Holocaust

Holocaust memorial in Czech town will bloom with yellow crocuses in the spring

17.10.2018 10:44 Almost 4 000 yellow crocuses will bloom in the spring at the memorial to the Holocaust on Vodní Street in Valašské Meziříčí (Vsetín district). An important Jewish community once resided there prior to the Second World War.  full story

Třebíč, Czech Republic commemorates anniversary of Holocaust transports from there

31.5.2018 6:38 A prayer procession past seven recently-installed Stones to the Disappeared (also called stolpersteine) was how the Holocaust memorial event in Třebíč, Czech Republic began on 28 May. Those attending remembered the Holocaust and its victims and the transport of Jewish residents from Třebíč in May 1942.  full story

Commentary: Terezin commemoration this year was a travesty, civil society group calls for director's dismissal

26.5.2018 7:56 A delegation from the controversial "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement; the controversial chair of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union, Jaroslav Vodička, again invited to speak; the homophobic Czech MP Jaroslav Foldyna seated on the main tribunal; no Jewish rabbis in attendance; no Romani flag flying - this was what the Terezín Commemoration looked like on Sunday. The Konexe organization considers this year's ceremony to have been a desecration of the site and will be demanding the dismissal of the director of the Terezín Memorial.  full story

videoLIVE BROADCAST TONIGHT: Contemporary research of the Holocaust, Romani victims, and their public commemoration

21.5.2018 9:41 The ROMEA organization in collaboration with the Prague Forum for Romani Histories of the Czech Academy of Sciences' Institute for Contemporary History, the
Museum of Romani Culture and the Romani Studies Seminar at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University is convening the third in its series of public debates on the occasion of the state purchasing the grounds of the pig farm at Lety u Písku that overlapped with the site of a former concentration camp. The panel discussion, called "Holocaust of the Roma: Contemporary Research in Czechoslovak Context" begins at 18:00 in a unique venue, Kampus Hybernská, a joint project of the City of Prague and the Faculty of Arts, Charles University.  full story

The Romani Uprising in Auschwitz, 16 May 1944

16.5.2018 0:01 On 16 May 1944, in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, something completely extraordinary occurred: Romani people imprisoned in the so-called "Gypsy Camp" there rebelled against the SS. This historical event is still almost unknown in the Czech Republic, but 16 May is becoming more and more popular worldwide as Romani Resistance Day.  full story

Czech state is now the official owner of the former pig farm at Lety on the Romani genocide site

27.3.2018 7:08 On 16 March the grounds of the former pig farm at Lety (Písek district) were registered in the cadastral office as having been transferred from the AGPI firm to the Czech state. The firm will receive 80 % of the purchase price of CZK 450 800 000 [EUR 17.7 million] within 30 days.  full story

Czech Republic: Permission sought from Prostějov to install stones marking Holocaust victims

26.3.2018 9:13 The first stones to mark those who disappeared during the Holocaust from the town of Prostějov could soon be installed according to a program to commemorate Holocaust victims that is running in the Czech Republic and many other countries. The stones to mark the disappeared, called Stolpersteine, are paving stones 10 x 10 cm square with information about the victims engraved into a small bronze plaque on their surface.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Pigs finally leave Romani genocide site

17.3.2018 8:28 On Thursday, 14 March 2018, at 8:18 AM a truck drove away with the last 150 pigs from the farm in Lety that is located on the site of the WWII-era concentration camp for Roma at Lety. The AGPI firm, which owns the pig farm, transported the 330 animals left that day away from the grounds.  full story

Czech PM to attend commemorative ceremony to honor Holocaust victims who are Romani

5.3.2018 19:30 On Wednesday, 7 March, a commemoration will be held of the 75th anniversary of the first mass transport of Romani people from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
(transported from Brno) to the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The event will be attended by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Czech Culture Minister Ilja Šmíd, other Government representatives, ambassadors, and representatives of cultural institutions.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Mayor of Brno joins march against denial of the Holocaust of the Roma

16.2.2018 8:04 Romani residents of Brno organized a march against denial of the Holocaust of the Roma on Thursday, 15 February calling for the memory of Romani victims to be honored. The main reason for the initiative is to take a stand against remarks by representatives of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" party (SPD) about the concentration camp at Lety.  full story

Norway Grants to partially finance memorial to Romani genocide victims in Czech Republic

14.2.2018 14:17 Speaking at a conference yesterday in Prague, Norwegian Ambassador Siri Ellen Sletner said Norway Grants wants to be involved in building the memorial on the site of the former concentration camp at Lety u Písku that will ensure Holocaust victims who are Romani will finally have the dignified commemorative site they deserve. The pig farm now on the site was bought last year by the Czech Government and is being vacated.


