Collaboration and the Genocide of Roma in Poland

Abstract

In this chapter, the analysis by Slawomir Kapralski of the summary executions of Roma carried out in 1942–1943 in southern Poland is evidence for making a distinction between three forms of collaboration: complicity, cooperation, and involvement. It is argued that different levels of collaboration can be accounted for by different degrees of social distance between local villagers and particular categories of victims: German Sinti and Roma, settled Carpathian Roma, and nomadic groups seized as they passed through the region. Finally, the author presents an example of collaboration of a Rom, the infamous Rudolf Kwiek, and attempts to understand his motives as well as the motives of the Roma who, after the war, did not in his case apply the most radical sanctions. Kapralski interprets this as an attempt to maintain the facade of the commonality of fate, which was necessary for the restoration of Roma life.