Citizen Rights Don't Apply to Roma
By Claudia Ciobanu
BUCHAREST, Aug 7, 2010 (IPS) - All major European countries plan mass expulsions of Roma or demolitions of Roma settlements. Rights groups warn that these measures entail the criminalisation of an entire ethnic group, and break EU law.
The French executive announced Jul. 29 that 300 illegal Roma camps would be demolished in the next three months. According to the President's office, the camps are "sources of illegal trafficking, profoundly shocking living standards, exploitation of children for begging, prostitution and crime."
By the end of this year, France is set to adopt legislation to expel undocumented Roma residing in the country, "for reasons of public order."
Germany is set to deport 12,000 Roma back to Kosovo over the next years. Half of them are children and adolescents who grew up in Germany.
Sweden has this year deported 50 Roma from Eastern Europe for begging, even though begging is not a crime in this country. Denmark deported 23 Eastern European Roma in July. In Belgium, 700 Roma were forced to exit Flanders in July, and given only temporary shelter in Wallonia.
The UK government last month announced legislation that would lead to the eviction of tens of families of Roma and travelers, pushing them into illegality.
The steps taken by Western governments come right in the middle of the Decade of Roma Inclusion (2005-2015), "an unprecedented commitment by European governments to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma."
In 2008, Italy declared a state of emergency over Roma immigrants.
Around 10 million Roma are estimated to be living in Europe. The largest concentration is in Romania, at two million according to unofficial estimates. Hundreds of thousands live in other Central and Eastern European countries.
The measures of Western governments are mainly directed at Eastern European Roma who have moved west in search of a better life following EU expansion. Despite being European citizens, they are now threatened with expulsion, in breach of the EU basic right to free movement.
Targets of evictions and demolitions are also "travelers", groups of people who often have Western European nationality but maintain a traveling lifestyle in keeping with their culture. Between 300,000-500,000 travelers (gens de voyage) are estimated to be living in France, while the UK is thought to host around 18,000 Roma and traveler caravans.
Human rights groups say that some Western politicians are keen on blurring the lines between travelers and Roma (itself a highly heterogeneous population made up of mostly sedentary groups but also of nomads) in order to give the impression that Roma are difficult to integrate.
Additionally, claim the activists, politicians are emphasising crimes committed by some Roma to create a sense that entire communities of Roma are threats to public safety, thus creating grounds for mass expulsions.
"Indeed there are Roma who are in charge of trafficking networks, but they represent less than one percent of this population, the rest are victims," says David Mark, head of the Civic Alliance of Roma in Romania (a coalition of over 20 Roma NGOs).
"But because that one percent commits crimes and the authorities are not able to stop them, all Roma are being criminalised," Mark told IPS. "The announced expulsions and demolitions of camps are based on the criminalisation of an entire ethnic group, when criminality should be judged on a case by case basis in courts of law."
"What we are seeing is a greater call by receiving countries to restrict freedom of movement inside the EU," argues Rob Kushen, executive director of the European Roma Rights Centre. "The danger is that this will negatively affect Roma rights and the rights of all EU citizens."
The European Commission (executive body of the EU) has thus far steered clear of criticising member states for breaching EU freedom of movement. "We are not here, as the EC, to judge on individual cases of Roma people," said EC spokesman Matthew Newman. "It's for each government, each authority to make those decisions."
The French government has insisted Roma social inclusion is the responsibility of sending states, putting pressure on main sender Romania to take measures to contain the Westward migration flow.
But there have also been calls for a European approach to Roma rights. The Swedish government has demanded a European action plan for guaranteeing access to housing, education and jobs and even the establishment of truth commissions to investigate anti-Roma abuses.
Rights activists, however, argue that the main obstacle to Roma social inclusion is the blatant lack of political will in all European countries.
According to David Mark, EU legislation is solid on Roma rights and European funding is available, but the irresponsibility of national governments makes it hard for these to materialise in progress for Roma.
