pietní místo

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

Czech Constitutional Court: Complaint against decision to buy pig farm on Romani genocide site is inadmissable

5.5.2018 18:24 The Czech Constitutional Court has declared inadmissible a complaint filed with it against the decision by the Government to approve the purchase of the pig farm in Lety located on the site of a former concentration camp for Romani people. That means the complaint did not meet the requirements, neither in terms of content nor in terms of form, for the court to review it.
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Czech memorial to Romani genocide apparently must be done in three years

28.4.2018 17:51 On Wednesday 18 April at Gallery VI PER in Prague a discussion was held about the process through which the new Lety u Písku memorial is to be created, its possible forms, and the role it should serve. The public debate about these various aspects of memorial creation was enriched by the opinions of the artist Pavel Sterec from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno Technical University, the art critic and historian Anežka Bartlová from the College of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM), and the editor and historian Čeněk Pýcha from the Education Department of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR).
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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

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 memorial to Romani genocide desecrated with pig's head

2.3.2018 8:00 Last weekend somebody put a pig's head at the memorial to the Holocaust victims of Romani origin at the former concentration camp in Lety u Písku. News server Aktuálně.cz reported the news yesterday.  full story

Czech round table on Romani genocide memorial: Relatives of victims must have the last word

2.2.2018 19:36 Almost 30 people from various fields gathered on 26 January 2018 at the invitation of the Terezín Initiative Institute and the Museum of Romani Culture for a round table at the Institute's headquarters in the building of the former Jewish school on Jáchymova Street in Prague to discuss the possible creation of a Lety Platform that would, as a working group, discuss the form of the future remembrance site at Lety u Písku. In addition to representatives of both institutions (historians and professional staff) representatives of the Office of the Government, the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs, the Czech Culture Ministry, activists and naturally the relatives of the victims of the camp at Lety and the camp at Hodonín u Kunštátu sat at the same table to discuss the future of the memorials.  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

BREAKING NEWS: Czech owner of pig farm on Roma genocide site approves its handover to the state

4.12.2017 15:02 Shareholders in the AGPI company, which owns the pig farm at Lety, have approved the handover of the grounds to the state at their general meeting today. The money from the state, CZK 450 800 000 [EUR 17 616 642], should be received by the firm by the end of April 2018.  full story

Slovakia-based stockholder in pig farm on Romani genocide site suing over sale to Czech Republic - twice

28.11.2017 18:42 The court has yet to decide on a recent lawsuit filed by a shareholder in the company that owns the pig farm in Lety against its decision to sell the facility to the state, but that hasn't stopped that same shareholder from filing a separate lawsuit in the matter. Czech daily Mladá fronta DNES reports today that the shareholder in the AGPI firm, which owns the farm, is planning a separate lawsuit against the contract with the state.  full story

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner welcomes Czech Govt purchase of pig farm on Romani genocide site

24.11.2017 21:10 Yesterday the contract to buy out the pig farm in Lety u Písku standing on the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety was signed at the Czech Culture Ministry. Public figures from around the Czech Republic and representatives of international organizations that have followed developments in this matter have gradually begun expressing their views of this historic moment.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister says Govt will sign contract to buy pig farm on Roma genocide site next week

10.9.2017 10:05 The Czech Government will sign a contract with the AGPI firm next week to buy the pig farm in Lety u Písku that stands on the site of a former Protectorate-era concentration camp for Romani people. It will take at least half a year before the farm will be actually handed over to the state.  full story

videoUnique Czechoslovak film from 1960 about the concentration camp for Roma at Lety screening on Romea.cz

13.8.2017 20:05 "Then they took the children away. They took them away to 'save' them. They took them to Auschwitz. They took them to a building with windows. They ordered them to strip and take their shoes off, and then, then nobody ever saw them again. Don’t forget, don’t forget about the children, about that little girl."  full story

Czech company accepts state offer to buy pig farm on Roma genocide site

7.8.2017 17:43 The AGPI company is accepting the Czech Government's offer to buy the pig farm in Lety u Písku that is standing on the site of the Protectorate-era concentration camp for Romani people there. Neither side is publicizing the price.
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Czech firm able to negotiate sale of pig farm on Roma genocide site for first time

31.7.2017 15:40 Czech Radio's Radiožurnál station reports that the AGPI agricultural company has held its general meeting and agreed to transfer the pig farm at Lety to the Czech state. The board will now be entrusted with negotiating the price and other conditions of the sale with the state.  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

videoArcheological research confirms most of former concentration camp at Lety is on pig farm land

14.7.2017 7:16 Archeological research is being carried out at the site of the former concentration camp at Lety u Písku aiming to precisely locate the former camp and find any eventual artefacts from the time of its operation. The research has been carried out on just a small part of the camp because the vast majority of its area is located on the grounds of the pig farm owned by the AGPI company.  full story

Karel Holomek: Czech President's proposal to leave pig farm on genocide site is out of touch

13.7.2017 17:34 On 24 June, at the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety u Písku, representatives of Romani people from all over Europe assembled, supported by many official European actors in a group reportedly totalling at least 300 people. The initiators of the protest against the pig farm on that site were not Czech Roma, although members of Czech Romani communities did attend the gathering.  full story