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Czech Republic: Visiting season opens at Lety memorial

01 April 2015
2 minute read

The memorial at Lety by Písek will launch yet another season for visitors on Tuesday, 31 March 2015 with a program for youth called "Closer Together" ("Sobě blíž") which will feature performances by Mário Bihári and Bára Hrzánová, among others. "Pupils will learn about the history of the Romani people, about the fate that befell them during the Second World War and the Holocaust, and they will see a traditional Romani dance performance, view the exhibition and the remembrance site, attend a lecture, and have performances by Mário Bihári and Bára Hrzánová to look forward to," reads the official website of the Lety memorial.  

The travelling exhibition "Return of the Women of Lidice" ("Návrat lidických žen") will also open at the memorial’s Information Center, documenting the moving fates of the women who perished at Lidice. Visitors will be able to use an audio guide for smart phones that was launched for the memorial in 2012.

The newly landscaped remembrance site, located at the site of the former burial ground for the so-called "gypsy camp" of Lety, has become a memorial to the victims of the Romani Holocaust. From 1942-1943 the Lety camp was a prison for "Gypsies, gypsy half-breeds and persons living the gypsy way of life".

A total of 326 children, men and women met their deaths in inhumane conditions a Lety. Another 540 prisoners from Lety were sent to their deaths in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.  

In 2014, 8 667 people visited the Lety memorial, approximately the same number as in 2013. For comparison’s sake, the Lidice memorial was visited by more than 42 000 people in 2014 and the Ležáky memorial was visited by more than 12 000 people.  

PHOTO GALLERY

"Closer Together" educational program for youth

  • 9:00 Launch at the House of Culture, Lety
  • 9:10 Musical performance by Mário Bihári and Bára Hrzánová
  • 9:45 Tour of the exhibition
  • 10:00 Dance performance by the Čiriklore group
  • 10:15 Klára Berkyová and Anna Dunčeková, lecture – "Traveling from India to Europe"
  • 10:45 Tour of the exhibition with Romani music
  • 11:00 Screening of the film "Lety – Lives Unworthy of Life" ("Lety – nehodni žití")
  • 11:20 Lecture by PhDr. Vojtěch Kyncl, PhD. – "History of the Lety camp"
  • 11:50 Program ends at the House of Culture
  • 12:00 Transfer to the remembrance site
  • 12:15 Tour of the Lety Memorial
  • 12:45 Laying of wreaths at the memorial, lighting of candles
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