Filip CapandastudentJan Patocka Grammar SchoolPrague Roms are a minority in the Czech Republic. According to them, they are discriminated against. I think that is true.But what if so-called discrimination is only an excuse for their slow integration into our society? Roms came here a long time ago. They led a nomadic style of life, and [...]
Stories & Responses
It was full of joy
Tereza RehakovastudentJan Patocka Grammar SchoolPrague This is my only experience with Roms. It happened when I was less than five years old. I lived in Smichov, where there were a lot of Roms. No Roms lived in our house, but the house across the road was full of them. Like all children I was inquisitive, [...]
I mustn’t become white
Zdenka SvobodovaJuly 2000Milan H. is a tall and well-built young Romany man. He is twenty-six, and works as a policeman in a town in Central Bohemia. I recorded this story while we were sitting in the kitchen of the council flat where he lives with his wife, who is white. At his request I am [...]
I have a heart, and it’s not Czech
Hanka KozurikovaLibice nad CidlinouI was born in Kolin in 1966 to Anna and Koloman Conka. They had already had two boys; I was their first daughter. My mom was from the vicinity of Poprad in Slovakia. The village where she was born is called Lucivna. A Czech historian of the Roms, Milena Hubschmannova, has written [...]
The totalitarian regime left its mark on me
Eva RidajováNové StrasecíThe totalitarian regime left its mark on my childhood. I come from a Romany family, and the totalitarian system aimed at eradicating Romany culture. As far as our large family is concerned, they very nearly succeeded. Our parents assimilated. They brought us up in the Czech way, as the regime prescribed. They [...]
We don’t understand that our indifference is racism
Katerina SidonovaPrague I have been interested in the Romany problem for more than twelve years. My friends and the people around me don’t understand why. Most Czech people tend to look at the Roma as something unpleasant. They always say, "I am no racist.” And “Yes, Roma are people too.” But: “I don’t like [...]
A lot of people have bad experiences with us Roma
Eva BajgerovaRomany Adviser to the Regional GovernmentUsti nad LabemA lot of people have bad experiences with us Roma. A man started a store with machines in our neighborhood. Machines for sawing lumber and all that. He repaired the house, and had a new façade put on. Romany kids were playing [...]
You got him moving
[8/6/01The following exchange between a Romany adviser to a Czech regional government office and a Jewish survivor of Terezin and Auschwitz focuses on the fact that some seventy per cent of Romany children in the Czech Republic have been placed in so-called special schools for the mentally retarded. This is an issue which the 27 [...]
Listening to stories wasn’t enough for them
Eva BajgerovaRomany Adviser to the Regional GovernmentUsti nad LabemThere is a very large Romany population in Predlice near Usti nad Labem. People say: "Don’t go to Predlice, it’s full of Gypsies; something bad could happen to you.”I go to schools to talk with students about Roma.I tell them about my life. It’s best to [...]
We don’t know them
Anna StepankovaGymnazium Jan Patocka PragueWhat is my attitude towards Roms and skinheads? I don’t know, in fact. When I see a group of Roms or a group of skinheads, I cross the street to avoid them. For me it is the same with Roms and with skinheads. I have no experience with skinheads, I [...]
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