Lety, South Bohemia, May 13 (CTK) – The commemorative act for the Roma Holocaust victims was on Sunday dominated by giving the thanks to the recent abolition of the pig farm near the site of the Lety war-time concentration camp for the Roma.
The Roma Culture Museum (MRK) would like to introduce the newly adapted commemorative place to the public in three years.
On Sunday, the Committee for the Compensation for the Roma Holocaust awarded the politicians who are largely credited with having helped remove the pig farm.
They include former culture minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats KDU-CSL) and human rights minister Jiri Dientsbier (Social Democrat, CSSD).
The committee also awarded Adolf Vondrasek, a former mayor of the neighbouring village Mirovice. In the early 1990s, he had the first memorial to the Roma Holocaust victims installed in the local cemetery.
The fourth award went to Deputy Culture Minister Rene Schreier.
The committee stages regularly the commemorative meetings. Its chairman Cenek Ruzicka said at the beginning of the commemorative act that its participants could remember the Holocaust victims for the first time while they were not disturbed by any insects.
From August 1942 to May 1943, a total of 1308 Roma people gradually stayed in the Lety camp, where 327 of them died and over 500 ended up in Auschwitz.
In 1973, a large pig farm was built on the site of the former camp. Last year, the Czech state bought the farm from its operator Agpi, which handed the premises to the representatives of the state in early April. The pig farm is to be pulled down this year and a Roma Holocaust memorial will be built there instead.
In early April, the complex was passed to the MRK representatives.
The state purchased the farm for 450 million crowns.
Agpi moved away the last 300 pigs on March 14.
