sinti

{{Not to be confused with|text=Sintians, an ancient ethnic group of Thracian origin and Sindhis, an ethnolinguistic group in South Asia}}{{short description|Romani subgroup}}

{{Infobox ethnic group

|group = Sinti

|image =

|caption =

|total = ≈ 500,000 (2011){{cite encyclopedia |last=Grimes |first=Barbara F. |editor-last=Frawley |editor-first=William |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of Linguistics |title=Romani, Sinte |url=https://archive.org/details/internationalenc0000unse_s8h7/page/294/mode/2up |edition=2nd |volume=1 |year=2003 |section=Central Indo-Aryan Languages |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-place=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-513977-8 |oclc=51478240 |page=[{{GBurl|id=sl_dDVctycgC|pg=PA295}} 294] |via=Internet Archive}}

| region1 = Slovakia

| pop1 = 100 – 1000

| ref1 = {{Cite web |last=Ravasz |first=Ábel |last2=Kovács |first2=Ľuboš |last3=Elgyütt |first3=Ivana |date=2024-04-29 |title=Atlas rozmanitosti Slovenska: Spolunažívanie Olašských Rómov, Maďarov a Slovákov na Nitriansku |url=https://www.institutmatejabela.sk/post/atlas-o-spoluna%C5%BE%C3%ADvan%C3%AD-ola%C5%A1sk%C3%BDch-r%C3%B3mov-ma%C4%8Farov-a-slov%C3%A1kov-na-nitriansku |access-date=2025-01-13 |publisher=Inštitút Mateja Bela |place=Bratislava |page=15-16 |language=sk}}

|langs = Sinte Romani

|rels = Christianity

|related = Other Indo-Aryan peoples, especially Roma (Manouche)

}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J0525-0500-003, Rheinland, Sinti und Roma mit Wohnwagen auf Landstraße.jpg, Germany, 1935]]

The Sinti (masc. sing. Sinto; fem. sing. Sintetsa, Sinta) are a subgroup of the Romani people.{{cite book|last= French|first= Lorely|title= Roma Voices in the German-Speaking World|year= 2015|location= United States|series= New Directions in German Studies|publisher= Bloomsbury Academic|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uz24CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|page= 7|isbn= 9781501302794|quote= Sinti the particular Romani subgroup in Germany since the 15th century}}{{cite book|author-last= Hancock|author-first= Ian|author-link= Ian Hancock|editor-last= Karanth|editor-first= Dileep|title= Danger! Educated Gypsy: Selected Essays|chapter= Gypsies, gadze, languages and labels|location= United Kingdom|publisher= University of Hertfordshire Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yqmYJiVui9UC|pages= 101-102|isbn= 9781902806990}} They are found mostly in Germany, France, Italy and Central Europe, numbering some 200,000 people.{{efn|name="Genetic"|"Individual groups can be classified into major metagroups: the Roma of East European extraction; the Sinti in Germany and Manouches in France and Catalonia; the Kaló in Spain, Ciganos in Portugal and Gitans of southern France; and the Romanichals of Britain." – Kalaydjieva, Gresham, & Calarell 2001{{cite journal |last1=Kalaydjieva |first1=Luba |last2=Gresham |first2=David |last3=Calafell |first3=Francesc |title=Genetic studies of the Roma (Gypsies): A Review |journal= BMC Medical Genetics|date=2 April 2001 |volume=2 |issue=5 |page=5 |doi=10.1186/1471-2350-2-5 |pmid=11299048 |pmc=31389 |doi-access=free }}}}{{cite web |last = Hübshmanová |first = Milena |year = 2003 |url = http://rombase.uni-graz.at//cgi-bin/artframe.pl?src=data/ethn/topics/names.en.xml |title = Roma—Sub Ethnic Groups |publisher = University of Graz |website = Uni-Graz.at}} They were traditionally itinerant, but today only a small percentage of Sinti remain unsettled. In earlier times, they frequently lived on the outskirts of communities.