"If even mainstream parties (such as France's governing Union for a Popular Movement) start adopting far-right anti-Roma discourses, where will we end up?" Mark says.
"Much of the problem is with the willingness of member states to use the available resources," Kushen told IPS. "Member states do not see the size of the problem. The EC should compel member states to collect information on the Roma that could serve as the basis for policies. It could impose conditions on funding to make sure it is used for Roma or at least does not violate their rights."
Even though he considers the recent measures of Western governments dangerous, Kushen hopes the outrage they caused leads to a positive momentum for a comprehensive EU inclusion programme.
Mark is more pessimistic. "We, the Roma, will always be persecuted," he says. "The first step made by Nazis towards dehumanisation was to stereotype. They started by classifying Roma as anti-social. Politicians today use stereotyping of Roma for their political goals. There is a serious danger in this."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52415
Here in the Czech Republic they are full-fledged second class citizens. I belive one is a policeman in Prague, none have been in the legislature, most Roma children get put in schools for the retarded or 'slow' without tests to verify and on and on....down. Here is an short and interesting history of the Roma here. NB - the Nazis besides using their 'usual' camps for the Roma, build two special Roma-only one here [few know this]. The Roma have been trying to make one into a memorial, but the pig farmer who now owns the land and the buidlings has silent support from high places and locals to not.......The two Czech Commandants of the Camps were never punished after the War.....Police still regularly check or harrass Roma now, without cause.
The History of the Roma Minority in the Czech Republic
The exact year of the Roma's arrival on the territory of the present-day Czech Republic is difficult to determine, as the chronicles of the time don't mention their arrival in any clear or concrete way. In the chronicle of "Dalimil," in the chapter "About the Pagans" the author makes reference to Tatar scouts who were moving through the Czech Lands after 1242, and with whom he could be confusing the Roma, though Roma scholars haven't verified this document.
Another reference to the Roma in the Czech Lands comes from the end of the 14th century, when the Executioner's Book of the Lord of Rozmberk contains the testimony of a condemned man, who names as his accomplice a "black gypsy." This could be fact, as the Roma arrived in Central Europe in the 15th century. Many historians also refer to this century as the "Golden Age of the Roma in Europe," when they were being received by aristocrats and being given letters of protection and other privileges. Solid proof of the Roma's residence on Czech territory is actually one of these letters of protection, which was issued on April 17th, 1423 at Spissky Castle by the Holy Roman Emperor and Czech King, Zikmund. The text of this letter has been preserved and reads as follows:
"We, Zikmund, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, ..., Our loyal Ladislav, Duke of his Gypsy people, humbly beseeches us for affirmation of our special leniency. Receive then his civil appeal and don't refuse this letter. In the case that the aforementioned Ladislav and his people appear in whichever place in Our Empire, in any town or village, We recommend that you show to him the loyalty which you would show to Us. Protect them, so that Duke Ladislav and his people may live without prejudice within your walls. If some one among them is found drunk, if they should cause a quarrel of any kind, We desire and decree that only Ladislav himself, Duke, has the right to judge this person, punish, give pardon and absolution, or cast him out from your circle ..."
The Roma brought this letter with them when they arrived in France, and because it was issued in the Czech Lands (La Boheme) and by the Czech King (roi de Boheme), the French people named the newcomers after the land from whence they came, les Bohemiens.
The first to observe that the Roma were not servants of God was the Church. This was also began their persecution, which was soon joined by the secular powers, which saw the Roma as Turkish spies. In 1427, the Archbishop of Paris excommunicated the Roma from the Church and the attitude of the population changed radically. And so began four centuries of cruel discrimination. Rulers of individual countries began to issue decrees by which the Roma were ordered out of their territory. With the persecution, the Roma were exposed to torture, bodily mutilation, and then execution. The greatest persecution in the Czech Lands came after 1697, when the Roma were placed by Imperial decree outside the law. Anyone could shoot, hang or drown them, and killing Roma wasn't considered a crime.
