Matéo Maximoff

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matéo (born around January 17, 1917 in Barcelona ; died on November 25, 1999 in Romainville , France ), also known as Matéo Maximoff through publications , was the first writer to become known among the Roma in France. The novel Les Ursitory was his first novel, which was also published in German. Other stories were partly bilingual (also in Romani ). He also wrote an accompanying text for the illustrated book Tsiganes - Wandering People on the Endless Road .

Life

origin

Matéo's father belonged to the Kalderasch group , his mother was a Manouche from the Renard family . Matéo's great-grandfather emigrated to Russia after the Vlach Roma slavery was abolished in Romania. The family story tells that he found a twelve-year-old Jewish girl on the street in Timișoara . He took the girl in and later married her. He called himself Maximoff because he was 2.10 meters tall and 160 kilograms. He died in 1910 at the age of 98. Matéo's "surname" Maximoff on book titles comes from the name of that grandfather, in accordance with the convention on book titles.

Matéo's grandfather made his living in Russia as a wandering musician and tinkerer . Matéo's father and uncle were born in Siberia. Shortly before the First World War, the grandfather moved to Spain with his wife and 14 children. Another part of the family moved to Poland.

Childhood and youth

Matéo's family traveled through Spain in their caravan as boiler makers . His father married a Manouche, a cousin of the famous jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt . Matéo was born around January 17th, 1917 in Barri Xino , the then red light district of Barcelona. When he was three years old, his family immigrated to France. Matéo spoke Romani, Spanish and French. He inherited his talent for languages ​​from his father, who supposedly spoke 23 languages. His father had learned to read and write as a soldier in Russia, the only one in the family. He showed his son the letters and numbers. Matéo taught himself the rest.

At the age of 14 he became an orphan and now had to look after his four younger siblings. He traveled and worked with his uncles as a boiler maker. From 1920 on, his center of life was in Montreuil . In the summer of 1938 there was a dispute between two Roma groups near Issoire , a family association of Kalderasch and one of Romanichel. A girl from Metéo's family had been kidnapped. The dispute resulted in deaths and injuries, and those involved had to go to court. Of all the young people, only Matéo was not involved in the fight, but was taken into custody anyway. His lawyer, who visited him in the cell, was impressed with how vividly Matéo described his experiences and the life and customs of the Roma. Because Matéo was bored in the cell, the lawyer advised him to write something down about the customs of the Roma. He wanted to use that for his defense speech. But what Matéo presented him some time later was a whole novel: The Ursitory . However, this novel was not printed until 1946.

internment

In 1939 France declared war on Nazi Germany. It was said that the " Gypsy " nomads were spying for the Germans. Like many other Roma families, the Maximoffs tried to flee to Spain, but they were arrested at the border and locked in a camp. His family and relatives were interned in camps for two and a half years. Matéo later wrote a book about this terrible time: Routes sans roulottes ( Eng . "Streets without caravans"). The French internment camps were not extermination camps like the German ones, but the treatment was nonetheless inhumane: there was nothing to eat, no heating material, no medical care. The Roma were only allowed to leave the camp at certain times to provide themselves with essentials. “When I came to the camp at the age of 23, I weighed 75 kilos. 31 months later I was 44 kilos and looked like a skeleton covered in skin, ” said Matéo in an interview. Of Matéo's relatives, 27 cousins, uncles and aunts were murdered in a single day by the German occupiers in Poland. In Holland, the National Socialists later killed his father's second wife and their daughter. After the war, Matéo sued a German court for recognition as a victim of gypsy persecution . After postponing recognition for over fourteen years, he eventually won the case and was given a monthly payment for life reparation.

Further life

His first novel, The Ursitory , appeared after the end of World War II in 1946 and became a success. Matéo wrote a total of eleven books and translated the entire New Testament into Kalderash Romani. He also captured the life of the Roma as a photographer. In 1961 Matéo Maximoff became a Protestant pastor. He was married four times in total. In his last years he lived very modestly in a small apartment in Romainville , a small town east of Paris. In 1985 he was honored with the “ Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres ” award for his life's work . He died in Romainville in 1999.

The Ursitory

The Ursitory are the three angels of fate who determine the path of a child's life on the third day after birth. Here they predict the hero of the story - his name is Arniko - that he will live as long as the log that burns in the campfire has not burned to ashes. Arniko's grandmother pulls the log out of the fire and extinguishes it. It gives it to his mother to keep. Arniko becomes a great hero and experiences adventures and love stories. When his mother feels that she is dying, she gives the log to Arniko's wife. But when Arniko is unfaithful to her, she burns the log and he dies. But since he had offspring, the Arnikesti group continued.

It's a fairytale-like, yet realistic story, in the tradition of the Roma storyteller. We learn from her how the Kalderash solve legal disputes, what ideas they have of honor , what “clean” and “unclean” mean, how family relationships are organized, what power women have and much more.

Works (in German)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Maximoff, Matéo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: January 17, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Barcelona
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1999
Place of death Romainville , France