SYMBOLIC INAUGURATION OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MEMORIAL OF EXTERMINATION OF THE ROMA IN LETY
In the village of Lety in southern Czech Republic, the Memorial of Extermination of Roma and Sinti is being constructed. On July 22nd, symbolic demolition of industrial piggeries constructed in the 1970s within former camp premises began. During WW2, within that site the authorities of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia incarcerated over 1300 Roma. Over 500 of them were then deported to the Auschwitz camp.
Paweł Sawicki
Efforts aimed at dignified commemoration of this place have been undertaken for more than three decades. The monument was erected in the vicinity of the former camp in mid-1990s. The area was finally purchased in 2018.
Jana Horvathova, Director of the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, the institution responsible for establishing the new memorial site, said that the inauguration of works constitutes a very satisfactory moment. “We are beginning the demolition. We are demolishing the disgrace not only of the period of WW2, when our country found itself under the yoke of the Nazi. Unfortunately, it is also the disgrace of the post-war era. Today constitutes a turning point for us. We have been preparing for it for a long time”, Jana Horvathova said.
Martin Baxa, Czech Minister of Culture, emphasized that the piggery became a hideous symbol of the lack of respect for the victims of extermination of the Roma and the construction of the Museum constituting the Memorial to the victims shall restore the memory of the functioning of the camp and constitute the expression of respect towards the Roma.
"Reconciliation with one’s own past brings the readiness to face its dark sides. The dark side is not only the element of history. We do possess our own dark sides”, said Marketa Pekarova Adamova, President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic.
The new memorial is supposed to constitute a dignified space to commemorate camp victims. According to the schedule, demolition of industrial piggery is going to be followed by the first stage of construction works. The goal consists in establishing visitors’ center including the exposition and a multi-functional hall as well as revitalizing the monument of cultural heritage of the village of Lety.