The Roma Holocaust

The fate of the Roma during World War II is one of the most horrific and least known chapters in the history of Nazi atrocities. Jan Otto Johansen provides a harrowing account of their persecution, internment, and systematic extermination throughout Europe. Elie Wiesel writes the introduction, arguing that Roma survivors deserve the same understanding and support as survivors of other groups. Jan Otto Johansen worked as a foreign correspondent for the Morgenposten newspaper from 1956. After graduating with a degree in geography and ethnography, he took a Russian language course with the Norwegian Armed Forces. He was a Rockefeller Fellow from 1961 to 1962, during which he studied in Warsaw, Moscow, and the United States, and taught a seminar at American University in Washington, D.C. He joined the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) as director of foreign affairs for the Dagsriven newspaper in 1966 and served as its Moscow correspondent from 1975 to 1977. He then served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper Dagbladet from 1977 to 1984. Afterward, he returned to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), working as its Washington correspondent from 1985 to 1990. He then became foreign affairs editor in the television news department from 1990 to 1995 and its Berlin correspondent from 1995 to 2000. He retired from NRK on January 1, 1983. He was awarded the Fritt Urd Professorship in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo in 2003. Jan Otto Johansen served as vice-president of the Christian IV Union in Oslo for 16 years and is now an honorary international vice-president. He is a member of the board of directors of the Artists’ Association, the Heyerdahl Institute, and the Tatern/Romani Foundation. He received numerous awards and honors, including: the Capelin Prize, the Arthur Holmesland Professional Book Award, the Skoomfer Prize, the Christian-Jewish Dialogue Award (Esther and Hermann Kahanes Fund), the Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland, the Hungarian Order of Freedom of 1956, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Willy Brandt Prize, the Yugoslav Order of Merit, the Commander of the Order of Prince Dom Henrik of Portugal, the Premio Hidalgo International Prize of the Spanish Gypsies, the Golden Stem Radio Pin from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), the Liberty Bell Award, and the Paul Harris Fellowship in Rotary International. Jan Otto Johansen began his literary career with Aachehøg publishing house with his book “Gomulkas Polen” in 1962. He subsequently published around sixty books with Capelen, Aachehøg, and Damm, covering diverse topics such as the Middle East, Jewish culture, antisemitism, Roma people, the United States, China, Finland, the Soviet Union/Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the works of Norwegian and international artists, and seafood culture. His books have been translated into Finnish, Danish, Swedish, English, German, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian. He has lectured at the Norwegian Defence University and in the Norwegian Atlantic Commission’s Lecturers Course since 1975; 46 of his lectures were published in the Atlantic Commission’s Writings Series between 1975 and 2004. He also lectures at St. Antony’s University, Oxford; the University of Washington, Seattle; Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma; the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and the American Diplomatic Academy, Washington, D.C. He regularly gives lectures, accompanied by his wife and close partner, Siv Kirsten, on cultural tourism trips to Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Prague, and is a certified speaker on finance, banking, and business in Norway.