"People were talking about equality - and the Gypsies were still in the same place they were before", 25 May 2015

This review is from: A False Dawn: My Life as a Gypsy Woman in Slovakia (Interface Collection) (Paperback)
Quite an interesting autobiography from a section of the community who have little in the way of written accounts: Ilona Lackova grew up in eastern Slovakia prior to World War 2. For me the most interesting part was that about her young life, and the Romany lifestyle of this era. Totally separate from their 'Gadze' (non-Romany) neighbours, who would scorn to enter a Gypsy settlement, the author describes this colourful people; quick to anger, yet always ready to look out for fellow Romanies, she recalls the music, the superstitions, the fairs....but also the poverty and the casual malice of the Slovaks.
With the War, and the notorious Hlinka Guards, Lackova recounts many sad tales, made all the more terrible by her casual style of narrative.
Later, under the Communist government, using the basic education she had gained as a studious child, she set about writing a play about the Gypsy experience. This brought her to the attention of the Cultural Department, who enlisted her as an official - something of a social worker - to report back on the Romany settlements, which were suffering more severely now than before. But she struggles to combine her challenging work and studies with family responsibilities and a sometimes resentful and drunken husband.
With several b/w photos. ( )