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Karanlıkta Ateşler
1927 yılında, Orta Avrupa'da henüz huzur hüküm sürerken, Moravya Romanlarından Anna ile Josef in bir oğulları dünyaya gelir. Yenko, 1930'lardaki büyük ekonomik bunalım döneminde büyür. Ancak çok geçmeden Avrupa'yı tümüyle sarsan tehlike dolu günler gelir. Almanya'daki Nazi rejimi, Yahudilere soykırım uygulamakta, Romanlara ise rahat vermemektedir. Yenko'nun ailesi Alman ordusundan kaçmak için yollara düşerlerse de, yolda yakalanıp bir çalışma kampına gönderilirler.
Nazi ölüm kampları hakkında çok şey duyduk şimdiye dek. Bir deri bir kemik insanların fotoğrafları, gaz odaları, insanlar üzerinde yapılan deneyler... O korkunç günler geçtikten sonra bütün bu insanlık dışı olaylar belgelendi ve lanetlendi. Ancak bu soykırım tehdidine uğrayanlar, Yahudilerle sınırlı değildi. Naziler, Çingenelere de düşmandı. İşte Karanlıkta Ateşler, Çingenelerin uğradığı zulme odaklanır. Kendi ataları da göçebe Çingene olan yazar, romanında bu renkli insanların günlük yaşamları, hayata bakışları, inançları konusunda ayrıntılı bilgiler vererek onları tanımamızı sağlıyor. Öte yandan da hayal edilemeyecek kadar korkunç koşullara maruz kalan bu insanların hayatta kalma savaşımlarını sürükleyici bir anlatımla dile getiriyor.
Karanlıkta hep ateşler yanar. Çünkü her şeye rağmen her zaman bir umut vardır.
Nazi ölüm kampları hakkında çok şey duyduk şimdiye dek. Bir deri bir kemik insanların fotoğrafları, gaz odaları, insanlar üzerinde yapılan deneyler... O korkunç günler geçtikten sonra bütün bu insanlık dışı olaylar belgelendi ve lanetlendi. Ancak bu soykırım tehdidine uğrayanlar, Yahudilerle sınırlı değildi. Naziler, Çingenelere de düşmandı. İşte Karanlıkta Ateşler, Çingenelerin uğradığı zulme odaklanır. Kendi ataları da göçebe Çingene olan yazar, romanında bu renkli insanların günlük yaşamları, hayata bakışları, inançları konusunda ayrıntılı bilgiler vererek onları tanımamızı sağlıyor. Öte yandan da hayal edilemeyecek kadar korkunç koşullara maruz kalan bu insanların hayatta kalma savaşımlarını sürükleyici bir anlatımla dile getiriyor.
Karanlıkta hep ateşler yanar. Çünkü her şeye rağmen her zaman bir umut vardır.
565 pages, Paperback
First published January 6, 2004
67 people are currently reading
2216 people want to read
About the author
Louise Doughty
27 books628 followersLouise Doughty is a novelist, playwright and critic. She is the author of five novels; CRAZY PAVING, DANCE WITH ME, HONEY-DEW, FIRES IN THE DARK and STONE CRADLE, and one work of non-fiction A NOVEL IN A YEAR. She has also written five plays for radio. She has worked widely as a critic and broadcaster in the UK, where she lives, and was a judge for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
May 14, 2019
This intense, sometimes brutal novel of the internment of the Gypsies in concentration camps during Hitler's ethnic cleansing crusade is riveting. The beginning of the book portrays the Roma gypsies customs, kinship, travel and home life in a very enlightening manner. In a reversal of what gypsies are commonly portrayed, we learn that they are indeed a prideful, skilled and religious people who, in fact, feel that the gadje (everyone who is not a Roma) are unclean, slovenly and disgusting.
From the time of their imprisonment, we follow Josef's family, Anna his wife, Emil his oldest son and two younger children as they fight the battle to survive. Emil, the oldest son, escapes to Prague. There he is able to pass for a white person and lives, with the help of his father's friend, for two years.
In the end he is reunited with Marie, a young woman gypsy whom he met while in the camps and they marry.
I think this is a fascinating historical novel. My only complaint is that the continuous portrayal of the brutalities of the camps was too long and repetitive. But this is masterful writing and pitch perfect historical detail which will draw many readers, hopefully they will hang in there through the middle of the book which slows down somewhat.
