Glossary
The purpose of the glossary is to explain and introduce terms, persons and events that relate to the wartime experience of Roma and Sinti and appear in the testimonies in our collection. Each entry is accompanied by the name of the survivor and the number of the testimony in which the term, name, or event is mentioned.
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A
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Arizona
Arizona – one of Prague's emergency housing settlements for people evicted for non-payment of rent, started to be built in Jinonice in 1930. The thirty-five simple wooden houses were demolished in 1955.
- František Vrba - 484
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Auschwitz
Auschwitz, Polish Oświęcim - a town in Poland. In 1939 it became part of the territory annexed to the Third Reich and the Nazis built a complex of concentration and extermination camps there. Hundreds of Roma and Sinti from the Czech lands, most of them men, were deported by the Germans in transports as so-called "asocials" to the Auschwitz I concentration camp in 1940-1942. Most of the Roma and Sinti from the Czech lands, however, were transported to Auschwitz with their entire families in 1943 and 1944, when a so-called "Gypsy camp" was built in part of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp (see "Gypsy camp in Auschwitz").
- Božena Valdová - 340,
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342,
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Leon Růžička - 348,
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Aloisie Blumaierová - 352,
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Vlasta Danielová - 356,
- Tomáš Holomek - 374,
- Emílie Danielová - 386,
- Eduard Holomek - 416,
- Zdena Holomková - 420,
- Marie Nedvědová - 424,
- Hilda Laníková - 426,
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428,
- Antonie Kroková - 430,
- Anastázie Bystřická - 432,
- Pavlína Nováková - 456,
- Františka Zimová - 480,
- Helena Malíková - 490,
- Alžběta Danielová - 492,
- Antonín Vintr - 494,
- Zora Horváthová - 672,
- Jolanka Kurejová - 682,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- František Holomek - 721,
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378,
- Jan Bystřický - 1382,
- Elena Lacková - 1597,
- Antonín Murka - 6194,
- Anežka Klaudová - 1364,
- Anna Kýrová - 1367,
- Vlasta Danielová - 4801,
- Berta Berousková - 358,
- Alžběta Danielová - 418,
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Zdeněk Daniel - 26599,
- Božena Pflegerová - 486,
- Karel Holomek - 498,
- Antonín Hlaváček - 855,
- Helena Ondrášová - 27637
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Auschwitz II – Birkenau, B IIe
Auschwitz II – Birkenau, B IIe, see Gypsy Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
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Auxiliary Technical Battalions
Auxiliary Technical Battalions – PTP – detachments of the Czechoslovak Army, which in 1950-1954 organized the internment and "re-education" of so-called "politically unreliable" conscripts.
- Michal Demeter - 718
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B
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Banderites
Banderites – members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), an armed unit of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, or Stepan Bandera's faction, which was formed in 1942.
- Imrich Daško - 733,
- Vojtěch Fabián - 737,
- Ignác Zima - 946,
- Jolanka Kurejová - 682,
- Aladár Kurej - 28261
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Beneš, Edvard
Edvard Beneš (1884-1948) - Czechoslovak politician. In 1935-1938 and 1945-1948 he was the President of Czechoslovakia, and during the Second World War he was Prime Minister of the government-in-exile in London.
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Irena Tomášová - 670,
- Tibor Gombár - 452,
- Anna Růžičková - 849
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Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen – a concentration camp established in 1943 in the village of Belsen near the Lower Saxon town of Bergen. By 1945, over 100,000 prisoners, half of them Soviet prisoners of war, had died of cold, starvation and epidemic typhus.
- Leon Růžička - 348
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Blockälteste
“Block senior”, a prison official who was in charge of one of the blocks in the camp.
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428,
- Antonie Kroková - 430,
- Božena Valdová - 340,
- Zdena Holomková - 420,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Anastázie Bystřická - 432,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- Alžběta Danielová - 418
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Blocksperre
Blocksperre (from German) – a ban on leaving the blocks, used in the camps especially when the Nazis needed to carry out an operation without witnesses, e.g. to execute a large number of prisoners, to conduct a selection, etc.
