5/13/2023 0 Comments Gypsy Movements by Jud Nirenberg![]() ![]() Nirenberg gives an account of how Roma and Sinti have in recent years struggled for more memory of Gypsy losses and heroism. Roma were victims but also soldiers, activists and underground resistors. ![]() The 1936 Olympics and characters like Joe Louis, Max Baer and Max Schmeling, Jesse Owens, Helene Meyer (the one Jew who represented Germany at the Olympics) and boxing fans such as Adolph Hitler are all a part of the tale. The book explores how other top boxers and athletes dealt with race politics at the time. This is more than the story of Trollmann’s dramatic life. In post-war Germany, his family became activists and fought for the return of his champion title and his dignity. ![]() He went on to serve on the front lines of war, fighting for Germany even as many of his own family were deported to concentration camps. The Nazis, who took a strong interest in boxing, would not accept him as the winner because he was Sinto, or Gypsy. Trollmann, unlike many athletes in the face of racial prejudices at the time, used his visibility in the ring for shocking and aggressive protest, turning fights into politically charged performance art. In 1933 Johann Trollmann won Germany’s light-heavyweight boxing title. Polish and Spanish translations are available through Dialog Pheniben (contact for a copy) and by Punto de Vista Editores (here). ![]() Buy Johann Trollmann and Romani Resistance to the Nazis here. ![]()
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