Ladislav Goral

“He came home as a partisan - he hadn’t seen his wife, children for almost three years because he’d been in the war, so he came to see his family. And presumably some adventurer, those helpers of Germany, simply, some Slovaks went and snitched on him that he was home, and so on and so on. Mum caught wind of it before the Germans came, that they were on their way, so he escaped through the window out into the forests and saved himself. But the family suffered, because they arrived and: ‘Where’s your husband?’ She said: ‘I don’t know.’ But it was no use, because they took Mum and then went to Nanny and Gramps. ‘Where’s your son?’ He didn’t know either. His boys happened to be at home - my three uncles and Gramps - so they took them, and to terrify them, so they saw that messing with them was no joke, they had to dig their own grave, and Nanny Goralová watched it all happen. They dug their own grave, then they shot them in the back of their heads, and Nanny had to bury them all.”

“In 1968 there was a competition in Brno where Romanies dance and sing. We were heard by the operetta singer Mr Novák, who was from the National Theatre or somewhere. And he said: ‘Boys, you’re good musicians, but you won’t earn a living like that.’ Because the new bands like Terne čhave and Surmajovci were starting up. He said: ‘Try reworking it into a cimbalom group.’ And in two months time Fečo learnt to play the violin in a terrific way. Well, and his family - uncle Pius from Karlín, his brother-in-law Míša Demeter, Ervín Polívka from Vysočany, and his brother Martin - they got together, and we went for it. He lived in Truhlářská [Street], and every Saturday from two p.m. to six, seven in the evening, before quiet hours, we played and rehearsed at his place.”

“Every nation has its own tradition, its own identity, its distinctiveness. To anyone criticising Romanis, I would recommend visiting India and getting to know the Indian life style. Indians enjoy a godly peace, they don’t chase after nonsense, they live from day to day, parents don’t go crazy when their children come home with a bad mark from school, professions are passed down from father to son... In short, the Doms of India are practically the same as the Romani who came to Europe.”

“It was necessary to have someone help organise the Romani school, so I set to the task with two of my colleagues. When the school opened on 1 September, we thought the Romani children would come rushing in - but there were just three of them! The opening ceremony was attended by various functionaries, so it was a disaster, I felt awful. But everything changed after that: we visited the families, woke the children up to go to school, we had to dress them at school, delouse them, wash them, teach them to clean there teeth, and so on. But today? It’s a fashion show now compared to back then.”

“[Q: Why did you start taking an interest in the Romani?] Because everyone should know where he comes from, who he is. When I asked my dad, where my granddad came from, his reply reminded me of a fairy tale. Then I went to the office and found out that my family goes all the way back to 1728, all the places where my predecessors lived, what their names were, where they came from... and that’s interesting! Like I say, know your family to know who you are and where you come from.”