Czech Republic: Mayor of Brno joins march against denial of the Holocaust of the Roma

Romani residents of Brno organized a march against denial of the Holocaust of the Roma on Thursday, 15 February 2018 calling for the memory of Romani victims to be honored. The main reason for the initiative is to take a stand against recent remarks by representatives of the “Freedom and Direct Democracy” party (SPD) about the concentration camp at Lety.

Organizers of the march say those remarks deny the Holocaust of the Roma and are blatantly cruel to the victims and their families. The aim of the candlelit march was to express disagreement with and rejection of this inappropriate behavior by state representatives.

The march began on Moravské náměstí at 16:30 and continued across Milada Horáková Street to the Holocaust Victims’ Memorial on 28. října. Figures including the Mayor of Brno, Petr Vokřál, gave speeches there, as did the independent journalist Alica Sigmund Heráková, who related the stories of eyewitnesses to the Holocaust; musician Gejza Horváth; director of the Museum of Romani Culture Jana Horváthová; historian with the National Heritage Institute Michal Konečný; and Robin Stria, a Romani activist who coordinated the event.