Mr. Harčár

Harčár was still a child when the Germans came and rounded up the Roma. His 16-year-old brother was taken to a labour camp in Hanušovce [nad Topľou], but his father was not taken because the village stood up for him. He said that some Roma did not end up in the camps, if they behaved well and the locals stood up for them. Not even the father of Harčár’s future wife was taken. His mother tried to take food to the prisoners – she either managed to earn something during the fortnight or procured food in other ways. For example, she would go to glean in the fields, grind the grain on a stone which she had begged from a farmer, and in this way they got coarse flour from the grain, from which his mother baked flatbreads, bringing them to the camp. The journey took three days and nights by foot, sleeping outdoors. They were only allowed to go to the high fence, where they gave their relatives food, and were only allowed to talk to them over the fence. The men were naked, with only cement sacks tied around their hips. They ate potato peelings. If a prisoner didn’t work, the gendarmes would beat him with sticks.