I have been trained as an academic, not a whistleblower. But when I learned that Norwegian police were creating a register of Roma, Norway's national minority, I had no choice but to subject it to public and legal scrutiny. .
In the fall of 2023, at a conference I was invited to talk about crime prevention in Oslo, I first saw a “family tree” of Norwegian Romani people compiled by a police officer. The police officers wanted to spread knowledge about the Romani people and had invited them. Because I was working on Roma-related issues in my research. I took a photo of the “family tree” and, suspecting there was a registry behind the graphic, accepted an invitation to a follow-up meeting with the police officer who presented it.
My suspicions were correct. At a later meeting, the officer showed me the ledger on his computer and explained how he had created it. The registry includes 14 people facing charges in ongoing criminal cases, 74 of their relatives, and 567 others. The register includes not only Roma children but also Holocaust survivors and dead.
I recorded the meeting, took notes and secured evidence. Investigative reporters from the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten published a report last month revealing the existence of the Roma registry to the Norwegian public, based on audio recordings and family tree photos.
Keeping a register of citizens based on ethnic or racial background is illegal in Norway, and that in itself is reason enough for the Norwegian authorities to take action based on this revelation. However, the country's history of police registration of Roma people and its tragic consequences makes this violation even more serious.
From ethnic registration to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
In the early 1920s, Norwegian authorities launched a campaign to register all Roma in the country, which numbered less than 150 at the time. In parallel, they began denying Norwegian citizenship to members of the group, invalidating their Norwegian identity documents and rendering them stateless.
A new “gypsy clause” in the Norwegian Aliens Act, which prevented Roma from obtaining Norwegian citizenship, was unanimously adopted by parliament in 1927. There was a consensus from the far right to the far left that Roma people were not wanted in this country. Norway was thus able to declare itself “Gypsy-free” long before the Nazis occupied the country in the 1940s.
These harsh policies made it possible for Norway's Roma to be forced out of the country. As stateless persons, many were unable to secure legal stay in other countries and were repeatedly deported. In the 1940s, many of them were rounded up and sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex in Nazi-occupied Poland. Only four of those transported to the camp survived.
After the war, some of the surviving Norwegian Roma attempted to return to the country, but were prevented by the “Gypsy Clause” of the Aliens Act. Four of them led a years-long fight to regain citizenship on behalf of their community, and he was only allowed to return in 1956 after this provision was repealed.
This was the first case in Norwegian history until academics Maria Rosvoll, Lars Lien and Jan-Alexander Brustad from the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies published a report on the subject in 2015. That was the part that was silent. This led to an apology from the Norwegian Prime Minister. And descendants of Holocaust survivors were given collective reparations.
It was clear to me that the Norwegian police were aware of this historical context, as they used photographs from Holocaust survivors' reports to closely map Norway's Roma people.
Broad consensus on Roman registration
The idea that a register of Romani people should be kept is a historically rooted practice. In 1932, Interpol's predecessor, the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC), established an international “Gypsy Center” in Vienna to centralize the exchange of information about Roma people.
In 1934, a “Gypsy Center” and a standing committee were established to assist in what it called the “fight against the Gypsy plague.” In the same year, the ICPC had the straightforward goal of carrying out the registration of all individuals who were racially defined as “Gypsies'' or who were living a “Gypsy life.''
According to research by historian Jan Selling, the Roma were the only ethnic group to be specifically singled out in this way by the ICPC, and that there was a consensus among Nazi and non-Nazi police chiefs in Europe that the Roma were considered “hereditary”. It is shown that there was a broad consensus that they were criminals. Despite this fact, European police organizations have no interest in confronting this part of their history, and this suggests that there is an ideological and operational continuity in European policing since the 1940s. It shows.
Norway clearly followed the ICPC's intention to register all Roma. In addition to the Norwegian Roma, an ethnic minority known as Travelers (Romanifolk/Tatere) was also registered with the police in 1927.
This practice continued after the end of World War II, as evidenced by the existence of such records in the National Archives. Some of these were extensive, including information such as current name, date of birth, social security number, passport number, photo, occupation, location of residence, and kinship.
These registries were not closed even after Norway passed a law in 1978 restricting the legality of registering ethnic and racial affiliations.
In other words, there is good reason to believe that the registration of Roma and Travelers (Romanifolk/Tatere) has been ongoing in Norway for the past 100 years. Inclusive registration practices suggest that Norwegian authorities consider Roma people's criminal behavior to be “genetic.”
So while the recent Roma registry revelations will infuriate us, they should not surprise us.
“Do the police know my name?”
As I left the police station where I had witnessed the ethnic register, I struggled to breathe. I was furious, but also terrified. I couldn't even imagine how Romani people would feel about this revelation, considering I'm not Romani and neither I nor my family are registered.
Of course, this news drew a strong reaction from Norway-Roma. One of their biggest fears was confirmed. Intergenerational trauma has been reactivated. They have experienced state genocide and been chased by the police, so they know the consequences of such a registration.
Norwegian Roma told the media that many are considering fleeing the country out of fear. Natalina Jansen, leader of Norway's Roma Council, said in an interview: Panic begins. ”
A Roma kid I met recently at a registration conference looked at me with serious eyes and asked, “Do the police know my name?”
The time has come for truth and salvation.
Norway's brutal treatment of Roma people throughout its history has not only caused direct death and trauma to the community, but has also deprived our country of a people who deserve to be part of society. We will never know what Norway would have been like without them.
As a Norwegian citizen, I am grateful to the four Romani people who form the backbone of the police's “family tree” who fought for their right to return to their homeland. And we are grateful that, despite many hostile environments, their descendants remained in Norway and enriched our society.
It is time to take seriously the racist notion that Roma people are more likely to become criminals than other peoples. But words alone are not enough. Actions must follow.
The substantive apology elaborated by Norway's prime minister in 2015 is next to nothing if Norwegian police continue to register and racially profile Roma people behind closed doors.
When it was revealed in 2013 that Roma people were being registered with police in Sweden, the government responded by setting up an anti-Gypsy task force. This could also be a step in the right direction for Norway. Further actions may include suggestions from various academics and community members.
A recent research project by the Center for European Policy Research recommends closer monitoring of anti-Gypsies in the European Union and consideration of regional and local truth and reconciliation commissions.
Considering that injustices against Roma are not a closed chapter of history, but rather an enduring form of oppression, scholars Margareta Matache and Jacqueline Baba go beyond truth-telling and apologies to He proposed a program of compensatory justice that included responsibility, reparation, compensation, and compensation. New and stronger legal protection.
Norway's Roma side has repeatedly called on Norway to take historical responsibility. Saphira Joseph and others have called for a truth commission, while Solomir Karolyi has called for a memorial to Roma murdered in the Holocaust. Furthermore, in their speech on International Holocaust Day, Josef, Amoreina Lund and Palermo Hof called for an anti-Gypsy action plan. Their requests fell on deaf ears.
Now is the time for the world to turn its attention to Norway. The country was the only country to achieve its goal of being “Gypsy-free'' in the 1930s, and now has once again fully registered its Roma minority.
Will Norway seize this opportunity and make a serious effort to break with its past? Or will the authorities just give empty promises that this is the last time? The choices Norway makes will show the world that this country stands for justice and anti-racism.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
