Happy birthday, Elena Lacková!
The present Doodle, illustrated by Czech guest artist Filip Posivac, praises the centennial birthday of Slovakian-Romani writer and dramatist Elena Lacková, who is generally viewed as the first author in post-war Czechoslovakia to tell the story of the Romani public and the oppression they faced all through World War II.
Born on this day in 1921 in Veľký Šariš, Czechoslovakia (advanced Slovakia), Elena Lacková was raised in a settlement of Romani individuals—a generally abused European ethnic gathering of Indian beginning.
Despite the fact that she couldn’t seek after advanced education because of enemies of Romani laws, Lacková turned into a capable essayist willingly, writing sonnets by moonlight as the lone young lady out of the 600 kids in her settlement with the ability to read.
In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and persecuted its Romani settlements as a feature of the system’s Roma Holocaust. Lacková endure these abominations and got resolved to revive Roma pride through theater.
Her previously distributed work of writing—a play named “Horiaci cigánsky tabor” (“The Gypsy Camp Is Burning,” 1947)— portrayed the aggregate difficulties of the Romani individuals during the Holocaust, while giving another viewpoint into their culture.
Lacková’s work continually elevated the Romani community through abstract mediums like short stories, fairy tales, and radio plays. In 1970, she accomplished one more achievement as the primary Romani lady in Czechoslovakia to move on from college.
A pioneer who got innumerable awards, Lacková turned into the main Romani lady to get one of Slovakia’s highest honors, the Order of Ľudovít Štúr III, awarded in 2001.
