Life on the Road

When asked what life was like during their summer travels, Julia Lentini smiled softly, and when she spoke she was clearly reliving her childhood. “It was beautiful, the best time,” she says, “In the morning, you get up with the birds. At night, you sleep with the stars and the moon.” (Lentini 2:33, Tape 1). 

The amount of time spent travelling would vary from year to year, and always depended on the weather. Usually, the family would leave in April, sometimes early May, and they would return to Biedenkopf at the edge of fall and winter. The family would pile into the wagon, which her father made new every year. To fit all 17 family members (plus a neighbor or two), the wagon needed to be quite large. Lentini herself describes it, “it was almost like a circus wagon, if you really look at it” (Lentini 19:15, Tape 1). A picture of what this wagon may have looked like can be seen here. Although the picture is somewhat shadowed, the wagon Lentini and her family used would have looked similar - made of wood and with plenty of seating. 

Although it was summertime and they were travelling, school was still mandated by the government. In every town they stopped in, the children would march to school, sometimes many kilometers there and back. Lentini recalls that they would make friends at the new schools. Sometimes, she says, it was easier to make friends than other times, although if this was due to prejudice against Roma and Sinti or just childhood drama is unclear. All the children were required to bring a book to each school they attended over the summer, and the principals of each school would sign the book to prove the children were attending. According to Lentini, it was the only reason her parents were able to take them travelling over the summer.