We are delighted to share Open Access the English and German versions of Maria Sierra's introductory study to the memoirs of Nazi Holocaust survivor Philomena Franz.
As explained in a previous post, this book is vital for the BESTROM project, as it was the first memoir published by a survivor of the Roma genocide under Nazism. Philomena Franz’s memoirs bear witness to all this and claim a place in European memory and history for the Roma people. Her voice rises from the silence to which these Holocaust survivors were condemned after Hitler's defeat. After the Second World War, justice and society denied them recognition as victims of Nazism, prolonging the anti-Roma prejudices of the Nazi regime. The late - and still incomplete - recognition of the Roma people's suffering under Nazism shows a kind of persistent racism, not yet confronted by European society. In this context, Philomena Franz's testimony is a decisive contribution to the Roma demand for justice and, in fact, paved the way for the publication of other memoirs from the late 1980s onwards.
The ENGLISH version can be downloaded here.
The GERMAN version can be downloaded here.