Formation of the Center for Research on Racial Hygiene and Demographic Biology

German physician and child psychiatrist Robert Ritter was appointed to lead a new eugenics research center in June 1936. Ritter and his small staff visited Romani communities and the so-called “Gypsy camps” opened by authorities to segregate Roma and Sinti. They collected genealogical information, physical measurements, blood samples, and criminal records. Ritter used this information to inform his racial theories and racially classify thousands of people. He also created extensive genealogical charts and family trees. German authorities would use Ritter’s work to identify, locate, and persecute Romani people in the coming years.