The past as a teacher for the present? Discursive connections between Nazi persecution of Roma and discrimination in the present

This article unpacks how Roma people in Germany discuss Nazi persecution by bringing the concept of mnemonic role attributions (Williams) into conversation with testimonial injustice (Fricker) and postmemory (Hirsch). We analyse how Roma people invoke roles of perpetrator, victim and hero in narrations of collective memory in ways that forward political aims today. By highlighting not only Nazi persecution but also continuations of discrimination until today, some interviewees suggested that Germany’s historical responsibility should result in state support for them as victims today, as it has for Jewish people. Drawing on the ideas of ideal victims (Christie) and victim hierarchies (Jankowitz) we demonstrate that ongoing racialised stereotypes discursively undermine the blamelessness of Roma victimhood and create a hierarchy in which Roma suffering is not as deserving as Jewish suffering, weakening their political claims to protection and support. We draw on life history and thematic interview data of 53 Roma people in Germany, collected in a participatory action research approach with a Roma partner organisation.