Factsheet on the Roma Genocide in Czech Republic
Recognition of the Roma Genocide
Recognition, official texts
In the Czech Republic, the Holocaust was recognized and the term used is “Roma Holocaust” or “Holocaust of the Roma” or “Genocide of the Roma”; the term “Porrajmos” is also used by some Roma groups and organisations.
Data (camps locations, Remembrance places, measures etc.)
Remembrance places:
Lety u Písku (Lety near Písek) (in German, Lettig)
A monument dedicated to the memory of victims from the so called “Gypsy Camp” (1942-43) in form of several stones with inscriptions. It was unveiled on the 13th of May 1995 by initiative of the Museum of Romani Culture; President Václav Havel gave a speech on that occasion: "If we do not face up to racist evil at the moment of its first, apparently innocent, manifestations, it will grow into a phenomenon that is truly dangerous, serious, and threatening to all of society, and we risk not being able to face up to that evil later on - or only being able to face up to it at the cost of more human victims... Even today, we sometimes hear people calling 'Gypsies to the gas chambers'. Even today, we can observe indifference to these calls, quiet support for those who are yelling them, cowardly spectators, the renewal of divisions between people according to their ethnic origin. All of this must be faced up to again and again, because it is the tried-and-true territory of racism," Havel said.
Mirovice
A memorial plate at the cemetery is to commemorate buried victims from the so called “Gypsy Camp” in Lety. It was unveiled by the initiative of the Committee for the compensation of Romani Holocaust victims.
Uherčice
A memorial plate at the cemetery is to commemorate the deported Roma from this village to Auschwitz-Birkenau on the 7th of March 1943. Unveiled on the 30th of May 2000 by initiative of the municipality.
Hodonín u Kunštátu (Hodonín near Kunštát) (in German, Göding)
A monument dedicated to the memory of victims from so called “Gypsy Camp” (1942-43). Unveiled on the 17th of August 1997 by initiative of the Museum of Romani Culture.
Černovice
Memorial plate at the cemetery is to commemorate buried victims from the so called “Gypsy Camp” in Hodonín. Unveiled on the 16th of May 1998 by initiative of the Museum of Romani Culture.
Bohusudov
A memorial monument is to commemorate the deported Roma from this village to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Unveiled on the 29th of September 1985 by initiative of the local Union of the Anti-Fascist Warriors from the town Telč.
Facts and figures.
Historical background:
The First Tschecoslovak Republic (1918-1939) made an attempt at resolving "the Gypsy question" in 1927 by issuing the “Law on Wandering Gypsies”. In practice this meant that they all had to apply for identification and for permission to stay the night. The aim was to "civilize" their way of life, but the law so restricted and deprived the Roma of their civil liberties, that it became an expression of the slanderous, defamatory, and vilifying attitude of society at the time towards the ethnic group as a whole.
A sizable number of Roma settled in the Czech Lands or passed through in a semi-migratory way of life. The settlers were mostly bricklayers, tinkers, blacksmiths, trough-makers, road-menders, musicians, and so on, or whatever they received permission from the community to do.
Before WWI, nearly all Roma were illiterate and, faced with the discrimination they felt in the "gadje" society, had no motivation to educate themselves, as even with an education they would have difficulty finding a place in society.
The first exceptional anti-Roma measure in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the edict of the Ministry of the Interior in 1939, which ordered all Roma to settle down and give up their migratory way of life. Anyone not complying with this edict could be put in to work camps - in Bohemia the camp was in Lety, in Moravia it was Hodonín. With the Decree on the Preventive Fight against Criminality (1942), the Government introduced a police detention along the German Reich model, which took place in detention camps at Lety, Hodonín, Prague-Ruzyne and in Pardubice, or in the concentration camp at Auschwitz I.
According to the census of 2 August 1942, more than 6,500 Roma from the Protectorate were rounded up, of which the smaller part were sent off to the newly opened “Gypsy Camps”, until then work camps, in Lety and Hodonín.
The Lety camp was intended for the concentration of "anti-social" Roma from Bohemia, and 1,256 prisoners passed through it, including 36 children who were born there to imprisoned mothers. Debilitating work, consistent hunger, excessive crowding in insect-infested barracks, as well as the precarious state of health of the internees - it all contributed to their sickness and death. Such a death claimed the lives of 326 men, women and children. Three transports were arranged for the other prisoners, who didn't survive the war: the first left on 3 December 1942 for the first Auschwitz concentration camp and consisted of 16 men and 78 women in total, the second headed for the “Gypsy Camp” at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 11 March 1943 and included 16 women and four men hospitalized before the departure in Písek and Strakonice hospitals, and in the third group, on 7 April 1943, the mass of prisoners was deported, which included 215 men and boys and 205 women and girls.
The Hodonín camp was meant for the internment of "anti-social" Moravian Roma and in it were recorded 1,396 prisoners, including 34 children born there. Of this number, 207 prisoners died and 855 of them were sent to Auschwitz. The first shipment of 45 men and 30 women was set up for 7 December 1942 and its destination was Auschwitz. The second two groups ended up at the “Gypsy Camp” at Auschwitz-Birkenau; one left on the 22nd August 1943 with 749 prisoners of both sexes and and all age groups and the second left on the 28th of January 1944 with 26 adults and 5 children who had been imprisoned in a police jail in Brno after the closing of the Hodonín camp.
The commandant of the “Gypsy Camp” in Lety was Captain J. Janovsky, the commandant of the camp in Hodonín was S. Blahynka, and both camps were run solely by Czech personnel and none of them were punished after 1945.
The majority of Roma, who had a permanent residence and could demonstrate steady work, remained free after the implemented census for the time being. Their deportation came about by two edicts issued at the turn of 1942-3 by the Reich Ministry of the Interior.
