On February 4, 1995, the most serious political attack happened in Austria's history since the Second World War. A pipe bomb killed four young Roma in the small town of Oberwart in southern Burgenland. The assassin, a right-wing terrorist, was well-informed about the Roma due to the current political campaigns at the time. In 1989, the first Romani association was founded in Oberwart and with it a political movement. The recognition of the Roma as an Austrian ethnic group followed in 1993. The assassin masked the pipe bomb with a sign reading “Roma back to India”, which seems particularly cynical given Roma's history of migration and expulsion, which goes back over a thousand years. The attack sent the country into turmoil.

Ruža Nikolić-Lakatos was not related to those killed in Oberwart, but they were members of her people. When she received the news of the assassination, she cried at first and was in deep mourning. Then she did something customary in the Lovari tradition: Songs are composed in memory of events so that the news is passed on, so that the pain and suffering and the dead are not forgotten. The melodies are in the Lovari tradition and are traditional tunes that Ruža learned from her grandmother. The lyrics to Phurde bajval phurde were written by Ruža herself, using the traditional formulas of the Lovari language. The then 50-year-old singer expressed her pain and grief in a way that she had inherited from her ancestors, her singing being a personal expression carried by the cultural practices she grew up with. Ruža bore witness with the means of her tradition and thus took a stand on the shocking assassination.

Ethnomusicologist Ursula Hemetek describes Phurde bajval phurde as “one of the most moving recordings” she had ever made in her long field research work with the singer. The recording was made on February 10, 1995, five days after the assassination, in the Nikolić family home. One can hear the kitchen clock ticking in the background. The researcher notes that Ruža's voice was deeper than usual that day, marked by pain and sorrow.

The reactions in Austria to the attack were varied. There was a large state funeral, to which the federal government appeared almost in its entirety. Ursula Hemetek comments that the nation was divided: Some were suddenly best friends with the Roma, even though they had never met them before, while others regretted at the regulars' tables that the bomb had not caught more than four 'gypsies'. Charity events, solidarity rallies and Romani cultural events were held. Romani musicians were also in high demand afterwards, but mainly those styles of music that corresponded to the familiar musical clichés.

On March 6, 1995, a large charity concert was held in the Wiener Stadthalle to benefit the bereaved families of the four people who died in Oberwart. Ruža was invited to perform with Phurde bajval phurde and shared the stage with greats of the pop music scene at the time such as Udo Jürgens and Reinhard Fendrich. Phurde bajval phurde was later integrated into the CD Stimmen gegen Hass und Gewalt, as the unmistakable voice of an affected person.
 

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In his book Landfahrer. On the Paths of a Roma Man (2000), Mišo Nikolić comments on the making of this video:

Articles and Reports

• Kontext und Aufarbeitung des Attentats von Oberwart (inklusive Biographien der Opfer, Oberwarter Erklärung der Österreichischen Volksgruppen, Gedenken an das Attentat, Polizeiprotokolle, etc.) (https://www.burgenland-roma.at/index.php/geschichte/das-attentat)
• ORF Bericht: „Gedenken an Roma-Attentat vor 25 Jahren“ (4. Februar 2020: https://burgenland.orf.at/stories/3033007/)
• ORF Bericht: „Das Polizeiprotokoll zum Roma-Attentat“ (4. Februar 2020: https://burgenland.orf.at/stories/3033152/)
• Bericht: Wächter über Oberwart, Ein Projekt des Offenen Hauses Oberwart: „Das Attentat" (http://www.waechter-oberwart.at/roma-denkmal/das-attentat/)
• Ansprache von Gerhard Baumgartner: "Das Ende der Illusionen" (https://www.doew.at/neues/gerhard-baumgartner-das-ende-der-illusionen)

Radio 

• Ö1 Beitrag / Mittagsjournal vom 6.2.1995 zu Oberwarter Attentat: https://www.mediathek.at/journale/suche/treffer/?pool=BWEB&uid=114F4E7C-213-000D5-00000C00-114E66EA&vol=101967&cHash=e3c7adb65b5ba6b9dfc4c00d5aa18d13
• Ö1 Beitrag / Mittagsjournal vom 3.10.1999 zum Hafturteil von Franz Fuchs mit Reaktionen von z.B. Stefan Horvath: https://www.mediathek.at/journale/suche/treffer/?pool=BWEB&uid=118C1AD4-1C5-0070E-00000128-118B6032&cHash=5e5010514a7a96b6b1c66d04e973b380

Publications

• Hemetek, Ursula. Mosaik der Klänge. Musik der ethnischen und religiösen Minderheiten in Österreich. Wien: Böhlau, 2001.
• Hemetek, Ursula. "Sostar - Warum(Zakaj)? Artikel anläßlich der Bombenattentate in Oberwart." In: Stimme von und für Minderheiten 14 (1), 1995. S. 17. PDF
• Hemetek, Ursula. „Oberwart. Eine (Re)Aktion im Wiener Interkulttheater.“ In: Stimme von und für Minderheiten 22(1), 1997. S. 26. PDF
• Horvath, Stefan. Katzenstreu. Erzählung. Oberwart: edition lex liszt 12, 2007.