Customer Reviews

A False Dawn: Volume 16: My Life as a Gypsy Woman in Slovakia (Interface Collection)

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Elena Lackova was born in the Northeastern region of Slovakia, a wild and ancient region settled long ago by Saxons and later, Hungarians. The Slovaks made up the peasantry and--as Lackova tells it--the Roma (Gypsies) were the underclass, at turns serving and being oppressed by every other social class/ethnic group. Lackova's voice is not as historical as it is personal and the book is not traditional history but rather oral history, historical events as lived by Lackova, her family and her settlement. The stories offer a series of impressions at turns shocking, humorous, joyful and sad. The reader can gleam a lot about Roma culture from Lackova's memories, about the struggles and setbacks but also the patience and humor of a much maligned people.

I spent the last two years in Peace Corps Slovakia and can best describe the situation of the 500,000 Slovak Roma as a kind of de facto apartheid. In Slovakia the "townships" are called settlements, and Lackova points out a fact scarcely recognized in modern Slovakia--that settlements were created in World War II through zoning laws inspired by the fascist-leaning Slovak government. Those familiar with South Africa will find other simularities, as well, including linguistic/educational oppression and routine police brutality.

Ilona Lackova's book bravely sheds light on a deep problem urgently demanding redress.