The persecution of the Roma at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance belongs among the darkest pages of European history. Europe never really accepted them, due to their dissimilarity, and also in part to the fact that they often found provisions on their travels by stealing, which was then used as justification for their persecution. In the first few centuries, the ill will they generated among the locals was offset by their migration to a new region, where they weren't yet known. The Roma's life was never easy, they were always among the poorest population groups, and supposedly Christian Europe never behaved towards them in a very Christian manner.
In Central and Southeastern Europe, it was a little different situation than in the West. The Turkish advance, which expanded the borders of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries to the area of southern Slovakia, transformed the situation between the other inhabitants and the Roma, when both warring sides expoited the services of the local residents. In the case of the Roma, except for fortification and building work, mainly the services of the Romani blacksmiths were put to use.
From the second half of the 16th century, there were instances of certain towns allowing the settlement of Romani blacksmiths with their families. In Hungary, the families of talented musicians were settled by music-loving feudal lords on their lands. The foundations for a permanently settled way of life among the Roma population were created in this way in the Hungarian lands. The persecution of the Roma was ended by decree in Austria by the middle of the 18th century by Maria Theresa..
The intent of her decree was the assimilation of the Roma ethnic group. The Empress realized that the differences in living standards between the Roma and the other inhabitants were enormous, and for this reason she tried to tie them to the soil. She forbade the nomadic life and the use of the Romani language. Only official marriages were permitted, they were forced to wear different clothes, and children were taken away and placed witn non-Roma families for re-education. An interesting document of the period by Ab Hortis was preserved which relates everything about the situation of the Roma community in the Hungary at the government of Maria Theresa in great detail. Maria Theresa's decree may seem inhumane by today's standards, but she established the recognition of the Roma as an existing element of the population of the country.
In the period of Maria Theresa and Joseph II, a sizable number of Roma settled in the Czech Lands (mostly, but also in Slovakia) or passed through in a semi-migratory way of life. The settlers were mostly bricklayers, tinkers, blacksmiths, trough-makers, road-menders, musicians, and so on, or whatever they recieved permission from the community to do.
The decree of Maria Theresa's son Joseph II was more concerned with the education and christianization of the Roma. In this area, the ruler was ahead of his time. The results of his efforts were evident in the Czech Lands, where the Czech-Moravian Roma were almost assimilated with the population.
At the end of the 19th century, the differences between the Roma and Czechs began to increase. Compulsory education and factory work was changing the mentality of the whole society, while the Roma stagnated. From a nation of able craftsmen and fine musicians, the advance of industrialization, to which they were unable to adapt, left only a socially backward population. Before WWI, nearly all Roma were illiterate and, faced with the discrimination they felt in "gadje" society, had no motivation to educate themselves, as even with an education they would have difficulty finding a place in society.
The First Republic made an attempt at resolving "the Gypsy question" in 1927 by issuing the Law on Wandering Gypsies. In practice this meant that they all had to apply for identification and for permission to stay the night. The aim was to "civilize" their way of life, but the law so restricted and deprived the Roma of their civil liberties, that it became an expression of the slanderous, defamatory, and villifying attitude of society at the time towards the ethnic group as a whole. This law remained in effect for the entire pre-Munich period and for a rather long time afterward.
But the greatest tragedy of all for the European Roma was World War II, during which they were considered by Nazi racial theories to be an inferior race, just like the Jews.
The first exceptional anti-Roma measure in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the edict of the Ministry of the Interior in 1939, which ordered all Roma to settle down and give up their migratory way of life. Anyone not complying with this edict could be put in to work camps - in Bohemia the camp was in Lety u Pisku, in Moravia it was Hodonin u Kunstatu. With the Decree on the Preventive Fight against Criminality (1942), the government introduced police detention along the German Reich model, which took place in detention camps at Lety, Hodonin, Prague-Ruzyne and in Pardubice, or in the concentration camp at Auschwitz I.
