LIVE BROADCAST TODAY 18:00 CET: Launch of the late Jan Hauer's book My People, a memoir about the Sinti community in the Czech Republic

Moji lidi [My People], published by the KHER press, was produced in collaboration with the Institute for Contemporary History at the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University’s Faculty of Arts. Mr. Hauer’s memoir captures the fates of Sinti people who have been frequently forgotten or unrecorded, thanks to which he is able to bring us closer to the invisible world of this community than can period photographs or rare archival documents. The book is supplemented with expert essays by historians Renata Berkyová, Kateřina Čapková and Helena Sadílková of Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, all of whom were also the main editors of the publication.

Mr. Hauer dedicated his life to documenting the history of his community and fought to remove the industrial pig farm from the site of the WWII-era concentration camp at Lety u Písku. It took years to prepare the publication, which is a reminiscence of the Sinti community, which has maintained it own identity despite the genocide of WWII and their marginalization thereafter. The book tells their dramatic life stories, which Mr. Hauer considered an integral part of European history and which include the testimonies of his own family.

“My dear father’s book is a treasure for me and my family. It depicts the tragic, moving, funny and above all, genuine stories of people whom my father greatly valued. These stories should never be forgotten, and that is why it is so important to constantly remember them,” Marie Hauerová said.