Jakob "Johnny" Bamberger (11 December 1913 – 1989) was a

Sinti The Sinti (masc. sing. ''Sinto''; fem. sing. ''Sintetsa, Sinta'') are a subgroup of the Romani people. They are found mostly in Germany, France, Italy and Central Europe, numbering some 200,000 people. They were traditionally Itinerant groups i ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and later an activist in the

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

civil rights movement.

Life

Jakob Bamberger was born in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, the son of Julius Bamberger, a

horse trader Horse trading, in its literal sense, is the buying and selling of horses, also called "horse dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the sale of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty, l ...

and owner of a movie theater that is now a historical building called Das Kleine Kino in Ebersberg. In 1935, the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

forced the family to cease operation of the theater; from 1935 to 1939, Jakob worked for the

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. During Bamberger's boxing career, which began in 1933, he would set foot in the ring over four hundred times. In 1936, he was selected for the Olympic boxing team, but was excluded from competition when the team was

purged In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

of "non-Aryans". On 15 April 1938, he lost the championship match to Nikolaus Obermauer and became German Vice Champion in the Flyweight class. In 1939, he was runner-up at the European Championship in Dublin. In 1940, he was third in his class at the championship in Königsberg. His family was

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its Sovereignty, sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or ...

to a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

in 1940. Jakob attempted to escape to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

but was apprehended at the border and subsequently interned at Flossenbürg on 5 January 1942. Bamberger was classified as "antisocial" and assigned the

black triangle Black triangle may refer to: Places * Black Triangle (region), across Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, long characterized by extremely high levels of pollution * Black triangle, the nickname given to the area south of Montreal affected by a ...

. On 14 December 1943, he was transferred to

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. In Dachau, he was subjected to the Nazi sea trials for periods extending to 18 days. In 1945, he was transferred to

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

. In April of the same year, he was liberated when U.S. troops intercepted the Flossenbürg-bound transport on which he was being held. Most of Bamberger's family were

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

in the Holocaust, including his mother Maria and two siblings. For many years after the war he was engaged in litigation for

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Reparation (theology), the theological concept of corrective response to God and the associated prayers for repairing the damages of sin * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for re ...

, which he was awarded in 1969. The German government claimed that Bamberger's kidney injuries were sports-related, and so only the minimum reparation amount was paid. Bamberger was an active member of the

Central Council of German Sinti and Roma The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma () is a German Romani rights group based in Heidelberg, Germany. It is headed by Romani Rose, who lost 13 members of his close family in the Romani Holocaust. The organization is a member of the Fede ...

. During the spring of 1980, he and eleven other Sinti returned to Dachau on a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

, in protest of their perceived second-class status. A Dachau district magistrate threatened the group with one year in prison is they followed through with the strike; the group came anyway. According to Center for Transatlantic Relations fellow Elizabeth Pond, the protest resulted in the West German government being "shamed into admitting that there had been postwar injustices against Sinti and that the 'necessary dismantling of prejudice and discrimination' has yet to be achieved."Pond, Elizabeth. 198
"Romanies: Hitler's Other Victims"
/ref> The Bamberger family continued activists efforts after his death, working with renowned Roma professor

Ian Hancock Ian Francis Hancock ( Romani: Yanko le Redžosko; born 29 August 1942) is a linguist, Romani scholar and political advocate. He was born and raised in England and is one of the main contributors in the field of Romani studies. He is directo ...

in monitoring the web for defamation and other discriminatory activities and misinformation. One of the Bamberger activists, Jakob's great niece Daniela Stolfi-Tow (daughter of Sita Bamberger) set precedence as the first Sinti to receive a college scholarship as Sinti, due to th
research done by Dr. Ian Hancock
that showed the origin of Roma to be in India, therefore allowing Sinti and Roma to be classified as Indian.

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bamberger, Jakob 1913 births 1989 deaths Dachau concentration camp survivors Flossenbürg concentration camp survivors Buchenwald concentration camp survivors German Sinti people Romani Holocaust survivors Sportspeople from Königsberg German male boxers 20th-century German sportsmen