In March 1943, a substantial part of the Roma were sent away, first from Moravia (1,038 people on 7 March), then from Bohemia (642 people on 11 March), and finally from both areas at once (1,042 people on the 19th of March). The second stage of deportation was made up of shipments in May (853 people total from Bohemia and Moravia on 7 May, of which 420 were from the liquidation of the Lety camp), August (767 people total from Moravia, of which 749 came from the liquidation of the Hodonín camp), and October (93 people from Bohemia and Moravia on 19 October). The final Roma were deported from the Protectorate either in smaller shipments (the 31 prisoners remaining from the Hodonín camp on 28 January 1944), or individually.
In the files of the “Gypsy Camp” at Auschwitz-Birkenau were written the names of 4,493 Roma from the Protectorate. Of all of them, the only ones with a hope of surviving were those transferred to work at other concentration camps, such as Auschwitz I, Natzweiler, Flossenbürg, Buchenwald, and Ravensbrück, from where they were then distributed to other concentration camps, especially in Dora, Dachau, Neuengamme, Bergen-Belsen, Mathausen and so on.
After the liberation in 1945, only 583 Roma men and women returned to their homes. The original Roma population in the Czech lands was thus almost annihilated during the period of the Nazi occupation. A similar fate befell the Roma in the detached Sudetenland.
The so called “Gypsy Camps” in Lety and Hodonín – overview in numbers:
Lety
- Total of imprisoned individuals: 1,309 people.
- Died in the camp: 326 individuals;
- Children born in the camp / Survived: 36/3? children.
- Successful escapes: 60.
- People released from the camp: 313 people.
- Number of Roma transported to the “Gypsy Camp“ in Auschwitz II (Birkenau) with the mass transport from 4 May 1943: 420 individuals.
- Total number of Roma transported to Auschwitz from the camp: 533 individuals.
- Camp officially closed on: 9 August 1943
Hodonín
- Total of imprisoned individuals: 1,396 people.
- Died in the camp: 207 individuals.
- Children born in the camp / Survived: 34/1 children.
- Successful escapes: 53.
- People released from the camp: 262 people.
- Number of Roma transported to the “Gypsy Camp“ in Auschwitz II (Birkenau) with the mass transport from 21 August 1943: 748 individuals.
- Total number of Roma transported to Auschwitz from the camp: 849 individuals.
- Camp officially closed on: 1 December 1943.
Specialised institution, commission, research centre etc., dealing with this issue
There is a specialised institution centre dealing with the issue of the Genocide of the Roma or Samudaripen: "Muzeum romské kultury" (Museum of Romani Culture) in Brno. There is also the organization "Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu" (The Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust), which is an association representing the interests of surviving Roma Holocaust victims and relatives of victims in the Czech Republic.
Museum of Romani Culture, state organisation
Bratislavská 67
602 00 Brno
Telephone: +420 545 571 798
E-mail: [email protected]
Since the Museum of Romani Culture was established in the early nineties, the historical department of the museum is documenting and researching the Genocide of the Roma, especially in the territory of the former Czechoslovakia. In the museum there are a lot of audio and video testimonies of Roma survivors: about 200 hours of video and about 300 hours of audio testimonies. The museum also helped Roma survivors with the compensations in the last years - and these recordings were also used in many cases as a testimony in the compensation process. The Historical Department of the museum is researching, publishing about the Genocide of the Roma and provides lectures about this topic for elementary schools, high schools, university students and for the wide public. In 2007 the museum opened for public the part of the permanent exhibition "The Story of the Roma" dedicated to the Nazi Genocide of the Roma, and this part is the first and only exhibition of its kind in the Czech Republic. The entire permanent exhibition is unique in its focus on the history of the Genocide of the Roma worldwide. The construction up to this time has been covered by the Czech Government, the Česko-německý fond budoucnosti (Czech-German Fund for the Future) and by the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF). The exhibition “Romengro murdaripen - The Holocaust” is located in the first floor of the museum (Room no 4) and it covers an area of 351 square meters. This exhibition is a reminder of the Genocide of the Roma and a place for education of the broadest public. It is also intended as a place of reverence to honour the victims. This permanent exhibition also serves as a basis for educational events in the Museum of Romani Culture, a long-term output in the shape of an exhibition and educational activities. Since 2000 the museum is cooperating with the Ministry of Education, the Terezín Memorial and the Jewish Museum in Prague on the seminars for educators from the elementary and high schools called “How to teach the Holocaust.”
In 2011, the Museum of Roma Culture produced a traveling exhibition "Genocide of the Roma during the Second World War". The exhibition consists of photographs accompanied by texts about the genocide of the Roma. It starts with the situation in Germany in 1933 and describes the process that was unleashed against the "gypsy race" there and later implemented in all of the territories annexed to Nazi Germany. Special attention is paid to the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak state. Other topics include the inclusion of Romani people in the anti-Nazi resistance and the fate of Romani property after Romani people were transported to the concentration camps. A 30-minute film includes interviews with Romani people who survived the concentration camps and the Second World War.
The Memorial to the holocaust of the Roma and Sinti
Bratislavská 67
602 00 Brno
Mgr. Luděk Strašák, Ph. D.
head of memorials
[email protected]
+420 774 855 225
Mgr. Radovan Krhovský
administrator of the memorial
[email protected]
+420 775 403 155
History of the so-called Gypsy camp in Hodonín u Kunštátu
The Protectorate so-called Gypsy camp was opened in Hodonín u Kunštátu on August 2, 1942. The establishment of the camp with the official designation Zigeunerlager II (Zigeunerlager I was opened in Lety u Písku) was preceded by the July 1942 directive “Countering the Gypsy Crime” (which was a copy of the Reich model valid in Nazi Germany from 1938) according to which a total of 6,500 persons defined as “gypsies and gypsy biracial” were accounted for in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Some of the Roma and Sinti and with them some of their families, considered to be “living the Gypsy way” were interned in the newly opened so-called Gypsy camps from the beginning of August 1942.
