Romantic

Gypsy names. Matéo Maximoff

October 20th, 2007 by Khamoro_chaj

Matéo Maximoff (January 17, 1917 - November 24, 1999) was a French writer of Romani ethnicity and also an Evangelical pastor.

Matéo’s father was a Kalderash Rom from Russia, Matéo’s mother was a Manouche ‘Gypsy’ from France. She was a cousin of Django Reinhardt. Matéo was born in Barcelona, Spain.

His father was a cauldron maker by profession. That was him who taught Matéo to read and write, evidently, Russian letters and to count to ten. The father also told much about Russia, about Kalderash history, about different Roma and countries. He died when Matéo was 14. Matéo worked as a cauldron maker from his teen age, so he could feed himself and his younger brothers and sisters. Matéo also taught his brothers and sisters to read and write. Later, in a prison, Matéo also learnt to write in French.

During the Spanish civil war his family escaped to relatives, to France. There, in 1940, they were arrested as potential spies of… Nazis. The same was with other Gypsies.

Maximoff’s family lived in Gur camp for 42 days and then the police transferred the Gypsies to a ‘Gypsy camp’ in Tarbes. After Tarbes, in May 1941, followed an internment camp for ‘nomads’ in Lannemazan.

People starved there. They dodn’t receive food, but were allowed to leave the camp for several hours a day looking for work and food.  Mateo  lost 31 kilogramm in 31 months. His weight was only 44 kilogram when he left the camp.

After the WWII, Maximoff stayed to live in France. He wrote eleven books that were translated to 14 languages. Also he made a collection of ethnographical pictures of ‘Gypsies’ in France.

In 1961 he became an Evangelical pastor. He translated New Testament to Romani language.

Here are his books:

“Angels of Destiny” (first published 1999)
“People of Roads” (first published 1995)
“Roads without Caravans” (first published 1993)
“This world that isn’t mine” (first published 1992)
“Say that with tears” (first published 1990)
“Vinguerka” (first published 1987)
“The Doll of Mameliga” (first published 1986)
“Condemned for Surviving” (first published 1984)
“The Seventh Daughter” (first published 1979)
“Savina” (first published 1957)
“The price of Freedom” (first published 1955)
“The Ursitory” (first published 1946)

I used the article I had written for Wikipedia. 

Bookmark to: