Civil society members of the Czech Govt Council for Roma Minority Affairs support renaming a street in Liberec after Romani partisan Josef Serinek, say ignoring his name is to overlook Romani heroism during WWII
The volunteer civil society members of the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs (RVZRM) have expressed their support for the initiative to rename part of Kunratická Street in Liberec to Serinkova Street after the WWII-era Romani resistance fighter Josef Serinek. The proposal was recently narrowly rejected by the local assembly in Liberec and the volunteer civil society members of the RVZRM believe that it would be an important step toward recognizing Romani heroism and a dignified way to remember the Holocaust of the Roma.
The civil society RVZRM members made the announcement in a statement sent to news server Romea.cz. “The civil society members of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs would like to thank the Romani community in Liberec for their initiative and for advocating for the rights of the Romani minority, as well as for their tireless efforts to fight to commemorate the Holocaust and its Romani victims, in particular our heroes such as Josef Serinek. We all greatly appreciate your everyday actions and we are asking that you keep going, we must never forget the wrong that was done then, because it must never be allowed to recur. Let’s not give up,” reads the official statement.
Thanks were also expressed by the civil society RVZRM members to Vice Mayor Ivan Langr, who submitted the motion to rename the street to the local assembly. “We would also like to thank Vice Mayor Langr for his heartfelt support and his words. Romani people should not be indifferent to the state,” the civil society RVZRM members wrote.
According to RVZRM volunteer civil society member Alena Gronzíková, remembering Serinek is a moral obligation. “Romani people were among the Holocaust victims, they were sent to Auschwitz from the labor camp there, but they also defended Liberec through the resistance,” she told news server Romea.cz.
RVZRM volunteer civil society member Rudolf Murka stressed the importance of educating the public about Romani resistance fighters: “I support the public learning that there were also brave Romani people here who fought for the freedom of everybody in this country.” Vice Chair of the RVZRM Marian Dancso said ignoring Serinek denies historical truth.
“I support renaming the street after Josef Serinek, because to ignore his legacy means to overlook the history of the resistance to Nazism as well as the heroism of the Romani people who fought for this country’s freedom. In recent years, Serinek has become a symbol of the Romani and the Czech resistance – and if the public space keeps refusing to recognize him, that says more about us today than it does about him. Reminding the public of his name is not a kindness toward a minority group, but a moral obligation toward the truth,” Dancso explained for Romea.cz.
The motion to rename part of Kunratická Street was rejected by just three votes. The initiative was proposed directly by Liberec’s Romani community and brought to the local assembly by Langr.
The proposal responded to the existence of a city-run concentration camp that was in operation in that part of Liberec during the Second World War from which Romani prisoners were deported to the Nazi extermination camps.
