Tibor Cico

Tibor Cico (born 1930, Pavlovce nad Uhom, Michalovce district) was a basket maker. His father abandoned the family for another woman and the grandparents cared for the mother and children. Cico’s two older siblings became ill and died during the war. Tibor Cico remained with his grandfather even after his mother remarried; it was from him he had learned how to weave baskets. When his grandparents died at the end of the war, the mother and stepfather took care of the boy.

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Testimony origin

The interview took place at Tibor Cico’s home in the presence of some Roma studies students[1] drawn by an interest in the recollections of those who had lived through the war, and by the intention to purchase baskets for the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno. When many Roma lost their jobs following the fall of the Communist régime in 1989, they tried to return to traditional crafts – among them Tibor Cico. It is possible that in his memories of the war he confuses conscription in labour camps organised by the Slovak authorities with forced labour (chiefly digging trenches) imposed by the Germans on the Roma after the beginning of the occupation of Slovakia. He was still a boy at that time – nine years old at the start of the war.

In the introduction to Tibor Cico’s reminiscences the editor mentions the role of the municipal authorities responsible for choosing the Roma destined for deportation. Theirs was the decision about which of the so-called g*psies or anti-socials should be sent to the labour camp. In some municipalities the notary, mayor and members of the Hlinka Guard passed this duty on to the Roma chief,[2] who however often tried to protect his own relatives. If the duty was not fulfilled he was punished by the non-Roma authorities.

Conscription into the first east Slovakian labour camp of Hanušovce nad Topľou took place at the beginning of July 1942. Preparations for the intended extermination of the Roma of Pavlovce by the Germans took place in autumn 1944.


[1] Names not known.

[2] This was the Roma who was the mediator between the local majority population and the Roma in the settlement or community.

Where to find this testimony

Milena Hübschmannová (ed.): ​„Po židoch cigáni.“ I: Svědectví Romů ze Slovenska 1939 – 1945 (“After the Jews, the Gypsies.” Testimonies of Roma from Slovakia 1939 – 1945)

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