My grandmother was born in May, 1902, in the Grun gypsy settlement of the Spisska Nova Ves region in Eastern Slovakia. She came from a large family. Her father, Josef Horvath, was a Romany musician, and her mother Marie raised the children. My grandmother Helena Horvathova got married very young: she wasn’t even eighteen. Well, […]
John Erwin
I was a revolutionary, but I know I did not keep my promise
Katerina SidonovaPragueIt was early in the winter of 1989. The Velvet Revolution had just got under way, and I was a student at the Pedagogical Faculty.I remember standing on a stage in a hall full of Roma. I don’t remember the name of the town where this meeting took place. I only remember that I […]
He lost his own life trying to save the violin that had been his livelihood
Milo Husár(written by Emilie Horackova, Prague Group)20 July 2000Jarovnice, Mocidlany, SlovakiaYou often hear that the Roma have an inborn sense of rhythm, and that they inherit an ear for music and talent for it from their forefathers. Every baby boy is considered a musician from the very moment he is born. Music means a lot […]
God was on our side/I’m a German swine/I was happy going to Auschwitz
Katerina SidonovaPragueWhen I would go into my father’s study when was a little girl, my attention was always caught by a picture hanging on the wall just above his typewriter. It was a very dark and gloomy oil painting of my father’s father: my grandfather. He was killed in the Little Fortress in Terezin. That […]
I spend the rest of the day cursing
Jan CernyUsti nad LabemJune 2000When I come to Maticni Street on this very nice late May day I just miss the postman delivering welfare to the local needy. Instead, I run into "Fig” Kurej, furious and cursing.He turned eighteen last month and is now eligible for welfare. He had to fill out loads of paperwork – and […]
It was like a performance, funny and scary
Author: Hana KozurikovaLocation: PragueWhenever our parents had a fight, my mother and all of us kids went to Lucivna in Slovakia. Dad never stopped us, because he knew that we would be back in a few days. He knew that Mom was missing her family, and that the fight was only a pretext for a […]
Czechs don’t know how to live in a democracy
MirekStudent, Business AcademyUsti nad Labemillmaic@post.cz. Sometimes a demented child is born to a white family. And sometimes a child is born among Gypsies who is able to live in our – not ideal, that’s true – society.It seems to me the way it is when you move animals into your flat. You can spend time, money and effort to […]
You have to get up in the morning and go back and go on working with them
Author: Workshop VLocation: EastWest Institute – PragueHelena JavurkovaCoordinatorThe Stories Exchange ProjectThe Drom Center in Brno, the Romany social and cultural center, is very active. But I also understand that people complain about what Drom is doing. For people who work for Drom it must be frustrating, because they try to do something and they’re alwaysbeing criticized, by […]
They don’t know how to discuss things freely
Jiri ImlaufTeacher of Czech Language and LiteratureBusiness AcademyUsti nad Labemin conversation withJohn W. ErwinDirectorThe Stories Exchange ProjectJack Erwin:What’s the good of having Eva [Bajgerova, Local Coordinator, The Stories Exchange Project] come to talk with your class, do you think?Jiri ImlaufI think our school system is still living in the past. I think we need every […]
Heda, Eva, and Janko make catastrophe dance
Black eyes, black eyes: Why do they cry? No one would give water to the black rose, But she goes on growing. Black eyes, black eyes: Why do they smile? The black rose is alone no longer: Her white sister is growing beside her. One next to the other, They will not let each other die. Jan […]
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