Within the Sinti Community are various tribes such as the Manouche in France.{{cite book |last1=Margalit |first1=Gilad |author1-link=Gilad Margalit |last2=Matras |first2=Yaron |author2-link=Yaron Matras |chapter=Gypsies in Germany-German Gypsies? Identity and Politics of Sinti and Roma in Germany |chapter-url=https://books.openedition.org/ceup/1417 |title=in {{harvnb |Stauber |Vago |2007}} |series=CEUP collection |date=2007 |pages=103–116 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-615-5211-21-8 }} They speak the Sinti-Manouche variety of Romani, which exhibits strong German influence.

Etymology and origin

The origin of the Sinti people, as with the broader Romani people, lies generally in the Indian subcontinent. While people from the western Indian subcontinent's Sindh region were mentioned in 1100 by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Maydani, it is unclear whether the Sindhi people were the ancestors of modern Sinti, though it is clear that Sinti and other Romani people originated in the northern Indian subcontinent.{{cite book |last=Kenrick |first=Donald |title=Gypsies: From the Ganges to the Thames |edition=2nd |url={{GBurl |id=df2mIOnbrDoC}} |publisher=University of Hertfordshire Press |publication-place=Hatfield |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-902806-23-5 |oclc=59134906 |pages=[{{GBurl |id=df2mIOnbrDoC |pg=PA26}} 26]–[{{GBurl |id=df2mIOnbrDoC|pg=PA27}} 27]}}{{efn|"The ancestors of today's 12 to 15 million Roma came from India about 1,000 years ago, and their descendants eventually migrated to six continents. The Romanic language language is most closely related to Punjabi and Hindi and is still spoken by millions of Roma and Sinti (Romani people of Central Europe)." – Sturman 2019{{cite book |editor-last=Sturman |editor-first=Janet Lynn |title=The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture |publisher=SAGE Publications |publication-place=Thousand Oaks, California |volume= |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-5063-5337-1 |oclc=1090239829 |page= |quote=}}{{volume needed|issue=false|date=June 2024}}{{page needed|date=June 2024}}}}

The origin of the name is disputed.{{efn|"Already in 18th and 19th century scholarly discussions, the name 'Sinti' was associated occasionally with that of the Indian province of Sindh. There is, in fact, no connection at all. The word 'Sinti' has the inflection typical of a European loanword in Romani, and cannot have been part of the original Indian vocabulary of the language. The fact that it is found solely among Romani speakers in Germany and neighboring regions and only more recent sources, suggests that it is a later borrowing into this specific dialect of Romanic, and was not part of the language in pre-European times. " – Stauber & Vago 2007{{sfn |Stauber |Vago |2007 |p=}}{{page needed|date=June 2024}}}} Scholar Jan Kochanowski, and many Sinti themselves, believe it derives from Sindhi, the name of the people of Sindh in medieval India (a region now in southeast Pakistan).{{cite book |last=Matras |first=Yaron |author-link=Yaron Matras |chapter=The Role of Language in Mystifying and Demystifying Gypsy Identity|title=in {{harvnb |Saul |Tebbutt |2004}} |year=2004 |page=[{{GBurl |id=KNVhLzzIcCEC |pg=PA70}} 70]}} Romani Historian Ian Hancock states that the connection between Sinti and Sindhi is not tenable on linguistic grounds and that in the earliest samples of Sinte Romani, the endonym of Kale was used instead.

