Emílie Horáčková

* 1964

  • "My father was a Czech Roma. In 1939 he was detained and deported. I don't know whether he went through the Lety camp but I have records saying he was in Auschwitz which he survived as the only one from his family. In August when the camp was being liquidated, he was transferred as a 12-year-old to Buchenwald and Dachau. He lived to see liberation of Dachau. He had spent some time in an orphanage, then some time in a family and then as an adult, he returned. His name was Horáček - the same surname I still have to this day. I haven't met his family since most of them were either gassed or died of diseases. He was twelve years old and was the only survivor."

  • "In 1989 when communism fell, both me and my husband were working in railway engineering and all of us were happy about the events. All of us thought: new age, let's go! Mr. Ščuka started his things, being a smart experienced lawyer. But after 1990, employment opportunities began disappearing. Ukrainian workers began appearing, working for lower pay illegally. The Roma no longer had jobs. It was a decline. Taking their pickax and shovel from them was the worst thing that could happen to them. In 1993 as Czechoslovakia was breaking up, there was a plan to resettle us back to Slovakia. They made such conditions, which were impossible for the Roma to fulfill, trying to deport us forcibly. Even I, a Czech-born and raised Czech citizen, had trouble ensuring I could stay. I never lived in Slovakia, my children were Czech and born in Prague. But even I had to request being relieved of my bond towards Slovakia."

  • "After the Velvet Revolution, at around 1991, I began my search. I went to the central registry in Prague where I filed a request, paid a fee and waited. Then I wrote to Czech Social Security Administration, searching under his birth certificate No. I then wrote to the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and waited. They gave me various contacts. I wrote to Auschwitz as well as to the Czech archive, and waited for about three years. In the end, I got a message from Auschwitz that his family died there and he was the only survivor. It mentioned my grandpa Eduard Horáček and said that in August, my dad was transferred to Dachau and then to Buchenwald. I even wrote to a German TV channel that I was looking for him. I thought he may have immigrated there. Then at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they told me how he emigrated. First to Austria, then to Italy, then back to Germany where he lived for some years. They gave me his last known address. Immediately, I wrote him a letter."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Mimoň, 31.05.2016

    ()
    délka: 
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

Ever since I was young, I have helped the Roma, trying to change their situation

Emílie Horáčková, mid-60s
Emílie Horáčková, mid-60s

Emílie Horáčková was born in 1964 in Prague. Her father was a Czech Roma and a concentration camp survivor. In 1968, he left the country and Emília failed to get in touch with him since. Her mother, a Slovak Roma, got married again to a Vlax Roma man with whom she had more children. Emílie grew up in the family of her uncle. Soon, she became independent and started her own family. She gave birth to a daughter when she was sixteen and to a son two years later. Shortly afterwards she and her family were provided a flat at Arbesovo náměstí in Prague and she began working as a cleaning lady. Due to the increased frequency of extremist attacks, in 1996 she moved from Prague to Mimoň. As an adult she studied at Charles University to become a social worker.  For twelve years, she had worked in People in Need as a field social worker in Mimoň. She ran for Parliament at the Green Party ballot. She is a member of the Roma women association Manusha. She lives in Mimoň.