Rain of Ash: Roma, Jews, and the Holocaust

by Ari Joskowicz

A major new history of the genocide of Roma and Jews during World War II and their entangled quest for historical justice



Jews and Roma died side by side in the Holocaust, yet the world did not recognize their destruction equally. In the years and decades following the war, the Jewish experience of genocide increasingly occupied the attention of legal experts, scholars, educators, curators, and politicians, while the genocide of Europe's Roma went largely ignored. Rain of Ash is the untold story of how Roma turned to Jewish institutions, funding sources, and professional networks as they sought to gain recognition and compensation for their wartime suffering.

Ari Joskowicz vividly describes the experiences of Hitler's forgotten victims and charts the evolving postwar relationship between Roma and Jews over the course of nearly a century. During the Nazi era, Jews and Roma shared little in common besides their simultaneous persecution. Yet the decades of entwined struggles for recognition have deepened Romani-Jewish relations, which now center not only on commemorations of past genocides but also on contemporary debates about antiracism and Zionism.

Unforgettably moving and sweeping in scope, Rain of Ash is a revelatory account of the unequal yet necessary entanglement of Jewish and Romani quests for historical justice and self-representation that challenges us to radically rethink the way we remember the Holocaust.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Holocaust, Germany, Nazi Party, Jewish, Research

368 pages, Hardcover

First published March 14, 2023

Reviews

[Gigi Griffis]

So, this book was well-written but not what I expected. The hook says "A major new history of the genocide of Roma and Jews during World War II" but it is actually more a history of how the Romani people fought for recognition and justice *post-war*.

There is very little of Romani experiences during wartime or how their genocide mirrored or did not mirror that of the Jewish folks in Europe.

A good read for those looking for info on post-war struggle for recognition.

[Chana Ceasar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5✨ it was an interesting read discussing how we don’t spend a lot of time understanding the Romani genocide during the Holocaust. The information was valuable but the read itself, the tone was dry, so it was hard to stay engaged.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important subject, but the treatment was drier than I had expected/hoped.

[Rama Rao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romas under the ash

The genocide orchestrated by Nazi Germany in various concentration camps, particularly in places like Auschwitz-Birkenau were literally under the rain of ash. This is the literal falling of ash from the crematoria where the bodies of Jewish and Roma victims were burnt. Half a million European Roma were exterminated by the Nazi regime; many more were subjected to a policy of racial discrimination similar to that suffered by the Jewish people. However, the persecution and torment of Roma in Europe did not make into the history books. With the Romani people having been denied recognition as victims of Nazi Germany, this book focuses on the survivors, and their struggle for recognition. Historically, the cause of the Romani people was combined with Jewish holocaust in the same analytical framework. This book discusses an unequal entanglement of Jewish and Romani sufferings for justice and representation.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

well written and researched book, and certainly teaches a lot about how the linguistic basis for orders given during the holocaust aimed at jews vs others affected opportunities for restitution and access to resources for DPs, but also how country-dependent the whole affair ended up being. also interesting to read about the Roma community's heterogeneity. could've been even better with more Roma input though, maybe? feels like it states in the thesis that "Roma voices are overlooked by Jewish ones" and... well, proceeds to do just that again, even if from a more proactive place? extreme nonsequitur of an ending, that i feel like takes away from the book and pushes some strange agenda