Scholar Yaron Matras argued that Sinti is a later term in use by the Sinti from only the 18th century on, and is likely a European loanword.{{efn|"[U]p to the late 18th century the Sinti referred to themselves as ‘Kale’ (lit. ‘blacks’). The term ‘Sinti’ or ‘Sinte’ (see below) may be found in 18th and 19th century linguistic documentation alongside ‘Kale,’ and appears to have been borrowed from the secret vocabulary of the Yenish travelers, perhaps because of its usefulness in concealing ethnic identity. Only toward the late 19th century does the self-appellation ‘Sinti’ replace ‘Kale’ entirely in Germany." – Margalit & Matras 2007}} This view is shared by Romani linguist Ronald Lee, who stated the name's origin probably lies in the German word Reisende, meaning 'travellers'.{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Lee |title=A New Look at Our Romani Origins and Diaspora |website=Kopachi.com |date=2009 |url=https://kopachi.com/articles/a-new-look-at-our-romani-origins-and-diaspora-by-ronald-lee/ |access-date=2024-06-23}}

A recent study by Estonian and Indian researchers found genetic similarities between European Romani men and Indian men in their sample.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/9719058/European-Roma-descended-from-Indian-untouchables-genetic-study-shows.html|title=European Roma descended from Indian 'untouchables', genetic study shows|last=Nelson|first=Dean|date=3 December 2012|website=The Telegraph|access-date=15 December 2017}}

History

The Sinti arrived in Austria and Germany in the Late Middle Ages as part of the emigration from the Indian Subcontinent,{{cite web |last=Bartlick |first=Silke |date=2013-03-13 |title=Europe invented 'gypsies,' says German author |url=http://www.dw.de/europe-invented-gypsies-says-german-author/a-16664274 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |access-date=2024-06-23}} eventually splitting into two groups: Eftavagarja ("the Seven Caravans") and Estraxarja ("from Austria").{{cite thesis |last=Szombati |first=Kristóf |title=The Revolt of the Provinces: Anti-Gypsyism and Right-Wing Politics in Hungary |url=https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/szombati_kristof.pdf |degree=PhD |publication-place=Budapest, Hungary |publisher=Central European University |year=2016 |page=165}}{{cite book |last=Szombati |first=Kristóf |title=The Revolt of the Provinces: Anti-Gypsyism and Right-Wing Politics in Hungary |url={{GBurl |id=B_8_DwAAQBAJ}} |publication-place=New York, NY |publisher=Berghahn Books |date=2018 |volume=23 |isbn=978-1-78533-897-7 |doi=10.1515/9781785338977 |oclc=1041152908 |jstor=j.ctvw04cbm |page=[{{GBurl |id=B_8_DwAAQBAJ |pg=PA206}} 206] |via=partial Google Books preview}} They arrived in Germany before 1540.{{sfn |Saul |Tebbutt |2004 |p=182}} The two groups expanded, the Eftavagarja into France and Portugal, where they are called "Manouches", and to the Balkans, where they are called "Ciganos" (from Byzantine Greek "τσιγγάνος" and "Ἀτσίγγανος", deriving from Ancient Greek "ἀθίγγανος", meaning "untouchable"{{efn|{{Wiktionary-inline|τσιγγάνος}}}}{{efn|{{Wiktionary-inline|Cigan}}}}); and the Estraxarja into Italy and Central Europe, mainly what are now Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, eventually adopting various regional names.

From 1926-1973, Pro Juventute, a Swiss children's charity, with the support of Swiss authorities, committed crimes against humanity against the Yenish, Manouche, and Sinti people in Switzerland by forcibly removing children from their families and placing them in foster homes, adoptive families, and correctional institutions through the Kinder der Landstrasse (Children of the Open Road) project. This was part of a wider effort to forcibly assimilate these traditionally nomadic communities into the sedentary Swiss society. In February 2025, the Swiss government formally acknowledged that the forced removals and assimilation efforts constitute a crime against humanity under international law.{{Cite web|url=https://www.admin.ch/gov/fr/accueil/documentation/communiques.msg-id-104226.html|title=Le Conseil fédéral reconnaît un crime contre l’humanité à l’encontre des Yéniches et des Manouches/Sintés et réitère ses excuses|website=www.admin.ch}}

