14 December 1937The ‘Decree on the Preventive Fight Against Crime’ is issued in Germany. On this basis, the criminal police can deport Sinti and Roma to concentration camps at any time.
1938
16 May 1938Heinrich Himmler orders the establishment of the ‘Reich Central Office for Combating the Gypsy Nuisance’ in the Reich Criminal Police Office in Berlin, Germany.
1 October 1938The ‘Reich Central Office for Combating the Gypsy Nuisance’ in Berlin, Germany, is in operation.
8 December 1938The circular decree issued by Heinrich Himmler on ‘combating the Gypsy Menace’ emphasises the racial policy objectives of state measures in Germany.
1939
17 October 1939In Germany, the ‘Festsetzungserlass’ (Immobilisation Decree) prohibits all Sinti and Roma from changing their place of residence or domicile under threat of imprisonment in a concentration camp.
1940
27 April 1940Heinrich Himmler orders the deportation of Sinti and Roma from western and north-western Germany to the General Government, German-occupied Poland.
1942
16 December 1942‘Auschwitz Decree’: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel (‘Reichsführer-SS’), orders the deportation of Sinti and Roma from the German Reich to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
1943
15 January 1943In Berlin (Germany), members of the Reich Criminal Police, the Racial Hygiene Research Centre, the Security Service and the Race and Settlement Main Office agree on the forced sterilisation of those Sinti and Roma who are not intended for deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
29 January 1943The Reich Security Main Office in Berlin, Germany, issues more detailed instructions on the deportation of Sinti and Roma to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
