South Bohemian Romanies against controversial farm's removal now

South Bohemian Romanies are opposed to the removal of the pig farm in Lety, that stands on the site of a wartime interment camp for Romanies, now that there is the economic crisis, saying the money can be spent more effectively, Matej Sarkoezy said today.

Sarkoezy spoke to journalists on behalf of local Romany leaders after their meeting with South Bohemia regional governor Jiri Zimola (opposition Social Democrats, CSSD).

The hundreds of millions of crowns can be used more effectively. South Bohemian Romanies would be satisfied with the reconstruction of the current memorial at the site to become a dignified place, Sarkoezy said.

About 30 million crowns could be spent on the reconstruction within which mainly a new access road and toilets should be built on the site, added.

Michael Kocab, the new minister for human rights and minorities, recently said the solving of the Lety pig farm problem is one of his priorities.

South Bohemian Romanies, nevertheless, are opposed to the cost-intensive plan to buy out and pull down the pig farm.

"The country is faced with economic recession. We don’t want the majority society to have another reason to complain about South Bohemian Romanies. We don’t need hundreds of millions of crowns for the pig farm’s abolition," Sarkoezy said.

Zimola, too, said he considers Kocab’s statement unfortunate.

"I’m glad to hear that representatives of the Romany groups themselves do not insist on the Lety pig farm’s removal," Zimola said today.

He said the removal would unnecessarily cost the state 800 million crowns.

Nevertheless, the Committee for the Compensation of the Romany Holocaust Victims (VPORH) insists on the farm’s removal.

"When calling for the pig farm’s preservation, the people probably do not realise one thing. How can the Czech nation respect Romanies if they allow a pig farm to stand on the site where their predecessors perished for racial reasons in the Nazi period," VPORH chairman Cenek Ruzicka told CTK.

He said political pressures have even caused various Romany groups to stand up against each other.

An internment camp for Romanies used to stand in Lety during World War Two. A total of 1,308 people were gradually kept there, 328 of them died and more than 500 were transferred to the extermination camp in Oswiecim (Auschwitz).