Punitive labor camp and collection camp. The so-called gypsy camp in Hodonín u Kunštátu was established at the site of the former punitive labor camp (opened on August 10, 1940) and collection camp (from January 1, 1942).
The punitive labor and collection camp served to implement a distorted social policy for the temporary detention of healthy adult men considered to be “working with disgust” or “asocial” and to use their labor force. Out of the total of 1032 inmates who went through the disciplinary labor and collection camp, 167 (or 16%) of them were marked with the letter C, ie “gypsies” in the camp evidence.
Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaust (The Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust)
Všehrdova 11
118 00 Prague 1
Telephone: +420 257 327 871
The Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust is an association representing the interests of surviving Roma Holocaust victims and relatives of victims in the Czech Republic. Established in 1998, and since then, among other things, has been striving to make the former concentration camps at Lety and Hodonín places of reverence. They would like these sites to become dignified memorials to the suffering of the Roma people during the Protectorate. Unlike other places, such as the concentration camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Terezín (in German, Theresienstadt), the sites at Lety and Hodonín are used for purposes which are a gross contradiction of their unquestionable significance not only for Roma in the Czech Republic, but for every citizen of Czech Republic, as places of commemoration and reminders of the dangers of past mistakes.
Remembrance day
Holocaust in general is officially recognized as an important day in 245/2000 Coll. of 29 June 2000 on public holidays, the other holidays, significant days and days of rest:
- 27th January: International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Every year the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno commemorates this day with special events.
- 7th March: at this moment there is a parliamentary initiative on-going, which attempts to recognize 7th March as an official day as the Commemoration day for victims of Roma persecution during the Second World War.
In the Czech Republic, the Holocaust was recognized and the term used is “Roma Holocaust” or “Holocaust of the Roma” or “Genocide of the Roma”; the term “Porrajmos” is also used by some Roma groups and organisations.
The commemoration of the Genocide of the Roma is observed primarily on Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27th January.
Every year the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno commemorates this day with special events. A parliamentary initiative is currently under exam, which attempts to recognize 7th March as an official day as the Commemoration day for victims of Roma persecution during the Second World War.
Every year the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno also commemorates the 7th of March, which is the date of the first transportation of the Roma people from Brno to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943. The museum prepares a commemorative afternoon in the museum’s exhibition hall dedicated to the history of the Genocide of the Roma for the Roma witnesses and survivors, delegates of the Czech Government and local politics, delegates of the Jewish minority and wide public.
Every year in April there is commemoration meeting in Lety, on the place of the former so-called “Gypsy Camp”, where the Roma witnesses and survivors, Roma representatives, delegates of the Czech Government and local politics, delegates of the Jewish minority and wide public met together to commemorate the Roma victims of the Genocide.
The Museum of Romani Culture in Brno also commemorates the 21st of August, which is the date of the first mass transportation of the Roma prisoners from the so-called “Gypsy Camp” in Hodonín to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943. The holly mess was prepared in the chapel of the village Hodonín, as well as a commemorative meeting on the former burying place with the mass graves near the camp, where the memorial site is since 1997. In the Czech Republic, there is a special Roma Holocaust working group, which works as an advisory committee of the Czech Ministry of Human Rights. This working group is trying to find and prepare data and solutions concerning the Lety and Hodonín camps – the most important Czech places of the Genocide of the Roma. There are plans to build there new information and navigation system, roads and a parking place. The Museum of Romani Culture in Brno has already initiated in the Czech Ministry of Culture the application for the declaration of the former Hodonín camp as a listed and protected building.
On 2nd August 2015, an official commemoration was held at the memorial at Lety by Písek in South Bohemia. Representatives of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, the Education Ministry, the municipality of Lety, the Office of the Government and the Senate attended. In recent years political representatives across the spectrum there have agreed that it is not dignified for a pig farm to continue to stand on the former concentration camp site at Lety.
On 25 January 2018 the Museum of Romani Culture took over the grounds of the memorial at the Romani genocide site in Hodonín u Kunštátu from the Office for Government Representation in Property Affairs (ÚZSVM). The Museum became the administrator of the entire site and is in charge of running the memorial for the public, including building its exhibitions.
The former camp was located in the forest near Hodonín and was called Žalov (which roughly translated means "place of sadness"). First it was used as a disciplinary labor camp for the unemployed before being transformed into a so-called "Gypsy camp" in 1942.
In 2009, reconstruction began of the grounds of the former concentration camp and a plan was developed for the building of a memorial there. The construction of that memorial was entrusted to the Jan Amos Comenius National Pedagogical Museum and Library by a Czech Government resolution. The original, preserved building of the prisoner's barracks was in bad condition and therefore it apparently was necessary to demolish the original and produce a faithful replica of it. Nevertheless, the original barracks for the guards managed to be preserved as evidence of the past for future generations to recall the tragic history of this location and the Romani nation.
At the very centre of the space an Information Centre serve as a gathering place for visitors to learn more, not just about the history of the camp, but about the Holocaust and totalitarian regimes in general. The Museum is closely collaborating with many leading Czech historians, with the Museum of Romani Culture, and with the former prisoners and their surviving relatives.
Teaching about the Roma Genocide
Inclusion of the topic in the school curriculum
The topic is not included in the compulsory school curriculum, neither in the draft of the state educational programs of the subjects like National History and Geography, or History and Civic Education.
Inclusion of the topic in the school textbooks
The topic is included in the complementary textbooks for primary and secondary schools, but very inadequately. The Roma topics are in the textbooks very short, not enough, and the Roma Genocide is only a very small part of the topic of the Genocide of the Jews. In fact, the only information that is possible to find in many cases is that, during the war, there was also an extermination of the Roma people.
