1 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Bielcza Grave of the murdered Roma 2 00:00:23,610 --> 00:00:24,810 the village Bielcza 3 00:00:24,810 --> 00:00:30,600 Gypsies were settled in this village before World War I 4 00:00:30,830 --> 00:00:39,250 and it was right at the end of the 19th century when the Gypsies - Calderash Roma started to come, 5 00:00:39,500 --> 00:00:43,300 those who came from Hungarian region 6 00:00:44,140 --> 00:00:46,990 and they stayed in this village, they were 7 00:00:47,030 --> 00:00:51,690 welcomed really friendly by local Roma, 8 00:00:51,830 --> 00:00:56,110 so they regularly came back after several years. 9 00:00:56,330 --> 00:00:59,800 And interesting is that someone from Calderash Roma 10 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:05,790 accepted typical Polish farmer's surname Kwiek. 11 00:01:05,790 --> 00:01:08,250 It was popular in this neighborhood 12 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,600 and over time the surname Kwiek became very elite, 13 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:19,800 because the members of Kwiek family started to proclaim themselves kings. 14 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:26,670 Maybe in 1920 or 1921 first such a Roma from Bielcze 15 00:01:26,950 --> 00:01:31,850 proclaimed himself king of all Gypsies, all Gypsies in the world. 16 00:01:31,980 --> 00:01:35,650 We can say, it was grotesque situation a bit, 17 00:01:35,650 --> 00:01:40,800 but one of very famous prewar kings came from right from Bielcze, 18 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,570 King Michal II Kwiek. 19 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:51,170 When the war broke out, Germans forced 20 00:01:51,170 --> 00:01:54,240 a group of Gypsies - the Kwieks to settle here. 21 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,800 They simply detained them because they were nomadic Gypsies 22 00:01:57,850 --> 00:02:02,570 and they lived on the margin of the village in the barn of one reeve. 23 00:02:02,620 --> 00:02:08,600 It was a group of 40 or more Gypsies. 24 00:02:09,110 --> 00:02:16,020 One day in 1942 Germans ringed this barn and shot everyone. 25 00:02:16,100 --> 00:02:18,250 But not all who lived there, 26 00:02:18,250 --> 00:02:22,850 because some of them, mostly men, were working on the railway at that time. 27 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:29,820 Later, many years later, I met in Germany in Göttingen 28 00:02:29,970 --> 00:02:32,710 one of those who saved themselves - 29 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,200 Stefan Kwiek. 30 00:02:34,230 --> 00:02:36,690 He told me that, when he was a little boy, 31 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:43,520 his mum told him to go to beg something to the village. 32 00:02:44,540 --> 00:02:45,770 He went 33 00:02:45,770 --> 00:02:49,910 and when he returned after all day with the food he begged from people, 34 00:02:49,910 --> 00:02:53,020 all his family had already been murdered. 35 00:02:53,070 --> 00:02:55,200 But he later saved himself somehow. 36 00:02:56,370 --> 00:03:03,720 In the 1950s, local people initiated to 37 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:10,000 exhume Roma from this part of the village and then buried them 38 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:11,970 on so-called Biedacz. 39 00:03:11,970 --> 00:03:17,400 As it's seen, this grave is maintained by local people. 40 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:23,780 The family of these Kwieks is no longer living here, but people keep the grave in the good condition. 41 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:37,250 Here is written that it is a mass grave of Gypsies, 42 00:03:37,390 --> 00:03:39,310 the surnames are not listed. 43 00:03:39,310 --> 00:03:42,370 But I know which families they were, because 44 00:03:42,370 --> 00:03:44,820 I was searching it in the archives. 45 00:03:44,870 --> 00:03:49,970 After the war the testimonies of various crimes were written 46 00:03:49,970 --> 00:03:54,020 and there are several reports of residents in the archives. 47 00:03:54,070 --> 00:03:57,770 Firstly, they talk about what they 48 00:03:57,840 --> 00:03:58,710 remembered. 49 00:03:58,710 --> 00:04:05,570 Secondly, one of the rescued Kwieks also gave such a testimony 50 00:04:05,570 --> 00:04:08,600 before the German Nazi Crime Research Commission 51 00:04:08,710 --> 00:04:12,100 and thanks to his report we know the surnames and relatives of these people, 52 00:04:12,100 --> 00:04:15,820 because he named, this was my aunt, who had two kids, 53 00:04:15,820 --> 00:04:17,880 brother-in-law, who also had some kids. 54 00:04:17,950 --> 00:04:23,770 So, based on this testimony, we can learn 55 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,920 which families they were and how they were related, 56 00:04:28,070 --> 00:04:30,950 but they all were Calderash 57 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,450 and they all were from the Kwiek family. 58 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,250 Here we have very interesting and 59 00:04:48,250 --> 00:04:53,370 very nice way of memorializing of the drama of slayed Gypsies. 60 00:04:53,370 --> 00:05:02,750 There is the board on the church wall placed by the residents in 1973. 61 00:05:02,950 --> 00:05:07,740 All inhabitants of this village who died during the war are listed here. 62 00:05:07,990 --> 00:05:11,110 They died in concentration camps or during the bombing, 63 00:05:11,110 --> 00:05:16,020 or in the period of local executions, in the period of war as soldiers 64 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:22,000 There are listed names, surnames and years of their life. 65 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,540 Although people didn't know much about Gypsies, 66 00:05:25,540 --> 00:05:27,280 it is very nice that 67 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:29,830 among all these inhabitants there are 68 00:05:29,870 --> 00:05:34,450 also mentioned 41 Gypsies of Kwiek family 69 00:05:34,950 --> 00:05:38,800 aged 5 month to 69 years. 70 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,820 So, the residents had to know these Gypsies quite closely 71 00:05:42,820 --> 00:05:44,770 during the time they lived here, 72 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:49,390 as they knew how old they were and that they were the Kwieks. 73 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:03,840 Transcription: Lucia Němcová Corrections: Zdeněk Kovář, Vojtech Sloboda Translation: Zuzana Závadská