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342
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Boda, Klement
Klement Boda (1908-?) – criminal inspector 1st class of the Brno Criminal Directorate. His superior was Councillor Josef Brixi, but both were under the authority of representatives of the German Criminal Police (Kripo), who supervised the deportation of Roma and Sinti and effectively decided on how it was conducted. In this capacity, Boda organized the transports of Roma and Sinti from the Protectorate to the Auschwitz II - Birkenau concentration and extermination camp; however, there are testimonies of Roma whose lives he helped to save by excluding them from the transports.
- Jan Bystřický - 1382,
- Karel Holomek - 498
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Buchenwald
Buchenwald - a concentration camp built in 1937 near Weimar. 240,000 prisoners, mostly men, passed through it.
- Božena Valdová - 340,
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342,
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Leon Růžička - 348,
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Aloisie Blumaierová - 352,
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Vlasta Danielová - 356,
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- František Holomek - 721,
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Antonín Hlaváček - 855
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C
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Carpatho-Dukla Operation
Carpatho-Dukla Operation, Battle of Dukla – offensive operation of Soviet and Czechoslovak troops in south-eastern Poland and north-eastern Slovakia in autumn 1944. It was intended to unite the rebel forces of the Slovak National Uprising with the Soviet armies. After the Germans succeeded in subduing the uprising the operation was halted and both Soviet and Czechoslovak troops went on the defensive.
- Bertín Demeter - 408,
- Otto Baláž - 436,
- Tibor Gombár - 452,
- Štefan Kočko - 454,
- Jozef Pešta - 466,
- Ladislav Tancoš - 474,
- Imrich Bílý - 705,
- Elena Lacková - 1569
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Cejl prison
Cejl Prison – a former prison in the part of Brno called Cejl, near today's Museum of Romani Culture. In 1784-1956 it was used as a prison, during the Protectorate it was used by the Czech Regional Court, but part of it was allocated to the women's department of the Gestapo and later the German Regional Court, including a separate German prison in the rear wing, also operated here. It served as a transfer station to other prisons or concentration camps.
- Pavlína Nováková - 456,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378
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Chicory
Chicory – a coffee substitute made from roasted chicory root.
- Irena Tomášová - 670
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Cocoa Army
Cocoa Army, see Coffee Army.
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Coffee Army
The Coffee Army, Coffee Company, Cocoa Army, Chocolate Army – an informal name for the compulsory replacement labour service for Roma conscripts in Slovakia during the Second World War, referring to the colour of the shoulder tabs.
- Elena Lacková - 376,
- Mr Fedák - 444,
- Vojtěch Fabián - 737
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Czechoslovak State Automobile Transport
Czechoslovak State Automobile Transport – ČSAD, a state-owned enterprise providing transport by buses and trucks between 1949 and 1989.
- Imrich Bílý - 705,
- Irena Tomášová - 670
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D
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Daniel, Jaroslav
Jaroslav Daniel called Slávek – a prison official in the so-called gypsy camp Hodonín u Kunštátu, known for his cruelty. From August 1943 he was interned in the Auschwitz II - Birkenau camp.
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378
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Dora
Dora – code name for the Mittelbau I concentration camp near Nordhausen. From August 1943 it was a branch of the Buchenwald camp, in October 1944 it became independent.
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342,
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Leon Růžička - 348,
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- František Holomek - 721,
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Zdeněk Daniel - 26599
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Dubnica nad Váhom
A town in the Trenčín region of Slovakia. The local munitions factory helped arm the German army during the war. Between 1942 and 1944, a labour camp operated in Dubnica, where Roma were also interned. In November 1944, it became a so-called holding camp for gypsies, where Roma with their entire families were imprisoned. Its capacity of 300 people was more than doubled. It served primarily as a collection point, and Roma were deported from there to other camps. As a result of the poor camp conditions, epidemic typhus broke out. On 23 February 1945, 26 sick male and female prisoners were executed near the camp.
- Štefan Dudi - 362,
- Anna Virágová - 478,
- Františka Zimová - 480,
- Vojtěch Demeter - 674,
- Vasil Demeter - 726,
- Juliana Demeterová - 714
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Dukla, battle
Battle of Dukla, see Carpatho-Dukla Operation.
