Roman Šarközi

Roman Šarközi grew up in a settlement near the town of Svätý Kríž (since 1955 Žiar nad Hronom), in central Slovakia, where in October 1944 the partisans were attacking the Germans. Although the Roma had nothing to do with the events, the municipality and the local judge blamed it on them without conducting any investigation.

Roman was thirteen years old when a drummer came to the settlement and told the residents that they could evacuate to [Banská] Bystrica. Those who did not want to leave did not have to. The Šarközi family, except for their eldest brother Emil, who was serving in the army, went with all the other Roma. However, those who were well-known local musicians went only part of the way, and then they returned. At four o’clock in the afternoon, German soldiers came to the settlement, occupied it, doused it with petrol and set it on fire. Those who remained in the settlement were burned alive, including members of his father’s family — all four sisters were murdered, together with their children. One woman who played the violin in town managed to escape.[1] She asked a member of the local council for shelter, but she was afraid the Germans would kill her on account of it. The woman therefore headed to Loveč, where a local farmer saw her burns and took her in a wagon to see a doctor in Kremnica. However, German soldiers checked them at Štubno and when they saw that she was a Romani woman, they forced her out of the wagon and shot her. Of her family, only one boy, who was serving in the army at the time, survived.

At the time of the incident, the family of Roman Šarközi had been travelling for about three days in the direction of Dúbrava, Budča, Zvolen and Bystrica. The non-Romani inhabitants went with them. On the way, a German plane fired at them and they had to hide from it in the forest. In Kremnica, the Germans caught them, took them to Štubna and beat them. Then they were transferred to Martin, where they detained the father and brother and took them to [a labor camp] in Dubnica nad Váhom, while the other family members were allowed to go home. They went back in the company of a Slovakian German he called ​“Krekáč”[2], but the man led them into a wood and was going to shoot them. Šarközi’s grandmother spoke German and understood what was going on. A German from the Reich came there, and when he saw that they had permission from the Martin authorities, he sent ​“Krekač” away and allowed them go home.

But there they found only burnt houses and murdered people. Only they and their mother remained. The walls of their house were left standing, and they used them to build a hut out of wood.

On their return from the camp[3], his father and brother told about the work and the beatings there. They said they had to sing, and if they failed do so, they were beaten up.

[1] This is the same woman as in the recollections of the survivor’s brother Emil Šarközi [see his testimony in the database].

[2] First name not given.

[3] The year was not specified.

The judge who decided the fate of the Roma from Žiár nad Hronom became a notary after the war. A Communist named Morat[1] tried unsuccessfully to obtain justice. Acccording to Roman, one of the members of the committee[2] said that the members of the Hlinka Guard should not all be condemned out of hand, saying that some of them had been partisans.

A memorial was supposed to be erected at the site of the tragedy, according to the survivor, but the plan never came to fruition. ​“The Roma will never gain respect,” he said.

[1] The first name was not specified

[2] No more details given.