Highly recommend for historical fiction lovers.
From the time of their imprisonment, we follow Josef's family, Anna his wife, Emil his oldest son and two younger children as they fight the battle to survive. Emil, the oldest son, escapes to Prague. There he is able to pass for a white person and lives, with the help of his father's friend, for two years.
In the end he is reunited with Marie, a young woman gypsy whom he met while in the camps and they marry.
I think this is a fascinating historical novel. My only complaint is that the continuous portrayal of the brutalities of the camps was too long and repetitive. But this is masterful writing and pitch perfect historical detail which will draw many readers, hopefully they will hang in there through the middle of the book which slows down somewhat.
Highly recommend for historical fiction lovers.
January 14, 2009
This one really kept me occupied on a dreary, foggy Sunday afternoon. I read nearly 200 pages in one day! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a different perspective on World War II fiction.
The story is about a Czech Rom (Gypsy) family between the years of 1927 and 1945. It's a fascinating portrait of the lifestyle and superstitions of the Romany people. They were made to register and were eventually rounded up and put in concentration camps just as the Jews were, but it's a less frequently told story. The book ends with coverage of the uprising in Prague in 1945 when the news came that Hitler was dead. This book really sparked my interest about the Gypsy culture of Eastern Europe, and I've put some nonfiction books about them on my "to read" list.
The story is about a Czech Rom (Gypsy) family between the years of 1927 and 1945. It's a fascinating portrait of the lifestyle and superstitions of the Romany people. They were made to register and were eventually rounded up and put in concentration camps just as the Jews were, but it's a less frequently told story. The book ends with coverage of the uprising in Prague in 1945 when the news came that Hitler was dead. This book really sparked my interest about the Gypsy culture of Eastern Europe, and I've put some nonfiction books about them on my "to read" list.
November 30, 2012
This is not your average gypsy story. Rather, this tale is about the authentic European Gypsies of Romany, nomadic farm workers caught up in Hitler’s reign of terror as he strove to purge the impure from his homeland. Beginning in 1927 in the Moravian countryside, where an infant is born in a dilapidated barn, the gypsies are slowly forced into a census program -- a method of tracking their movement that ends in a mass assignment to an all-gypsy labor camp.
Although much has been written about the Nazi death camps, Fires in the Dark specifically addresses the decimation of the Gypsy population of Eastern Europe. The story follows a number of families, one in particular, as the novel chronicles the gradual movement of fascism across the country, beginning with mandatory registration and specific “rules” that govern the gypsies’ mobility.
I found the book a bit tedious in the beginning though it picked up the pace when the focus of the book centres on one character and his survival of the war. Although a fiction it would have been nice to have a bibliography of the research and a glossary of Romany terms and language.
Although much has been written about the Nazi death camps, Fires in the Dark specifically addresses the decimation of the Gypsy population of Eastern Europe. The story follows a number of families, one in particular, as the novel chronicles the gradual movement of fascism across the country, beginning with mandatory registration and specific “rules” that govern the gypsies’ mobility.
I found the book a bit tedious in the beginning though it picked up the pace when the focus of the book centres on one character and his survival of the war. Although a fiction it would have been nice to have a bibliography of the research and a glossary of Romany terms and language.
July 28, 2021
This was a fictional book that had been on my bookshelf for years. It follows a coppersmiths Gypsy family from 1927 through 1945. Very sad!
November 12, 2017
A very interesting book about the Roma experience during WWII especially as not that much has been written about it.
December 8, 2013
Not a lot has been written about the persecution of the Rom [Gypsies] during the Holocaust. I was very glad to find this novel and liked it very much, although it was heartbreaking in places. This is the story of one family of the Kalderash [Coppersmith] tribe, especially that of the eldest son, Emil.
The story begins when he is born, in 1927, and tells of the hardships these people face during the interwar years. Since they can't find much smithing work, they become itinerant farm workers. Each summer, they pick the cherries of a sympathetic gadjo [non-Gypsy], the good friend of the father. Emil and his family leave their kumpania [Family Group] in Bohemia. On their journey to Czechoslovakia, they are captured by the Nazis in 1942 and thrown into a concentration camp. All the day-to-day horrors and ghastliness and how they cope are related. Some incidents are quite poignant--hunger, sickness, death, senseless cruelty, sadism. Emil's mother watches her husband die in front of her eyes. An outbreak of typhus and quarantine forces Emil's escape, and the novel recounts his struggle for survival in Prague. The escape, especially, was exciting.
