Living in the proximity of the camp
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Marie Kolářová, née Šimková, was born on 15 August 1929 in the village of Rozseč nad Kunštátem in Moravia. She grew up in a religious family, which made their living by farming. During the Second World War, her father František was mayor of the village. During the collectivization, the Šimek family farm was taken over by the local cooperative farm (JZD). In the summer of 1945, the Soviet army settled near Rozseč, in the former so-called Gypsy camp near Hodonín u Kunštátu. For several days, Marie and other young people from the area were cleaning up the place where Moravian Roma and Sinti had been interned from August 1942 to September 1943. In 1949 she married Josef Kolář, a bus driver, and together they raised three children. For many years they lived in Hodonín near Kunštát. Marie Kolářová used to help out on farms or at a children’s home. In the autumn of 2021, an interview was made with her to record her memories, in the area of the Holocaust Memorial of Roma and Sinti in Moravia in Hodonín u Kunštátu.
