Author: Eva BajgerovaLocation: Usti nad LabemOne Sunday afternoon I was taking the international fast train from Ustí nad Labem to Brno. I slept the whole way to Kolín, where a group of three young people with backpacks got on and sat right behind me. They were talking very loudly, so I couldn’t help listening.They were […]
Stories & Responses
Mother, why did you abandon me?
David FerkoÚstí nad LabemJune 2000This is what my father told me one day about himself. "I will tell you the story of one boy who had it very bad. His parents were poor, and they lived in a hovel in Slovakia. It was cold there, everything was damp, and the beds stank. He was often […]
I hope that she’ll be strong enough
Eva RidajovaNove StraseciAugust 2000 We are a Romany family. Most people in the Czech Republic say that there is no racism or discrimination here. They only say that because they have never experienced it themselves. That’s is why they are puzzled when they hear that Czechs are racists.I too used to think that I would […]
This person I will talk to, that person I won’t
Author: Workshop VLocation: EastWest Institute – Prague[If we are going to apply methods of the Stories Exchange Project to relationships between Drom and the Romany community,] there are several Romany leaders in Brno whom we could involve. The problem is that there are groups of people that back up these leaders; they’re really like political parties. And […]
You can have a great influence
Helga Weissova-Hoskova Terezin survivor, Painter Jewish Museum Prague 18 January 2000 I have been invited to tell you about what I lived through when I was a child. Usually I speak to children. So I am a bit at a loss when I see so many adults. But I see many young people here, and so I […]
She paid no attention to us
Author: Emile KondasovaLocation: Usti Nad LabemI went to the welfare bureau with my pregnant daughter and her smallchildren. A woman there treated us very badly: she paid no attention to us.I needed to file papers for a housing allowance, and my daughter wanted to take care of her maternity support and child allowances. When it […]
She is free to choose a way of living
Emílie HoráckováMimonJuly 2000 The Romany people are divided into several groups, and each group observes certain traditions. This is a story about two young people who came from families to whom tradition was very important. Seventeen-year-old Tereza was sad about breaking up with her boyfriend. So her new hobby was to make boys fall in […]
You need one on your black snout!
David SvarcPragueAugust 2000It is March 21, 2000 and the Pocaply ESN school has organized a trip to the zoo in Prague. There are several classes on the trip, including the class of a fourteen-year-old Romany boy Jirka Paluska. The bus leaves for Prague and everybody is looking forward to beautiful experiences. Jirka, comfortably seated in […]
They liked my being so honest
Author: Eva BajgerováLocation: Usti nad LabemOne sunny afternoon we had my auntie Marta over. She is sixty-seven, and one of my dead father’s sisters. Sipping soda, she was remembering her youth."Evicka, my girl, life was much different when we were kids. Often we helped out on farms in return for bread, flour, lard, etc. : […]
Black eyes, why do you cry?
Author: Jan HorvathLocation: Stories Exchange Project Workshop #4EastWest InstitutePragueAt the third international poetry festival in Lanciano, Italy I competed with other Romanies in Europe and ranked third. I had submitted a poem which I wrote after visiting Auschwitz. I had many impressions from this visit, and I worked them into a poem about how Romanies […]
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