Pavlína Bartošová

Pavlína Bartošová lived with her family in the village of Majerka (today part of Banská Bystrica). She remembers that her childhood was difficult. She did not know her father, who was a musician and was killed in a fight while playing one evening. Her mother remained on her own with three children. Later she began to live with a gadjo, a roofer, but he too died, and the mother had to look after six children on her own. They were destitute, with the mother helping the local peasants in return for potatoes or maize. Pavlína and her sister used to go to the station in the winter to steal coal, which left permanent frostbite marks on their fingers and toes.

They were very afraid of the Germans because they stole, beat and raped. The Roma had to hide from them. Bartošová mentioned their green uniforms.
She remembered a situation when the Germans came in a tank, drove them out of their houses and wanted to shoot them. However, a rakľi (non-Romani girl) who spoke German stood up for them and saved them. Her brother was a member of the Hlinka Guard. They came from the Ukraine, and Pavlína had fond memories of them both. They also liked her brother; the local Roma helped him in the blacksmith’s shop, and he gave them fruit in return.[1]

What horrified her most was the raping. She recounted several cases of gang rape, from which her younger sister was not spared. As a result of rape, women were usually unable to have children after the war. One girl from Môlč was raped in front of her father while they were in the woods working for firewood, in spite of her age — she was only eleven at the time. She suffered lifelong consequences.

Pavlina’s brother was a partisan, and he hid at her house when he broke his arm. He later lost his leg and died as a result of the harsh conditions in the partisan environment.

The mayor of Majerka advised them to hide in the forest. Pavlína had two sisters, one at Hiadeľ and one at Mičina (Horná Mičina), and she and her family hid at the home of the latter for over a month. There were also Germans in Mičina, but they were not as vicious as those at Majerka. When they returned home, the found their houses razed to the ground. All they had left were the clothes they were wearing.

[1] Her siblings were supposed to be tried after the war for collaborating with the Germans, but local Romani people testified that they had been rescued by them and the trial was cancelled. (ed.)