The Broken Mirror

I don’t live with them; I don’t know them.

Ivana BroftovaSchool of Social StudiesUsti nad LabemI’m curious about one thing: who are they? What nationality are they? Where did they come from?There’s one Romany family in Vedomice where I live. I don’t see them very often. I occasionally see their four children. I don’t even know their names. I think they try to look […]

Who has a piece of the broken mirror?

Margita Reiznerova My father was a storyteller. When the adults came to visit, the children were sent out of the room, and the adults would tell each other stories — fairy tales. Later I realized how clever my father was: how he was using psychology. Of course the children would sneak back in and listen. My father […]

I not only see the reflection: I also see behind it

Location: Stories Exchange Project 2000 Workshop #2EastWest InstitutePragueStories Exchange Project 2000Workshop IIEastWest InstitutePragueJanuary 2000Martin ZaplatilekBrnoI think the mirror is a nice symbol of the unity among the people. On the other hand maybe I’m a little skeptical. It seems to me a little naive that in the future it can be good as it used […]

Each one of us is a piece of the puzzle

Eva SiedtmannovaSchool of Social Studies Usti nad Labem The problem of relations between races is very complicated, especially in our country. It’s a never-ending fight of white against black and vice-versa. Czechs suppress Roma and say that Roma are rubbish no one needs, rubbish that should be cleared away! I can hear all the angry […]

They gather like grasshoppers

Petra Richter BrnoThere’s not much to write about our family. It’s only my mother, my father and me. I have no brothers and sisters. I think it’s kind of a revenge—for no reason – by my parents. And all my grandmas and grandpas diedbefore I was born. So I have only aunts and uncles: nothing interesting. But […]

I wanted to be a Gypsy boy

Katerina SidonovaPragueWhen I was a little girl, my father used to come to my room every night as I was about to go to sleep and tell me a bedtime story. He told me stories about Janosik, a robber from Slovak mountains who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He told me […]

To retain your humanity in any circumstances

My grandmother was born in May, 1902, in the Grun gypsy settlement of the Spisska Nova Ves region in Eastern Slovakia. She came from a large family. Her father, Josef Horvath, was a Romany musician, and her mother Marie raised the children. My grandmother Helena Horvathova got married very young: she wasn’t even eighteen. Well, […]

It was like a performance, funny and scary

Author: Hana KozurikovaLocation: PragueWhenever our parents had a fight, my mother and all of us kids went to Lucivna in Slovakia. Dad never stopped us, because he knew that we would be back in a few days. He knew that Mom was missing her family, and that the fight was only a pretext for a […]

We Roms have opened ourselves up to you

ARTS OF TOLERANCEDiscussions, Workshops and Performances organized by the Stories Exchange Project in Terezin, 18-19 September 2000Session ThreeHana KozurikováNymburkTalking about these stories, how they help me get new opportunities – . Of course working on the stories helps me develop my own imagination, and teaches me to work and write better. But above all, what it’s given […]

He deserves our admiration, gratitude and reverence

Jan HorvathAugust 2000StudenkaThis modest and caring man is especially known to those of us who are involved in things Romany. A poet, humanist and writer, Vlado Olah was born to a musical Romany family in a Romany village near Presov in eastern Slovakia. From early childhood he experienced rejection and poverty in the Gypsy community. […]