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March against Roma Holocaust denial and for removing vice-chair of Czech lower house THIS THURSDAY IN BRNO

13.2.2018 20:11 On Thursday, 15 February there will be a march against denial of the Romani Holocaust and in favor of honoring the memories of its victims. "It is absolutely unacceptable to us that representatives of the SPD party of Tomio Okamura are denying the Holocaust of the Roma. Their statements are not just brutally harsh toward the victims and their families, but are also inappropriate behavior by the representatives of the state," the organizers of the march have posted to social networks.  full story

Czech Parliament marks International Holocaust Memorial Day with Romani speaker

28.1.2018 7:26 Czech MP Radek Vondráček (ANO), speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, addressed a gathering in the Czech Senate Friday on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January, saying that the current civilized state of society should not be taken for granted. Underestimated sparks of the hateful ideologies that have led in the past to people being annihilated because of their different ethnicities or faiths could yet become an uncontrollable blaze, Vondráček said.  full story

Czech Museum of Romani Culture to sign cooperation agreement with European Grassroots Antiracist Movement tomorrow

25.1.2018 9:24 On Friday, 26 January at 18:00 there will be a celebration at the French Institute in Prague to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) and the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, Czech Republic. The institutions pledge to collaborate on defining the future concept of the memorial at the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety.  full story

European Grassroots Antiracist Movement calls for creation of a European Foundation for the Memory of the Roma Holocaust

25.1.2018 8:35 The European Grassroots Antiracist Movement has published a call for the creation of a European Foundation for the Memory of the Roma Holocaust. Currently the idea is supported by both non-Roma and Romani figures as well as by 249 MPs from 28 countries.  full story

Czech Museum of Romani Culture officially takes charge of memorial at Romani genocide site in Hodonín u Kunštátu

25.1.2018 7:40 Today the Museum of Romani Culture is scheduled to officially take over the grounds of the memorial at the Romani genocide site in Hodonín u Kunštátu from the Office for Government Representation in Property Affairs (ÚZSVM). The Museum will become the administrator of the entire site and will be in charge of running the memorial for the public, including building its exhibitions.  full story

Czech Republic: ROMEA plans public debates about future of Roma genocide site once Museum of Romani Culture takes over

12.1.2018 9:25 Kristina Kohoutová, spokesperson for the Museum of Romani Culture in the Czech Republic, announced in a press release on 9 January that the Museum will be assuming ownership of the grounds of the soon-to-be closed pig farm at Lety (Písek district) in March. During WWII the location was used as a labor camp and as a detention camp for Romani people.  full story

Director of Terezín Initiative Institute invites Czech politicians to join tour of former concentration camp for Roma

9.12.2017 17:13 The director of the Terezín Initiative Institute, Tereza Štěpková, sent an invitation on 6 December to the chair of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), Vojtěch Filip, and the chair of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" party, Tomio Okamura, offering them a guided tour of the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety u Písku which is currently occupied by a pig farm. She did so in response to the politicians' statements against the state buying out the farm.  full story

Provocateur calls sale of former Roma genocide site to the Czech state a form of "antisemitism", Jewish community disagrees

28.11.2017 19:30 Jaroslav Novák is a founder of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party, a close collaborator with its chair, Tomio Okamura, and is himself the chair of the Memorial to the Shoah and Oskar Schindler Foundation, and he is alleging that by buying the pig farm on the Roma genocide site at Lety u Písku the Czech state has harmed itself. Shortly after the purchase agreement was signed he filed a criminal report with the Supreme State Prosecutor in the matter.  full story

It's official! Czech state to pay roughly CZK 450 million to buy out pig farm on Roma genocide site

24.10.2017 8:07 The Czech state will pay roughly CZK 450 million [EUR 17,548,758], including VAT, to buy out the pig farm at Lety located on the site of a former concentration camp for Romani people. The purchase contract was published by the Czech Government yesterday.

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