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E
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Ellrich
Ellrich, in the testimonies as Ehrlich or Erlich – a subsidiary concentration camp of Mittelbau I (Dora).
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- František Holomek - 721,
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342,
- Leon Růžička - 348,
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709
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F
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Facuna, Anton
Anton Facuna (1920-1980) – an important Slovak Romani fighter against Nazism and an activist. After the establishment of the Slovak state in 1939, he was drafted into the Slovak army, deserted in 1944 and underwent training as a volunteer in Italy with the US army. Under the codename Anton Novak, he was a member of a paratroop unit organized by American military intelligence called Operation Day, with which he joined the Slovak National Uprising in the autumn of 1944. Co-founder and first chairman of the Gypsy-Roma Association in Slovakia (1968-1970).
- Anna Virágová - 478,
- Ján Cibula - 414,
- Jozef Abrahám - 434
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First Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union
The 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union, also known as Svoboda’s Army, was part of the Czechoslovak army that fought against the Nazis alongside the Red Army during World War II. The unit was formed in 1942 and became an army corps in 1944, when it also participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia and took part in the Slovak National Uprising.
- Elena Lacková - 1569,
- František Klempár - 450,
- Štefan Kočko - 454,
- Tibor Gombár - 452,
- Jozef Pešta - 466,
- Irena Tomášová - 670,
- Jozef Diro - 446
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Frank, Karl Hermann
Karl Hermann Frank (1898-1946) – as a member of the radical wing of the Sudeten German Party, he was elected to the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1935, and in 1939 he became Chief of Police and State Secretary of the Office of the Reich Protector. In June 1942, after the assassination of Heydrich, he ordered Lidice to be razed to the ground. After a failed escape from Prague, he was arrested by the Americans in May 1945 and handed over to the Czechoslovak courts. A year later, an extraordinary people's court sentenced him to death for war crimes.
- Berta Berousková - 358
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G
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Gottwald, Klement
Klement Gottwald (1896-1953) – communist politician, from 1929 until his death General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Prime Minister in 1946-1948 and then President of Czechoslovakia (1948-1953).
- Tibor Gombár - 452,
- Štefan Oláh - 460
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Gypsy Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau
The so-called "Gypsy Camp" in Auschwitz, Auschwitz II - Birkenau, B IIe - from February 1943 part of the Auschwitz II - Birkenau extermination camp. It was built in response to Himmler's "Auschwitz-Erlass", according to which all so-called Gypsies from the Reich were to be deported to Auschwitz. Approximately 22 000 Roma and Sinti passed through the camp, where the interned families remained together, mostly Roma from Germany, Austria and the Czech lands. The prisoners were marked with a black triangle sewn onto their clothing and the letter "Z" (German for Zigeuner) tattooed on their forearms. Only some of the prisoners capable of further slave labour were transferred from there to other concentration camps. Thousands of other Roma and Sinti perished either as a result of the appalling conditions in the camp or in the gas chambers. Then, on the night of 2 to 3 August 1944, the Germans murdered in the gas chambers the last three thousand or so Roma and Sinti still living in the so-called Gypsy Camp.
- Helena Malíková - 490,
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- František Holomek - 721,
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428,
- Antonie Kroková - 430,
- Eduard Holomek - 416,
- Alžběta Danielová - 418,
- Alžběta Danielová - 492,
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Zdena Holomková - 420,
- Antonín Vintr - 494,
- Leon Růžička - 348,
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Marie Nedvědová - 424,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- Hilda Laníková - 426,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378,
- Vlasta Danielová - 356,
- Jan Bystřický - 1382,
- Anastázie Bystřická - 432,
- Hedvika Heráková - 382,
- Pavlína Nováková - 456,
- Emílie Danielová - 386,
- Božena Valdová - 340,
- Aloisie Blumaierová - 352,
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Berta Berousková - 358
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Gypsy identity card
So-called Gypsy identity card – an identity card issued by the district authorities to persons on the basis of Act No.117/1927 Coll. on wandering gypsies of 14 July 1927, which was supposed to include "gypsies wandering from place to place and other vagabonds avoiding work who live in the gypsy manner, in either case even if they have a permanent residence for part of the year - especially in winter", but in practice it was also issued to Roma with permanent residency. Holders of the card were restricted in their civil and human rights, e.g. they were forbidden to enter a number of towns and villages in Czechoslovakia (including Prague or spa towns), their children could be taken away from them and placed in foster families or educational institutions, they were not allowed to carry weapons and they were listed by the criminal police.
