Czech Romany Holocaust victims commemorated in south Moravia

The Romany Holocaust victims were commemorated today in Hodonin u Kunstatu where the Nazis set up a concentration and internment camp just like in Lety, south Bohemia.

Many prisoners died in Hodonin in consequence of bad conditions right in the camp, the others were taken to the extermination camps at Auschwitz (Oswiecim) where a majority of them perished, Lucie Korinkova, from the Romany Culture Museum, told CTK today.

The museum has regularly organised the commemorative action at the memorial it has had established at the mass graves near the camp.

The action is always held in August to mark the second transport to Auschwitz that left Hodonin on August 21, 1943.

"The camp in Hodonin was not an extermination one, yet a substantial part of all Romany men, women and particularly children held in the camp died there due to the inhuman conditions. Yet, the history of the camp and the victims’ fate are being overlooked," said Jana Horvathova, director of the Brno-based Romany Culture Museum.

A total of 1396 people were imprisoned in Hodonin u Kunstatu from August 1942 until December 1, 1943 when the camp was closed. Of the total, 207 people died on the spot, most of them of pneumonia, tuberculosis, and typhoid.

The complex of the former camp now serves as a private-owned recreational facility. One of the original wooden buildings has been preserved to date.

Only about one tenth of the original Romany population survived the Nazi terror in the Czech Lands. Out of the total of about 5000 Romanies who were deported to Auschwitz, 583 people returned after the liberation.

The commemorative action today was participated in by about 70 people, including Romany activists and Minister Dzamila Stehlikova (Green Party).