I liked that the author gave us a taste of Gypsy customs. I wish she had included a glossary of Romani words; some I knew; some I guessed from context; but others were unknown to me.
Everything was tied up neatly at the end and ended on a note of optimism. The narrative flowed easily and I was able to read it quickly.
A very unusual novel on the Holocaust.
The story begins when he is born, in 1927, and tells of the hardships these people face during the interwar years. Since they can't find much smithing work, they become itinerant farm workers. Each summer, they pick the cherries of a sympathetic gadjo [non-Gypsy], the good friend of the father. Emil and his family leave their kumpania [Family Group] in Bohemia. On their journey to Czechoslovakia, they are captured by the Nazis in 1942 and thrown into a concentration camp. All the day-to-day horrors and ghastliness and how they cope are related. Some incidents are quite poignant--hunger, sickness, death, senseless cruelty, sadism. Emil's mother watches her husband die in front of her eyes. An outbreak of typhus and quarantine forces Emil's escape, and the novel recounts his struggle for survival in Prague. The escape, especially, was exciting.
I liked that the author gave us a taste of Gypsy customs. I wish she had included a glossary of Romani words; some I knew; some I guessed from context; but others were unknown to me.
Everything was tied up neatly at the end and ended on a note of optimism. The narrative flowed easily and I was able to read it quickly.
A very unusual novel on the Holocaust.
February 27, 2009
This is a beautiful and, I expect, under-read book. The author, Louise Doughty, is a decendent of Roma Gypsies and has created a rich and pain-filled story of the plight and flight of one simple, hard-working roma gypsy family trying to survive in a world very hostile towards them and 'their kind'.
They live and travel, along with other gypsy families, as their ancestors did before them, in horse-drawn caravans, going from place to place searching for work along the way. Repeatedly they encounter prejudices and anger directed towards them simply for being gypsies. We follow their course through eastern Europe at the beginning of WWII, then through their years and deaths in a concentration camp. The surviving son makes it only by escaping from a work crew and struggling to find his way back to ... Prague or Budapest, I think it was, but more importantly to his own people - people who will accept him for who he is and not who they assume he is.
Here is another race of people, targeted for annihilation by the Nazis, that time often forgets. In all the repeated and thus overkilled coverage of 'the 6 million' Jews who perished, the THREE MILLION PLUS others who also died under that foul regime are most often, and unconscionably, forgotten. Here is a richly detailed and beautifully told story that brings some of those lost millions to life again, so that their sacrifices will not continue to be brushed aside as of lesser consequence!
They live and travel, along with other gypsy families, as their ancestors did before them, in horse-drawn caravans, going from place to place searching for work along the way. Repeatedly they encounter prejudices and anger directed towards them simply for being gypsies. We follow their course through eastern Europe at the beginning of WWII, then through their years and deaths in a concentration camp. The surviving son makes it only by escaping from a work crew and struggling to find his way back to ... Prague or Budapest, I think it was, but more importantly to his own people - people who will accept him for who he is and not who they assume he is.
Here is another race of people, targeted for annihilation by the Nazis, that time often forgets. In all the repeated and thus overkilled coverage of 'the 6 million' Jews who perished, the THREE MILLION PLUS others who also died under that foul regime are most often, and unconscionably, forgotten. Here is a richly detailed and beautifully told story that brings some of those lost millions to life again, so that their sacrifices will not continue to be brushed aside as of lesser consequence!
November 4, 2007
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I though I would. I hoped I would learn more about Gypsy culture. But it's just as mysterious to me as it was before I read this book. I can't understand why the Gypsies hate white people & consider them to be filthy. Even when they were begging for food, they hated the white people who gave it to them. I had no idea that Gypsies were persected like the Jews during the holocaust. The things described in this book were very heartbreaking. But I never felt like I understood the main charcters. There was a point when a young Gypsy man killed an elderly white couple. He didn't even feel regret for it. He thought they deserved to die for being filthy "gadje" (Gypsy for a white person). Even at the end when he was repenting to his Gypsy God for all the unclean things he had done to survive his ordeal, he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for killing the gadje. I have a hard time having respect for or identifying with charcters who have no regret after killing good people.
