Prague, Sept 9 (CTK) – Both Czech and German societies truly try to deal with the Holocaust of Czech Romanies, although the Czechs discuss the issue almost only on anniversaries related to the Romany Holocaust or when a controversial statement is made, Ludek Navara writes in daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) Friday.
Last weekend, Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) challenged the fact that the camp in Lety, south Bohemia, was a concentration camp. Earlier this week, Babis distanced himself from such a position and he paid his respect to the Romany victims at the Lety memorial.
The Czech Romany Holocaust is mostly reduced to the pig farm operating on the spot of the Lety wartime camp, Navara says.
However, in the Nazi colony on Czech territory, known as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, two camps for Romanies were established and there were mostly two options for those who ended up in them – to die in the camp or to be sent to Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Navara writes.
Apart from the concentration camp in Lety, on the site of which the infamous pig farm keeps operating, another one was established in Hodonin u Kunstatu, south Moravia.
The Hodonin camp has been partly preserved and successfully saved. The Czech state bought the camp for a relatively high sum from the original owner of the site and restoration work has been underway, Navara says.
The former concentration camp for Romanies will house a memorial with a museum, which is very good news. Such a place, to which all can come and see everything by their own eyes, needs to be opened so that this sad chapter of Czech, German and common European history is not forgotten and may inspire those who are dealing with the current challenges, Navara writes.
He says the discussion on the division of responsibility for the Romany victims between Czech people and the occupying Nazi Germans keeps going on, yet it is important to keep in mind that no history belongs to a single nation.
Every cruel regime finds people who are ready to carry out its despotic and bloody plans and become its zealous servants, irrespective of the language they speak, he adds.
It is noteworthy that the so-called gypsy camp in Hodonin was not closed. The camp was very soon and very easily turned into a place in which other unwanted people were imprisoned. After the 1948 communist coup, it affected mainly those whom the new regime labelled its enemies, Navara writes.
The postwar history of the Hodonin camp certainly was not as violent as its wartime chapter during which more than 200 Romanies died in the camp and almost 900 others were sent to Oswiecim, he says.
Germany has already shown readiness to compensate the victims of the Romany Holocaust, although this is first of all a symbolic step as only a dozen of Czech survivors of the Romany Holocaust are still alive, Navara writes.
More than 5000 Czech Romanies were sent to various camps during the Nazi occupation and only 500 to 600 of them returned from the camps after the war. Many of the Romanies died after the war because they returned with serious health problems, Navara says.
The present compensation from the German fund for non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution will not only moderate the old injustice, but also additionally indirectly confirm the existence of this sad chapter of Czech-German history, Navara writes.
As far as the shameful pig farm in Lety is concerned, it must be admitted that Czech representatives repeatedly tried to solve the problem, but they have not succeeded yet. Minister Vladimir Mlynar was the first to try to move the farm away in 1998, however, the negotiations with the farm’s owners did not produce any result, Navara says.
The situation has remained more or less unchanged, although even the European Parliament called for the removal of the pig farm 11 years ago, he writes.
In March 2016, the Czech government again dealt with the issue and it has shown readiness to take action and remove the pig farm from Lety, if possible. According to the latest information, the owners are more open to negotiations. It is nevertheless unclear whether the farm will be removed, Navara says.
But, and this seems even more important, it has been recognised that justice is necessary and humans cannot make progress unless they right the wrongs of the past. This does not concern only the few Romany Holocaust survivers, but the whole society so that its members can think about whether people are doing their utmost to prevent such a tragedy from recurring, Navara writes.
