Mgr. Oskar Pompa

"Well, they were actually leaning on him, but he never joined the Party. I even remember walking into the bedroom at night, and he’d have the blanket over him, listening to Radio Free Europe... or what was it? Voice of America. He had to listen to it like that so the neighbors wouldn't hear. He actually told me they couldn't hear it – upstairs we had this drunk laborer, and downstairs a drunk forester. So we lived in a building with a mixed crowd. There was the intelligentsia, a few educated people, maybe three or four families living there. And then there were these simpler folks, and often they were drunks. So that's where we were. He was miserable in that building. He kept saying that if he had the money, he’d leave immediately, because there really were drunks both upstairs and downstairs. So my childhood is a bit scarred by that – I know what a drunk person is like, choking his wife or threatening people and shouting nasty words. Back then, those Communists would mix just anyone together. Anyway, he was listening to this radio, and that's where we left off... that they were pressuring him to join the Party. He never signed. Because of that, he also had a lower salary, didn't get bonuses many times, so they pushed him around like that, but they couldn't break him. In fact, they never succeeded. He always used to say, 'Those colleagues of mine, like Mečiar and whoever, were much worse lawyers, drank on the job and what-not, and yet they held positions and got somewhere and then did nothing.' So that boss of his, some Party member, kept giving my dad more work. He wouldn't give it to his own people; he gave it to those who refused, so they basically made them sweat just because he didn't want to join the Party." 0:21:43 – 0:23:45 Oskar's father refused to join the Communist Party, and his superiors made him pay for it

„Well, I perceived it in a way that... not like I’d really make a big deal out of it, but sometimes, yeah, it happened that... I don't know, we're playing football here on the pitch with the guys. We get into an argument with someone or whatever, so they’d throw that 'Gypsy' word at me. Something went down like, 'What, what, what? What do you mean, Gypsy? I'm just normal here, what, what?' Just stuff like that. Or... someone would make comments like that, but mostly I was quite popular, so it didn't really register with me. But then I already knew that I was probably a bit darker than the others. So I would trip out over it from time to time, just overthinking it, and I used to scrub my face like crazy with soap. Like a teenage fifth or sixth grader, I know I'd look in the mirror like, 'What am I, why so dark?' Even though it wasn't really that bad, I guess, but sometimes it happened that we were winning a football match or something and someone would instantly shout that at me. (And you didn't talk about it with your parents? You didn't ask them?) Well, I knew by then. So it kind of clicked that we go, yeah, I knew that we were, yeah. It's just that it didn't occur to me that I was somehow different. I thought, well, my mom is white, so I'm mixed or something, and that it doesn't really show. But yeah, from time to time it happened, and so I knew that...“ 0:30:15 – 0:31:49 Even as a child, Oskar was popular among his peers, though occasionally someone would call him a Gypsy

„So you have to control yourself your whole life. Because somewhere, there were some people who were a bit drunk or whatever... and suddenly, if I start talking a certain way... I could already sense others watching me, thinking, 'he’s a Gypsy, so he’s shouting.' So I was always polite because of that. Even when I was in a good mood, like in a pub where people were shouting, I was more like, 'quiet, calm down, guys, what's going on?' I didn't lose my temper like the others. Because I knew that if I lost my temper, others would start staring, like, 'there he goes.' Yes, they'd already be saying, 'there’s a Gypsy shouting here.' So I controlled myself. Yes, my whole life I've basically had it in me that I have to be polite, fit in, blend into the crowd – heaven forbid I cause trouble or swear out loud somewhere. You just don't want people saying, 'that’s a Gypsy for you.' So that control is massive. Constantly, you know? And on top of that, I’m a teacher, so I can’t just start shouting in the town square either. You see parents and kids everywhere, so I just can’t.“ 1:16:10 - 1:17:27 It’s in my nature to be polite, to fit in, and to not stand out – heaven forbid I cause trouble or curse out loud somewhere