October 13, 2008
This book is about Gypsy groups in Europe during WWII. I've heard little about this group. The author seems to be descended from this culture. I get the feeling that she has entwined bits of family culture and family stories in this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
December 30, 2017
I read this after Apple Tree Yard. The stories have nothing in common except the author, a woman who is quite a gifted storyteller, but I was hoping for a less traumatic read. Nope. Very upsetting. Great writing, very upsetting story details you just can't shake.
October 6, 2015
Set mostly in the current day Czech Republic, this novel takes an under reported, massive, painful subject - the Nazi Holocaust as experienced by the multiple, different tribes of the Roma people - and projects it through the eyes of one family. I really enjoyed lots and lots of it but it doesn't quite work overall precisely because the power of this novel and what makes it so readable are the little details of Roma culture, simple family life, constant persecution, daily survival and loss, from a time well before the Nazis and the indigenous populations of some countries took this all down to a new level of bestiality. Though the son Emil/Yenko eventually became the focus of the novel, I found the stories of father Josef, mother Anna and aunt Tekla much more believable and thus more tragic and revealing about the depths and heights that humanity can stoop to or reach. Consequently the epic nature of the tale of survival that was Yenko let the novel down for me. That said this is still an important novel, one that for the most part I really enjoyed and one that I would recommend you read.
July 6, 2008
The Romani Holocaust deserves to be told and I'm glad I read this book for its insight into a topic I had little knowledge of.
I think Doughty is an excellent writer and I was spell-bound for the 480 pages. It is the story of one Romani (Gypsy) family in Czechoslovakia beginning in 1927 with the birth of the main character. At this time Law 117 was introduced requiring all Gypsies to be registered and have an identity card--a law common across all Europe
In 1942, the Gypsies were rounded and interned by German forces and sent to camps. Those who didn't die in the camps from malnutrition or typhoid fever were sent to Auschwitz and vanished. Although the numbers were small in comparison to the extermination of six million Jews, it is still a story that needs to be told. "Smoke Brothers" is the way one Jewish character in the book described what the Gypsies called the Jews. "We went up the chimneys together."
I think Doughty is an excellent writer and I was spell-bound for the 480 pages. It is the story of one Romani (Gypsy) family in Czechoslovakia beginning in 1927 with the birth of the main character. At this time Law 117 was introduced requiring all Gypsies to be registered and have an identity card--a law common across all Europe
In 1942, the Gypsies were rounded and interned by German forces and sent to camps. Those who didn't die in the camps from malnutrition or typhoid fever were sent to Auschwitz and vanished. Although the numbers were small in comparison to the extermination of six million Jews, it is still a story that needs to be told. "Smoke Brothers" is the way one Jewish character in the book described what the Gypsies called the Jews. "We went up the chimneys together."
July 25, 2014
I was loving this novel. I really was. There are a lot of holocaust novels out there, but this is the first I've read told from the point of view of the gypsies.
It had me for a long long time.
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW:
And then the only family member that lived was the least interesting character. He was whiny and ungrateful. And I just did not want to read about him without the balance of his super interesting/amazing parents.
It had me for a long long time.
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW:
And then the only family member that lived was the least interesting character. He was whiny and ungrateful. And I just did not want to read about him without the balance of his super interesting/amazing parents.
May 30, 2016
I'm going to have to be more careful about downloading books from authors I've liked previously. I can't believe this is the same person who wrote Apple Tree yard. Just didn't interest me at all and some of the phrasing really irritated together with terminology that I didn't understand and wasn't explained. I can't give no stars so given it one
April 21, 2010
This book touched on a subject that I knew about in the abstract but none of the details. I found myself wishing that there had been more of a build up about what it was like to be a Rom prior to WWII and the occupation.
January 25, 2012
One of the best books I have EVER read. Thought provoking, spine chilling, educational, a gripping read.
I understand the world so much better having read this book.
Well done Louise Doughty.
I understand the world so much better having read this book.
Well done Louise Doughty.
July 31, 2011
One of the best novels to be read.There definitely a good fiction. You can feel the feelings when reading. author would like to congratulate. Greetings from Turkey
September 4, 2016
Very fine novel about a family of Roma (Gypsy) living in Eastern Europe before and during WWII. I learned much about a culture that I know little about. Highly recommend this book.
