Štefan Klepaček

“My mother was a housewife and my father was a craftsman. We were not rich – living on a single salary is difficult. But we lived in an area where there were many Romanians, Germans, Serbians and Hungarians, and when necessary we would all help each other. Neither my childhood nor my adult life was easy, but I hope I gave back to the city and everyone who had helped me with my work.”

“I was born in 1950. I hail from a mixed family. My father was Czech and my mother was Hungarian. My mother’s family came to the area (ed. note: near Bela Crkva) seeking jobs and a better living. My mother’s name was Teresa and my daughter got her name after her. The unwritten rule in the family was that you could not speak Czech or Hungarian – only Serbian was allowed. When I went to the primary school I enrolled for the Czech class, which still existed at the time. When my father found out that the class had the same teacher who had taught him he immediately had me removed from the Czech class. He said there was no need for me to go through what he went through in his time. Back then, teachers had more of an authority and they enforced discipline using sticks or rulers.”

“Czech music really attracts me. I love music, and one of my teachers pointed out to me that, as well as Czech folk music, there were also remarkable pop and rock artists such as Jaromír Nohavica, Čechomor, Zdeněk Svěrák, Václav Neckář, Karel Gott, Aneta Langerová and Vlasta Redl.”