Ilona Ferková

“They arrived in Prague with the army. When soldiers went home after the war, they stayed in Prague. They saw there was work and they went to ask into a construction company. They stayed, worked on construction sites, lived in a warehouse and this was where they were joined by aunt Irena, Tomáš’s wife and the sister of my father. When they delivered material to construction sites they learned there was a factory called Nábojka in Rokycany, that they needed people and even provided flats. The men went to Rokycany to ask, while my aunt stayed in Prague. They were recruited and they asked the manager whether they might be joined by a family from Slovakia. The manager agreed and the factory provided accommodation. But you know what it’s like, when one family comes, more join in. Gradually there were about five to six families: the Giňas, Mikos, Horváts and others. Many Romani people lived in the camp. Later, when men got married, they moved into the railway carriage colony. There were little flats made of railway carriages, or they lived in a former brick factory, that was where Romani too lived. They lived in such a place, railway carriages from one side, a brick factory from the other. They stayed until 1962-1963, when the colony was pulled down. Later they built the Jižní předměstí [Southern Suburb] school in that place.”

“I think my mother came from a poorer family than my dad. She was of five sisters and her father was a musician. My grandmother was a skilful woman, she knew how to take care of her family. She used to go begging, helped in the village. She said the Slovak woman used to ask her to do ironing for them. My grandmother was very pretty, she was fair and all the people in the village knew her. Her name was Maria but everybody called her Marička. When women in the village did their washing, they asked her for help and in return she was given cottage cheese, potatoes. Thus she brought some food home.”