On August 1st, 2024, a conference was held in Krakow on the commemoration of th 80th anniversary of the destruction of the Roma camp in Auschwitz.
Tag Archives: Holocaust
August 2nd Commemoration in Auschwitz
Full video of the events on August 2nd in Auschwitz.
August 2nd Commemoration
The full video of the political speakers and public for the August 2nd commemoration of the Genocide of the Roma.
August 2nd
A press communication on the planned commemoration in Auschwitz of the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the Roma camp.
- Press Information: 80th anniversary on 2 August 2024 – European Holocaust Memorial Day for Roma and Sinti. In: Presseportal. 25.07.2024. https://www.presseportal.de/en/pm/128332/5830934
Operation 1005
Or how the Nazis tried to cover up their atrocities.
- Operation 1005 – How the Nazis Concealed Their Atrocities. In: Deutsche Welle. 24.07.2024. https://www.dw.com/en/operation-1005-how-the-nazis-concealed-their-atrocities/a-69572993
Sachsenhausen Camp
The district court in Hanau, Hesse, has refused to open a trial against a 99-year-old alleged former guard at the Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camp for health reasons.
Too bad.
- Regional court in Hanau refuses to open trial against former concentration camp guard. In: Aussiedler Bote. 27.06.2024. https://aussiedlerbote.de/en/regional-court-in-hanau-refuses-to-open-trial-against-former-concentration-camp-guard/
Switzerland and Eugenics
An excellent article and a reminder of the fact that Switzerland was at the forefront of the eugenics movement that led ultimately to the Holocaust. The article focuses more on Yenische and less on Roma, but these theories were applied also to Roma.
- Gesittete Grausamkeit. In: Republik. 22.06.2024. https://www.republik.ch/2024/06/22/gesittete-grausamkeit
Lety Testimonies
In 1942, eighteen-year-old Romni Bozena Růžičková was sent to the “gypsy” concentration camp in Lety u Písek. She was pregnant but had to face beatings and go to hard work, breaking stones on a road construction site. On October 16, 1942, she gave birth to a baby girl at the “marodka” with the help of an older fellow inmate, whom she named Markéta. He daughter died two months later of typhus.
- ‚Mně už to bylo jedno, jestli mě zabijou.‘ Podívejte se na příběhy lidí, kteří prošli táborem v Letech. In: iRozhlas. 02.06.2024. https://www.irozhlas.cz/veda-technologie/historie/mne-uz-bylo-jedno-jestli-me-zabijou-podivejte-se-na-pribehy-lidi-kteri-prosli_2406021938_jar
Westerbork
Eighty years ago, in May 1944, 578 Roma and Sinti were rounded up in a major raid and transported to Camp Westerbork. Of these, 245 were deported by train to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland. Only 31 returned alive.
A commemoration was held on Sunday on the site.
- Vervolging van Roma en Sinti herdacht in Kamp Westerbork. In: Welingeliche Kringen. 26.05.2024. https://www.welingelichtekringen.nl/samenleving/vervolging-van-roma-en-sinti-herdacht-in-kamp-westerbork
Lety
On Sunday, May 12, 2024, the memorial to the Roma Holocaust at the site of the concentration camp in Lety u Písek was opened to the public. Three decades of debates about the nature of the place, which used to be a pig farm, were thus concluded.
But the reality of the perpetrators was not acknowledged for a very long time. The participation of Czech gendarmes and camp commanders in the genocide of the Roma during the Second World War was denied throughout the forty years of communism.
The taboo was broken after the revolution by historian Ctibor Nečas and journalist Markus Pape, and courageous activists from the ranks of the Roma and Sinti also played their part. For example, Jan Hauer, Antonín Lagryn and Čeněk Růžička, mostly sons of Lety prisoners, who also told about the fates of their parents and their own for the Memory of the Nation.
- „Mordovali je Češi.“ Jak Romové vzpomínali na takzvaný cikánský tábor v Letech. In: Hidacipes. 18.05.2024. https://hlidacipes.org/mordovali-je-cesi-jak-romove-vzpominali-na-takzvany-cikansky-tabor-v-letech/
More on May 16th
Two articles on the Roma resistance day and the commemoration in Auschwitz of the resistance of Roma inmates.
- OŚWIĘCIM. Romowie oddali hołd uczestnikom buntu w KL Auschwitz. In: Oświȩcim Online. 27.05.2024. https://www.oswiecimonline.pl/oswiecim-romowie-oddali-hold-uczestnikom-buntu-w-kl-auschwitz/
- Zabudnutí hrdinovia. Pred 80 rokmi sa Rómovia v Osvienčime postavili presile, aby získali čas. In: Romano Forum. 16.05.2024. https://romanoforum.dennikn.sk/zabudnuti-hrdinovia-pred-80-rokmi-sa-romovia-v-osviencime-postavili-presile-aby-ziskali-cas/
May 16th
On Thursday, Roma honoured the memory of the Roman inmates who rebelled in the so-called “Zigeunerlager” that was part of the German KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The president of the Roma Association in Poland, Roman Kwiatkowski, emphasized that through their actions they retained human dignity.
- Romowie uczcili pamięć przodków, uczestników buntu w KL Auschwitz. In: TVP Krakow. 16.05.2024. https://krakow.tvp.pl/77560020/romowie-uczcili-pamiec-przodkow-uczestnikow-buntu-w-kl-auschwitz
International Program on Genocide
The Museum of Polish Jewish History is announcing recruitment for an international program dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti. The program is addressed to educators and museologists from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. Applications are due by May 30th.
The program will last from June to October 2024 and will include two study visits in Brno and Berlin and a series of online meetings. Working in international groups, participants will develop educational ideas related to the commemoration of the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti, which they will present to a wider audience during an online event at the end of the program.
