Zdenka SvobodováPragueJuly 2000I heard this story from Tomáš Szalay, an eighteen-year-old student whom I met at a festival of Hungarian films. Afterwards we sat down in a park on the Kampa and had a chat in Hungarian – a language in which the word "Gypsy” does not have a negative connotation. “I was born in the Czech […]
Stories & Responses
I’d lost my taste for apples
Emilie HoráckováPragueJune 2000 It was a beautiful morning. I had had a good sleep. The sun was pouring its warmth all over the countryside, and I was in a good mood because I didn’t have to go to work. I enjoyed that feeling a lot. I made some coffee and was thinking about cooking lunch […]
Romany families can be decent like anyone else
Kveta ConkováPragueJuly 2000Jana was a beautiful girl from a Czech family. She lived with her mother, stepfather, and an older and a younger brother. Tthough her parents were divorced, Jana grew up in a peaceful household. She still gets together with her Dad and his second wife, who has always treated her husband’s children with […]
Mind your own business, nigger!
Michal BasikRoztoky, near PragueJuly 2000The story I’m about to tell you isn’t very nice, even though it’s about me.It happened one summer about twelve years ago. My father, my stepmother, my sisters and I used to go every year to Mostek, in eastern Bohemia. There wasn’t anything unique about it. We would go mushroom-picking, look […]
I did not keep my promise
Dezidor Lacko [written by Hana Kozuriková]Jarovnice, Slovakia August 2000My daughter Darina was very pretty. She had long wavy hair and full lips. She had her first baby when she was sixteen, and by the time she was thirty she had eight children. She looked after them all. She was also a good housekeeper and a […]
You can always count on us
Zdenek Ridaj Nove Straseci July 2000 I come from a Romany family. We’re seven brothers and sisters. I’m the eldest. These days, children and young people are in danger of drugs. Unfortunately, it struck our family, too. I was trying to decided whether I should write about this and finally decided that I would: it’s an important […]
Guess what I have in my backpack, mate!
Zdenka ŠímováNymburkAugust 2000Mrs. Vejtrubová works in the social department of our district council. Through her work she often meets Romanies and she has told me a few stories drawing on her practical experience with them. I probed further, wanting to know whether she had also had some experience with skinheads. In response to that question […]
People can’t look down from the heights
People Can’t Look Down from the HeightsInterviewer: Kveta ConkováSpeaker: AnonymousPragueJune 2000 It all started in 1997 when I was eighteen. I had a job that I really liked. I worked as a clerk in a small electronics store. I would go to work each morning, and was happy all day long. When I came home […]
Cheerio!
Olga FecovaPragueAugust 2000One day an old Romany village woman decided to get some shopping done in the nearby town. She got in the bus and a few minutes later she was downtown shopping. Excited by the traffic and lively atmosphere, she bought just about anything that attracted her attention. After an hour’s shopping spree the […]
The Change
Emilie HorackovaMimonWaist-long golden hair and eyes like the sky: I longed for this beauty. I wanted people’s hearts to melt the moment they saw me. I wanted to change at any cost.I wanted to change, and change I would!I invoked both God and the devil to come and grant me what I asked."I want to […]
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