Zítra přijde Olah – Sichinger Martin (2023)

There were five of us during the normalization period – this could characterize the tragicomic novel from the Šumava borderlands, depicted through the eyes of Michal Zídek, a student in the 7th grade of the Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship Primary School in Vimperk. He and his classmates of diverse national backgrounds – so characteristic of the areas near our western border – experience their boyhood adventures, play at being Indians, and enjoy the joys and worries of school. They decorate builders' bulletin boards, run during civil defense drills in gas masks… And faced with the insidious practices of comrade teachers, military officers, bullying eighth-graders, tough girls, and the unexpected tragic death of one of their friends, they transition from the world of childhood games into the realm of adulthood, where they must show real courage and heroism against the pressure of communist ideology. One day, a new silent Romani classmate, Martin Olah, joins their class and earns the respect of others in his own unique way. Martin Sichinger's narratively original text credibly depicts what growing up was like in the 1980s in a small town.