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Anna Virágová - 478,
- Božena Pflegerová - 486
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H
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Harzungen
Harzungen – a subsidiary camp of the Mittelbau I concentration camp (Dora).
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342,
- Leon Růžička - 348,
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- František Holomek - 721
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Havel, Václav
Václav Havel (1936-2011) – playwright, essayist, dissident, critic of the communist regime, leading representative of the so-called Velvet Revolution in 1989. He co-founded the Civic Forum, on behalf of which he ran for the presidency, to which he was elected on 29 December 1989. After the break-up of Czechoslovakia in 1992, he resigned and served two terms as President of the newly established Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003.
- Vojtěch Demeter - 674
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héli
Héli (from Romani) – houses or settlement, a term used in West Slovakian Romani (from Hungarian hely meaning place).
- Bartoloměj Daniel - 360,
- Ignác Zima - 946
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Heydrich, Reinhard
Reinhard Heydrich (1904-1942) – one of the main organizers of the genocide of Jews and Roma, founder and head of the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst) and the Reich Security Office (RSHA). From September 1941, when he became acting Reich Protector, he promoted the plan to Germanise the population of Bohemia and Moravia. He died after an assassination attempt by Czechoslovak paratroopers on 27 May 1942 as part of Operation Anthropoid, organised by the government-in-exile in London. In response to the assassination, the Nazis wiped out Lidice and Ležáky, arrested and executed several hundred people and took others to concentration camps.
- František Daniel - 1317
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Hlinka Guards
Hlinka Guards – a paramilitary organisation of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, formed in 1938. After the establishment of the Slovak state, they became part of the security apparatus and actively participated in the deportation of Slovak Jews, the expulsion of Roma from villages and their lynching. During the Slovak National Uprising, they took part alongside German troops in actions against the insurgents and the civilian population.
- Bartoloměj Daniel - 360,
- Štefan Dudi - 362,
- Katarína Barkóciová - 364,
- Antónia Pustajová - 370,
- Ján Bartoška - 372,
- Jozef Synů - 378,
- Tera Fabiánová - 380,
- Andrej Kišš - 390,
- Jozef Horváth - 396,
- Vojtěch Grundza - 400,
- Andrej Giňa - 404,
- Anna Cinová - 410,
- Jozefína Danielová - 440,
- Mr Fedák - 444,
- Agnesa Horváthová - 448,
- František Klempár - 450,
- Tibor Gombár - 452,
- Margita Miková - 458,
- Šándor Mirga - 462,
- Anna Virágová - 478,
- Františka Zimová - 480,
- Irena Tomášová - 670,
- Vojtěch Demeter - 674,
- Elena Lacková - 1597,
- Dezider Daduč - 676,
- Jolanka Kurejová - 682,
- Helena Bílá - 703,
- Imrich Bílý - 705,
- Michal Demeter - 718,
- Vojtěch Fabián - 737,
- Ignác Zima - 946,
- Zuzana Tumiová - 1577,
- Elena Lacková - 1595
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Hodonín u Kunštátu
Hodonín u Kunštátu, in the testimonies as Hodonínek – a village in Moravia in the district of Blansko, where a so-called Gypsy camp (Zigeunerlager II) was established on 2 August 1942 with a capacity of 800 persons, but where approximately 1 400 Romani men, women and children, mostly from Moravia, were interned. Most of them were deported to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp. As a result of the slave labour and inhuman living conditions, approximately 200 people perished in the Hodonín camp and were buried in nearby Černovice and in the forest near the camp at a place later called Žalov; only few of the internees were released after the camp was closed in 1943.
