Nowoczesność, kolonializm i Zagłada Romów

Abstract

The article presents the relationship between European colonialism, the modernization of European society and the Nazi persecution of the Roma as a cause and effect relationship, in which the result of the interaction between colonialism and modernization was the phenomenon of “internal colonialism”: the application of racist colonial policy to some minorities existing within European societies, including Roma. The author’s intention was to apply Hannah Arendt’s concept of the “boomerang effect” to the situation of the Roma, a concept that worked particularly well when applied to Germany, where internal colonialism compensated for the loss of overseas colonies after World War I. Using the boomerang effect in the context of the project of modern society, one can better understand various forms of anti-Roma policy: forced assimilation, exclusion, the mechanism of scapegoating and substitute victim. The colonial sources of anti-Roma violence are also becoming visible: from negative stereotyping, through racial segregation, to concentration camps and extermination. The author is of the opinion that decolonization of the Roma Studies requires a deeper reflection on the colonial sources of anti-Roma policy.