. By then Dosha and her talented circus horse have been drafted into the dressage team in Leningrad. Navigating political intrigue, narrowly escaping discovery by the KGB, she enters a love forbidden to Gypsy women. One goal remains uppermost in her mind leading her tribe and her horse to freedom in the West." (http://www.amazon.com/Dosha-Flight-Russian-Gypsies-Sonia/dp/0982711514).
Jan Yoors
"Crossing is a moving and gripping work of literature, at once an unforgettable portrait of a vanished way of life, a decimated people, a nightmare experience, and the precise description of what happened to the mind and soul of a young man for whom violence and death became, by force of circumstance, the ordinary themes of life." (http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Jan-Yoors/dp/0671209884).
Otto Rosenberg
"This stark reminiscence is a haunting account of life as a gypsy during the Third Reich. Rosenburg's tale of horror will touch many hearts and place in the long and tortured record of the Gypsy Holocaust." (http://www.amazon.com/Gypsy-Auschwitz-Otto-Rosenberg/dp/1902809025/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398493156&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Gypsy+in+Auschwitz).
Donald Kenrick & grattan puxon
"First published in 1995, Gypsies under the Swastika was the first book to bring the story of the Nazi persecution of the Gypsies to a general readership. More than that, it sets the events of the twentieth century within the context of centuries of harassment and mistreatment of Gypsies borne of deep-rooted prejudice in European society. Translated into seven languages, including two dialects of Romani, Gypsies under the Swastika is a seminal work on an aspect of history which has too often been marginalized." (http://www.herts.ac.uk/about-us/our-structure/subsidiary-companies/uh-press/romani-studies/gypsies-under-swastika).
Betty Alt & silvia folts
"Weeping Violins provides a history of the Gypsy people in Europe. Betty Alt and Silvia Folts trace the origins of the Gyspsy people and tell the story of their expansion, treatment by other ethnic groups, and struggles during the Holocaust. The book sheds light on Gypsy treatment at the hands of Nazi soldiers, and the struggle to have Gypsy experiences recognized by Jewish leaders and scholars of the Holocaust." (http://www.amazon.com/Weeping-Violins-Gypsy-Tragedy-Europe/dp/0943549310).