Institute of Contemporary History

Jan Hauer’s book My People is published, revealing the life of Sinti living in the Bohemian lands (today’s Czech Republic) in the 20th century.

Jan Hauer, as a prominent member of the Czech Sinti community, has been collecting old family photographs and archival documents documenting the life and fate of his ancestors for many years. His father, whose immediate family, including his pre-war children, perished in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, led him to find out more about their fate. The result of his long-standing efforts is a unique photographic collection combined with a narrative about his relatives and a presentation of the family's history based on archival documents.

The book is also a testimony to the life of the Sinti families who for centuries co-shaped the history of the Bohemian lands and coped with historical events that often affected them in a very drastic way. Jan Hauer’s decision to publish a part of his archive and reveal the life of his people is not only a celebration of life and hope, but also a reflection on the dark sides of Czech history.

The content of the book can be divided into three parts. Jan Hauer’s memoirs are based on interviews recorded with him over several years by Kateřina Čapková and Helena Sadílková and prepared into their final form by Helena Sadílková. A significant component of the book is the approximately 150 unique photographs from Jan Hauer’s collections, which document the life of the family members from the beginning of the 20th century. Renata Berkyová was responsible for their selection, in close consultation with the Hauer family, and for the captions. The third part is the story of the Hauer family based on extensive archival research, which was carried out by Kateřina Čapková using documents already collected by Jan Hauer.

BERKYOVÁ, Renata – ČAPKOVÁ, Kateřina – SADÍLKOVÁ, Helena (eds.). Jan Hauer Moji lidi. Praha: Nakladatelství KHER, z. s.;  Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i.; Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, 2024. 316 s. ISBN 978-80-87780-44-2 (KHER, z.s.), 978-80-7285-290-1 (USD AVČR, v.v.i.).