Dignity for Lety – respect for Roma victims of Holocaust

This weekend four representatives of the Irish Roma and Traveller Communities travel to the Czech Republic to protest at a pig farm being allowed to remain on the site of a World War 2 Roma concentration camp.Gabi Muntean, TicaMuntean, Bianca Paun and James Anthony McDonagh will attend a demonstration on Saturday 24^th June as part of our ongoing support for the “Dignity for Lety” campaign.

Between 1942 and 1943 approximately 1,500 Roma were taken to a camp at Lety in Bohemia, Czech Republic.  Of these 362 died and a further 540 died while being transported to other camps.  In total it is estimated that 500,000 Roma were killed in Nazi camps during WW2.

The European Grassroots Antiracism Movement (EGAM) is organising a demonstration this weekend to put pressure on the Czech Government to take action on this matter.  EGAM is calling on the Czech Government to remove the pig farm, to build a proper memorial in order to replace the stele which was built on the mass graves and to support research and documentation of what happened at Lety

The EU, the Council of Europe and the UN Human Rights Committee have also urged the Czech Government to give the victims of Lety dignity.