Jan Horvath Jr.KolinA Romany woman – I won’t name her – asked us to play at a party in her restaurant. We said we would, and agreed on a fee. The party was supposed to be in exactly a week.That day we came home from work, bathed, dressed and went to rehearse. At seven in the evening people started […]
Stories & Responses
To remember well, we have to know a lot more
A story and responses to it in Terezin, the former Nazi transport camp in the Czech Republic, during the opening session of ARTS OF TOLERANCE: a review of options for the Stories Exchange Project, 18-19 September 2000Zuzana PodmelovaLecturer, Jewish Museum, PragueTerezin servivorMy life was the standard life of a Jewish person in the Czech lands. […]
Why people try to make decisions about other people’s lives
Author: Lucie ConkováLocation: Usti nad LabemThough we have the same last name, I am not related to the Conkova in this story.I work in Predlice, a neighborhood in which the population is ninety-eight per cent Romany. When you go there, you are struck by the legacy of the past Communist regime. But recently things have […]
Pregnant women are sacred
Lucie HrdlickováPragueSeptember 2000In pregnancy a Romany woman has to cope with various restrictions. According to Romany tradition, pregnant women should not watch horror movies or wild-life programs. The Roma believe that if the woman´s attention were attracted by a monkey and she spent a long time gazing at it, her child would be ugly. At […]
How lucky I am to be doing what I’m doing
Ronan LefkowitzViolinist, Boston Symphony Orchestra [during "Arts of Tolerance” a series of workshops, performances and discussions organized by the Stories Exchange Project, 18-19 September 2000]TerezinCzech RepublicRonan LefkowitzEven before I heard all the details, I imagined exactly what they’re talking about here: the concept of sharing under great hardship, the life lessons that they learned. Zuzana […]
I started to record everything
Author: Lucie ConkováLocation: Usti nad LabemMs. Kondásová has had a lot of bad luck lately and nobody seems to want to help her. I was there when the last thing that she tells about happened. I was listening and boiling with anger."My neighbor Ms. Prosková bought my apartment. She bought it without me realizing it […]
Roms can be helped only by people from abroad
David FerkoUsti nad Labem I think that Roms in the Czech Republic can be helped only by people from abroad, by people in other countries who are interested in Romany issues.In the past the Czech state—the Communist state – didn’t care whether you’re Romany or not. Whereas now it’s difficult for Roms to join a wider community […]
I’m not a merchant: I’m a student!
Hana KozurikováBýchory11 July 2000In order to finish my third year at the School of Social Work in Prague, I had to work as an intern. The student social worker was supposed to accomplish two things: to learn a lot, and to perform a community service she could be proud of. I had always wanted to […]
I told him not to lie to my face
Author: Jan Horvath, Jr.Location: KolinTomás Slanina is twenty-two and lives in Kolín."I’m a graduate of hotel school, and one day I decided to go look for a job. I called about ten restaurants. Only two of them were looking for new employees, but both said that they would take me immediately. So I shaved, dressed […]
Even though our house had been destroyed
Author: Verka Dudi Kot’oLocation: OstravaMy Romany father told me this story. He is now sixty-two."I was born in Slovakia: in Snina, in Humenné county. I had nine sisters and brothers, and I was the second youngest. We lived in a house my father built. I have very bad memories of the War. When I was […]
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