The village of Valaská Belá (Prievidza district) is located in north-eastern Slovakia, 171 km from Bratislava, and belonged to the territory of the Slovak State during World War II. In its efforts to suppress the Slovak National Uprising, Einsatzkommando 14 of Einsatzgruppe H operated from several bases in central Slovakia, one of which was in Prievidza.
On 6 October 1944, members of this unit raided Valaská Belá, capturing two wounded partisans, whom they executed. On 6 November 1944, they also captured Roma from the settlement of Nová Pešť in the Škrípov Valley and murdered them on the spot.1Vodička, “‘Juden, Zigeunern und Hunden Zutritt verboten!’”, 75.
After the end of World War II, the bodies were exhumed and identified at the site of the massacre. On this basis, it was determined that a total of 16 people had been murdered and buried at this site, of whom 13 were Roma; the youngest victim was three years old.2Archive of the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising Banská Bystrica, Fund IX, Box No. 5, No. 137/61.
Today, a memorial stone commemorates the people murdered in the Škrípov Valley on 6 November 1944. The memorial also bears the names of all the murdered Roma: Štefan Kuman (approx. 60 years old), Viktória Kumanová (approx. 56 years old), Jozef Tanáč (1914–1944), Dorota Tanáčová (1909–1944), Štefan Tanáč (approx. 20 years old), Anna Tanáčová (approx. 3 years old), Rudolf Tanáč (body not found), Filip Tanáč (1921–1944), Vilma Tanáčová (approx. 1934–1944), Božena Tanáčová (approx. 1939–1944), Štefan Tanáč (1939–1944), Paulína Tanáčová (approx. 35 years old) and Rudolf Zikmund (1919–1944).
