LIVE BROADCAST SUNDAY: President of the Czech Senate to attend commemorative ceremony at Lety u Písku

On Sunday, 8 May 2022, a commemorative ceremony will take place to remember the Holocaust and its Romani and Sinti victims at the burial ground for prisoners who died in the concentration camp near the village of Lety u Písku. The ceremony is organized by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH), headed by Čeněk Růžička, in cooperation with the Museum of Romani Culture and its specialized workplace, by the Centre for the Roma and Sinti in Prague. 

ROMEA TV will broadcast the commemorative ceremony live online. The event is an important part of remembering the horrors experienced by the Romani and Sinti survivors and victims of the Holocaust, racial prejudice, and the Second World War. 

The event is being held under the auspices of Czech Culture Minister Martin Baxa. After an unplanned two-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is returning to its traditional time in the month of May. 

The ceremony will take place on Sunday, 8 May at 12:00 CET at the burial ground for some of the prisoners who died in the concentration camp located on the territory of the village of Lety u Písku. The event is being held on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the forced transport of more than 400 Romani and Sinti children, men and women imprisoned in what was then called the "Gypsy Camp" to an all but certain death in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp. 

The forced transport was ordered on the basis of regulations issued by the Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron-SS) Heinrich Himmler and was organized by the Police of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The transport arrived at Auschwitz Il-Birkenau on 7 May 1943.

Speakers during the ceremony will include the President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Miloš Vystrčil; director of the Museum of Romani Culture, Jana Horváthová; director of the Institute of the Terezín Initiative, Tomáš Kraus; Czech Culture Minister Martin Baxa; Ambassador of Austria, Bettina Kirnbauer; Head of the Political Affairs Agenda and Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Hans-Peter Hinrichsen; historian from the Institute of Contemporary History, Renata Berkyová; and the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička. The official program closes with the bestowing of the Award for Humanity.

This year the prize will be awarded to the Czech branch of Doctors without Borders. The event will be accompanied musically by the "Gypsy jazz" group “Trio Vlasák”.

Program:

12:00 Opening of the commemorative ceremony
12:15 Laying of wreaths
13:00 Worship
13:45 Speeches
14:45 Concluding remarks
15:00 The VPORH Award FOR HUMANITY will be given to the Czech branch of Doctors without Borders, followed by a glass of wine