CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2026
| Author | Stephens, Tyler |
|---|---|
| Title | In League With Nations: Biopolitical Development Targeting Central European Romani (1918-1934) |
| Summary | The League of Nations in the interbellum period (1918-1934) maintained a system of minority protections, appropriately called the Minority Protections System, as a peace precaution that anticipated irredentism after the First World War. This system sought to protect member states minorities, who consisted of religious, national, and linguistic identifications. Most minorities had a kin state that could represent their interests, such as German minorities in Czechoslovakia. However, Jewish minorities had no kin state and were also protected in this system. Consequently, Romani populations of member states had no protections in the League of Nations, and there was no archived debate that can explain the reasoning within the League itself to leave out Roma. At the same time, the lack of protection coincided with an increased biopolitical surge of targeted institutionalization by international police agencies who coalesced in the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC). The following research highlights the archived documents of ICPC members who did debate the technology and registration techniques, such as Bertillon photography, dactyloscopy (fingerprinting), and increased demography to be used to securitize and criminalize Roma populations in Europe. Without any intervention from the League, Roma communities were left vulnerable to increased racialized police operations and nascent enactment of genocide that happened in WWII. |
| Supervisor | Kóczé, Angéla; Trencsényi, Balázs |
| Department | Historical Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2026/stephens_tyler.pdf |
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