This article analyses knowledge production about itinerant groups such as Nightmen, Roma and Travellers in Denmark between 1800 and 1950. It puts forward the thesis of a Danish Sonderweg in this regard, not only compared with Germany, but also the Scandinavian neighbours. This Sonderweg was characterized by an underdeveloped interest of science and state authorities for respective groups and culminated into a rejection of forced eugenic measures. The analysis is based on key texts from three periods: a national romantic one from approximately 1800 onwards, one shaped by the Danish Gypsy Lorist Johan Miskow at the beginning of the 20th century, and one eugenic from 1938. Special interest is given to continuities and fractions in narratives of purity vs. mixture. 

Dieser Artikel behandelt die Wissensproduktion über nichtsesshafte Bevölkerungsgruppen wie Nachtmänner, Roma und Reisende in Dänemark zwischen 1800 und 1950. Hierbei wird die These eines dahingehenden dänischen Sonderweges vertreten, nicht nur im Vergleich zu Deutschland, sondern auch zu den skandinavischen Nachbarn. Dieser äußerte sich in einem unterentwickelten Interesse von Wissenschaft und Staat für entsprechende Gruppen und mündete in einer Ablehnung eugenischer Zwangsmaßnahmen. Die Analyse dieses Sonderweges erfolgt anhand von Schlüsseltexten aus drei Perioden: einer nationalromantischen ab ca. 1800, einer durch den dänischen Gypsy Lorist Johan Miskow geprägten zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts und einer eugenischen ab 1938. Ein besonderes Interesse gilt hierbei Kontinuitäten und Brüchen in Narrativen von Reinheit vs. Vermischung.

In this article we examine how a particular 'Gypsy friend' persona was adopted and developed by two pioneering pre-war Gypsylorists, the Finn Arthur Thesleff (1861-1920) and the Dane Johan Miskow (1862-1937). The 'Gypsy friend' persona, we argue, was a compound of the fearless explorer, the missionary's selfless paternalism, the disinterested, questing scientist and the eccentric anti-bourgeois bohemian. After looking at how this masculine persona was expressed in earlier scholarship, not least the influential Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, we turn to Thesleff and Miskow to see how they adopted, applied and revised the trope, with attention, finally, to its implications for inter- and postwar treatment of Scandinavian Roma.

Thousands of Roma were killed in Ukraine by the Nazis and auxiliary police on the spot. There are more than 50,000 Roma in today's Ukraine, represented by second and third generation decendants of the genocide survivors. The discussion on Roma identity cannot be isolated from the memory of the genocide, which makes the struggle over the past a reflexive landmark that mobilizes the Roma movement. About twenty Roma genocide memorials have been erected in Ukraine during last decade, and in 2016 the national memorial of the Roma genocide was opened in Babi Yar. However, scholars do not have a clear picture of memory narratives and memory practices of the Roma genocide in Ukraine. A comprehensive analysis of the contemporary situation is not possible without an examination of the history and memory of the Roma genocide before 1991.

Like other Nordic countries, Sweden has its dark chapter of ignominious history involving discrimination targeting Roma. However, less is known about the role of historians in the process of bringing so-called ‘scientific grounds’ to solving the ‘Gypsy problem’. In this article, I focus on this topic, using the case of the historian Allan Etzler, in order to analyse the role that Etzler played as a scholar and expert in the development of pseudo-scientific racism in Sweden.

Like other Nordic countries, Sweden has its dark chapter of ignominious history involving discrimination targeting the Roma. However, less is known about the fate of Romani people in the Nordic countries during World War II especially genocidal plans regarding Roma people in the Nazi-occupied Norway as well as the cooperation between the Nazis and the Nordic authorities regarding the so called “solving of the Gypsy Plague”. The paper examines the results of recent research on the history of the Roma in the Nordic countries during World War II, focusing on terminology, preliminary results and dimensions for further research.

Since the mid-1930s, theNazi regime concerned itself with the systematic registration and identificationof Roma. At the 1935 Copenhagen Interpol Conference participating states backedthe initiative proposed by the German police regarding the creation of aninternational registry of Roma. It had been easier to classify Jews for recordsheld by religious communities were readily available to the state. Many Roma inEurope were nomadic and ID-less. The study focuses on measures ofidentification and registration of Roma undertaken in sovereign Sweden and therole of experts and census takers in transnational context. On 25 September1942, the government of Sweden ordered inventory of Roma and Travellers. Thepurpose of the registration was to solve “a problem” by mapping both thesegroups. In Sweden the census did not proceed smoothly, because of the conflictswithin the experts’ community. The paper focuses on the transnational studiesof registration of Roma undertaken in the fully-sovereign Sweden and the roleof experts in ‘scientific’ legitimation of this process.

On September 25, 1942, the government of Sweden ordered a census of Roma and Travellers in the country. The mapping of these groups was to serve as a first step towards solving the perceived "Gypsy problem." The census did not proceed smoothly, mainly because of conflicts within the scholarly community. On the basis of studies undertaken in fully sovereign Sweden during the World War II period, the author of this article clarifies the role "experts" played in the "scientific" legitimization of the registration process.