"Again they blame the Roma, the migrants, the Ukrainians for our problems." Jana Kokyová warns against the return of hatred during the commemorative ceremony in Lety, Czech Republic
"Again we are hearing from the mouths of politicians that our problems are the fault of the Roma, the migrants, the Ukrainians…it’s the same rhetoric that was used when they took my grandfather and grandmother away to the concentration camps." Those were the strong words spoken by Jana Kokyová, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic, as she closed the annual commemorative ceremony in Lety u Písku.
In her remarks, Kokyová recalled the fate of her grandparents, each of whom passed through a different set of concentration camps, such as Lety u Písku, Auschwitz, Buchenwald or Ravensbrück, and spoke openly of the trauma they carried with them for the rest of their lives. She emphasized that what hurt her grandmother the most was that violence in Lety was not perpetrated just by Nazis, but by Czech guards.
Kokyová warned against the rise of extremism and explicitly appealed to politicians and the public to reject hate campaigns and populism. “People were imprisoned in the concentration camps not because of what they had done, but because of who they were…just because they existed,” she reminded the audience.
The chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust called on voters not to succumb to manipulation and to protect the values of freedom, democracy, and human dignity. Her closing speech is published by news server Romea.cz in full below.
VIDEO
Closing remarks by Jana Kokyová, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic, in Lety u Písku (11 May 2025)
Allow me speak to you once again as a citizen of this country, as a Romani woman who was born here, and as somebody who considers the Czech Republic her home and frequently feels that in order to be accepted equally by this society, she is constantly held to a higher standard.
I am also the granddaughter of those who were imprisoned here and in various other concentration camps.
My grandparents met after the war and started a new family. Their original families, including their own young children, had died in the concentration camps.
My grandmother, Alžběta Růžičková, was imprisoned here in Lety and then transported to Auschwitz and to Ravensbrück.
When she was asked which of those camps had been worst for her, she answered: “Here in Lety, we were in a small space and our own people beat us.” She confided to my mother that it was “our people”, by whom she meant the Czech guards, who strung her up on the torture stake here. She was the only person from her entire extended family to survive, which was a trauma she carried for the rest of her life.
My grandfather, Jan Růžička, was not sent to Lety, he was transported to Auschwitz directly, then to Buchenwald, and then to the camp in Dora. He was more fortunate, he was not left totally alone after the war, as my grandmother was. Three of his brothers returned from various concentration camps, as did his niece, Božena Růžičková, my Aunt Boženka, who several years later became godmother to my uncle, Čeněk Růžička.
My Aunt Boženka’s testimony is part of the indoor exhibition in the memorial here. She remembered what was said to her after they were imprisoned here in Lety by the camp commander, a cruel man named Janovský. She repeated his words: “The gate has opened before you, the gate has closed behind you, and there is no way you will ever leave.”
During family gatherings we could see flashes of tears in the eyes of all the survivors as they silently remembered the suffering they experienced.
They went through a great deal, but they shared just the bare minimum about it with the rest of us. They were afraid, and that fear stayed with them to the end of their days.
After the war, my grandmother visited this place and this commemorative ceremony only once, whereupon she broke down and said: “Get me out of here.”
People were imprisoned in the concentration camps not because of what they had done, but because of who they were. They were Roma, Jews, people living with disabilities…
They were locked up, persecuted, and killed just because they existed. We must never forget that.
In a couple of months, the elections to Parliament will be upon us. The rise of extremist parties horrifies me, and not just in our country. I see that aggression, masked as the protection of one’s own people, is again on the rise. Again we hear from the mouths of politicians that our problems are the fault of the Roma, the migrants, the Ukrainians… it’s the same rhetoric that was used when they took my grandfather and grandmother away to the concentration camps.
It is exactly for that reason that I want to call on all political parties not to use fear as an instrument for winning votes.
The democratic parties should do more to speak to all levels of society, above all to those who tend toward populism.
I am also appealing to you, the voters: Think about whom you will support and what consequences your choice could have.
When they took my grandparents and their whole families away to the concentration camps, including tiny babies, nobody stood up for them, not their fellow citizens, and not the politicians of the day. That is why it is important to realize the value of freedom, democracy, and human dignity, and to protect them through our decisions as voters.