= The Holocaust =

File:Trollmanngross.jpg, a German Sinti boxer, 1928]]

The Sinti migrated to Germany in the early 15th century. Despite their long presence, they were still generally regarded as beggars and thieves, and, by 1899, the police kept a central register on Sinti, Roma, and Yenish peoples. Nazi Germany considered them racially inferior (see Nazism and race), and persecuted them throughout Germany during the Nazi period{{snd}}the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 often being interpreted to apply to them as well as the Jews.{{cite web |title=Targeting the Sinti and Roma |website=Facing History & Ourselves |date=2016-08-02 |url=https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/targeting-sinti-roma |access-date=2024-06-23}}

Adolf Eichmann recommended that Nazi Germany solve the "Gypsy Question" simultaneously with the Jewish Question, resulting in the deportation of the Sinti to clear room to build homes for ethnic Germans.{{sfn |Burleigh |Wippermann |1991 |p=[https://archive.org/details/racialstategerma0000burl/page/122/mode/2up 122]}} Some were sent to the territory of Poland, or elsewhere, including some deported to the territory of Yugoslavia by the Hamburg Police in 1939.{{sfn |Burleigh |Wippermann |1991 |p=[https://archive.org/details/racialstategerma0000burl/page/126/mode/2up 127]}} Others were confined to designated areas, and many were eventually murdered in gas chambers.{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Mark |url=http://www.euronews.com/2015/05/05/how-world-war-ii-shaped-modern-germany |title=How World War II shaped modern Germany |date=5 May 2015 |website=euronews |access-date=2024-06-23}} Many Sinti and Roma were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they were put in a special section, called the "gypsy camp". Josef Mengele often performed some of his infamous experiments on Sinti and Roma. On 2 August 1944, the "gypsy camp" was closed, and approximately 4,000 Sinti and Roma were gassed during the night of 2–3 August and burnt in the crematoria. The date 2 August is commemorated as Roma and Sinti Holocaust Remembrance Day.{{cite web |title=European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day: Statement by President von der Leyen, Vice-President Jourová and Commissioner Dalli |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_20_1423 |publisher=European Commission |date=31 July 2020 |access-date=2024-06-23 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210526221704/https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_20_1423 |archive-date=26 May 2021 |url-status=live}}

File:Sinti-und-Roma-Gedenkstätte beim Färbertor in Nürnberg.jpg opposite Frauentorgraben 49, where on 15 September 1935 the Nuremberg Laws were adopted in the ballroom of the Industrial & Cultural Association clubhouse]]

In the concentration camps, the Sinti were forced to wear either a black triangle, indicating their classification as "asocial", or a brown triangle,{{cite book |last1=Shapiro |first1=Paul A. |last2=Ehrenreich |first2=Robert M. |title=Roma and Sinti: under-studied victims of Nazism: symposium proceedings |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies |publication-place=Washington, D.C. |year=2002 |oclc=1410465443 |page=[{{GBurl |id=93rzAAAAMAAJ |p=24 |q="triangle"}} 24]}} specifically reserved for Sinti, Roma, and Yenish peoples.

