PHOTO GALLERY: Memories, calls to action, and solidarity. Dozens attend commemorative ceremony for the Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust in Lety u Písku, Czech Republic
On Sunday, 11 May 2025, at the site of the former "Gypsy Camp" in Lety u Písku, Czech Republic, a traditional commemorative ceremony was held to honor the memory of the Holocaust and its Romani victims. The assembly marked the 82nd anniversary of the May transport in which 853 Romani people were transported from both the Lety camp in Bohemia and the Hodonín camp in Moravia to the Auschwitz II–Birkenau Concentration Camp.
Today the Lety u Písku Memorial to the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Bohemia occupies the site of the former concentration camp and was visited by hundreds of people just on 11 May alone. During the commemorative ceremony, speeches were made by President of the Senate Miloš Vystrčil; Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Lipavský; Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková; chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic, Jana Kokyová; lawmaker Ivan Bartoš; Hana Voráčová of the Museum of Romani Culture; the Ambassador of France; a representative of Norway; historians and descendants of the survivors.
Those attending included Jozef Miker, a Romani activist who fought for the pig farm to be removed from the site of the Lety concentration camp; former Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman; Chief Rabbi Karol Sidon; the director of RomanoNet, Michal Miko; journalist Jarmila Balážová; former MEP for the Green Party in Germany, Milan Horáček; independent consultant to Bader Philanthropies, Yechiel Bar Chaim; historian Michal Mižigár; journalist and commentator Markus Pape; a descendant of Holocaust survivors of Romani origin, Růžena Ďorďová; and the director of the Museum of Romani Culture, Jana Horváthová. Interpretation into English was provided by Gwendolyn Albert.
The program ended with participants visiting the cemetery in Mirovice, where some of the children who died in the Lety concentration camp were buried. You can see selected photographs from the ceremony in our photo reportage below.
