Čeněk Růžička

Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes honors Romani activist's work to remove pig farm from Holocaust remembrance site

22.11.2019 9:08  full story

videoČeněk Růžička on lower house refusing to strip MP of immunity for remarks denying the Holocaust of the Roma: They're playing with fire

14.3.2019 10:50  full story

Čeněk Růžička: Is it so hard to grasp that we Roma want to witness the opening of our people's burial sites?

17.11.2018 8:33  full story

VIDEO: Commemorative ceremony at Lety u Písku and tour of the former pig farm

14.5.2018 12:59 The commemorative ceremony honoring the Romani victims of the Holocaust at Lety took place yesterday after the recent closure of the pig farm that overlapped with the former concentration camp site. The newly-adapted remembrance site is scheduled to be presented by the Museum of Romani Culture to the public within three years.

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U.S. diplomats discuss situation of Romani people in Europe during Czech visit

8.5.2018 9:19 Representatives of nine U.S. embassies from the Central and East European region, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Helsinki Commission met in Prague and Brno in April to discuss the current situation of Roma in the region. The representatives shared best practices, policies and projects that help to successfully integrate Roma people into majority societies and to empower them.  full story

Vice-chair of Czech lower house refuses to discuss Romani genocide with relative of victims live online

11.2.2018 19:47 The chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust, Čeněk Růžička, says the recent remarks by the vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura, about the concentration camp for Roma at Lety u Písku are outrageous and unacceptable to the relatives of the victims and survivors. He gave that assessment during a live online program on news server iDNES.cz, "Rozstřel" ("Shootout").  full story

videoČeněk Růžička reports crime to Czech State Prosecutor, accuses lower house vice-chair of doubting the Romani genocide

8.2.2018 18:37 The chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, visited the state prosecutor today on behalf of the victims and survivors of the concentration camp at Lety u Písku and their relatives to accuse the vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura, and Czech MP Miloslav Rozner (both SPD), of breaking the law on Holocaust denial. Růžička is not hopeful that the police will be able to press charges, but said he had no choice but to bring the accusation.  full story

videoČeněk Růžička, recipient of the Alice G. Masaryk Award: Sobotka's Government was brave enough to come to terms with the Roma Holocaust

8.12.2017 15:23 On the occasion of International Human Rights Day (10 December), US Ambassador Stephen King gave the Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award to the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, as his first official act in office. The Romea.cz server publishes Mr. Růžička's speech at the award ceremony.  full story

videoČeněk Růžička receives human rights prize from the US Ambassador to the Czech Republic for his contribution to Romani Holocaust recognition

8.12.2017 5:56 On the occasion of International Human Rights Day (10 December), US Ambassador Stephen King gave the Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award to the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, as his first official act. Mr Růžička has finally achieved, after more than 20 years, the Czech Government's investment into the closure and removal of a pig farm occupying the site of the WWII-era concentration camp at Lety in South Bohemia.  full story

"A Vanished World" exhibit on Wenceslas Square in the Czech capital for the next two weeks

1.11.2017 14:27 The travelling exhibition "A Vanished World" (Zaniklý svět), prepared by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH) about indigenous Czech Roma and Sinti, has returned to Prague. Through rare archival materials and photographs from the interwar period, the exhibit presents the lives of Roma and Sinti in the Czech lands prior to their imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.  full story

Romani activist Čeněk Růžička receives prestigious Artis Bohemiae Amicis award, Czech Culture Minister promises current Govt will buy pig farm

30.9.2017 10:25 The Artis Bohemiae Amicis award was given yesterday to Romani activist Čeněk Růžička. Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman honored Mr Růžička's tireless efforts to achieve satisfaction for victims of the Romani Holocaust through his cultural activities, primarily his exhibitions on the topic.  full story

Exhibition "A Vanished World" about indigenous Czech Roma and Sinti again on display in Prague

17.9.2017 16:20 The traveling exhibition "A Vanished World" ("Zaniklý svět") about the indigenous Czech Roma and Sinti that has been created by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu - VPORH) is returning to Prague. Through rare archival materials and photographs, the exhibition presents the lives of Roma and Sinti in the Czech lands prior to their imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camps.  full story

videoČeněk Růžička: Pig farm was privatized for CZK 3.5 million, now it's worth hundreds of millions more?

19.7.2017 8:04 According to the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holokaustu - VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, it is very good that archeological research has taken place at the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety u Písku. In an interview for Romea.cz, Růžička said he assumes people will now finally stop doubting whether the camp existed and that its exact position will be determined.  full story

Czech Romani Holocaust survivor relative responds to President Zeman: Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was responsible for Lety

5.7.2017 6:27 Čeněk Růžička, the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust, responded on 1 July to remarks made by Czech President Miloš Zeman about the pig farm on the site of the former concentration camp at Lety u Písku. Zeman disagrees with removing the farm.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: It's strange for LGBT people to hold the rainbow and Romani flags while speaking of Roma pride

24.6.2017 13:16 At the beginning of June the third international conference on upholding the human rights of LGBTI members of the Romani community was held in Strasbourg, France, co-
organized by the Prague-based ARA ART association, whose director, David Tišer, is an activist, artist, and Romani Studies scholar who is a member of both the LGBTI and the Romani communities. Tišer posted a photo of the Romani people attending the conference holding both the international rainbow flag of the LGBT community and the international Romani flag to his Facebook profile.  full story

Germany compensating Czech and Slovak Roma 72 years after Nazi atrocities

19.6.2017 16:09 "From an inconspicuous article in the newspaper I learned that Germany had begun to compensate Jewish [Holocaust survivors] in the post-communist states. I could not find any mention of Romani people anywhere. That country left such a horrible mark on us Roma and continues to behave as if nothing ever happened to us. That angered me terribly," recalls the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, when asked how last year's breakthrough decision came about to compensate Czech Roma for the hardships caused them by their imprisonment in German concentration camps.  full story

videoOpening remarks at commemoration quote Romani genocide survivor: "There's a pig farm at Lety. How could they allow that?"

13.5.2017 20:57 The traditional commemorative ceremony at Lety u Písku was opened today at 12 noon by Čeněk Růžička, the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust
(Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu - VPORH). In his opening remarks he reminded those assembled of the fate of the Roma and Sinti during the Second World War by
recalling the story of one of them, which news server Romea.cz publishes here in full translation.  full story

Closing speech by Čeněk Růžička at Lety u Písku: We are not giving up our fight to restore dignity to the Romani victims of the concentration camp

13.5.2017 20:12 The traditional commmemorative ceremony at Lety u Písku was brought to an end today by Čeněk Růžička, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust
(Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu - VPORH). In his closing speech he summarized the history of the efforts to remove the pig farm that occupies the site of the
former concentration camp; news server Romea.cz is publishing it here in full translation.  full story

Activists lament Czech Police response to MP's denial of Romani genocide

Prague, 14.11.2014 18:46, (ROMEA) All of the people involved in filing a criminal report against Czech MP Tomio Okamura, chair of the "Dawn of Direct Democracy" (Úsvit) movement, over his lying remarks about the Romani genocide have spoken with news server Romea.cz about the response to their criminal report from the Police of the Czech Republic. Čeněk Růžička, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust in the Czech Republic, disagrees with the police findings, as do the others who reported Okamura's wrongdoing, and considers the brief argument presented by the police to be absurd.  full story