Branislav Oláh

A: If you wanted to, you could tune in to Radio Free Europe or similar stations, but even television and radio in Czechoslovakia were already reporting what was going on. Because you could read between the lines, we knew that something was happening and, above all, we could see that the Berlin Wall was coming down. That is to say, the collapse of the system that we hated and that was not good for us was coming. And that was such a general mood in those socialist countries. We were quite well informed. That's why I was maybe one of the first to organize people in high school that we were going to Zvolen for a demonstration that was going to take place. In the end, one hundred and five of us from that school came together. We went there, we even visited the high school in Zvolen, where we went to see the students, who told us that we were not eighteen years old, that they couldn't do it, that it would be as if they were baiting us to do it. But they gave us some promotional materials, we met with the committee who they had elected there. I mean, it was such a hectic time. We participated in that as well. Even though we were threatened by the professors at the school or the masters of training that they were going to chase us away with airplanes and that the batons were going to come and so on, and that we were going to be thrown out of the school. That it would impact anyone who would go..."

A: So I also managed to capture some of those testimonies, from people who did not personally survive, but it was their parents, and they were children. So I have also contributed in a small way so that it is not forgotten. Because the word Ma bisteren! is Don't forget! It's very important that we the people don't forget that history. Because as they say, when we forget history, we are forced to relive it. And we probably wouldn't want that. It is very important for us Roma people, because this topic, especially for young people, is something they have never encountered. For example, I gave lectures on the Roma Holocaust in primary schools in Žiar nad Hronom. And it wasn't for Roma children, it was for all children, eighth and ninth graders. I was shocked at how little they knew about it. Terribly little. The information is really quite sketchy. They have an idea who Hitler was, but nothing else. When I talked about what was going on, they were completely shocked when I showed them pictures, for example... and things like that. They were shocked, but I liked to shock them into thinking about it, to make it stay with them. Because I also came across the fact that there was a young boy who was clearly showing based on his clothes and appearance that he was one of those right-wing extremists. But when I talked about it, all eyes were on him. Those kids from the desks at the front, he was sitting in the last desk by himself, they were all looking at him, that what's his face. The boy put his head down, he was red and he couldn't even look at me. So I guess it made sense to me. If he was ashamed of it, it's a way of making him realize that what he professes is not good, that it's evil."