Fred Taikon was born in the year of peace in 1945 and was therefore named Fred (pronounced with a long e which means peace in Swedish). 1945 is also the year Sofia was rescued to Sweden from Auschwitz. Both lived in the Roma camp in Tantolunden on Södermalm in Stockholm. Fred’s grandfather Johan Dmitri Taikon was told that there were two Roma girls in Katrineholm who had been in a concentration camp. He went there and picked them up so they could be with other Roma.

A film by Johan Palmgren

Photo: Johan Palmgren
Interviewer: Ebba Ahlström Killgren
Cut and grade: Julian Antell
Music: Romancar
Sound mix: Ola Eliasson
Archive: Jonas Goldmann
Archive material: SVT

Excerpt from the book “Sofia Z – 4515” by Gunilla Lundgren, Amanda Eriksson and Sofia Taikon

Project manager: Forum for living history Erika Hedenström
 
Sofia Taikon
 
 
Sofia Taikon’s wedding
 
 
The house under Årstabron in Tantolunden
 
 
Sofia Taikon