Romanies write Obama about rising nationalism in Czech society

They handed over the letter to Mary Thompson-Jones, charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Prague, today.

A recent conflict with right-wing extremists occurred in the Janov housing estate, inhabited mainly by Romanies, in Litvinov, north Bohemia.

Last November extremists organised a march through Janov, aimed against Romany inhabitants, who according to the extremists, bothered non-Romany neighbours. The event resulted in a sharp clash between the extremists and police.

In their letter to Obama, Romanies also complain about "the defamation of the Romany Holocaust in the Czech Republic," saying the Czech Republic has not yet coped with its "historical shame."

They refer to the sites of the two former internment camps for Romanies in the Czech Lands during World War Two - one in Lety, south Bohemia, and the other in Hodonin u Kunstatu, south Moravia.

The authors of the letter to Obama stressed that commanders and guards in both wartime camps were Czechs.

At present a pig farm is on the site of the Lety camp, which has been repeatedly criticised by Romanies and human rights activists. The European Parliament has also called on the Czech Republic to remove the pig farm.

A recreational facility is on the site of the camp in Hodonin and only a small memorial commemorates the wartime atrocities.

However, the Romany Holocaust centre is to be established there. New Minister for Human Rights and Ethnic Minorities Michael Kocab recently agreed on the purchase of the plot for the centre with its owners.

Over 1300 Romanies were interned in Lety during the German Nazi occupation, 327 of whom perished in the camp and over 500 were sent to the extermination camp in Oswiecim (Auschwitz).

Almost 1400 Romanies went through the Hodonin camp. Over 200 died there and more than 800 were deported to Auschwitz.

Kocab said when he assumed office said that the removal of the pig farm from Lety would be one of his priorities.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz