Survivors of World War II internment in France are campaigning for official recognition of the persecution they endured during the conflict [1].

This effort seeks to address a historical gap in the national memory of the Holocaust and Nazi occupation. For many Romani, Sinti, Manush, Yenish, and other traveller communities, the lack of formal state acknowledgement obscures the specific nature of the discriminatory policies used against them.

During the war years from 1939 to 1945, the Vichy regime and Nazi occupiers targeted these groups for systematic internment [1]. Thousands of Romani, Sinti, Manush, Yenish, and travellers were displaced and held in camps across France [1]. While some remained in domestic camps, others were deported to extermination camps in Eastern Europe [1].

The campaign emphasizes that these actions were not incidental but were driven by discriminatory policies targeting the traveller identity [1]. These groups faced targeted arrests and confinement based on their ethnic and social backgrounds, a policy that persisted until the end of the war.

Approximately 80 years have passed since the last travellers were released from French internment camps [1]. With the dwindling number of living survivors, the urgency for a formal state admission of these crimes has increased.

The survivors and their advocates said that recognition is a necessary step toward justice. They seek an official record that acknowledges the scale of the displacement and the specific intent of the Vichy government to isolate and persecute traveller populations [1].

“Thousands of Romani, Sinti, Manush, Yenish, and travellers were displaced and interned in France”

The push for recognition highlights the complexity of the 'Porajmos'—the Romani genocide—within the broader context of the Holocaust. Because the persecution of travellers often overlapped with social marginalization and police surveillance that predated and succeeded the war, it has frequently been omitted from official state narratives of resistance and victimization in France.