Training of teachers and education professionals
The topic is a part of the continuous training of pedagogical employees during the teacher training seminars made by the Terezín Memorial, the Czech Ministry of Education, the Jewish Museum in Prague and the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno (project “How to teach about the Holocaust”). The topic is also presented as a part of the course for the students of the pedagogical faculties and the teachers of Roma language, literature, culture and civilization. The Historical Department of the Museum of Romani Culture also provides lectures about the Genocide of the Roma for elementary and high schools teachers. In 2009 it has received status of an authorised teacher training institution.
There are often problems with the prejudices of teachers, which do not want to talk more about the Roma history in the lessons. And that is maybe because the teachers are not interested any more in this topic. Furthermore, the teachers are sometimes afraid of the topic of the Genocide of the Roma, because of the common atmosphere in the society. There is also another problem: the lack of summarizing handbook about the Roma history for teachers in the Czech Republic.
Particular activities undertaken at the level of education institutions
The Museum of Romani Culture´s departments on education and history provide both students and the wide public with lectures on Roma history, culture and traditions and on the Roma genocide. The latter cover history of the Roma genocide, including screening of the documentary film „These are the painful memories" and a successive discussion. During the lecture each student can see prominent contemporary documents as newspaper articles, official papers, legal edicts and regulations, personal letters or photographs. The documentary has been realised also thanks to financial support of the Czech-German Fund for the Future, the Foundation for Holocaust Victims and the Open Society Fund Prague.
The MRC´s department on education has also developed special programmes that concentrate on the most tragic period between 1939 and 1945. Every year about 1500 pupils and students participate on lectures and interactive workshops conceived to help different target groups (e.g. age, level of education) understand the issue.
Every year in March the MRC holds a week-long programme for pupils and high school students within the framework of the European-wide Action Week Against Racism. The programme focuses on the Roma genocide and related issues as human rights, racism, discrimination or society's attitude towards minorities. The MRC co-operates closely with the public beneficial organisation Živá paměť (Living Memory). During the lecture series Disappeared Roma and Roma Today in the Czech Republic, the associates of Living memory have been visiting primary and secondary schools. Since 2005 two thousand pupils and students attended the discussions with the witnesses of the Roma Holocaust and experts on Roma issues.
Testimonies
In the Museum of Romani Culture there are a lot of audio and video testimonies of the Roma survivors that were recorded since the nineties (about 200 hours of video and about 300 hours of audio testimonies). Some Roma survivors are cooperating with the Museum on the pedagogical activities.
The story of Emilie Holomkova, known as Elina, a Czech Roma who survived the Genocide, is available on the Dutch online exhibition Romasinti.eu.
The website “Romové v České republice” / “Roma in the Czech Republic” offers information and testimonies about the Genocide of the Roma in the Czech Republic, as well as news related to this topic. The texts are written in Czech, English, German and French.
Initiatives of the civil society
The work of historians:After the war, the existence of Romani camps was practically forgotten outside the Romani community, except by specialized historians. The whole community of Czech Romani was annihilated and the new ones, who came from Slovakia and Romania, had no knowledge of this tragedy. During the 1970s, a large factory pig farm was constructed near the site of the Lety camp. A tourist hotel has been built on the site of the Hodonín camp. In the 1970s and 1980s, Czech historians, notably Prof. Ctibor Nečas, researched and described the persecution of Roma during the Nazi occupation, including the camps in Lety and Hodonín. In 1992 the book Black Silence by Paul Polansky compiled historical records and testimonials of survivors. The book started heated discussions in the Czech Republic about Czech relations to the Romani and their history. The most recent book on Lety is 1997's And No One Will Believe You by Markus Pape.
Lety's pig farm:
Romani activists picked the pig farm as a symbol of the Czech stance toward the Romani, insisting it is a source of shame for the country internationally. They have repeatedly asked the government to relocate the farm. Their efforts gained further attention by a resolution of the European Parliament in 2005 asking the Czech Government to remove the farm. Opponents have criticized the massive cost of the farm's relocation, and insisted it has no impact on the actual life of the Romani people. They claim that the real intention of the activists is to extort money from the state and that the farm's removal would lead to a worsening of already tense relations between ethnic Czechs and Roma. In both 2005 and 2006, the Czech government announced its intention to buy and liquidate the farm, but has recently decided against it.On 10 Feburary 2015, right after the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 1945, the ERTF together with the Czech NGO Slovo 21 and other European NGOs called for the removal of the pig farm on the Roma Genocide site in Lety u Pisku. More recently, organizations in the Czech Republic such as the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust, Dzeno Association, and Romea are working to keep the issue alive and defend the site from right-wing extremist political demonstrations.
In August 2014, Senator Okamura, member of the populist party Usvit (Dawn of Direct Democracy), insulted the Romani victims of the Holocaust, saying that the camp in Lety was not a Romani concentration camp as no one was ever killed there. These were not the first statements of this kind. Petra Edelmannova, chair of the defunct xenophobic National Party, held a similar discourse in 2006. In 2005, member of European Parliament Miloslav Randsdorf of the Communist Party also said that Lety was not a concentration camp: the Human Rights commissioner filed a criminal complaint against him but no prosecution followed. And finally, Vaclav Klaus, former President of the Czech Republic agreed with Randsdorf. The permissiveness in the public discourse, verging on the historical denial of the Roma genocide, is a transversal feature of the political spectrum. On 6 August 2014, first criminal charges were filed against Okamura by Simon Heller, a member of the Christian Democratic party (KDS). On 8 August, the ERTF together with other NGOs such as Konexe, Romea and Slovo 21 sent a letter to the Czech Prime Minister demanding Okamura’s waiver of parliamentary immunity, his resignation and the removal of the pig farm (currently standing on the former Lety camp). On 13 November 2014, after more criminal charges were filed against him, the police of the Czech Republic said that Okamura did not commit a crime, because his statement was partly based on “historically attested truths”.
