Žít bez hořkosti - Příběh německé Sintky, která přežila holokaust – Franz Philomena (2021)

An autobiographical story of Philomena Franz, a German Romani woman from the Sinti group who survived the Holocaust. It is the summer of 1922, and in the German town of Biberach, the youngest member of a Sinti musical and theatrical family is born, which, under the guidance of the wise Johannes Haag, enjoys recognition and fame throughout Germany and in Paris. In the spring of 1943, twenty-year-old Philomena and her relatives are considered members of an undesirable group and are taken to concentration camps. Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, escape and recapture, Sachsenhausen, back to Auschwitz, and a successful escape to freedom – it can be said without exaggeration that Philomena was not born once, but a thousand times. Today, at 99 years old, she is one of the few who can recount the idyllic pre-war life while also reporting on how her people were "systematically, collectively, and almost industrially exterminated" except for a few lucky ones. The autobiographical book was published in Germany in 1985 as one of the very first printed editions of authentic testimonies from Roma and Sinti who survived Nazi persecution in Germany. The first reader and also the author's mentor was Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll. The Czech edition is supplemented with an extensive interview with the author conducted in the spring of 2021 and an afterword...