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Helena Malíková - 490,
- Hilda Laníková - 426,
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342,
- Vlasta Danielová - 356,
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Berta Berousková - 358,
- Anastázie Bystřická - 432,
- Božena Valdová - 340,
- Pavlína Nováková - 456,
- Emílie Danielová - 386,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- Aloisie Blumaierová - 352,
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378,
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Eduard Holomek - 416,
- Jan Bystřický - 1382,
- Helena Ondrášová - 27637,
- Jan Ištván (1921) - 27095
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Hodonínek
Hodonínek, see Hodonín u Kunštátu.
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Holomek, Tomáš
Tomáš Holomek (1911-1988) – Romani lawyer (he completed his studies before the war in 1946), active member of the Gypsy-Roma Union (1969-1973), father of Karel Holomek, another prominent member of the Union and co-founder of the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno.
- Tomáš Holomek - 374,
- Emílie Machálková - 1356,
- Karel Holomek - 498
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Höss, Rudolf
Rudolf Höss (1901-1947) – the first chief commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- Josef Jelínek - 344
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Husák, Gustáv
Gustáv Husák (1913-1991) – Slovak communist official, in 1975-1989 President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
- Tibor Gombár - 452,
- Vojtěch Demeter - 674
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K
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Kapo
Kapo – in a Nazi concentration camp, a guard appointed from among the prisoners, in charge of a work unit. The word probably comes from the Italian capo (head, but also boss or foreman).
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Aloisie Blumaierová - 352,
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Vlasta Danielová - 356,
- Jozef Synů - 378,
- Emílie Danielová - 386,
- Alžběta Danielová - 418,
- Zdena Holomková - 420,
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428,
- Pavlína Nováková - 456,
- Ladislav Petík - 470,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378,
- Božena Pflegerová - 486
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Katyusha
Katyusha (from Russian) – a type of rocket launcher produced by the Soviet Union during World War II.
- Vojtěch Grundza - 400,
- Ján Tumi - 476
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Kennkarte
Kennkarte (from German) – Deutsches Reich Kennkarte, the basic identity document of citizens of the Third Reich, including on the territory of the Protectorate.
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Jan Ištván (1921) - 27095
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Klaus, Václav
Václav Klaus (1941) – economist and politician. In December 1989, he became Minister of Finance and then Deputy Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak Government, from 1992 to 1998 he was Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and from 2003 to 2013 President of the Czech Republic.
- Vojtěch Demeter - 674
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Korčák, Josef
Josef Korčák (1921-2008) – politician, member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Until 1968 he was a member of parliament and a government minister, during the normalisation period he served as Prime Minister of the Czech Socialist Republic and Deputy Prime Minister of the federal government from 1970 to 1987. He was also a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and Chairman of the Central Committee of the National Front.
- Tomáš Holomek - 374
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Kostivárna
Kostivárna – a temporary housing estate also called U kostivárny was built gradually near the spodium factory in Brno-Cernovice. According to the 1930 census, it consisted of 25 emergency dwellings with 103 inhabitants, mostly Roma. In 1943, the local Roma were deported to concentration camps.
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- František Daniel - 1317
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L
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Lacková, Elena
Elena Lacková (1921-2003) – a prominent Romani writer, playwright, and cultural and social worker. In 1948, she wrote a play called The Burning Gypsy Camp, in which she depicted the experience of the Roma during World War II and with which she toured throughout Czechoslovakia. She raised five children and, at the age of 42, enrolled in distance learning at the Faculty of Journalism and Education at Charles University, from which she graduated in 1970 as the first Romani woman from Slovakia. Her best-known autobiography is I Was Born Under a Lucky Star.
- Elena Lacková - 1595,
- Anna Cinová - 410,
- Helena Študiová - 472,
- Irena Kroková - 1567,
- Jozef Pešta - 466,
- Ladislav Tancoš - 474,
- Agnesa Horváthová - 448
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Legionary
Legionary (from Latin) – a member of an army unit, the so-called legion. In the context of the First World War, the Czechoslovak Legions in Russia, volunteer military units on Russian territory in 1914-1920, which fought first against the Austro-Hungarian and German armies in the Ukraine and then together with the White Guards and foreign interventionists against the Red Army. One of the main commanders of the legions in Russia was Radola Gajda.