Project "Living Memory": There is a project of the non-governmental organisation Živá paměť (Living Memory), which provides in cooperation with the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, lectures about the Genocide of the Roma for elementary schools, high schools and also for university students. These lectures are held in the Museum or in the schools. The lectures about the Genocide of the Roma have two parts. The first part is the historical lecture about the Genocide of the Roma, and the second one consists of a screening of the documentary film called “...to jsou těžké vzpomínky” (These are painful memories). After the screening of this documentary there is a discussion about the topic. During the lecture some contemporary documents (official documents, edicts, regulations, personal letters, photographs, etc.) and contemporary articles from the newspapers are shown to the students and afterwards there is a debate about the nature of these documents and what they mean in practice. The documentary “...to jsou těžké vzpomínky” (These are painful memories) was made in 2002 in cooperation between the Museum, the Association Film and Sociology and the Czech television and thanks to the financial support of the Česko-německý fond budoucnosti (Czech-German Fund for the Future), Foundation for Holocaust Victims and Open Society Fund Prague. The Director is Mrs. Monika Rychlíková. This documentary uses beneath the historical facts also the videotestimonies of the Roma survivors saved in the Museum and in the Association Film and Sociology. The documentary lasts about 30 minutes.
Creative association for arts and culture drom's project “the Forgotten Genocide”:
In the spring of 2010 the Finnish NGO Drom Association organized in Helsinki an international series of events entitled "The Forgotten Genocide" dedicated to the Roma Holocaust. The president of Finland Tarja Halonen served as the patron of the project. In addition to the Goethe-Institut, the project involved the embassies of the Czech Republic, Austria and Sweden. The Embassy of Sweden provided support for the participation of the Anne Frank Foundation. The main event of was international scholarly seminar "The Roma and the Holocaust" on the history and present situation of the Roma held at the House of Science and Letters in Helsinki on 8 - 9 April 2010. As a neutral country Finland had the worthy opportunity to host these events focusing on the Roma Holocaust. Although the Roma Holocaust has been officially recognized, it isstill far from being processed historically and it is a subject that has remained completely unknown to many people. Other events in this connection consisted of the Barvalo Drom (Rich Road) exhibition at the Caisa Cultural Centre, presenting Roma history, culture and art in broad perspective, and the concert series Barvalo Drom with its main concert at the Savoy Theatre on 9 April. "The Forgotten Genocide" was the first series of events devoted to this theme in Finland and it gained significant visibility both nationally and internationally.
In November 2012 and November 2013, the Museum of Romani Culture organised with Erinnern.at (Austria) and Anne Frank House (The Netherlands), the International Conference on teaching material on the Roma Genocide. There were three target groups represented at the meetings: educational experts working at institutes related to the history of the Holocaust and/or the Roma genocide, teacher trainers that are working at universities or teacher training colleges, and educational authorities. The expertise of these different groups of experts contributed significantly to the development of the teaching material and of the implementation process. The project aimed to create a network of educators and policy makers from across Europe to generally support teaching about the genocide of the Roma in the institutions and countries that are part of the project, and in particular to further the implementation of the teaching materials "The Fate of the European Roma and Sinti during the Holocaust".
Information material
(Auto)Biographies
Horváthová, J. (ed.) (2004). Memoáry romských žen; Elina, Sága rodu Holomků; Karolína, Cesta životem v cikánském voze ((Memoirs of Roma Women). Brno: Muzeum romské kultury. [This books explains the life and experiences of Elina Machalkova and Karolina Kozakova].
Lacková, E. (1997). Narodila jsem se pod št'astnou hvězdou. Praha: Triada. [Texte en tchèque et romani. Il y a plusieurs traductions, y compris le russe]
Leapman, M. (1988). Witnesses to war: eight true-life stories of Nazi persecution. New York: Viking.
Stojka, C. (2008). Žijeme ve skrytu - Vyprávění rakouské Romky. Praha: Argo. [Original in German].
Novels
Doughty, L. (2007). Ohně v temnotě. Brno: Barrister & Principal. [Original in English]
Hackl, E. (2001). Loučení se Sidonií. Praha: Argo. [Original in German]
Theatre
Lacková, E. (1956). Cigánsky tábor; hra o 3 dejstvách, 4 obrazoch. Praha: Československé divadelní a literárni jednatelství. [Original in Slovak]
The play was written in 1946 and the performances took part - with a huge success - in Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1950. In total, there was 106 performances.
Music
There is one song about the topic. It is called "Aušvits" ("Auschwitz") - in Romani - and it was sung in the film Latcho Drom.
More information about the song.
Art
There is a website about the Austrian Cejka Stojka’s drawings.
Reportage
Reportage about the French writer Matéo Maximoff.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions about WWII:
The permanent exhibition of the “Muzeum romské kultury” / “Museum of Romani culture” in Brno includes the topic of the Nazi Genocide of the Roma (1939-1945). The website also includes historical facts and pictures, for instance about the Hodonín camp. Most of the information is in Czech, but there are translations into English.
The Committee for the Compensation of the Romani Holocaust, in partnership with the Documentation Centre of German Sinti and Roma (Heidelberg, Germany), organised in 2006 - from May to July - an exhibition with the title: “The Roma Holocaust: the Genocide of the Roma and Sinti and racism in today’s Europe”. The exhibition was displayed in the National Gallery.
Art exhibitions
There was an exhibition of C. Stojka’s paintings called "Living" (“Žít!”) in 2009: Museum of Romani culture, from the 8th of April to the 19th of September 2009.
In 2007 there was a photo exhibition in the National Gallery with the title: “A Vanished World”. The Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust organised this event.
The “Výbor pro odškodní romského holocaustu” (VPORH) / “Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust is an association representing the interests of surviving Roma Holocaust victims and relatives of victims in the Czech Republic.
Conference
The Conference "The Genocide of the Roma during WWII" was held in Prague in 2003. One of the organisers was the Jewish Community of Prague.
