Juraj Bučko

Juraj Bučko was one of nine siblings and he recalled that his childhood was not easy. He completed eight grades of school and worked from the age of fifteen; he and his older sister helped support the family. His father worked as a day laborer and on public holidays he played music to raise money, while his mother collected wood and sold it to ​“gadjos”.

During the war Juraj Bučko was in the army, stationed at the Polish border. He carried a weapon and wore a uniform like the Slovaks — green with a brown collar. The Jews wore blue uniforms, the Roma wore brown (“coffee”) uniforms and had to dig trenches. Other Roma from Slovakia, such as from Krupina, also wore green uniforms like the Slovaks. The Roma from the east were given ​“coffee” uniforms, such as those who were brought from Hanušovce.[1] The Roma who were given green uniforms fought in the trenches together with the Germans, but the Germans did not trust the Slovaks and eventually disarmed them. They scattered and Bučko made it all the way home. Some joined the partisans and Juraj Bučko joined Golian’s army.[2] They moved around the forests, lived in dugouts and were supported materially by peasants. He returned home on 16 February 1945.

[1] The labour camp at Hanušovce nad Topľou known as Petič. After the work on the railway ended in Hanušovce, the people stationed there were mostly transferred to another labour camp or to the ​“coffee / cocoa army”. The most destitute were released to go home. (ed.)

[2] The 1^st Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia was a military grouping of Slovak rebel forces and the main component of the armed forces of the rebels during the Slovak National Uprising.

At the age of thirty, Juraj Bučko completed his education and enrolled in an industrial school. Whereas one of his sons attended it as a full-time student, Bučko attended evening classes there.