- František Klempár - 450,
- Vasil Demeter - 726
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Lety u Písku
Lety u Písku - a village in the district of Písek, where the so-called Gypsy camp (Zigeunerlager I) was established on 2 August 1942. In addition to Roma and Sinti, mostly from Bohemia, several dozen people who were not Roma but were considered “gypsies" by the state administration were interned there. Of the approximately 1,300 internees, approximately 320 people, mostly children, did not survive the terrible conditions of the camp. They were first buried in the cemetery in neighbouring Mirovice, and later in a makeshift burial in the woods near the camp. Most of the prisoners were deported in May 1943 to the Auschwitz II - Birkenau extermination camp, only some of the internees were released after the camp was closed in 1943.
- Berta Berousková - 358,
- Antonín Vintr - 494,
- Alžběta Danielová - 492,
- František Vrba - 484,
- Božena Růžičková - 482,
- Antonie Kroková - 430,
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Alžběta Danielová - 418,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378,
- Božena Pflegerová - 486,
- Berta Krausová - 27884,
- Antonín Hlaváček - 855
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M
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Maria-Lanzendorf
Maria-Lanzendorf – a village in Lower Austria, where one of the many subsidiary camps of the Mauthausen concentration camp was located.
- Eduard Holomek - 416
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Mengele, Josef
Josef Mengele (1911-1979) – a German SS officer and doctor nicknamed the Angel of Death, responsible for pseudo-medical sadistic experiments on prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, especially Auschwitz. He sent 400,000 prisoners to the gas chambers.
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Vlasta Danielová - 356,
- Pavlína Nováková - 456,
- Jan Růžička - 716,
- František Holomek - 721
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Mittelbau I
Mittelbau I, see Dora.
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Mussolini, Benito
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) – Italian prime minister, politician and dictator, founder of the Fascist Party.
- Koloman Pompa - 464,
- Imrich Daško - 733
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Musulmann
Musulmann, musulman, muzlman (from German) – in camp jargon, a prisoner at the limit of their physical and mental capacities, exhausted by prolonged starvation and toil; dull, apathetic, emaciated to the bone.
- Pavlína Nováková - 456
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N
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Nálepka, Ján
Ján Nálepka (1912-1943) – as an officer in the army of the Slovak state he defected to the Russians on the Eastern Front and became commander of the 1st Czechoslovak partisan unit in the USSR. He was killed in the battle for Ovruč. In memoriam promoted to brigadier general.
- Otto Baláž - 436
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Natzweiler-Struthof
Natzweiler-Struthof – a Nazi concentration camp near the French town of Natzwiller (German: Natzweiller) in German-occupied Alsace. From May 1941 to November 1944, approximately 52,000 prisoners from all over Europe passed through the camp. About 22,000 of them died or were murdered there.
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428
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Nordhausen
Nordhausen – town in Thuringia. In the former Luftwaffe barracks was one of the largest camps for forced labourers who assembled jet engines for the Junkers company. In January 1945, part of the site became a branch camp of the Mittelbau concentration camp for dying and sick prisoners unable to work, where three thousand prisoners died over the next three months on the floors of concrete sheds without any facilities.
- Tomáš Šubrt - 342
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O
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oberkapo
Oberkapo (from German) – chief kapo in concentration camps appointed from among the prisoners.
- Leon Růžička - 348
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oberlandrat
Oberlandrat (from German) – an administrative unit of the German occupation administration within the Protectorate.
- Tomáš Holomek - 374
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P
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Pešek, Bedřich
Bedřich Pešek - supervisor of the so-called "Gypsy Camp I" in Lety u Písku, in charge of supervising the camp kitchen (Küchenaufseher).
- Božena Růžičková - 482
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Phlegmon
Phlegmon – a medical term describing an inflammation of soft tissue that spreads under the skin or inside the body.
- Jan Růžička - 716
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Plaveč
Plaveč – a village in the Stará Ľubovňa district in Slovakia, where a labour camp operated from the summer of 1944 until the end of the year. In addition to prisoners of war, many Roma also participated in digging trenches and building fortifications for the defence of the German army.
- Luboš Horváth - 394,
- Irena Tomášová - 670
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Primáš
Primáš – the first violinist of a folk band.