According to the census of August 2, 1942, more than 6,500 Roma from the Protectorate were rounded up, of which the smaller part were sent off to the newly opened gypsy camps, up til then work camps, in Lety and Hodonin.
The Lety camp was intended for the concentration of "anti-social" Roma from Bohemia, and 1,256 prisoners passed through it, including 36 children who were born there to imprisoned mothers. Debilitating work, consistent hunger, excessive crowding in insect-infested barracks as well as the precarious state of health of the internees - it all contributed to their sickness and death. Such a death claimed the lives of 326 men, women and children. Three transports were arranged of the other prisoners who didn't survive the war: the first left Dec. 3, 1942 for the first Auschwitz concentration camp and consisted of 16 men and 78 women in total, the second headed for the gypsy camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau on Mar. 11, 1943 and included 16 women and four men hospitalized before the departure in Pisek and Strakonice hospitals, and in the third group, on Apr. 7, 1943, the mass of prisoners was deported, which included 215 men and boys and 205 women and girls.
The Hodonin camp was meant for the internment of "anti-social" Moravian Roma and in it were recorded 1,396 prisoners, including 34 children born there. Of this number, 207 prisoners died and 855 of them were sent to Auschwitz. The first shipment of 45 men and 30 women was set up for Dec. 7, 1942 and its destination was Auschwitz. The second two groups ended up at the gypsy camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau; one left on Aug. 22, 1943 with 749 prisoners of both sexes and and all age groups and the second left Jan. 28, 1944 with 26 adults and 5 children who had been imprisoned in a police jail in Brno after the closing of the Hodonin camp.
The commandant of the gypsy camp in Lety was Captain J.Janovsky, the commandant of the camp in Hodonin was S. Blahynka, and both camps were run solely by Czech personnel and none of them were punished after 1945.
The majority of Roma, who had a permanent residence and could demonstrate steady work, after the implemented census remained free for the time being. Their deportation came about by two edicts issued at the turn of 1942-3 by the Reich Ministry of the Interior.
In March 1943, a substantial part of the Roma were sent away, first from Moravia (1,038 people on Mar. 7), then from Bohemia (642 people on Mar. 11), and finally from both areas at once (1,042 people on Mar. 19). The second stage of deportation was made up of shipments in May (853 people total from Bohemia and Moravia on May 7, of which 420 were from the liquidation of the Lety camp), August (767 people total from Moravia, of which 749 came from the liquidation of the Hodonin camp), and October (93 people from Bohemia and Moravia on Oct. 19). The final Roma were deported from the Protectorate either in smaller shipments (the 31 prisoners remaining from the Hodonin camp on Jan. 28, 1944), or individually.
In the files of the gypsy camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau were written the names of 4,493 Roma from the Protectorate. Of all of them, the only ones with a hope of surviving were those transfered to work at other concentration camps, such as Auschwitz I, Natzweiler, Flossenburg, Buchenwald, and Ravensbruck, from where they were then distributed to other concentration camps, especially in Dora, Dachau, Neuengamm, Bergen-Belsen, Mathausen and so on.
After liberation, only 583 Romani men and women returned to their homes. The original Roma population in the Czech lands was thus almost annihilated during the period of the Nazi occupation. A similar fate befell the Sinta and the Roma in the detached Sudetenland.
In the Slovak Republic, which was declared a non-sovereign state under the protection of the Reich on March 14, 1939, the fascist regime implemented its persecution in a somewhat milder manner. On the previously prepared decree by the Czechoslovak government on corrective work camps, labor regiments were set up for transient concentration and labor exploitation of so-called asocials and Roma in Slovakia. Slovak Roma were subject to various discriminatory measures: they wern't allowed to travel by public transportation, their children couldn't go to school, they could only travel to cities or towns on specific days and times, and so on.
