The writer Elena Lacková, also known as Ilona Lacková, is one of the most important voices of the Slovak Roma. In her works, including plays and autobiographical writings, she dealt intensively with events during World War II. She was also involved in political and cultural issues affecting the Roma in post-war Czechoslovakia.
Family
Elena Lacková was born on 22 March 1921 in Veľký Šariš in eastern Slovakia as Elena (also Helena or Ilona) Gzigozevičová or Doktorová. Her father Mikuláš (or Miklós) Doktor (1890–1958) was a freelance musician at the time of her birth, while her mother Mária, née Gzigozevičová (1900 or 1898–1958), who came from Poland, was a housewife. Her parents met during World War I in Moscow, where Mikuláš Doktor had been taken prisoner of war.
The Doktor family was large, and Elena Lacková had nine siblings. She spent her childhood in Veľký Šariš, where she qualified to extend her primary education at a municipal middle school (Bürgerschule, meštianska škola, citizen school).
After her marriage in 1940, Elena Lacková settled in Kapušany with her husband Jozef Lacko (1920–1976). She gave birth to a total of six (according to other sources, seven) children, two of whom died in infancy or childhood.
Early Writing Career
Her talent for writing was evident from childhood. In 1940, an article entitled ‘Talent, ktorý čaká na objavenie’ [Talent waiting to be discovered] appeared in the regional newspaper ‘Slovenská sloboda’ [Slovak Freedom] under the name Mária Doktorová. The author was most likely Elena Lacková, who used her sister’s name as a pseudonym.
According to the article, she had already written various poems and feature articles at that time and was working on a play. Through her play ‘Horiaci cigánsky tábor’ [Burning Gypsy Camp] (premiered in 1948, published in print in 1956), which was performed several times throughout Czechoslovakia, she drew attention to the persecution of Slovak Roma during the Second World War.
Elena Lacková worked as a white-collar worker, educator, teacher, social worker and radio playwright. From 1964 to 1970, she studied part-time at the Institute of Popular Education and Journalism [Institut osvěty a novinářství] at Charles University in Prague.
Political Engagement
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Lacková was active in the Slovak association Zväz Cigánov-Rómov [English: Union of Gypsies-Roma, Czech: Svaz Cikánů-Romů]. She then withdrew from public life and only reappeared after 1989.
She was one of the co-founders of the Romská občanská iniciativa (ROI) [Romani Civic Initiative], which also founded the Kultúrny zväz občanov rómskej národnosti [Cultural Association of Citizens of Romani Nationality] in the same year, with Elena Lacková serving as its first chairperson. She was also a co-founder of the magazine Romano Nevo Ľil [Romani New Paper].
Significant Works
Among her best-known works dealing with Roma in the Slovak State during World War II is the 1997 book ‘Narodila jsem se pod šťastnou hvězdou’ [I Was Born Under a Lucky Star], which has autobiographical elements. In it, she describes, among other things, the various discriminatory measures and regulations directed against Roma.
The origins of this book date back to 1976, when Lacková began telling her life story in Romanes to the linguist Milena Hübschmannová (1933–2005). Hübschmannová translated the stories into Czech. The book was completed in 1986, but it was not published until eleven years later.
Further stories can be found in the 2001 anthology ‘Holocaust Romů v povídkách Eleny Lackové’ [The Holocaust of the Roma in the Stories of Elena Lacková] and in the 2005 publication ‘Mrtví sa nevracajú’ [The Dead Do Not Return].
Lacková also discussed her experiences during the Second World War in interviews, for example in the magazine Romano Džaniben [Romani Knowledge]. She was also very prolific as a writer—in addition to plays, the radio play ‘Žužika’ and short stories, she also published a collection of Romani folk tales, entitled ‘Rómske rozprávky—Romane paramisa’ [Fairy Tales of the Roma].
She received several awards for her services, including the Ľudovít Štúr Order III, which was presented to her in 2001 by Slovak President Rudolf Schuster (born 1934). Elena Lacková died on 1 January 2003 in Košice.
