Black Partisan
“Those people behind Nové Město, they were the best in the whole republic… They took me in, gave me the food they ate. They invited me under the roof they slept under. Everyone could have gone to their death, but everyone helped. I don’t know what came to their mind that I could be the commander and organize the first partisan group.”
A production based on the true story of the Romani hero Josef Serinek. Josef Serinek was a Czech Romani, who used the code name Černý during the war. As a soldier he fought in World War I, in World War II he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Lety from where he escaped and joined the anti-Nazi resistance. Later he became a partisan commander, his unit operated in the Highlands. He should have been forgotten, and the events he participated in should have been forgotten too… Come with us in the footsteps of the Black Partisan, let’s experience a real Western from the Highlands together! “I grew up in the forest. I was the forest. I was the forest and the forest was me…”
The main source of inspiration and subject matter for the production is the three-volume publication Czech Gypsy Rhapsody (Josef Serinek, Jan Tesař) from the Triáda publishing house, as well as Josef Serinek’s personal handwritten notes from his childhood, which were made available to Minor by the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno.
The patron of the production is Zdeněk Serinek – the grandson of Josef Serinek.
On Thursday, November 6, after the performance of The Black Partisan, there will be a meeting with descendants of Roma partisans!
We cordially invite you to a discussion after the theatrical performance The Black Partisan, which will offer a unique opportunity to gain insight into the lives of two Roma heroes. The discussion will be attended by Josef Serinek (grandson of the Black Partisan Josef Serinek) and Rudolf Murka (nephew of Antonín Murka), who will supplement the dramatic narrative of the performance with their personal testimony and bring the audience closer to the broader context of the Romani resistance during World War II. While Josef Serinek is gradually becoming a better-known figure in the Czech resistance, the story of Antonín Murka – an equally courageous and important partisan – remains almost unknown to the public. The event, which will be dedicated not only to their lives and resistance activities, but also to the question of why Romani heroes are still neglected in the official interpretation of history, will be moderated by Alica Sigmund Heráková.
The discussion is held in cooperation with the Committee for Roma Holocaust Reparations and the Prague Center for Roma History at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University.
https://www.minor.cz/repertoar/cerny-partyzan: 23 October 2025