- Vojtěch Grundza - 400,
- Helena Študiová - 472,
- Ján Cibula - 414,
- Irena Tomášová - 670,
- Anna Kýrová - 1367
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R
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Rajsko
Rajsko, German Raisko – a village near Auschwitz, where the Germans set up a sub-camp of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709
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Ravensbrück
Ravensbrück – a village in northern Germany, near which a Nazi concentration camp, primarily for women, operated between 1939 and 1945.
- Božena Valdová - 340,
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Aloisie Blumaierová - 352,
- Vlasta Danielová - 356,
- Berta Berousková - 358,
- Emílie Danielová - 386,
- Alžběta Danielová - 418,
- Zdena Holomková - 420,
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Marie Nedvědová - 424,
- Antonie Kroková - 430,
- Anastázie Bystřická - 432,
- Pavlína Nováková - 456,
- Ladislav Petík - 470,
- Helena Malíková - 490,
- Alžběta Danielová - 492,
- Zora Horváthová - 672,
- František Daniel - 1317,
- Marie Ondrášová - 1378,
- Zdeněk Daniel - 26599
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Roma headman
Roma headman, see vajda.
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S
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Stalin, Josif Vissarionovič
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (1878-1953) – Soviet dictator, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1922-1953.
- Jozef Diro - 446
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Stubendienst
Stubendienst (from German) – in a concentration camp, a prison official in charge of a section of a block, usually one room.
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Antonín Absolon - 354,
- Jan Růžička - 716
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Sudetenland
Sudetenland (from German) – a term referring to the territories in northern, western and southern Bohemia, Silesia and northern and southern Moravia, annexed by Germany after the Munich Agreement in September 1938. Originally, these were areas where the majority of the population spoke German. The Sudetenland was not part of the Protectorate and were reincorporated in Czechoslovakia in 1945. Following a presidential decree of August 1945, persons of German nationality were deprived of Czechoslovak citizenship and the government decided to expel them. More than three million people were thus dispossessed and expelled. The subsequent shortage of labour in the border areas meant that the inhabitants of other parts of Czechoslovakia were - sometimes forcibly - relocated there. Several thousand Roma from Slovakia and the Czech interior also ended up in the former Sudetenland after the war.
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428,
- Šándor Mirga - 462
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Svoboda, Ludvík
Ludvík Svoboda (1895-1979) – Czechoslovak soldier and politician. He was captured as an Austrian soldier on the Eastern Front in World War I and then fought as a legionary. In 1939 he escaped to Poland. Released from internment in in the Soviet Union after the Nazi invasion, he gradually organized a Czechoslovak field battalion from officers and volunteers, the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion, , the nucleus of 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the USSR, which he commanded. From 1968 to 1975 he was President of Czechoslovakia.
- Štefan Oláh - 460,
- Dezider Daduč - 676,
- Jozef Pešta - 466,
- Tibor Gombár - 452,
- Jozef Diro - 446,
- Otto Baláž - 436
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Svoboda’s Army
Svoboda’s Army, see First Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union
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T
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Terezín
See Theresienstadt
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Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt, Czech Terezín – a town in the Ústí nad Labem region. In 1941, a so-called "Jewish ghetto" was established here and the original inhabitants of the town had to leave Terezín. The ghetto served as a collection camp for Jews before deportation to the extermination camps, but also as an "old-age" ghetto for elderly Jews from Germany or Austria or for Jewish notables, prominent interwar politicians, scientists, etc. About 155 thousand people passed through the ghetto, of whom almost 120 thousand did not survive the war. Throughout the war, the Terezín Small Fortress was a Gestapo prison where some Czech and Moravian Roma and Sinti were interned.
- Pavlína Nováková - 456
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Tiso, Jozef
Jozef Tiso (1887-1947) – Catholic priest, member of parliament and minister of the Czechoslovak government, prime minister of the Slovak autonomous government and the government of the Slovak state, supreme commander of the Hlinka Guards and the Slovak army, President of the Slovak state in 1939-1945. In 1947 he was sentenced to death in Bratislava.
- Margita Miková - 458,
- Elena Lacková - 376,
- Michal Demeter - 718,
- Irena Tomášová - 670,
- Koloman Pompa - 464,
- Jozef Pešta - 466
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Tri Duby
Tri Duby – the historical name of today's Sliač airport in the Banská Bystrica district.
