Viktor Salinas

"When in moved to Litomyšl in Czechia, I began playing the trumpet. I had friends there with whom I played. I then went home to Levice, Slovakia where local white boys heard me playing. They invited me to play with them. I learned a lot there, among the big guys. And we were really good. In fact, we were so good that I even learned new Hungarian, Slovak and Roma songs from them. We played all of these songs. When Karel Gott released a new song, we would know to play it the next day. Perfectly. Everyone was surprised. I was the only Roma among non-Roma boys. All the others were gadjos. We called ourselves Tuláci - the 'Tramp Organization of Slackers". I played the trumpet, we had the piano, bass, drums... There were seven or eight of us boys, a female singer and I also sang. We would play even twice a week. We made good money. Back then we were able to earn 800 or a 1000 Crowns per day, which used to be a lot of money. But it was mandatory to be employed back then. Whoever wasn't ended up in prison; many Roma people did. The police would detain a Roma guy and the first thing they asked him was where he worked. They were also interested in what was the salary there. Had they found that the person wasn't employed, they detained him and gave him a beating."

"I was born in 1941. 'How was it possible?,' I asked my mum recently because she passed away not long ago, at 90 years of age. 'Mum, how did you manage with me being born in the midst of the war? In 1941, I've seen the movies - how is it possible?' My mum laughed at it. During the war, things were safe back home. The war was looming in other countries. But then the Russians began battling with the Germans at the Hron river, each at one bank. They couldn't get across. At that time, Romani people had already built their houses. But when I came home we saw them razed, all of them wrecked. Only a stable built by my grandpa was still standing, having concrete walls. We found shelter inside. After the war, it was my grandma, her daughters and sons, my mum, her children - all living in that stable. Later, grandma received compensation for grandpa. He was dragged to a concentration camp where he died. They gave grandma money. Enough to build a spatious house with a large kitchen and a room where we could all fit."