May 12, 2019
Rating: 4.4
Really a good read. Tense and realistic. Makes “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” seem very trite.
Really a good read. Tense and realistic. Makes “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” seem very trite.
October 27, 2017
Combining historical fact with a fictional narrative this is a story of a people told far too late. Truly tragic.
We have lived with the diaries of Leningrad and later the observations and memories of Warsaw. We have honoured the memories and fanned the flames of hope given from the writings and memoirs of Anne Frank and Corrie ten Boom.
We have known of the other victims of 1933-1945, the unwanted, the unhygienic or eugenically 'undesirables' - mentally ill, those with congenital abnormalities, the intellectually simple as addenda, the also-present, at the lesser known of the Concentration or workcamps of the 3rd Reich.
Here, in 'Fires in the Dark - the longest journey leads you home' we have the story of another little-recorded group to suffer the fates of other classifications, the various clans of Romany people finally set out in a manner comparable with the most known atrocities of that time.
Louise Doughty chronicles the fate of particular 'kompania' of Romany groups as they travel throughout their homelands of Romania, Slovakia, Moravia, Austria and adjacent lands.
At first undertaking traditional crafts and trades in their own respected hierarchies.
Inreasingly dogged by the changing bye-laws affecting local settled populatio s as well as classified undesirables and minorities.
I found this a distressingly difficult book to read in lengthy periods.
Despite being completely familiar with some parallels, perhaps because this was newly in depth material, perhaps because the small, self-contained family and clan units were so vulnerable without apparent International support.
Whatever the reason, I had to take many breaks from the relentless and apparently inevitable fate of these people.
This book could take its place alongside a few others as study material on the period in question as it is a voice and representation of a people and honourable culture gone almost without trace through the genocide programme of the 3rd Reich and even in years following. Once set in motion there seemed to be no stopping point. No homeland, no refuge or regugee status.
There is a ray of sunshine or hope as a closure. Infinitesimal by comparison with the damage done.
We have lived with the diaries of Leningrad and later the observations and memories of Warsaw. We have honoured the memories and fanned the flames of hope given from the writings and memoirs of Anne Frank and Corrie ten Boom.
We have known of the other victims of 1933-1945, the unwanted, the unhygienic or eugenically 'undesirables' - mentally ill, those with congenital abnormalities, the intellectually simple as addenda, the also-present, at the lesser known of the Concentration or workcamps of the 3rd Reich.
Here, in 'Fires in the Dark - the longest journey leads you home' we have the story of another little-recorded group to suffer the fates of other classifications, the various clans of Romany people finally set out in a manner comparable with the most known atrocities of that time.
Louise Doughty chronicles the fate of particular 'kompania' of Romany groups as they travel throughout their homelands of Romania, Slovakia, Moravia, Austria and adjacent lands.
At first undertaking traditional crafts and trades in their own respected hierarchies.
Inreasingly dogged by the changing bye-laws affecting local settled populatio s as well as classified undesirables and minorities.
I found this a distressingly difficult book to read in lengthy periods.
Despite being completely familiar with some parallels, perhaps because this was newly in depth material, perhaps because the small, self-contained family and clan units were so vulnerable without apparent International support.
Whatever the reason, I had to take many breaks from the relentless and apparently inevitable fate of these people.
This book could take its place alongside a few others as study material on the period in question as it is a voice and representation of a people and honourable culture gone almost without trace through the genocide programme of the 3rd Reich and even in years following. Once set in motion there seemed to be no stopping point. No homeland, no refuge or regugee status.
There is a ray of sunshine or hope as a closure. Infinitesimal by comparison with the damage done.
May 3, 2020
Although not extensively reported, the Gypsies suffered incredibly during World War II at the hands of the Nazis and even the population of the German-occupied countries during the war. Not surprisingly, as since immemorial times Gypsies have always been stigmatized and discriminated against in much of Europe. This is the story of a Roma family from before the Second World War (1927) until the end of it (1945), when almost the entire family perished in the Hodonin concentration camp in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now the Czech Republic). Attention: this is a novel and not an academic book. This means that people who seek to know about the traditions and customs of the different groups of Gypsies will be disappointed.