- Jozef Abrahám - 434,
- Štefan Kočko - 454,
- Ladislav Tancoš - 474,
- Dezider Daduč - 676
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U
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Union of Gypsies-Roma
The Union of Gypsies-Roma – the first officially authorized Romani organization in the Czech lands. It operated from 1969-1973, after which the Communist authorities banned it. It sought to improve the political and economic status of Roma and Sinti and was also involved in cultural, sporting, social and commemorative activities. By the end of its existence, it had brought together some 8,500 people.
- Tera Fabiánová - 380,
- Tomáš Holomek - 374,
- Luboš Horváth - 394,
- Ján Cibula - 414,
- Bartoloměj Daniel - 360,
- Andrej Giňa - 404
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UNRRA
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, or UNRRA – operated from 1943 to 1947 as an international relief organization for victims of World War II under the control of the United Nations. It coordinated and provided assistance ranging from providing food, medicine and raw materials to rebuilding infrastructure, and played a key role in repatriating displaced persons during and after the war.
- Vasil Demeter - 726
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V
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V1, V2
V1, V2 – German so-called retaliatory weapons (Verwaltungswaffen), which were intended to reverse the course of the Second World War. Their serial production began in 1944 and by June the first V1 was launched at London. Besides London, the most common targets for V1 air-launched missiles and V2 ballistic missiles were Antwerp and other European cities.
- Josef Jelínek - 344,
- Bohuslav Kýr - 428,
- Zdeněk Daňhel - 709
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vajda
Vajda – a Romani leader, who usually acted as a mediator between Romani people and the surrounding majority.
- Mária Danielová - 442,
- Imrich Bílý - 705,
- Michal Demeter - 718,
- Andrej Giňa - 404,
- Karel Holomek - 498
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Vedral-Sázavský, Jaroslav
Jaroslav Vedral-Sázavský (1895-1944) – soldier, staff officer and military teacher. During the First World War he was taken prisoner by the Russians on the Eastern Front and fought as a legionary. After the German occupation, he organized an exile army in France and London and left for the Eastern Front in 1944 at his own request. He was one of two Czechoslovak generals killed in the Battle of the Dukla Pass when his car hit a German mine on 6 October 1944.
- Jozef Pešta - 466
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Videoton
Videoton – a Hungarian company nationalized after World War II specializing in the production of electronic equipment. It had an office in Prague.
- Tera Fabiánová - 380
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Vlasovites
Vlasovites – military units of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). During World War II, they were recruited from Russian prisoners of war, defectors, former emigrants and opponents of the Soviet regime who volunteered to fight against the Soviet Union on the side of Nazi Germany. The term Vlasovites derives from the name of General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov, who, as a prominent Russian prisoner of war, organized the ROA and was appointed its first commander.
- Božena Růžičková - 482,
- Vojtěch Fabián - 737,
- Aladár Kurej - 28261
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Volkssturm
Volkssturm – German People's Militia, which was formed by order of Adolf Hitler on 25 September 1944. Volkssturm - civilians, men aged 16-60 armed with light weapons, were supposed to protect rear positions, but from January 1945 they also fought on the front line.
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350
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Vorarbeiter
Vorarbeiter (from German) – in the concentration camps, a foreman, a subordinate leader of a work unit in charge of about ten prisoners.
- Jan Ištvan (1924) - 350,
- Antonín Absolon - 354
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W
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Wiesmann, Harald
Harald Wiesmann (1909-1947) – nicknamed the God of Kladno - criminal commissioner and SS-Hauptsturmführer, from October 1939 to September 1943 head of the Kladno station. He was responsible for the annihilation of Lidice. Executed in Prague in 1947.
- Leon Růžička - 348
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Wittenberge
Wittenberge – a town in Brandenburg. In August 1942, the first sub-camp of the main camp Neuengamme was established here, which operated until February 1945.
- Emílie Danielová - 386,
- Alžběta Danielová - 418,
- Vlasta Serynková - 422,
- Antonie Kroková - 430,
- Alžběta Danielová - 492
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