Websites
Scientific publications
Bárta, M. (1959). Nezapomeňte na to děvčátko.
Brzobohatý, D. (1995). To byli také naši občané. O osudu Romů na Slavičínsku a jejich konci v plynových komorách. Slavičín.
Bubenickova, R. et al. (1969). Tabory utrpeni a smrti. Praha: Svoboda.
Davidová, E. (1995). Cesty Romů. Romano Drom. 1945-1990: změny v postavení a způsobu života Romů v Čechách, na Moravě a na Slovensku (Journeys of the Roma. Romano Drom. 1945-1990: Changes in the Status and Lifestyle of the Roma in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia). Olomouc: Vydavatelství Univerzity Palackého.
Duna, W. A and Polansky, P. (1997). The Hidden Holocaust of the Gypsies. Minneapolis: Sa-Roma.
Fulková, M. (1955). Z - Osud českých a slovenských Romů po nástupu fašismu.
Gracová, B.(1992). “Osudy Cikánů z Těšínska v letech druhé světové války”, Těšínsko, 2, pp. 29 – 30.
Haišman, T. (1988). “Die Ermordung der Ziegeunerbevölkerung im Gebiet der heutigen Tschechoslowakei während des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Ein Bericht zum Forschungsstand”, Beiträge zur nationalsozialistischen Gesundheits - und Sozialpolitik, 6, pp. 185 - 188.
Historický ústav Akademie věd České republiky (ed.) (1999). Historikové a kauza Lety. Praha: Academia.
Holý, D. and Nečas, C. (1993). Žalující píseň. O osudu Romů v nacistických koncentračních táborech (A song of accusation: The fate of the Roma in the Nazi concentration camps). Brno.
Horváthová, J. (ed.) (2004). Memoáry romských žen; Elina, Sága rodu Holomků; Karolína, Cesta životem v cikánském voze (Memoirs of Roma Women). Brno: Muzeum romské kultury.
Horváthová, D. and Holomková, J. (1995). “Usazování, integrace a konečná likvidace moravských Romů na příkladu historie romského tábora u Svatobořic na Kyjovsku”. In: Neznámý holocaust. Praha, pp. 51–54.
Horváthová, J. and Nečas, C (1997). Ma bisteren-nezapomeňme. Historie cikánského tábora v Hodoníně u Kunštátu (1942-1943) (Do not forget. History of the gypsy camp in Hodonín near Kunštát). Praha: Muzeum romské kultury.
Jelínek, J. (1980). Poslední slova mého otce.
Kenrick, D. and Puxon, G. (2000). Cikáni pod hákovým křížem. Olomouci: Univerzita Palackého. [Original in English]
Kladivová, V. (1994). Konečná stanice Auschwitz-Birkenau (Destination: Auschwitz-Birkenau). Olomouc.
Kladivová, V. (1998): “Sinti und Roma im ‘Zigeunerlager’ des KL Auschwitz-Birkenau 1.3. 1943 - 2. - 8. 1944”. In: Sinti und Roma im KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. Oswiecim, pp. 300-319.
Kraus, O. and Lulka, E. (1957). Tovarna na smrt. Praha: Nase vojsko.
Lacková, E. (1997). Narodila jsem se pod št'astnou hvězdou. Praha: Triada. [Text in Czech and Romani. There are translations into many languages]
Lacková, E. and Balvín, J. (2001). Holocaust Romů v povídkách Eleny Lackové. Praha: Fortuna.
Lamper, I. (ed.) (2006). Nemilosrdné příběhy českých dějin. Praha: Národní divadlo, R-Presse.
Lhotka, P. (1997). “Transporty českých Romů do cikánského tábora v Letech”, Tamtéž, pp. 41 – 44.
Lhotka, P. (1997). “Snaha Romů o získání protektorátní státní příslušnosti”, Bulletin muzea romské kultury, 6, pp. 39 - 40.
Lipa, J. (1990). “The Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia under Nazi Domination”. In: Berenbaum, M. (ed.). A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis. New York: New York University Press, pp. 207-215.
Machalová, T. (2001). Lidská práva proti rasismu. Brno: Doplněk.
Nečas, C. (1972). “Cikánská otázka v letech 1938 – 1942”, Časopis Matice moravské, 91: 3- 4, pp. 305–315.
Nečas, C (1973). “Cikánský tábor v Letech u Písku 1942 – 1943”, Jihočeský sborník historický, 42: 1, pp. 42-47 and Jihočeský sborník historický, 43, pp. 146-161.
Nečas, C. (1973 and 1974). “Cikáni v Hodoníně u Kunštátu v letech 1940 – 1943”, Vlastivědný věstník moravský, 25: 3 (1973), pp. 277-283 and Vlastivědný věstník moravský, 26:1 (1974), pp. 26 - 33.
Nečas, C. (1974). “Spor o svatobořické Cikány”, Jižní Morava, 10, pp. 88–93.
Nečas, C. (1974-1975). “Cikáni na Uherskohradišťsku v období nacistické okupace”, Slovácko, 16 - 17, pp. 42–50.
Nečas, C. (1975). “Potírání tzv. cikánského zlořádu v českých zemích v letech 1942 – 1945”, Tamtéž, 94: 1-2, pp. 127-139.
Nečas, C. (1975). “Cikáni jihovýchodní Moravy v letech 1939 – 1945”. In: Osvobození a nové osídlení jižní Moravy 1945. Mikulov, pp. 159 – 166.
Nečas, C. (1975). “Cikáni politického okresu Zlín (1939 - 1945)”, Zprávy oblastního muzea v Gottwaldově, 3-4, pp. 17 -23.
Nečas, C. (1976-1977). “Z minulosti luhačovických Cikánů”, Slovácko, 18 - 19, pp. 75 – 96.
Nečas, C. (1977). “Cikánský tábor v Oslavanech”, Jižní Morava, 13, pp. 71 – 79.
