Life was harsh and Roma people had almost no rights.
Stáhnout obrázek
Mrs Kornélia Hlaváčová was born in 1938 in a Roma settlement next to small village Roštár located in the Rožňava district, Slovakia. She lived together with her parents and 7 siblings in the settlement separated from the village. The settlement was created by Roma felling surrounding forest, and from wood and clay, they built small huts usually consisting of one room. She only attended elementary school, not even on a regular basis, since when she was 10 she was already helping her mother with household and taking care of younger siblings. Her mother was working as an auxiliary staff in families of smaller village landlords. The only one, who properly finished his studies (grammar school and university) was her youngest brother. In her 16, she began to work as a helper during the construction and extension of the paper mills in Slavošovce, later as a worker. From childhood, Mrs Hlaváčová has been encountering racism and discrimination. During the WWII and shortly after the war, according to her, the Roma people did not have any rights. During the socialistic and totalitarian era, the Roma´s rights improved, but racism and discrimination largely remained. Mrs Hlaváčová´s been working in many places in the Czech and Slovak Republics as a worker and with her husband raised 4 children. Shortly after the Velvet Revolution, she became an entrepreneur; she sold clothes and general merchandise from her home and then on doorstep selling basis. Since she was successful with these activities, she opened her own shop, which she in her retirement age left to her daughter. Currently, she lives in a multigenerational house with her son and grandchildren.