Author: Jan Horvath, Sr.
Location: Studenka
It all started about four years ago in Brno, where my family was living at the time. In those days I was working with documents in the Museum of Romany Culture.
Someone came to see me and introduced himself as Adolf Vesely. He asked me if I could help him see how an ordinary Romany family lives. He told me that he had lived in France for many years, where he had also married a native Frenchwoman from Brittany. In his youth he had fled Czech communism and gone to Paris, since he didn’t agree with the policies of those who were in power at the time in Czechoslovakia.
He believed in freedom of thought, without any qualification.
He still lives in France and is in contact with the homeless. For a while he too lived under a bridge. Later he found steady work. He worked as an assistant in a hotel, as a maintenance man, and did odd jobs. There he foundthe love of his life, with whom he lived several years in Brittany, a region with a harsh climate.
After Russian soldiers invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1968 he decided to leave France forever with his wife and son Frank and settled in Brno, where his parents lived.
Of course I agreed to show him the life of the Roma. I too believe in freedom and love for decent, tolerant people.
Four long years have passed since then, and we have become true friends. Anicka Vesela and Adolf and their son Frank are one of us. They are people who don’t differentiate: they don’t divide people into white and black.
Fate brought us together. We have shared and are still sharing a beautiful friendship. We help one another.
That’s just a short story about human tolerance, love and friendship. It shows that if people want to recognize one another, nothing can stand in the way. In fact, just the opposite.
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