Nečas, C. (1977). “Obyvatelé cikánských táborů na Moravě”, Časopis Matice moravské, 96: 3 - 4, pp. 313 - 323.
Nečas, C. (1979). “Sul destino di un campo di Zingar”, Lacino drom, 15: 5, pp. 5-7.
Nečas, C. (1980). “Notes sur le destin des Tsiganes tchèques”, Etudes Tsiganes, 26: 3, pp. 8–11.
Nečas, C. (1981). “Die tschechischen und slowakischen Roma im Dritten Reich”. In: Dritter Welt- Roma- Kongres. Göttingen, pp. 62–64.
Nečas, C. (1981). Nad osudem českých a slovenských Cikánů v letech 1939–1945. Brno: Univerzita J.E. Purkyně v Brně. [Revised version in 1994: Nečas, C. Českoslovenští Romové v letech 1938–1945. Brno]
Nečas, C. (1982). “K sociální adaptaci Cikánů na Strážnicku”, Národopisné aktuality, 19: 1, pp. 25 – 32.
Nečas, C. (1982). “The Czech Gypsies during the Nazi occupation”, Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society (Series 2), 2:1, pp. 69–75.
Nečas, C. (1983). “Usedlí strážničtí Cikáni”, Jižní Morava<, 19, pp. 63–78.
Nečas, C. (1987). Andr’oda taboris: vězňové protektorátních cikánských táborů, 1942-1943. Brno: Městský výbor Českého svazu protifašistických bojovníků v Brně.
Nečas, C. (1988). “Genealogie jednoho cikánského rodu”, Brno v minulosti a dnes, 10, pp. 131 – 135.
Nečas, C. (1989). “Původní cikánská populace v Brně a její vyhlazení v letech 1939 – 1945”, Forum brunense, 2, pp. 99 – 108.
Nečas, C. (1992). “Osudy československých Cikánů za nacistické okupace a nadvlády”, Střední Evropa, 7: 23, pp. 117-129.
Nečas, C. (1992). “Une portraitiste des Tsiganes d'Auschwitz-Birkenau”, Etudes Tsiganes, 36: 1, pp. 31–34.
Nečas, C. (1992). “Portrecistka z Oswiecimiu”, Rrom p-o Drom, 1: 7, p. 7.
Nečas, C. (1992). “Dinah a její podivuhodné portréty Cikánů”, Forum brunense, 4, pp. 136-142.
Nečas, C. (1993). “Brněnský transport Cikánů do koncentračního tábora v Auschwitz I”, Universitas, 4, pp. 21-26.
Nečas, C. (1994). “Convoglio di mort”, Lacio drom, 30: 1, pp. 23-24.
Nečas, C. (1994). “Cikánský tábor v Auschwitz-Birkenau a jeho nejmladší vězňové”, Časopis Matice moravské, 113: 1, pp. 151-158.
Nečas, C. (1994). Českoslovenští Romové v letech 1938–1945. Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně. [Revised version of: Nečas, C.(1981). Nad osudem českých a slovenských Cikánů v letech 1939–1945. Brno: Univerzita J.E. Purkyně v Brně]
Nečas, C. (1994). Nemůžeme zapomenout našťi bisteras. Nucená táborová koncentrace ve vyprávěních romských pamětníků (Impossible to forget: Forced detention in concentration camps in recollections of the Romani survivors). Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci.
Nečas, C. (1995). “Z protektorátu Čechy a Morava do Auschwitz II-Birkenau: hromadný transport 7.5. 1943”, Sborník prací filosofické fakulty brněnské univerzity, 42, pp. 143-149.
Nečas, C. (1995). “Neznámý holocaust”. In: Neznámý holocaust. Příspěvky ze slavnostního odhalení pomníku romským obětem v Letech a ze semináře s mezinárodní účastí v Písku 13. Května 1995. Praha, pp. 27-35.
Nečas, C. (1995). “Druhý aneb neznámý holocaust”, Spisy Právnické fakulty MU v Brně sv., 160, pp. 47-51.
Nečas, C. (1995). “Akce Nisko a příprava ‘konečného řešení’ romské otázky”. In: Mezinárodní konference Akce Nisko v historii konečného řešení židovské otázky k 55. Výročí první hromadné deportace evropských Židů. Ostrava, pp. 125–127.
Nečas, C. (1995). “Čačipen pal' lagri”, Rrom p-o drom, 5: 11 - 12, p. 6.
Nečas, C. (1995). “Kolik vězňů prošlo internacemi protektorátních cikánských táborů”, Časopis Matice moravské, 114: 2, pp. 352-364.
Nečas, C. (1995). Andr´oda taboris. Tragédie protektorátních cikánských táborů v Letech a v Hodoníně (Tragedy of the Protectorate gypsy camps in Lety and Hodonín). Brno.
Nečas, C. (1996). “Scoperte fondamentali sui campi zingari nel Protettoratu di Boemia e Moravia”, Lacio Drom, 32: 1, p. 13.
Nečas, C. (1996). “Záhuba protektorátních Romů”. In: Kural, V. (ed.).Studie o sudetoněmecké otázce. Praha, pp. 205-215.
Nečas, C. (1996). “Romové v koncentračních táborech”. In: Češi v nacistických koncentračních táborech, káznicích a věznicích. Praha, pp. 64-67.
Nečas, C. (1996). “Strasti a útrapy v protektorátních cikánských táborech”, Sborník prací filosofické fakulty brněnské univerzity, 43, pp. 143 – 163.
Nečas, C. (1997). “Minulost hodonínského tábora”. In: Ma bisterem - Nezapomeňme. Praha, pp. 5 – 20.
Nečas, C. (1997). “Transport romských vězňů z Hodonína do Auschwitz-Birkenau”, Bulletin Muzea romské kultury, 6, pp. 33 - 35.
