Zdena Grundziová

* 1962

  • "I still lived in that village, in Levonice near Postoloprty, when the occupation was going on. I remember as a girl that the Russki came and asked my father for 'vodka'. We were afraid, they had armoured cars. They announced on the radio that the Russki were there. We were afraid, we were the only Roma family in that village. Dad remembered the war, that's why we were all afraid. Then they knocked on our door and asked for vodka and if dad had a bacon. Dad had vodka because he used to burn it. He had a couple of bottles at home, he took them out. They ate, mom cut it up on a tray. We held the gate, dad went out and was at the gate. I was very hyperactive, and my mom said: 'Don't go in there, stay here.' They were talking with my dad, drinking vodka, eating bacon and asking him if he could play the violin. Dad said: ‘I cannot play the violin.’ The Russki said: 'What kind of gypsy are you if you can't play the violin? I know gypsies play the violin a lot.' I remember dad laughing. Then the Russki thanked him and left. We closed the door right away. My mother put some curtains on the windows. We didn't use curtains in those days, she'd throw a rag in. ‘Don't go out now, you don't know what's going to happen!’ She had it memorised from the war that everyone hid. She remembered it a lot in 1968."

  • "I went to camp once. It was from social services. Back then they gave - like now, when you have vouchers. They used to give vouchers like that. It was from the social services, but they were collecting from Králův Dvůr, Počaply... they were collecting Roma women from the Beroun district. We were at the camp, but they were also instructing us. Doctors went there, a doctor from gynaecology. We learned... She drew us what it looks like in the belly, where the baby is. When it was born... We had a bath, we bathed the doll, we changed the baby. They'd ask us what kind of powder we'd wash the diapers in. If we remembered. What we didn't know, she'd explain what to do, what to watch out for. That's how they taught us. We were from different districts. We had some art classes, we had a seamstress, we did embroidery, we learned stitches. We embroidered on the canvas. That was a kind of net that you embroidered on. We for instance drew something on paper and embroidered it. We were also given printed fabric to embroider on." - "How old were you then?" - "I was eleven at the time. I guess I was picked out because I could talk, they picked me out of that social office... There we checked the rooms, who cleaned up how, how the girls kept their hygiene. It was a lot about hygiene. If the girls brushed their teeth, we checked for lice. We were from different districts. A couple of girls got lice because they borrowed combs. It was the women's fault... they should've checked their heads. Then the girls were walking there in hoods. There were only two of us from Beroun."

  • "The teacher was so strict. He was my class teacher. When we had classes in the afternoon, I used to see the kids, the girls from the special school. There was a special school near the elementary school by the church. I used to talk to them. He walked through there and in an arrogant tone told me what I was doing there among them, that I had no business being there. Told me to go to school, to class. We had afternoon classes, there were still few hours left. I was so disappointed. I said, what does he want? And he repeated it to me in class in front of the kids. So rude, so arrogant. I was scared, I didn't understand him. He was shouting something. And instead of saying: ‘Excuse me?’ I said: ‘What?’ And he said I was vulgar. He had this thing for gypsies. He didn't literally say it, but he acted that way. I don't know what went through his head. Maybe he was like that, I didn't know him that well. I came home crying, told my dad. He asked me how it went at school. I said: ‘That teacher is weird, he snapped at me in front of the kids. Our Roma girls were there too. And he scolded me that I had no business being around them.' And dad said: ‘No way. Nobody's going to be rude to my daughter! I will go to the school.’ I begged him not to go. He said: 'No, no, no!' He took his cap and went to the principal. He asked him why he came, what was going on. Dad held my hand, took me to the principal's office. I had to repeat it. Then they invited the teacher on the carpet and I don't know what they said to him there. Then I was in class the next day. I forgot some pencils to draw with. The teacher said he'd lend me the pencil. Suddenly, he was very kind. I guess the principal scolded him, told him not to make differences."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Praha, 17.01.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 02:00:57
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

„Where do I belong?! I was born in Bohemia!“

Zdenka Grundziová in 1980s
Zdenka Grundziová in 1980s
zdroj: archiv pamětnice

Zdena Grundziová was born as Zdena Kroková on 6 January 1962 in Frýdlant, Bohemia, as the sixth and youngest child. Her parents, Augustin and Marie Kroková, had come here several years earlier from the eastern Slovak village of Koprivnica, where they lived in very modest conditions. Shortly after Zdena‘s birth, they moved to the village of Levonice near Postoloprty in the Lounsko region, where they worked in the JZD. Here they experienced the arrival of the occupation troops on 21 August 1968. Shortly afterwards, they moved to Popovice near Králův Dvůr, his father worked in the ironworks in Králův Dvůr, his mother again in the JZD. Zdena was very active at primary school in various clubs, she strived for good school results. However, she was not accepted for the apprenticeship in seamstress, where she applied, and instead she became a record presser in Loděnice. Shortly after her apprenticeship she became pregnant and after the birth of her son Robert she married Alexander Grundzi. In the 1980s, she worked as a crane operator in the ironworks in Králův Dvůr. After 1989, she worked with disabled children, founded the Romano Dživipen association, supplemented her education with courses and began studying at a social-legal school. She worked for the Občanská poradna and the Probation and Mediation Service, and is still actively working for the Roma community in Beroun.