 Between 1933 and 1945, up to half a million people, labelled as Gypsies, lost their lives as a result of racial policies enacted by Nazi Germany and its allies. The derogatory term Gypsy was used to refer to a large and diverse minority who self-identified as Roma, Sinti, Manouche, Yenish, or as members of numerous other Romani communities across Europe. Many spoke dialects of Romanesque, the Romani language.