Nečas, C. (1997). “Romská osada v Luhačovicích”, Sborník prací filosofické fakulty brněnské univerzity, 44, pp. 175 - 182.
Nečas, C. (1998). “Sinti und Roma im Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren sowie in der Slowakischen Republik in den Jahren 1939 – 1945”. In: Sinti und Roma im KL Auschwitz-Birkenau 1943 - 1944. Oswiecim, pp. 178-190.
Nečas, C. (1999). “Bohemia and Moravia – two internment camps for Gypsies in the Czech lands”. In: Kenrick, D. (ed.). The Gypsies During the Second World War. Vol. 2. In the Shadow of the Swastika. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, pp. 149-170.
Nečas, C. (1999). Holocaust českých Romů. Praha: Prostor.
Nečas, C. (1999). The Holocaust of the Czech Roma. Praha. [English version of Nečas, C. (1999). Holocaust českých Romů. Praha: Prostor]
Nečas, C. (2000). Z Brna do Auschwitz-Birkenau: první transport moravských Romů do koncentračního tábora Auschwitz-Birkenau. Brno: Muzeum romské kultury. [English translation in 2001: From Brno to Auschwitz-Birkenau: the first transport of Moravian Romany-Gypsies to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp]
Nečas, C. (2001). From Brno to Auschwitz-Birkenau: the first transport of Moravian Romany-Gypsies to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Brno: Museum of Romani Culture. [Original in Czech]
Nečas, C. (2007). “Czech and Slovak Roma, 1939–1945”, Historica (Historical Sciences in the Czech Republic). Series Nova, 12, pp. 144–167.
Nečas, C. (2005).Romové na Moravě a ve Slezsku (1740-1945). Brno: Matice Moravská.
Nečas, C. (2008). Špalíček romských miniatur: osoby a dějství z romského dramatu, které se odvíjelo na scéně historické Moravy. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury.
Nečas, C. and Holý, D. (1991). “A Auschwitz il y a une grande prison - Aušvicare hi kher báro”, Cahier de Littérature Orale, 30, pp. 15 - 35.
Nečas, C. et al. (1994). “Der 50. Jahrestag der Vernichtung der Roma im KL Auschwitz-Birkenau”. In: 50-lecie zaglady Romów w KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. Oswiecim, pp. 58-93 and 113-120.
Nováček, J. (1967): “Německý fašismus a cikánská otázka”, Dějiny a současnost, 8, pp. 38 - 39.
Pape, M. (1997). A nikdo vám nebude věřit. Dokument o koncentračním táboře Lety u Písku. Praha: GplusG Publishers.
Pavelčíková, N. (2004). Romové v českých zemích v letech 1945-1989 (The Roma in the Czech Lands between 1945 and 1989). Praha: Úřad dokumentace a vyšetřování zločinů komunismu PČR.
Polansky, P. (1998). Tíživé mlčení: svědectví těch, kteří přežili Lety. Praha: G plus G.
Poltikovič, M.(1990). Andr´ oda taboris - V táboř.
Richter, B. (1965). “Auschwitz - matricola Z-1963”, Lacio drom, 1: 3, pp. 23–32 and Lacio drom, 1: 5/6, pp. 2-10.
Richter, B. (1974). “Matricule Z-1963”, Monde Gitan, 29, pp. 1-7.
Rose, R. et al. (2009). Nacistická genocida Sintů a Romů: katalog ke stálé výstavě ve Státním muzeu v Osvětimi. Praha: Argo.
Růžička, L. (1958). Vzpomínky cikána na nucené lágry.
Růžička, L. (1959). “Bylo nás osmadvacet”. In: Hvězdy svobody. Praha, pp. 60-62.
Šípek, Z. (1991). “Usazování Cikánů na začátku protektorátu”, Český lid, 78: 4, pp. 271–275.
Šípek, Z. (1992). “Tzv. Cikánská otázka od Mnichova do konce roku 1939”, Tamtéž, 79: 2, pp. 161–169.
Šípek, Z. (1995). “Řešení situace potulnných Cikánů v českých zemích v letech 1918 – 1940”. In: Neznámý holocaust. Praha, pp. 41 – 44.
Stojka, C. (2008). Žijeme ve skrytu - Vyprávění rakouské Romky. Praha: Argo. [Original in German].
Téma (ed.) (2000). Holocaust. Informační materiál pro učitele k výuce na základních a středních školách. Praha: MŠMT ČR.
Vašek, F. (1997). “Romové před nacistickými soudy”, Bulletin Muzea romské kultury, 6, pp. 36 – 38.
Multimedia material
1992: “I Rom (I popoli che scompaiono)” (The Roma – The people who disappear)
Documentary. Italy. Director: Mario Gianni. 23 min.
About the history, culture and political situation of the Roma in Czechoslovakia. There are some commentaries about the Nazi ideology and racial plans.
1997: “Ó, ty černý ptáčku” (“O You Blackbird of Death”)
Documentary. Czech Republic. Director: Břetislav Rychlík. 58 min.
About the experiences in concentration camps of Roma people from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia.
1999: “Svědectví Františka Daniela / František Daniel” (Witness Frantisek Daniel)
Documentary. Czech Republic. Director: Jan Gogola. 58 min.
It is the narration in a tragicomical way of a Roma ex-prisoner of concentration camps.
2002: “...to jsou těžké vzpomínky” (These are painful memories)
Documentary. Czech Republic. Director: Monika Rychlíková. 28 min.
About the life of Roma people in Bohemia and Moravia, drawn by stories of survivors, former prisoners of concentration camps.
Horváthová, J. (ed.) (2004). Memoáry romských žen; Elina, Sága rodu Holomků; Karolína, Cesta životem v cikánském voze (Memoirs of Roma Women). Brno: Muzeum romské kultury. [This books explains the life and experiences of Elina Machalkova and Karolina Kozakova].