Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German Studies

How can we spotlight the second generation of Roma & Sinti in the German speaking world? When the Roma are discussed or invited to speak, it is typically limited to their experience with the atrocities of World War Two, and so their voices become narrowly contextualized before the backdrop of a...

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Main Author: Arushi Nair
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:Central Europe
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/cey/article/view/6198
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author Arushi Nair
author_facet Arushi Nair
author_sort Arushi Nair
collection DOAJ
description How can we spotlight the second generation of Roma & Sinti in the German speaking world? When the Roma are discussed or invited to speak, it is typically limited to their experience with the atrocities of World War Two, and so their voices become narrowly contextualized before the backdrop of a history of persecution, especially during the Holocaust. Seldom is the attention on their culture and their own history. In a shift to focus on the art, poetry and literature of the Roma, I am hoping to empower the voices within the second generation, all those born in an era disconnected from the war. I argue  that these perspectives are invaluable to the discipline of German Studies and that there is much more to this group than the discrimination and pain they have faced. Although the injustices of past and present have indeed been formative in the lives of so many Roma & Sinti, it limits the scope of what we know and can learn from them.  In order to approach these questions, I will analyze and discuss a memoir and poems by a Sinteza author, musician and rights activist named  Dotschy Reinhardt. Born in 1975, Reinhardt has used her voice in many ways to speak about her identity and represent her culture beyond the scope of the war. In her memoir she explores the distinctions between Sinti and Roma, her ambitions, and her connection to generations of Roma artists. She tells a new story, a different story that opens up a very different perspective from the view provided by scholarship on the Roma and Sinti. In her poems, she  grapples with a continued struggle to find her own voice, like so many others in her generation interested in recovering an identity which doesn’t get served to them on a silver platter. The intended outcome of my project is  to rediscover that lost voice of the Roma and Sinti and make widely available what it is saying. 
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spelling doaj-art-5139f561ae3c4db8ab8ed5252f5b23942025-02-11T21:39:14ZdeuUniversity of Minnesota Libraries PublishingCentral Europe2689-59782025-01-016Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German StudiesArushi Nair How can we spotlight the second generation of Roma & Sinti in the German speaking world? When the Roma are discussed or invited to speak, it is typically limited to their experience with the atrocities of World War Two, and so their voices become narrowly contextualized before the backdrop of a history of persecution, especially during the Holocaust. Seldom is the attention on their culture and their own history. In a shift to focus on the art, poetry and literature of the Roma, I am hoping to empower the voices within the second generation, all those born in an era disconnected from the war. I argue  that these perspectives are invaluable to the discipline of German Studies and that there is much more to this group than the discrimination and pain they have faced. Although the injustices of past and present have indeed been formative in the lives of so many Roma & Sinti, it limits the scope of what we know and can learn from them.  In order to approach these questions, I will analyze and discuss a memoir and poems by a Sinteza author, musician and rights activist named  Dotschy Reinhardt. Born in 1975, Reinhardt has used her voice in many ways to speak about her identity and represent her culture beyond the scope of the war. In her memoir she explores the distinctions between Sinti and Roma, her ambitions, and her connection to generations of Roma artists. She tells a new story, a different story that opens up a very different perspective from the view provided by scholarship on the Roma and Sinti. In her poems, she  grapples with a continued struggle to find her own voice, like so many others in her generation interested in recovering an identity which doesn’t get served to them on a silver platter. The intended outcome of my project is  to rediscover that lost voice of the Roma and Sinti and make widely available what it is saying.  https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/cey/article/view/6198Roma and SintipoetryDotschy ReinhardtModern German Studies
spellingShingle Arushi Nair
Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German Studies
Central Europe
Roma and Sinti
poetry
Dotschy Reinhardt
Modern German Studies
title Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German Studies
title_full Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German Studies
title_fullStr Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German Studies
title_full_unstemmed Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German Studies
title_short Roma & Sinti Culture as Modern German Studies
title_sort roma sinti culture as modern german studies
topic Roma and Sinti
poetry
Dotschy Reinhardt
Modern German Studies
url https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/cey/article/view/6198
work_keys_str_mv AT arushinair romasinticultureasmoderngermanstudies