Search
28.9.2023
NEWS

HISTORY

TRADITIONS, CULTURE

PERSONALITIES

USEFUL CONTACTS

PHOTOS OF THE ROMA

VARIOUS

RADIO PRAGUE










Česky English Deutsch Francais
Council of Europe commissioner welcomes Lety pig farm deal
24-11-2017 - Dominik Jůn
Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, has welcomed a deal for the Czech government to acquire the site of a pig farm in Lety, southern Bohemia, which once housed a World War II internment camp for Roma.

Lety pig farm, photo: archive of Radio Prague The Czech government signed the paperwork for the purchase of the Lety pig farm site on Thursday. Under the terms of the deal with owner AGPI, the Czech state will pay around 450 million crowns for the acquisition, as well as an additional 120 million crowns for cleaning up the area, including the demolition of the pig farm, and the installation of a memorial.

The Council of Europe has repeatedly urged Czech authorities to find a way of closing the pig farm, which has been operating at the site since the 1970s. On Friday, Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, issued the following statement welcoming the deal finalised between the pig farm owners and the government:

“…I praise the efforts of the authorities and in particular the leading role played in the negotiations by the Minister of Culture. The closure of the farm finally puts an end to an insult to the Roma victims of the Holocaust, the survivors and their descendants.”

Muižnieks also called on authorities to now turn to the issue of creating a memorial at the site:

“I am aware of the complexity of the removal of the industrial plant from the site where it has been operating for decades. Its reconversion into a permanent and dignified memorial is the challenge which lies ahead for the Roma community, the authorities and the national memorial institutions…It is my firm belief that the erection of a memorial is crucial for understanding the fate of the Roma during the Second World War, and that it will send a positive message to society at large.”

Nils Muižnieks, photo: archive of Council of Europe The Lety concentration camp was used as an internment and labour camp, mainly for Roma prisoners, during the era of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Hundreds of prisoners died under appalling conditions, while numerous others were sent off to their deaths to exterminations camps such as Auschwitz. Closed before the end of the war, the history of the camp was then largely forgotten; knowledge of the Romani Holocaust often being underplayed or ignored.

Renewed efforts by historians, particularly from the 1990s onwards, saw the Czech government facing pressure to close down the pig farm – its very presence viewed as a slight against the Roma people. President Václav Havel unveiled a memorial at Lety in 1995, noting that the suffering of the Roma during World War II had “disappeared from the general memory.”

After intense negotiations, AGPI announced back in August that it had accepted an offer by the government to buy out the site. The deal, signed on Friday between the owners and the Czech Ministry of Culture, has also been welcomed by numerous civic and Roma groups.



Related articles
DateTitleFeature
13.09.2019Archaeologists discover graves of Roma persecuted during WWII in Lety campNews
01.08.2017Culture minister: sale of Lety pig farm is “done deal”News
26.07.2017Culture Minister says buyout of controversial pig farm at Lety only weeks awayNews
13.07.2017Archaeologists map out precise contours of Nazi-era Lety concentration campNews
26.06.2017Activists meet at Lety to keep pressure on government to remove controversial pig farmNews
08.11.2016Culture minister: Important hurdle falls on the way to a buyout of the pig-farm at LetyNews
05.09.2016ANO leader promises money for dignified memorial after insulting Roma Holocaust victimsNews
05.08.2016Germany to pay compensation to remaining victims of Roma HolocaustNews
08.04.2016‘Closer’ project brings high school kids to Lety to learn about Romany culture but also history of WWII internment campNews
All related articles
Article
Format for printing
Send as e-mail

Also in section "News"
31.10.19  Roma children’s choir Chavorenge and members of the Czech Philharmonic to perform in UK
13.09.19  Archaeologists discover graves of Roma persecuted during WWII in Lety camp
02.06.19  Ida Kelarová and her Romany children’s choir Chavorenge
29.05.19  Two Roma activists to receive Charter 77’s František Kriegel Award
07.04.19  Romany music from the Czech Republic
13.03.19  Czech singer Věra Bílá, dubbed the Ella Fitzgerald of Gypsy music, dies days before her comeback tour
21.11.18  Roma social worker from Ostrava listed on BBC 100 Women list
12.10.18  Why are there so few Roma politicians?
17.09.18  Virtuoso pianist Tomáš Kačo: When I tell somebody I’m a Gypsy in the US, they’re excited about it
06.06.18  Study indicates ethnic hate is contagious
Archive of the section

Most popular articles
3153053   26.02.00 Some Basic Information about the Roma Population in the Czech Republic
290319   27.01.05 The 'Devouring': A look at the Romani Holocaust
184516   26.02.00 The History and Origin of the Roma
141463   26.02.02 The Language of the Roma
107706   13.06.00 The History of the Roma Minority in the Czech Republic
105260   26.02.00 The Traditional Family Life of the Czech Roma
103929   02.06.03 The Roma Holocaust
88238    World famous Roma Personalities
88174   21.02.04 Extreme right activists demonstrate for skinhead in jail
74801    Photographs by Romani Children
Copyright © Český rozhlas / Czech Radio, 1997-2023
Vinohradská 12, 120 99 Praha 2, Czech Republic
E-mail: info@romove.cz