Rigo Reinhardt

Rigo Reinhardt was born on November 17, 1931 in Stuttgart to the bandleader Rudolf Reinhardt and his wife Anna. He had five siblings: Siegfried, Herbrecht Josef, Martin, Margarete, and Adolf. A family friend has told of the great musical talent of all the family members and their harmonious life together. Hardly anything is known of Rigo’s short life, not even the school he attended. As Sinti, Rigo and his family were persecuted in the Nazi period. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, “gypsies” were no longer permitted to move around freely. On October 17, 1939 the “Festsetzungserlass” was passed, a decree which meant that they had to stay where they were. In 1940, the Reinhardt family could move to Munich. Their last place of residence was Perlacher Straße 100 (today Sintpertstraße 9-15), in a garden allotment settlement. In 1942 Rigo’s family was split up. His father Rudolf Reinhardt was deported to Flossenbürg concentration camp in the summer; the SS then murdered him just a few months later. In the same year, Rigo’s siblings Herbrecht, Martin, and Margarete were committed to reformatory homes. On March 8, 1943 the Munich criminal police rounded up Rigo’s mother Anna Reinhardt, Rigo himself, and his brother Adolf and detained them in the police prison in Ettstraße. Five days later they were transferred to the “gypsy compound” at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. Rigo’s siblings Margarete, Siegfried, Herbrecht, and Martin were also deported there. The conditions in the “gypsy compound” were horrific. Most of the detainees starved to death or fell victim to the deliberate shortage of supplies and medical help. Rigo died aged eleven in spring 1943. His mother and siblings also perished during the genocide against Sinti and Roma. (text Sarah Grandke, editor C. Fritsche, translation P. Bowman)