The Auschwitz Decree (German: Auschwitz-Erlass) was a decree by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler on 16 December 1942 which ordered the deportation of all "gypsy mixed-bloods, Roma Gypsies and non-German-blooded members of gypsy clans with Balkan origins" (Zigeunermischlinge, Rom-Zigeuner und nicht deutschblütige Angehörige zigeunerischer Sippen balkanischer Herkunft) living in Nazi Germany to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where many of them were murdered in the Romani Holocaust. The original text of the decree has been lost, but it is described in great detail in a letter from the Reich Security Main Office from 1943 concerning its implementation.[1]
The Auschwitz Decree served as the basis for the deportation of 23,000 Roma to the "Gypsy family camp" at Auschwitz-Birkenau,[2] including 12,000 German Romani.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://geschichte-bewusst-sein.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/SNG_014_RZ_Zusatz16-2017-02-23.pdf
- ↑ Janjevic, Darko (2017-12-16).: Remembering Himmler's 'Auschwitz decree' to exterminate Roma and Sinti. Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 2017-12-16. Retrieved 2024-03-17.