The only earthly justice is that we all have to die
Stáhnout obrázek
Ladislav Goral born 18 November 1939 into a Romani family in the village of Ihráč in Central Slovakia. His father was a blacksmith and his mother came from a family of musicians. During World War II his father was drafted into the German army; however, he defected to the partisans, and in 1944 he suddenly appeared at home. This had tragic consequences for the Gorals - eight members of the family were executed. At the age of fourteen, in 1953, Ladislav‘s life took a decisive turn. He moved to Prague and began working at Zemstav, a construction company. He completed his primary education and graduated from an evening course at a secondary technical school. In the years 1958 to 1960 he did mandatory military service in Prague-Ruzyně. A meeting with Milena Hübschmannová in 1960 inspired him to take an interest in the Romani culture and language. Unfortunately, his studies of Indology and history were cut short for political reasons, and he was expelled. In the second half of the 1960s he became acquainted with the Romani musician Jožka Fečo, and together they founded a band called Raidž, with which they toured all over Europe for fifteen years. In the 1970s he started cooperating with a group of Prague Romani social curators, and he and his friend Zdenek Pinc founded the „Romani Scout“ under the leadership of Jana Pfeifferová. They officially functioned as a Pioneer troop until 1980, when they were banned. In 1990, thanks to his contacts with Prague dissidents, he was appointed an adviser in Romani matters at the newly established Secretariat of the Government Council for Ethnic Minorities. From 1992 he worked at the Office of the Government. He has played in many Czech films and TV series, such as Bony a klid (Bons and Peace - bons were a hard-currency voucher used to purchase foreign luxury goods), Zdivočelá země (Wild Country), or Přítelkyně z domu smutku (Girlfriend from the House of Sorrow). He speaks several dialects of Romani.
