Czech art competition for works about the Holocaust of the Roma announces winners this week

On Thursday, 17 June, the winners of the second annual Karel Holomek and Emilie Machálková Competition to Commemorate the Holocaust of the Roma will be announced at the Center for Contemporary Art – DOX in Prague (address: Poupětova 1). The contest is open to students and graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Prague, and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. 

The competition is run by the organization Živá paměť (Living Memory) and is part of the Lačho ďives! project supporting Romani survivors of the Second World War in the Czech Republic by covering the costs of their prescription medicines and medical equipment and striving for the dignified remembrance of the injustice perpetrated against them in the Czech lands. The project does not just involve commemorating the Holocaust of the Roma, but also warning of the tragic message of those past events in the present-day context and tries to encourage young people to reflect on these subjects. 

Exclusion from society; insensitivity and indifference to the suffering of those who are weaker, of the elderly, children or women; an absence of human solidarity and humanity; and the belittling of the suffering and deaths caused and the murder committed on the basis of racial prejudice are all burning human rights issues still today. Last year the inaugural competition was won in the art category by Benedikt Valenta and in the music category by Pavel Nesit, with second and third place going to Adam Fejfar and Martin Fischer.