"Zigeuner" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

short story by Harry Turtledove, first published in the September/October issue of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in August, 2017. It was reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. St. Martin's, 2018. It won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for best short form work in 2017. It would also be reprinted in Turtledove's short-story collection ''

The Best of Harry Turtledove ''The Best of Harry Turtledove'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by American author Harry Turtledove. It was first published in hardcover and ebook by Subterranean Press in April 2021. Summary The book contains twenty-four shor ...

'' in 2021.

Plot

The story is set in October 1944 during a different version of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, although those differences are not immediately clear. The POV character is Joseph Stieglitz, a Hauptsturmführer of the SS, stationed in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

shortly after

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

invaded the country and replaced Miklos Horthy with

Ferenc Szálasi Ferenc Szálasi (; 6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946), the leader of the Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement, became the "Leader of the Nation" (''Nemzetvezető'') as head of state and simultaneously prime minister of the Kingdom of Hungary' ...

. Stieglitz is hopeful that Szálasi and his Arrow Cross Party will be motivated to fight off the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

, which has just crossed the country's eastern border. In the meantime, Stieglitz is tasked with rounding up a village of

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

(called Zigeuner in German), in western Hungary, consistent with the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

's real life efforts to exterminate the Roma. It is revealed that the alternate timeline at play when a Hungarian driver describes

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's service in the Austria-Hungarian Army on the Eastern Front of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. As Stieglitz arranges for the Romani village's population to be placed on a train for

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...

, and, implicitly, their deaths, he further reflects on Hitler's antiziganism, which developed on the Eastern Front in part because of the efforts of Romani on behalf of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(who he reportedly saw stealing

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

wire and boots, leading to unnecessary deaths and injuries of German troops). Moreover, Hitler became sympathetic to the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

after witnessing the Russians abuse them. Thus, in this timeline, the Nazis are actually accepting of Jewish people, while the Romani, communists, and

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

s are the focus of Hitler's wrath. The story ends with the whole Romani village being deported. The narration reveals that Stieglitz is actually a secular Jew. He encounters a field rabbi, who reminds Stieglitz that their people have been made to suffer as much as the Romani have, and that Stieglitz could have just as easily wound up on the train. Stieglitz angrily threatens the rabbi, and then goes about his business.

Award Nomination

Zigeuner won the 2017 Sidewise Award for Alternate History Short Form award.

References

External links

* * {{Harry Turtledove 2017 short stories Fiction set in 1944 Fictional representations of Romani people Hungary in fiction Romani genocide Science fiction short stories Short stories about Nazi Germany Short stories by Harry Turtledove Sidewise Award for Alternate History winning works World War II alternate histories World War II short stories