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Szczurowa 
 The barrow of the murdered Roma

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I'm standing at the cemetery in the village Szczurowa,

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near the grave of murdered Roma.

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In July 1943 Germans brought to this cemetery 93 Roma of various age

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on the waggons.

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They were adults, children and babies

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and they were shot here at this cemetery.

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Before this the members of local fire brigade

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were forced to dig a large grave here

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and later to dig those murdered Roma in.

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Roma lived in Szczurowa many generations.

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They formed a small community which lived outside the build-up part of the village,

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in a small settlement.

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At the time of the execution there

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were circa 100 persons.

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Someone managed to save themselves because, because they weren't at home at that time.

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And this place is important more tan another, because

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it is the biggest mass grave,

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which hides Roma victims on the territory of contemporary Poland.

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The first memorial in the world dedicated to Roma victims was also built here.

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This boulder, standing here,

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was unveiled as a memorial together with brickwork of this grave in 1966,

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it was an initiative of local government, former combatants.

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And the content of this inscription is also interesting,

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because here it is written,

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that it's a mass grave of 93 residents of Szczurowa.

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It isn't mentioned they were Roma, Gypsies.

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To this day I still think, how much

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this sentence stemmed from the fact that local people

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were strongly identified with the Gypsies,

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simply, that they were our citizens.

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It wasn't emphasized that they were Gypsies,

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that it was someone unfamiliar to this community.

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Documentation from the unveiling ceremony of this memorial has been preserved.

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We can see that it was a celebration organized by local political power,

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communistic power,

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and therefore a sign of the cross,

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which is so characteristic for Polish Christian culture,

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wasn't factored in this memorial at all.

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This cross was erected here only in 1993

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together with the board with the inscription saying that

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to the 50th anniversary of slaying of the Gypsies - Roma

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ethnic identity was given to the victims, they were Roma, Gypsies

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as they were called at that time.

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And the third part of this memorial,

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this mass memorial,

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is the board where all names, surnames and age of all murdered

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are listed here.

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As we can see, there are just a few surnames:

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The Bialons, The Ciurons, The Rakoczys, The Siwaks.

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Because gypsy families here were big,

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there were just a few surnames, a few big families.

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And the age of those victims was

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from several months to more than seventy years.

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This way is the history of this memorial closed.

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It was something extraordinary when it comes to the issue of Romani martyrdom.

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Transcription: Lucia Němcová
Corrections: Zdeněk Kovář, Vojtech Sloboda
Translation: Zuzana Závadská