The Requiem for Auschwitz at Rudolfinum Hall

Prague, Oct 27 (CTK) - A performance of the Requiem for Auschwitz by Dutch Romany composer Roger Moreno Rathgeb that will be held in Prague's Rudolfinum Hall on November 4 wants to remind of the Nazi persecution of Romanies and other Holocaust victims.

The Requiem for Auschwitz will be performed by the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic Orchestra of Frankfurt conducted by Riccardo M. Sahiti.

Entrance to the concert will be free, Rena Horvathova said on behalf of the organisers.

Within an international project, the Requiem was played in the Netherlands and it will be presented in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In each of the countries, a domestic choir and soloists take part in the performance.

Texts by Holocaust survivors that are part of the Requiem will be recited by actors Tatjana Medvecka and David Tiser in Prague next weekend.

The project aims at raising awareness of the tragic fate of Jews, Romanies and other victims of World War Two and to contribute to the present struggle against anti-Romany manifestations.

"Putting the remembrance of the Holocaust in the context of the current racial intolerance is crucial for us," said one of the organisers, Jitka Jurkova.

The concert will be accompanied by documentary film screenings in the educational centre of the Prague Jewish Museum.

Rathgeb, a self-educated Sinto musician, composed the Requiem in 2009 after visiting the Auschwitz (Oswiecim) concentration camp.

According to official estimates, about half a million Romany people were killed under the Nazi rule.

The 10-million Czech Republic has a large Romany minority, a part of which is poor and the families live on welfare benefits. There are some 250,000 Romanies living in the country. Civic groups and organisations both home and abroad repeatedly point to discrimination against Czech Romanies and racist manifestations.