Author: Martina Hudeckova/Zbynek AndrstLocation: DoubravkaZbynek told me his story one evening in the club room after a Romani youth meeting."When I was a kid I was interested in other cultures. I read lots of adventure and travel books. Most of all I was interested the Indians, and longed to meet them. When I got older […]
Stories & Responses
I too had walls in my head
Author: Honza Cerny/Iveta FoniokovaLocation: Usti nad LabemI first met Iveta last December: Martin Cichy introduced her to me at a Romani party in Trmice. Iveta is a student at the Lovosice High School. She lives alone with her mother in Usti and travels to the school every morning. She is about seventeen.At first she was […]
I became one of them
Author: Ivana SimikovaLocation: BrnoThis is my own story. It dates back to my childhood, and my memories of it are still vivid and important to me.I used to spend the summer holidays with my grandmother. The Romani population in her village was quite large and had a positive impact on the life of the place. […]
They went and sat up front
Author: Honza Cerny/Honza HusakLocation: Usti nad LabemHonza Husak is a Rom who lives in Teplice. He is about twenty-seven, and a very nice fellow. When I met him it was friendship at first sight. He had phoned to discuss a short-term association with our office and arrived shortly after that. He started gushing ideas about […]
Sebek, Leader of the Skinheads
Author: Michal SlavikLocation: Usti Nad LabemAt our last meeting in Prague in January we talked about collecting stories from the other side too. I managed to get a story from a skinhead. He is twenty-eight, lives in Bilina, finished high school in Decin and university in Prague, at the Technological University. He is an engineer. […]
Tears are our traces on this planet
Author: Vera Dudikot’oLocation: OstravaOn a train I met a sad-eyed old man. After a moment of silence, we started talking. He told me he was traveling to Pardubice to lay flowers on the grave of his daughter. She had married a professional boxer, and three years ago he beat her to death. The old man […]
I didn’t know exactly what to be afraid of
Author: Martin ZaplatilekLocation: BrnoThese stories were told by Hanka Veselovska, my pretty girlfriend: a law student.We were sitting on the floor in the kitchen/study of our little apartment in the largest housing development in Brno, drinking mulled apple wine with one of our friends who had been spending a few days with us.At first Hana […]
You don’t like what you see, right?
Author: Jan VeselyLocation: BrnoThis happened in the spring of 1996. I was serving my term in the army in the music group "Ondrás.”We had come to Písek to give a performance. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we had about two hours to kill. So we decided to get a drink. We found a […]
Why’d you gape at me like that?
Author: Michal KratochvilLocation: BrnoThis encounter with a Rom wasn’t entirely pleasant for me, but it taught me something about how Roms think.Late one evening I went to a tram stop. It was dark, the weather was nasty, and the stop was in the middle of a large housing development, surrounded by woods. It’s generally considered […]
How’s your leg, mother?
Author: Ivana Simikova/Julia and Marta KotlarovaLocation: BrnoJulia Kotlarova is my colleague at DROM, the Romani center in Brno."I was trained to be a hairdresser. After my training was over I worked for ten years in that profession. People liked me and I had regular clients: I gave them the love I feel for fellow creatures.When […]
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