memorial

EEA and Norway Grants will support building of memorial to Romani victims of the Holocaust at former concentration camp site

1.6.2019 10:09  full story

Museum of Romani Culture responds to Czech MP's critique of the new memorial to the Romani genocide at Lety

26.1.2019 20:29  full story

Demolition of pig farm on Romani genocide site in Czech Republic to take place in 2019, new memorial to open in 2023

8.12.2018 8:04  full story

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

Czech Police apprehend youth who desecrated Romani genocide memorial with pig's head

8.5.2018 6:50 Detectives in Písek have managed to solve a case from February involving somebody placing a pig's head at the memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims in the community of Lety u Písku. Detectives initially worked with a minimum of information, thoroughly investigating each clue and minor detail until they accessed more specific information for assessment.  full story

Demolition of pig farm on Romani genocide site in Czech Republic could provide jobs for long-term unemployed

28.4.2018 9:31 On Wednesday, 25 April yet another in the series of discussions on the future of the former camp at Lety u Písku that has been organized by the Museum of Romani Culture and the ROMEA organization was held. This time the discussion happened directly in the community of Lety u Písku in the local authority's auditorium and, as moderator Alica Sigmund Heráková said, it came "not just to the place about which there is discussion, but also to the local reality, the local residents, and the region where the changes related to building the memorial will have the most impact."  full story

Czech Republic will not finance new memorial at Romani genocide site, funds will come from Norway

26.4.2018 11:58 The new memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims at the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people in Lety u Písku will not be paid for by the Czech state. At a public meeting in Lety yesterday held by the Museum of Romani Culture and the ROMEA organization, Czech Deputy Culture Minister René Schreier delivered that message.  full story

Czech MP Karel Schwarzenberg will attend public discussion of the future memorial at Romani genocide site in Lety

22.4.2018 10:31 On Wednesday, 25 April 2018 at 17:00 yet another discussion will take place in the series being organized by the Museum of Romani Culture together with the ROMEA public benefit corporation on the future possible form of the memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims at Lety u Písku. The discussion will take place in the cultural hall of the Lety u Písku Municipal Authority.  full story

Norway confirms it will give EUR 1 million to create memorial to Romani genocide at Lety

17.4.2018 10:58 Norwegian Ambasador Siri Ellen Sletner confirmed yesterday at Lety u Písku that Norway wants to contribute one million euro to building a memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims at the site of a former concentration camp which until recently was being used for a pig farm. The Museum of Romani Culture, which is managing the remembrance site, has now opened an information center at the Lety municipality about the genocide of Romani people in Bohemia.

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Gallery in Czech capital to host discussion about new memorial commemorating the Romani genocide

13.4.2018 16:30 On Wednesday 18 April at 18:00 the VI PER Gallery is holding a discussion entitled "Building the memorial at the site of the former concentration camp at Lety". The aim of the discussion is to answer questions about the arrangements for the site of the former concentration camp and its new memorial.  full story

Czech Museum of Romani Culture and ROMEA to hold public discussion on the future form of Romani genocide memorial

23.2.2018 14:16 The Museum of Romani Culture, s.p.o., and ROMEA o.p.s. are holding a public discussion next week on the future possible form and role of the Lety u Písku memorial called "Restoring Dignity to the Remembrance Site at Lety u Písku". The debate follows on from a meeting held by the Lety Platform working group initiated by the Institute of the Terezín Initiative and the Museum of Romani Culture and will endeavor to further develop dialogue among victims' relatives, historians, the relevant institutions and members of the public who are interested in Lety u Písku as a remembrance site and symbol in the Czech Republic of the recognition of the Holocaust of the Roma.  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

Some Romani activists do not want future genocide memorial at Lety to be run by the Czech state

14.8.2017 18:05 Some representatives of the Romani community agree that the memorial to the Romani victims of the Holocaust at Lety u Písku should not be administered by the state. However, they do not yet have an idea about how the memorial site itself should look.  full story

Czech Republic: Memorial tree planted to honor the Czechoslovak Romani "Black Partisan", Josef Serinek

31.7.2017 9:19 More than 40 people from all over the Czech Republic met yesterday in the village of Spělkov in the Vysočina Region to attend a memorial assembly dedicated to the memory of the partisan Josef Serinek, his colleagues and companions, and all of the brave local residents of the area who aided his group in their efforts to survive and fight. A tree grown from a seedling of the heirloom St Wenceslas Oak was planted in honor of this extraordinary man near the location of the first place he found safe haven after escaping the Lety concentration camp for Romani people in South Bohemia.  full story

Czech PM praises Culture Minister but urges progress on buy-out of pig farm on Roma genocide site

29.7.2017 15:55 Deník Referendum reports that Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) has met with Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats - KDU-ČSL) as part of his regular performance reviews of all cabinet members. Sobotka said he is satisfied with how Herman is drawing from EU funds for his ministry and that the average wages paid to persons working in culture have risen.  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

Hundreds of Romani people from around the Czech Republic and Europe to attend 13 May ceremony at Lety by Písek

3.5.2017 15:34 Romani people from all over Europe - and not only they - are planning to assemble on 13 May at the memorial at Lety by Písek to honor the memory of the Romani victims of the Holocaust. The commemorative event is organized by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holokaustu - VPORH), which brings together the former prisoners of Nazi camps and their family members.  full story

Czech Republic: Commemoration of Romani victims of the Holocaust on 13 May at Lety Memorial

19.4.2017 6:44 On Saturday, 13 May 2017, at the site of the Lety Memorial, the traditional commemorative ceremony honoring the Romani victims of the Holocaust will take place. The event is organized by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holokaustu - VPORH), which brings together former prisoners of Nazi camps and the relatives of victims who perished in them.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani Holocaust Memorial at Hodonín to open this summer

17.1.2017 7:49 The memorial to the Romani Holocaust at Hodonín u Kunštátu will open to visitors this summer. Trial operations should begin in July and the official opening will take place in August.  full story

Czech Republic: Owners of pig farm on Roma Holocaust site are open to selling their facility

6.9.2016 9:40 The owners of a pig farm in Lety (Písek district) do not rule out the possibility that they might sell their facility located at the site of a former WWII-era concentration camp for Romani people. The owners are willing to negotiate about exchanging their facility for another one appropriate for the raising of pigs, Jan Čech, vice-chair of the board of AGPI, which owns the farm, has told the Czech News Agency.  full story