Elena Lacková (1921–2003) was the first Romani female writer to emerge in post-war Czechoslovakia: in the late 1940s she wrote a play on the war-time persecutions against Roma in Slovakia, which she staged with members of her family and which toured throughout Slovakia as well as Bohemia.

Lacková was born in a Romani settlement in eastern Slovakia. Her father was a Rom and her mother a Pole. During the Second World War, she lost one of her children. After the war, owing to her cultural activities, Lacková drew the attention of the Communist authorities and became one of the Romani activists educated and employed by the authorities to participate ‘in work among Gypsy citizens’. She worked at local and regional offices in Slovakia as well as in Bohemia, gaining a widespread reputation. In 1970 she graduated from Charles University.

After her retirement in 1980, she returned to literature, writing fairy tales, short stories and theatre pieces in both Romani and Slovak. Her works were
(re-)published in a number of Czech and Slovak Romani journals (including Romano ľil/Romano nevo ľil, Amaro lav, Lačho lav, Romano gendalos and Romano kurko). Some of her theatre pieces were dramatised for radio and in 1989 the play Žužika, starring top Czech actors, won the Prix Bohemia for radio dramas.

From the 1990s onwards her plays were staged by the Romani professional theatre Romathan in Košice. In 1997 her autobiography Narodila jsem se pod šťastnou hvězdou [literally ‘I was born under a lucky star‘) was published. The English translation was titled A False Dawn. My Life as a Gypsy Woman in Slovakia (2000).

In 2001 Lacková received an award from the Slovak President Rudolf Schuster for her life-time involvement in cultural and social activities.

Published works (books/collections of works by Lacková or anthologies)

Lacková, Elena. 1956. Cigánský tábor: hra o troch dejstvách (štyroch obrazoch). Praha: Československé divadelní a literární jednatelství. (Slovak edition: Lacková, Elena. 1956. Cigánsky tábor. Bratislava.)

Lacková, Elena. 1979. The o Roma pes marnas vaš peskeri phuv / I Romové bojovali pro naši zem. In: Romane giľa. Genďi romaňa poeziatar / Romské písně. Sborník romské poezie. Praha: Obvodní kulturní dům, 46-47.

Lacková, Elena. 1979. Dža tu, čhaje / Dojdi, má milá. In: Romane giľa. Genďi romaňa poeziatar / Romské písně. Sborník romské poezie. Praha: Obvodní kulturní dům, 48-49.

Lacková, Elena. 1990. Ma rozmar tuke o dživipen thovibnaha / Nenič si život žárlením. In: Hübschmannová, Milena (ed.). Kale ruži. Hradec Králové: Krajské kulturní středisko v Hradci Králové, 68-75.

Lacková, Elena. 1992. Rómske pohádky / Romane paramisa. Košice: Východoslovenské vydavateľstvo pre Kulturný sväz občianov rómskej národnosti.

Lacková, Elena. 1997. Narodila jsem se pod šťastnou hvězdou. Praha: Triáda (re-editions 2002, 2010);

Lacková, Elena. 2000. A False Dawn. My Life as a Gypsy Woman in Slovakia. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.

Lacková, Elena. 2000. Je suis née sous une bonne étoile. Ma vie de femme tsigane en Slovaquie. Paris: Harmattan.

Lacková, Ilona. 2001. Szerencsés csillagzat alatt születtem… Egy cigányasszony élete Szlovákiában. Budapest: Pont.)

Lacková, Elena. 1999. Romské pohádky. Praha: Radix.

Lacková, Elena. 2001. Holocaust Romů v povídkách Eleny Lackové. Praha: Fortuna.

Lacková, Elena. 2005. Mŕtvi sa nevracajú / O mule na aven pale. Prešov: Združenie Jekhetane – Spolu.

Further reading

Portréty – Elena Lacková. 1997. In: Romano džaniben 4 (1997), vol. 1-2, 69-87.

Hübschmannová, Milena. 2001. Osmdesáté narozeniny Ilony Lackové: Uľiľom tel a bachtali čercheň. In: Romano džaniben 8 (2001), vol. 1-2, 12-27.

Donert, Celia. 2017. The Rights of Roma. The Struggle for Citizenship in Post-War Czechoslovakia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.