Use of terms

Generally, as editors of holocaust.cz, we let authors decide about their preferred use of language. In English, this is of lesser importance than in Czech or German, but still, some terms demand common rules.
One of these terms is the word gypsy. Its use on holocaust.cz is based on its use and connotations in the Czech and German languages, where it is frequently used as a term discriminating and humiliating Romani or Sinti. The terms cikán or Zigeuner translate from Czech resp. German to English as gypsy and so still carry their connotations within the context of the texts published on holocaust.cz. By rule, the term gypsy therefore is used

• without quotation marks solely in historical documents or quotations from those documents

• with quotation marks only there, where it is necessary, because given the connotations and history of the terms cikán and Zigeuner it is not always possible to use eg. Romani people instead.

All authors publishing at holocaust.cz as well as the portal’s editors agree, that for its history this term cannot be considered a normal term having any reason for further existence in contemporary language. Where a group of people, that historically has been labelled as gypsies is meant, we use endonyms for the specific groups mentioned.