– I am a gipsy, naturally!!
– And Hungarian as well ...?
– It’s a good question. I’m as much Hungarian as Gipsy. And I won’t give up on either of those. Both these cultures are dear to my heart. No one could love Attila József more than I do! Or Petőfi! Without Petőfi I wouldn’t have become a poet! […] 1:35:07
1:35:30 I am not worth any more or less just because I am gipsy or Hungarian. I regard myself as both. I’m happy to have been born here! As in Hungary you will find the kindest people in the world. We have wandered all over the place and here in Hungary they kindly welcomed us.
–What language do you speak back at home?
– Gipsy.
– And how did you learn Hungarian?
– It’s a good question!!I was brought up among Hungarians. We were the only gipsies there. My mother asked me very kindly, ’My dear children!’. No one in the world had such nice parents as I did! Best everparents, best ever siblings and best ever children! She didn’t have to threaten us or mention it again. ”Kids, you are at school all day long speaking Hungarian. You’re gonna forget thisbeautiful ancient language! At least here at home with each other!” My mother said it only once and I pronounced not one single Hungarian word at home ever.
Magdolna Fialovszky: I believe that it is glaringly obvious that if the gypsies’situation cannot get sorted out in Hungary, there will be a disaster! So if you should prioritise the tasks to be accomplished or the burning social issues, this has to be on top of the list.
Zsuzsanna Korosi: And do you see this happening?
Magdolna Fialovszky: I don’t see any serious intention on the part of the government to do this. There are some good initiatives but they may be either not well prepared or not profound enough. And the biggest problem is that there is no continuity in the long run. When new governemnts came into power, old programmes always needed to be scrapped as they weren’t good enough,and as a result, no programme was actually accomplished. And there is all the corruption and embezzlement that I haven’t een mentioned yet. If you think of the fact that there are about two million gipsies in Hungary today or even more, and it’s a young population, too!
Zsuzsanna Korosi: Twenty percent gipsy?
Magdolna Fialovszky: Well, it must be at least about 15 per cent. I’m not exactly sure if it is actually 20. But it increases exponentially. What are they gonna do with such a huge undertrained mass of the unemployed? I don1t understand how politicians can act so irresponsibly about it! It is going to spiral totally out of control, if it goes on like this! And there is no improvement only deterioration. And therefore it is a huge problem that gipsies don’t have their own cultural institutions, because it is only daily sustenenance, crime and poverty remains, only the negative aspects,and nothing remained that you could look up to, that could boost your confidence. And even if gipsies are non-existent on paper, they will persist in reality, as will unemployment. It is eliminated only on paper. I have rather radical thoughts about these things. And I regard what is happening as complete irresponsibility.
We settled down in Újkígyós. There they lived these nice peasants, very good people, bless them. We were the only gypsies. The village teamed up to help my parents. Each of my siblings was supported by an oppulent landowner, had them christened and as long as they had resources, they shared them with us.
One of the little stories started by my father riding a covered wagon, my father was still a traveller back then. My mother was sitting there, she was a vendor visiting the granges as quite a few children had to be sustained. My father was sitting on the ground repairing a drill. Maize barns and ladders were made with it. And my godfaher, Lajos Csatlós,bless him, was passing by. He stopped, went up to my father and said, ’Dear matey! How strange! What are you doing?’ My father replies, ’A drill, dear matey!’ (in those days they called each other like that, dear matey. (back in those days they called each other dear matey).and there they were, all these drills one next to the other. And my godfather considers them and says, ’That’s exactly the thing I need!’ ’Then it’s yours now.’
’Fine. But I’m gonna pay for it!’. ’Don’t even think of paying! It has already been paid for long ago! You know what, I’m gonna give you another one as well, if the first one breaks down, use that!’ That’s how their friendship started. ’If you don’t need money, I’ll give some fodder for your horse then! Come around to my house! or send you missus!’ And so he did. To cut a long story short, he did give fodder for the horse, what’s more, he loaded the bottom of the wagon with all sorts of goodies, food and drink. He gave fruit, ham and what not. That’s how they came to like each other. As it happened the same way in the old days, when they were still travellers: if they came to like each other, they stuck with each other.That’s what happened int he case of my father and godfather. And my godfather then said, ’All right then,matey, if you have a son first, I’ll christen him, if I do, you will. ’ then I was born and my godfather christened me.
He was born to Roma parents on 28 February, 1949 in Újkígyós. His forebears on his father’s side still kept the ‘vajda’ tradition. His father was a smith. His mother gave birth to twenty children, fourteen of them reaching adult age. He lived in Újkígyós and Medgyesegyháza during his primary school years and graduated from secondary school in Békéscsaba. At this point his writings were already published in national newspapers. No sooner did he go to Budapest to try his luck at the age of eighteen, than he found his mentors in contemporary literary circles. One of his first mentors and friends was the poet András Fodor. Norbert Siklósi, then chief director of the Newspaper Publishing Company, discovered him through a literary contest and took him on as member of a circle of Roma journalists, who were also provided with the opportunity to start their university studies. György studied etnography and history. He joined the public Roma initiatives of the 1960s, was one of the animators of the Roma Societies Scheme and a the founder of the World Association of the Roma in 1971. At the launch of the Roma local governments, he was elected the first president of the Budapest Roma Self-Government. Parallel to public representation, he devoted increasingly more time to salvaging the values of Roma culture. As a founding president of the Society for Roma Science and Culture, he launched the quarterly entitled Shared Path (Kethano Drom) in 1992. As part of the Society’s activities he organises cultural/literary events, international science conferences and, having identified a market niche, became a minority group publisher. His oeuvre comprises fourty volumes ranging from poetry and prose through collections of tales to etnograhic and autobiographcal works. He has been awarded a number of prestigeous prizes, of which he cherishes the Attila József Prize (2005) and the Baywreath Prize (2011) the most. He has got four children and eleven grandson.