The subject is very interesting, but the story is somewhat poorly told. The chapters that belong to the pre-Nazi era do not have much substance. A better plot is missing. Several times I wanted to stop reading this novel in this part of the story. The novel speeds up once the family is interned in Hodonin. Their struggle to survive not only hunger and disease but also the abuse of the guards is really tragic. Unfortunately, though the last part of the book starts well, it ends at the same pace as the first part. I read the last chapters in the rush of wanting to finish the novel not because I liked it, but because I was getting bored. There are several facts in the book that don't make sense. For example, when the protagonist of the story escapes from Hodonin, he doesn't know which direction to take to get to Prague and follows his instinct. It’s clear that he doesn't know the region where Hodonin is located. But when he returns to the concentration camp to rescue his family (which, by the way, is highly unlikely), he has no problem finding his way back. The location of the concentration camps during the war was top secret. Civilians could not wander around them. It is also a bit unlikely the way in which the protagonist meets again in Prague with the girl he had met and left in Hodonin.
Something I didn't like either was the disdain and the superiority with which the members of the protagonist's family saw the non-Gypsies.
Not among the books I would recommend. Between 2.5 and 3 stars.
The subject is very interesting, but the story is somewhat poorly told. The chapters that belong to the pre-Nazi era do not have much substance. A better plot is missing. Several times I wanted to stop reading this novel in this part of the story. The novel speeds up once the family is interned in Hodonin. Their struggle to survive not only hunger and disease but also the abuse of the guards is really tragic. Unfortunately, though the last part of the book starts well, it ends at the same pace as the first part. I read the last chapters in the rush of wanting to finish the novel not because I liked it, but because I was getting bored. There are several facts in the book that don't make sense. For example, when the protagonist of the story escapes from Hodonin, he doesn't know which direction to take to get to Prague and follows his instinct. It’s clear that he doesn't know the region where Hodonin is located. But when he returns to the concentration camp to rescue his family (which, by the way, is highly unlikely), he has no problem finding his way back. The location of the concentration camps during the war was top secret. Civilians could not wander around them. It is also a bit unlikely the way in which the protagonist meets again in Prague with the girl he had met and left in Hodonin.
Something I didn't like either was the disdain and the superiority with which the members of the protagonist's family saw the non-Gypsies.
Not among the books I would recommend. Between 2.5 and 3 stars.
February 12, 2024
So many novels have been written about the Jewish Holocaust—and that's good! We shouldn’t forget the six million innocent lives that were lost.
But neither should we forget the other groups Hitler targeted. One of these was the Roma. At least 500,000 Romanies (one-quarter of Europe’s Roma) were put to death in concentration camps, and thousands more were sterilized or used for medical experimentation.
Louise Doughty is a British writer of Romani heritage, and in Fires in the Dark, she creates an authentic and compassionate story of one such Romani family. The child Yenko is born to the head of a group of nomadic “Coppersmith Gypsies” during a time of peace and prosperity but grows up during the Great Depression. When his family is caught up in the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, they become fugitives running for their lives. Their attempt to escape ends in tragedy for some and miraculous escape for others.
This book is heartbreakingly beautiful (I marked dozens of passages for their sheer beauty), and it tells a story largely unknown. We see Yenko in his traditional wandering life, his imprisonment in a brutal, segregated Gypsy camp, and a time when he must let go of who he is simply to survive. The ending is sweet and full of hope but tentative, just like real life.
When I was writing my novel The Rain Gypsy, I stepped way out of my comfort zone and emailed Ms. Doughty. Besides being remarkably kind and encouraging, she confided that Fires in the Dark, published in 2003, was probably ahead of its time by twenty years. The book was a huge critical success but didn’t gain readership. That’s a shame. At 480 pages, it holds so much: an intimate look at a misunderstood culture and the joy it holds, desperation, sorrow, perseverance, humanity, love, and an ultimate triumph that shows a broken spirit can go on living.
But neither should we forget the other groups Hitler targeted. One of these was the Roma. At least 500,000 Romanies (one-quarter of Europe’s Roma) were put to death in concentration camps, and thousands more were sterilized or used for medical experimentation.
Louise Doughty is a British writer of Romani heritage, and in Fires in the Dark, she creates an authentic and compassionate story of one such Romani family. The child Yenko is born to the head of a group of nomadic “Coppersmith Gypsies” during a time of peace and prosperity but grows up during the Great Depression. When his family is caught up in the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, they become fugitives running for their lives. Their attempt to escape ends in tragedy for some and miraculous escape for others.