- Pamięć o Zagładzie Romów i Sinti. Międzynarodowy program dla edukatorów i muzealników. In: Polin. https://www.polin.pl/pl/pamiec-o-zagladzie-romow-i-sinti-miedzynarodowy-program-dla-edukatorow-edukatorek
Lety: Interview
An interview with Karolina Spielmannová from the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno about why it took 30 years to be finally able to open the memorial on the site of the former concentration camp of Lety.
- Po třech dekádách je v Letech místo vepřína památník obětem romského holokaustu. In: Stisk Online. 13.05.2024. https://stisk.online/a/Siptb/po-trech-dekadach-je-v-letech-misto-veprina-pamatnik-obetem-romskeho-holokaustu
Official Opening
Many articles in the Czech press about the official opening of the memorial on the site of the former concentration camp of Lety.
- Paměť místa a místo paměti. Památník v Letech u Písku nabízí návštěvníkům dvě expozice, říká ředitelka Muzea romské kultury. In: Česky Rozhlas, 12.05.2024. https://radiozurnal.rozhlas.cz/pamet-mista-a-misto-pameti-pamatnik-v-letech-u-pisku-nabizi-navstevnikum-dve-9232624
- Památník holokaustu Romů a Sintů v Letech se otevřel veřejnosti. In: ¸Vesky Noviny. 12.05.2024. https://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/v-letech-se-pro-verejnost-otevre-pamatnik-holokaustu-romu-a-sintu/2517332
- Památník romského holocaustu v Letech se otevřel veřejnosti. In: O24. 12.05.2024. https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/clanek/domaci/pamatnik-holocaustu-v-letech-se-otevira-verejnosti-349120
Lety
The Roma and Sinti Holocaust Memorial in Lety na Píseck will be opened to the public for the first time today. It stands on the site of a former concentration camp for Roma from the Second World War. From today at 12:00 p.m., a commemoration of the victims of the Roma Holocaust is being held in the memorial area. ROMEA TV broadcasts the course of the memorial service live. It will be attended by Senate President Miloš Vystrčil (ODS). The memorial will open to the public at 3:00 p.m.
- PŘÍMÝ PŘENOS: Tradiční pietní akt k uctění památky obětí romského holokaustu v Letech u Písku. In: Romea. 12.05.2024. https://romea.cz/cz/domaci/primy-prenos-tradicni-pietni-akt-k-ucteni-pamatky-obeti-romskeho-holokaustu-v-letech-u-pisku
- V Letech se pro veřejnost otevře Památník holokaustu Romů a Sintů. In: Česki Noviny. 12.05.2024. https://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/2517332
- Jana Horváthová: Památník v Letech umožnila změna v postoji vlády, společnost také udělala znatelný pokrok. In: Romea. 11.05.2024. https://romea.cz/cz/domaci/jana-horvathova-pamatnik-v-letech-umoznila-zmena-v-postoji-vlady-spolecnost-take-udelala-znatelny-pokrok
A Historian on Lety
Anna Míšková, a co-creator of the Lety exhibition, described the creation of the camp, life and death within it, and also talked about the pre-war position of the Roma in Czech society. She said that even before the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, there were proposals for the establishment of labour camps, there was often an effort to expel the Roma from the territory of the municipalities where they lived.
Well, nearly all Roma from Czechia died in the Holocaust.
- Historička: Českoslovenští dozorci kradli v letském koncentračním táboře pro Romy vězňům jídlo. In: iRozhlas. 08.05.2024. https://www.irozhlas.cz/veda-technologie/historie/historicka-ceskoslovensti-dozorci-kradli-v-letskem-koncentracnim-tabore-pro-romy_2405080600_cen
Lety
The memorial of the Genocide of the Roma in the camp of Lety, Czechia, will be open to the public on Sunday the 12th of May.
What is interesting in this article is that it states that ‘The participation of Czech gendarmes and camp commanders in the genocide of the Roma during the Second World War was denied throughout the forty years of communism. The taboo after the revolution was broken by historian Ctibor Nečas”
As a reminder, less than 40 Roma families from present Day Czechia survived the Holocaust.
- „Mordovali je Češi.“ Vzpomínky Romů na tzv. cikánský tábor v Letech. In: Pamet Naroda. 10.05.2024.https://www.pametnaroda.cz/cs/magazin/pribehy/mordovali-je-cesi-vzpominky-romu-na-tzv-cikansky-tabor-v-letech?_zn=aWQ9OTcyNjE3NTcxODg3NTg4NTc1MHx0PTE3MTUzNDAzMjEuNzgyfHRlPTE3MTUzNDAzMjEuNzgyfGM9NDIwOUE1NDY3MzhGMjIwNjU4MjlEN0I5NzBBNDAzQjE%3D
Lety
A series about the Memorial in Lety u Písek bringing an insight into the history and present of one of the most important, but also the most neglected, memorial sites of the Holocaust in the Czech Republic.
- Lety u Písku. Opomíjená historie romského holokaustu. In: Česky Rozhlas. 07.05.2024. https://olomouc.rozhlas.cz/lety-u-pisku-opomijena-historie-romskeho-holokaustu-9229891
Holocaust in Czechia
A new book by the Historian Jiří Smlsal, relates how not only were the Czech Roma killed during the war, but their property was simply seized. No Roma were ever compensated for this.
- Koně vzali sedláci, domy zbořili. Romy okradené při holokaustu nikdo neodškodnil. In: iDnes. 30.04.2024. https://www.idnes.cz/brno/zpravy/holokaust-romove-majetkova-perzekuce-kniha-jiri-smlsal.A240430_085434_brno-zpravy_krut