Katarina Taikon

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Katarina Taikon- Langhammer (born July 29, 1932 in Örebro -Almby as Katharina Maria ; † December 30, 1995 in Ytterhogdal , municipality of Härjedalen ) was a Swedish author , political activist and actress from the Roma people .

Life

Katarina Taikon is best known in Scandinavia for her autobiographical children's books with the Roma girl Katitzi as the main character, with whom she went to Swedish schools in order to change the way Swedish society treats the Roma. Her total of 13 Katitzi books have been translated into many languages: they are available in Norwegian , Danish , French , German , Hungarian and Czech . In 2008 the translation of one of her Katizi books into novels was published for the first time . From 1979 a Swedish television series was produced based on the first six volumes with Katitzi as the main character.

Taikon was active in the debate on the rights of the Swedish Roma in the 1960s and 1970s after the publication of her first book “Zigenerska” in 1963. Like most Roma of her generation, she had only attended school briefly and only learned to read and write in the first course for adult Roma illiterates at the age of 26, when she was already married for a second time and had two daughters. At the age of 15 she played the leading role in the ten-minute short film " Uppbrott " by Arne Sucksdorff . During this time she obtained a divorce through the Supreme Court of the Swedish Rom ( kris ) from her first, 19-year-old husband, who had cheated on her, beaten her and raped her.

She was a sister of the actress and silversmith Rosa Taikon , who died on June 1, 2017 , with whom she had an intense relationship. In the human rights discussion of the 1960s and 1970s, both sisters, together with political sympathizers, demanded housing, training and work for the Roma and a right to stay for groups of Roma who fled Europe to Sweden. When Olof Palme refused the latter, Katarina Taikon decided to bring about a change in mentality by writing about her childhood.

In 1981 her marriage to the photographer Björn Langhammer broke up. Katarina Taikon died in 1995 after 14 years in a coma as a result of brain damage caused by an accident.

The first biography about Katarina Taikon was written by the freelance journalist Lawen Mohtadi. Lawen Mohtadi and Tamasz Gellert jointly produced the documentary Taikon , which premiered in Stockholm in October 2015 and has also been available on DVD since 2016.

Taikon lived alternately in Henriksdalsberget and Nacka .

Works

In the Swedish original:

  • Zigenerska. Wahlström & Widstrand, Stockholm 1963
  • Zigenare är vi. Tiden, Stockholm 1967
  • Dicters 1968
  • Katitzi. Zigenaren, Tyresö 1969
  • * Niki 1970
  • Gypsies. Nature & Culture, Stockholm 1970
  • Katitzi and Swing. Gidlunds, Stockholm 1970
  • Katitzi rymmer. Gidlunds, Stockholm 1971
  • Katitzi i ormgropen. Gidlunds, Stockholm 1971
  • Katitzi, Rosa och Paul, Zigenaren, Stockholm 1972
  • Katitzi i Stockholm. Tai-Lang 1973
  • Katitzi och rag-nod. Tai-Lang 1974
  • Katitzi i skolan. Tai-Lang 1975
  • Katitzi Z-1234. Tai-Lang 1976
  • Hur blev det sen då, Katitzi? 1977
  • Katitzi barnbruden. Tai-Lang 1977
  • Katitzi på flykt. Tai-Lang 1978
  • Raja, zigenerskan 1979
  • Katitzi i Gamla stan 1979
  • Uppbrott 1980
  • Katitzi arrived in 1981
  • Katitzi, det brinner 1981
  • Förlåt att vi sturgeon! (together with Thomas Hammarbarg) Om zigenska flyktingar, PAN / Norstedts, Stockholm 1970
  • Hur ble det sen there, Katitzi? (together with Björn Langhammer) Raben & Sjögren 1977
  • since 2015 the publisher natur & kultur has published two volumes in one volume in a slightly edited new edition

There are two German translations: The first appeared in two volumes in 1974 and 1976 by Hermann Schaffstein Verlag in a translation by Gerda Neumann. All references to the political situation during the Second World War in Sweden were omitted here. The cover appealed to traditional stereotypes like the dancing gypsy girl. Lisbeth Jokisch's second translation for volumes 1–10 appeared in 1996, shortly after K. Taikon's death, in the printing and publishing house in Mainz, Aachen, without reference to K. Taikon's copyright or the years of publication of the Swedish editions.

  • Vol. 1: Katitzi, The Life of a Gypsy Girl in Sweden
  • Vol. 2: On the run
  • Vol. 3: Daughter of the Wind
  • Vol. 4: Katitzi flees
  • Vol. 5: Katitzi, Rosa and Paul
  • Vol. 6: Katitzi in Stockholm
  • Vol. 7: Katitzi and Lump-Nicke
  • Vol. 8: Katitzi at school
  • Vol. 9: Z-1234
  • Vol. 10: Child marriage
  • Vol. 11: On the run
  • Vol. 12: In the old town
  • Vol. 13: Departure
  • Biography of Lawen Mohtadi: "Den dag jag blir fri - En bok om Katarina Taikon", Nature & Culture, Stockholm 2012, ISBN 978-91-27-13279-5 , 195 pages.
  • Documentary "Taikon" directed by Lawen Mohtadi and Tamasz Gellert. TriArt AB 2016
  • Lawen Mohtadi: The day I am free & Katarina Taikon: Katitzi. Introduction by Maria Lind. Sternberg Press 2019, ISBN 978-3-95679-363-9

play

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ U.Wolters: Just a little story, a letter and an overlooked author. In: kjl & m 14.3, p. 68ff .

2. U Wolters: Katarina Taikon: Katitzi. A Swedish children's book series and its reception in Sweden and Germany, in: "Because they steal every wicked street child very quickly" - "Gypsy" pictures in children's and youth media, ed. by Petra Josting u. a. Wallstein 2017, pp. 326 - 346

personal data
SURNAME Taikon, Katarina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Catherine Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish author and actress from the Roma people
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Örebro
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1995
Place of death Ytterhogdal, Härjedalen (municipality)