This book is heartbreakingly beautiful (I marked dozens of passages for their sheer beauty), and it tells a story largely unknown. We see Yenko in his traditional wandering life, his imprisonment in a brutal, segregated Gypsy camp, and a time when he must let go of who he is simply to survive. The ending is sweet and full of hope but tentative, just like real life.
When I was writing my novel The Rain Gypsy, I stepped way out of my comfort zone and emailed Ms. Doughty. Besides being remarkably kind and encouraging, she confided that Fires in the Dark, published in 2003, was probably ahead of its time by twenty years. The book was a huge critical success but didn’t gain readership. That’s a shame. At 480 pages, it holds so much: an intimate look at a misunderstood culture and the joy it holds, desperation, sorrow, perseverance, humanity, love, and an ultimate triumph that shows a broken spirit can go on living.
May 3, 2019
There were things I liked a lot and a few things I disliked about this book. It was quite long and at times seemed to bog down. I realize the author was covering a long period of time, but it still felt like some of the narrative was somewhat unnecessary to the overall plot. Also, I had trouble liking the main male character, who comes into the world after his parents suffer seven years of infertility and grows into an annoying teenager and later into a man whose actions may have been driven by his desire to survive, but were still hard for the reader to swallow. He is a product of his gypsy world and frankly reading about this group of people was fascinating. I learned a lot. I was uncomfortable with the idea that Romas consider all people who are not Romas to be unclean and horrible. I know many whites often have said the same about the gypsies as well. But to know they harbored (do they still?) really negative feelings about anyone who is not "one of them" is disturbing. The way they were persecuted during World War II is the crux of the story and though I knew of this, I did not know of any real details. That part of the book was enlightening. The book was somewhat dry and a little laborious, but it was also very interesting in many ways so I was torn in my feelings about how to rate it. Not a high recommendation, but if you are interested in learning about a little known group of people and a little known aspect of WWII history, then yes, I would definitely read Fires in the Dark.
May 10, 2022
This book tells the story of the Roma tribes in Europe during Nazi occupation, who were, like the Jews, gathered up and put into concentration camps, many were slaughtered.
The story follows Emil who is a Coppersmith Gypsy and his family, it describes all their beliefs and traditions, their mistrust of the Gadjo ( people who are not Roma Gypsies). You breath in the essence of the woods through the pages, so beautifully described, you understand through their eyes their pain, their hunger and their suffering, the senseless brutality of war.
I have read quite a few books about the Holocaust but never about the Roma, I
could not put it down, so yes, you should read it.
The story follows Emil who is a Coppersmith Gypsy and his family, it describes all their beliefs and traditions, their mistrust of the Gadjo ( people who are not Roma Gypsies). You breath in the essence of the woods through the pages, so beautifully described, you understand through their eyes their pain, their hunger and their suffering, the senseless brutality of war.
I have read quite a few books about the Holocaust but never about the Roma, I
could not put it down, so yes, you should read it.
January 26, 2022
A story based on the genocide of Gypsies and Jews during the 2nd WW.
A young boy, Yenko, along with his family, have their freedoms curtailed until they end up in a concentration camp.
This is his story, a work of fiction however based on the genocide committed by the Nazis. A story of survival and the heartache of those families
A young boy, Yenko, along with his family, have their freedoms curtailed until they end up in a concentration camp.
This is his story, a work of fiction however based on the genocide committed by the Nazis. A story of survival and the heartache of those families
January 19, 2025
Being a Romani myself, this book was heartbreaking. You don’t hear much of what happened to the Roma folki during this time, not as much anyway. It’s almost as if our history/people didn’t matter much. This was a really great book.
“Every time I have hope, for a minute, they will have to die again”.
“Every time I have hope, for a minute, they will have to die again”.
December 28, 2017
A haunting, yet captivating tale of the Roma community who were persecuted by the Axis power during the Second World War. It opens a completely new page of unspoken history. A very well researched, and detailed book of a once proud community.
March 20, 2023
A bit slow at the start. I did feel a bit distant from the characters. It was interesting to read how about the gypsies during WW2 and what happened to so many of them. I also learnt a lot more about their culture.
July 10, 2018
An interesting story I have not heard before about the Roma people and their WWII experience. Worth reading. I feel like I have a new perspective on these people most often referred to as Gypsies.
July 24, 2018
Laborious.
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