A film by B. Rychik for Czech Television.
Although
it is acknowledged that the Gypsies were the victims of the Nazi scourge, this
downtrodden group has seldom told its story to the outside world. When seventy
year old Romany, Helena Malikova revisits Auschwitz where more gypsies met their
end than anywhere else, she shares with us her bitter memories.
The terrorist measures against the Romanies went back to a decree issued by the Reich President February, 1933, to the effect that the Romanies were among the "worthless" or "Gaunerpopulation." By December, 1938, Himmler had ordered the extermination of the Gypsy nuisance. Nazi doctors appraised each person for racial composition and determined who would go to an extermination center and who was to be crowded into a cold, barren work camp to suffer starvation and disease. The film also bears witness to the incredible disrespect the Communist regime had for the Romanies: a pig farm and a recreation center were built on the sites of the former concentration camps.
The Gypsies put their suffering into mournful songs which survive today. The film is laced with their music and their memories.
59 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $75.
Filmakers Library
124 East 40th Street, NY, NY 10016
Phone 212-808-4980, fax 212-808-4983
e-mail: info@filmakers.com