Letter addressed to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on Mr Okamura's statement on the Lety camp

The European Roma and Travellers Forum, Konexe, ROMEA and Slovo 21, o.s. just
sent a letter to the Czech Prime Minister concerning Mr Okamura’s statement on
Lety Camp.

"Czech MP Mr Okamura denied the Genocide of Roma and Travellers at the former
concentration camp at Lety. Given that 500,000 Roma perished under the Nazi
regime and given that Roma and Travellers face continuing discrimination to this
day with the support of many state governments, Okamura’s statements are
completely unacceptable, insulting and finally, dangerous if we hope to avoid
future violence and achieve a peaceful and unified future".

Letter addressed to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on Mr Okamura’statement
on the Lety camp

Dear Bohuslav Sobotka, Czech Prime Minister,

Roma and human rights organisations are extremely concerned about Mr
Okamura’s statements denying the Romani Holocaust. We are writing to you first
to express our support and to thank you for your public condemnation where you
expressed disapproval saying that Mr Okamura used propaganda from before 1945
and denied historical facts. However, we believe Mr Okamura’s comments merit
more than just a verbal response.

Czech MP Mr Okamura denied the Genocide of Roma and Travellers at the former
concentration camp at Lety. Given that 500,000 Roma perished under the Nazi
regime and given that Roma and Travellers face continuing discrimination to this
day with the support of many state governments, Okamura’s statements are
completely unacceptable, insulting and finally, dangerous if we hope to avoid
future violence and achieve a peaceful and unified future.

Okamura claimed in the online political tabloid ParlamentniListy.cz that “No
one was killed at the camp – people died there as a result of old age and the
diseases they brought with them as a result of their previous travelling
lifestyle. (…) The victims of the camp definitely were not victims of any kind
of Holocaust.” Mr Okamura is a Czech entrepreneur, writer and politician, at the
head of Dawn of Direct Democracy, a populist and right-wing political party in
the Czech Republic, founded in May 2013. This party is known for its appeal to
anti-Roma sentiments. Mr Okamura and other politicians were responding to the
tabloid’s question about the removal of an industrial pig farm from the site in
Lety by Písek where Roma families perished during the Second World War.

The presence of this pig farm is disrespectful towards the memory of the
suffering endured by the victims and their relatives. In 1998 the Czech
Government resolved to remove the pig farm from the site, but that has yet to be
achieved and in October 2010 the Czech Government announced that the removal is
unlikely. A European Parliament resolution on Roma in 2005 called on the Czech
authorities “to take all necessary steps to remove the pig farm from the site of
the former concentration camp at Lety u Píu and to create a suitable memorial.”

As you are aware, Mr Okamura’s statements evoked strong reactions from
politicians and journalists. MP Miroslav Kalousek, who is his party’s vice-chair,
says Mr Okamura’s statements were “the kind of moral turpitude that rises to the
level of a felony”. The Czech Minister of Human Rights, Equal Opportunities, and
Legislation Jiří Dienstbier believes that Mr Okamura must resign. We share this
view.

Mr Okamura’s statements have also encountered massive opposition from the
Roma community and many prominent personalities have spoken out to denounce them,
such as David Beňák, vice-chair, Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission
for Roma Community Affairs, Čeněk Růžička, chair, Committee for the Redress of
the Romani Holocaust in the Czech Republic, as well as other concerned citizens
such as historians, political scientists, musicians, Romani activists and
students. This issue transcends the borders of the Czech Republic, just like the
Holocaust did, and many from the greater European community have also condemned
his words.

Okamura’s statements were made during our commemorations of the 2nd of
August, the 70th year since the Genocide of Roma communities was perpetrated
during the Second World War. As you are aware, the concentration camp at Lety
was created on 15th July 1940 on the basis of Government Decree N°72 demanding
the detention of “wandering gypsies and other vagrants living in the same way
who are capable of work, beggars by trade and those who make a living from
begging (children, etc.), gamblers by trade, inveterate idlers, loafers and
persons making a living from dishonest earnings (prostitution, etc.)”. The first
prisoners arrived in the camp on 17th July 1940 and on 1st August 1942 the
authorities changed the name of the site to “gypsy camp” and entire Romani
families were deported there. A total of 326 people died directly in the Lety
camp, 241 of them children. In addition to Lety, other Romani prisoners died
during deportation to and after their arrival at the “gypsy family camp” at
Auschwitz and the “gypsy camp” at Hodonín by Kunštát or other camps.

We are inviting individuals, national and international organizations and
representatives of EU Member States to join us in raising our voices to condemn
Mr Okamura’s denial of the Genocide of the Roma community.

We are calling for:

• politicians and organizations to isolate Mr Okamura and his party and
  cease collaboration with them;
• the waiver of parliamentary immunity to sanction Mr Okamura;
• the resignation of Mr Okamura;
• the removal of the industrial pig farm from the site of Lety.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Yours faithfully,

European Roma and Travellers Forum

Konexe

ROMEA

Slovo 21