In 1944, many Romani people from Kľačno, where Mr Cicko came from, left for work in Pezinok. The Romani people there broke rocks; the non-Romani Slovaks did not do this work, but instead worked in the vineyard. The Roma lived there in wooden houses.
One night, Gestapo officers came to them thinking they were partisans. They loaded men, women, children and old people into vehicles and took them by freight train to Pravna. They were locked up in a camp and not given food. It was already cold outside, it was about to start snowing and people were afraid for the children who did not have adequate clothing.
In the meantime, the Gestapo interrogated the Roma, asking where they were from. They were all afraid that they would be shot. In fact, the Roma were then ordered to dig a pit. They stood next to it, and if anyone wanted to, they could blindfold themselves with a scarf. There was loud lamentation as the Roma were already saying goodbye to their families. Then a new order came to release the detainees, saying that they were not partisans. One of the German soldiers then fired a whole burst from his machine gun into a large rock, out of spite because he could not shoot them.