Notable people

Anita Awosusi (born 1956){{dash}}writer, musician, activist
Tayo Awosusi-Onutor (born 1978){{dash}}singer-songwriter, author, activist
Ayo (born 1980){{dash}}singer, songwriter and actress
Wawau Adler (born 1967){{dash}}jazz guitarist
Jakob Bamberger (1913–1989){{dash}}boxer and activist
Drafi Deutscher (1946–2006){{dash}}singer and songwriter
Lily Franz (1924–2011){{dash}}writer and Holocaust survivor
Philomena Franz (1922-2022){{dash}}writer and Holocaust survivor
Elisabeth Guttenberger (1926–2024){{dash}}activist and Holocaust survivor
Hugo Höllenreiner (1933–2015){{dash}}Holocaust survivor and public speaker
Mario Mettbach (1952–2021/22){{dash}}politician
Oto Pestner (born 1956){{dash}}singer, songwriter and politician
Schnuckenack Reinhardt (1921–2006){{dash}}jazz musician
Marianne Rosenberg (born 1955){{dash}}singer and daughter of Otto Rosenberg
Otto Rosenberg (1927–2001){{dash}}writer, activist and holocaust survivor
Sido (born 1980){{dash}}rapper
Chrissy Teigen (b. 1985){{dash}}model{{Cite web|url=https://www.thirteen.org/programs/finding-your-roots/chrissy-tiegen-discovers-her-roma-ancestry-vu5acl/|title=Chrissy Teigen Discovers Very Unique Lost Family History | Finding Your Roots|via=www.thirteen.org}}
Johann Trollmann (1907–1944){{dash}}boxer and victim of forced sterilisation
Häns'che Weiss (1951-2016){{dash}}jazz musician
Raymond Gurême (1925-2020) - acrobat, activist, and holocaust survivor

File:Bundesarchiv R 165 Bild-244-52, Asperg, Deportation von Sinti und Roma.jpg, 22 May 1940]]

File:Düsseldorf-Lierenfeld Gedenktafel.JPG]]

File:Ravensburg Mahnmal Sinti.jpg, Memorial for Sinti murdered in Auschwitz]]

Notes

References

= Sources =

{{cite book |last1=Burleigh |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Burleigh |last2=Wippermann |first2=Wolfgang |author2-link=Wolfgang Wippermann |title=The Racial State: Germany 1933–1945 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |publication-place=Cambridge, England |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-521-39802-2 |oclc=1245769012 |url=https://archive.org/details/racialstategerma0000burl |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
{{cite book |editor-last=Saul |editor-first=Nicholas |editor-last2=Tebbutt |editor-first2=Susan |title=Role of the Romanies: Images and Counter Images of 'Gypsies'/Romanies in European Cultures |publisher=Liverpool University Press |publication-place=Liverpool [England] |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-84631-395-0 |oclc=276175136 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt5vjjv0 |jstor=j.ctt5vjjv0 |url={{GBurl |id=KNVhLzzIcCEC}} |via=partial Google Books preview}}
{{cite book |editor-last=Stauber |editor-first=Roni |editor-link=Roni Stauber |editor-last2=Vago |editor-first2=Raphael |title=The Roma: A Minority in Europe: Historical, Political and Social Perspectives |series=CEUP collection |url=https://books.openedition.org/ceup/1405 |publisher=Central European University Press |publication-place=Budapest |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4294-6253-2 |oclc=191940451 |via=OpenEdition Books |jstor=j.ctt1cgf80x}}
{{cite book|year=1996 |first1=Michael |last1=Zimmermann |author-link=Michael Zimmerman (historian) |title=Rassenutopie und Genozid. Die Nationalsozialistische Lösung der Zigeunerfrage |publisher=Christians |location=Hamburg |language=German |isbn=978-3767212701}}

External links

{{cite web |title=Non-Jewish Victims of Persecution in Germany |website=Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center |date=2024-06-13 |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/nazi-germany-1933-39/non-jewish-victims.html |access-date=2024-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204104823/https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/nazi-germany-1933-39/non-jewish-victims.html |archive-date=2023-12-04 |url-status=live}}
{{cite web |last=Trippel |first=Bernd |title=das frauen-konzentrationslager ravensbrück |trans-title=the women's concentration camp at Ravensbrück |website=ravensbrueck.action.at |url=http://ravensbrueck.action.at/lager.html |language=de |access-date=2024-06-21}}

Category:Ethnic groups in Austria

Category:Ethnic groups in Belgium

Category:Ethnic groups in Germany

Category:Ethnic groups in Slovenia

Category:Ethnic groups in the Netherlands

Category:Romani groups

Category:Romani in Europe

Category:Romani in Germany