Tag Archives: Genocide

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/

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

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

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

The memorial of the Genocide of the Roma in the camp of Lety, Czechia, will be open to the public on Sunday the 12^th 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

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

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

Another article in AP on the opening of the Lety memorial.

• A memorial opens on the site of a Nazi concentration camp for Roma after a pig farm was removed. In: AP. 23.04.2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/memorial-opens-nazi-concentration-camp-133541448.html

The memorial in Lety u Písek is being opened. It will commemorate the persecution and murder of the Roma population during the Second World War.

• Nový památník v Letech připomíná oběti romského holokaustu. Na místě tábora stál půl století vepřín. In: iRozhlas. 23.04.2024. https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/lety-u-pisku-verin-tabor-romove-holokaust_2404230802_ako

The stories and faces of Roma and Sinti survivors of the Holocaust will be presented in Prague at the Clam-Gallas Palace. The exhibition wants to avoid the depersonalized language of numbers and photographs of impoverished people taken by the Nazis. Instead, it presents the concrete human destinies of six prisoners from the Lety u Písek concentration camp, for example through authentic family photos and audio recordings of memories. For the first time, the original diary of Josef Serink, who escaped from the camp and became a partisan, and other personal items associated with the survivors will be exhibited. The exhibition, which was presented to journalists on Monday by representatives of the Museum of Roma Culture, will be open until June 30.

• Pražská výstava o osudech lidí z koncentráku v Letech u Písku: Poprvé ukázali i deník Josefa Serinka. In: Blesk. 15.04.2024. https://www.blesk.cz/clanek/regiony-praha-praha-zpravy/783747/prazska-vystava-o-osudech-lidi-z-koncentraku-v-letech-u-pisku-poprve-ukazali-i-denik-josefa-serinka.html