Elena Lacková: Google honors Slovakian-Romani writer & dramatist on her 100th birthday

Happy Birthday Elena Lacková!

Today Google has dedicated a beautiful doodle to Elena Lacková on her 100th birthday. The image is illustrated by Czech guest artist Filip Posivac. Elena Lacková, is a Slovakian-Romani writer and dramatist, who is widely considered the first author in post-war Czechoslovakia to tell the story of the Romani people and the persecution they faced throughout World War II.

Elena Lacková (originally named rozená Elena Doktorová) was born on this day in 1921 in Veľký Šariš, Czechoslovakia (present name Slovakia), Elena Lacková was raised in a settlement of Romani people—a historically oppressed European ethnic group of Indian origin.

Although she was unable to continue her higher studies due to anti-Romani laws, Lacková became a talented writer of her own accord. She penned poems by moonlight as the only girl out of the 600 children in her settlement with the ability to read.

In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and persecuted its Romani settlements as part of the regime’s Roma Holocaust. Lacková survived these atrocities and became determined to reinvigorate Roma pride through theatre.

Her first published work of literature is a drama entitled “Horiaci cigánsky tabor” (“The Gypsy Camp Is Burning,” 1947)—which says the story of the collective hardships of the Romani people during the Holocaust, while providing a new perspective into their culture. She has written several plays, novels, and stories about the Romani Holocaust experience.

Elena Lacková always tried to uplift the Romani community through literary mediums such as short stories, fairy tales, and radio plays. In the year 1970, she was honored as the first Romani woman in Czechoslovakia to graduate from university.

Elena Lacková is a pioneer who received countless accolades, Lacková became the first Romani woman to receive one of Slovakia’s highest honors, the Order of Ľudovít Štúr III, awarded in 2001. She died in January 01, 2003.