Break Up (1949)

• 61%
• 1949
• Documentary
• Arne Sucksdorff

Sixteen-year-old Katarina Taikon (1932-1995) dances by the Roman campfire. Later, she would be known as a political activist for the rights of the Romans and celebrated children's writers, but here she is the girl dancing barefoot at campfire. The Roman families are waiting for a broken engine to be fixed , the men gather for a card game and music while the women start dancing. Later, Katarina Taikon would give a much more disturbing picture of growing up as Roma in the 30's through to the 50's in Sweden. The family were offered no permanent residence and were forced to move every three weeks, the children were not allowed to go to school and in the winters it was terribly cold in the tents. It went on until 1959 before the Romans were given the right to housing and schooling, but prejudice and oppression did not disappear overnight. In the 60's and 70's, Katarina Taikon became a well-known spokesman for Roman rights, and with the autobiographical children's books about "Katitzi", she entered the Swedish scene of literature.