In the summer of 1942, Roma and Sinti in the Protectorate found themselves facing a form of persecution targeting them only on the basis of “race”, regardless of all other circumstances. Crucial was the adoption of the decree on “combating the gypsy plague” by the Protectorate Minister of the Interior Richard Bienert on June 24, 1942, respectively its implementation order of July 10, 1942. The decree was issued by the commander-in-chief of the non-uniformed Protectorate Police Horst Böhme, whose office was assigned the agenda of “combating gypsy plague” in the Protectorate.1 Again, it was a measure that copied the German regulation of the same name, which had been in force in the Reich since the end of 1938.2 Among other things, the decree ordered a new official register of all people labelled as “gypsies”. A similar census of “gypsies” on the basis of the so-called Festsetzungserlass (decree on the permanent detention of “gypsies” on the spot) had taken place in the Reich already in October 1939.3
![[CikanipostaveninarovenZidu.Venkov11.04.194237(86).s.2.jpg]](https://c.holocaust.cz/images/CikanipostaveninarovenZidu.Venkov11.04.194237(86).s.2.jpg)
Ill. 3: “Gypsies put on the same level with the Jews”. In: Venkov. Orgán České strany agrární. [The Land. Organ of the Czech Agrarian Party], Prague, 11 April 1942, No. 37, p. 2.
Ill. 4: Title and first page of the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Non-uniformed Protectorate Police of 10 July 1942 No. St I / II-17-100-78 “Combating the gypsy plague”.
Following the order on “Combating the gypsy plague”, protectorate gendarmerie and police in cooperation with the district and municipal authorities, registered all “gypsies, gypsy half-breeds and people living in a gypsy” according to the instructions of the German criminal police during 1 – 3 August, 1942. They prepared an extensive documentation on everyone, filled out questionnaires both in Czech and German, took photographs and fingerprints. Gendarmes and police officers were to pay special attention to the evaluation of all data on family background, going back three generations. All documents created during this process were to be handed over to the Center for criminal investigation in Prague. Specific instructions were given at a work meeting of the commanders of the criminal police departments, the commanders of gendarme stations and the commanders of “detention camps” taking place in Prague at the Center for criminal investigation, which was responsible for resolving the “gypsy question” in the Protectorate, on July 15, 1942. The documents were collected by the Reich Central Office for Combating the Gypsy Plague (“Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung des Zigeunerunwesens”).4
The decision as to whether a person is a “gypsy” or a “gypsy half-breed” was left in the first instance to the individual police officers conducting the census. However, their decisions were preliminary.5 The Center for criminal investigation in Prague later made the final decision on „racial affiliation“ and thus on the fate of individuals. It took them several months to complete this process.
Ill. 5: “Census of Gypsies in the Protectorate”. In: Lidové noviny. [The people’s newspaper], Brno, July 31, 1942, No. 50
(noon edition), p. 2.
Next chapter: Concentration in „gypsy camps“
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