Porrajmos: The Romani and the Holocaust with Ian Hancock

28100The Romani, not to be confused with the Romanian nation or people, are a diasporic ethnicity more widely known as “gypsies.” Throughout the world they are variously known as Rom, Roma, Romane, Cigáni and Gitano, just to name a few.

In this presentation about the Romani and the Holocaust, Ian Hancock, professor of English and linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, and director of the Romani Studies program and the Romani Archives and Documentation Center, estimates that the Holocaust claimed anywhere between 500,000 and 1.5 million Romani lives. The Romani people refer to this tragedy as the Porrajmos, or “the Devouring.”

A Romani-born British citizen, activist, and scholar, Hancock has done more than anyone to raise awareness about the Romani people during World War II.

Watch this Library Channel presentation of Porrajmos: The Romani and the Holocaust with Ian Hancock – Holocaust Living History, a Library Channel presentation.