The original "Czech" Roma were almost wiped out, and many Roma came to Czechoslovakia after the war from Hungary and Romania. Roma from settlements in Eastern Slovakia started to migrate to the evacuated Czech frontier regions and were dispersed as a light work force throughout the industrial areas of Bohemia and Moravia. The overestimation of financial factors (starting with the presumption that the improvement of material conditions would change the mentality and psychology of the Roma) produced results far short of the effort expended. The results, in fact, did more towards degrading Romani society, as the abrupt disruption of community life amid the transfer of the Roma to unfamiliar conditions, resulting in the disintegration of traditional norms and values of the Roma and the erosion of traditional family life. Gradual dissolution of the traditional Romani ways of life and population growth also deepened the levels of poverty and social backwardness of the Roma, and thus the growth in their crime-rate.
In 1958, a law was passed concerning the permanent settlement of migrating persons, according to which national committees were supposed to help people who led a migratory way of life change to a settled one. In practice, however, this law enabled the police to cut off the wheels of caravans with impunity and to take the horses away from migrating Roma, and the Roma had to start living where they were assigned as a work force, without regard to the separation of families.
In 1965, another law was passed concerning the procedure of dispersing the gypsy population, through which Roma from eastern Slovakian Romani villages had to move to Bohemia to work. In this way, the Roma were being moved from dirt-floored cabins to flats with hot water, flushing toilets and doors.
In state social policy, the Roma were dealt with as a socially backward group of the population, and the state's remedies were confined to various forms of social support, which helped the Roma survive, but also taught them to rely completely on the state, and not on their own devices. These various forms of state support, which in many cases favoured the Roma, led to further grudges against and condemnations of the Roma by the majority, and thus increased their dependence and their inability to resolve their affairs on their own, increasing still further their dependence on the state. In this way, the state was also buying their reticence (much as it was of the Czechs), and the Roma still haven't made their voices heard, haven't demanded action on their difficult situation, and continue to quietly take support.
Anti-Racist Solidarity Demonstrations in France Draw Over 100,000. Federation Anarchiste Propaganda Campaign
7. September 2010
in
Social War
![[Image: VISUEL+4+SEPTEMBRE.jpg]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rZROZLIIkvw/TH6dIqd0uiI/AAAAAAAAAgE/vLimpwWIAgs/s400/VISUEL+4+SEPTEMBRE.jpg)
Over 100,000 people demonstrated across France this past weekend to protest the intensification of anti-Roma discrimination and persecution on behalf of the French state. Over 8,000 Roma have been deported to Bulgaria and Romania since the beginning of this year. Apart from mass deportations, Sarkozy has also announced plans to demolish illegal Roma camps, as well as revoking the French nationality of immigrants convicted for a long list of misdemeanor crimes.
The concept of revoking nationality sparks associations for many of the collaborationist regime during the Nazi occupation, a time when 15,000 French citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish descent, were stripped of their nationality as a first step towards later deportation to Nazi death camps.
The Federation Anarchiste has thus launched a campaign to draw attention to the increasing legalized discrimination and persecution of Romas. Although the choice of historical parallel can be seen as more than controversial (although in all honesty, at least in France, it doesnt seem to be), it does seem to be an effective way to draw attention to the plight of these thousands of people and the systematic persecution which they are currently enduring.
![[Image: TRACT+DEFINITIF+4+SEPTEMBRE+RECTO.jpg]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rZROZLIIkvw/TINyL8Lvz4I/AAAAAAAAAgM/35WZxWEjyHk/s400/TRACT+DEFINITIF+4+SEPTEMBRE+RECTO.jpg)
(You can view the text in a
readable size here )
On a final note, the mass demonstrations on Saturday also drew such unpleasant company as the French Socialist Party, a party who when ruling during the 90s was just as effective and vicious in its campaigns of deportations and persecution of immigrants. Many a demonstration was spent fighting against their bloc (or their youth section) to get them out of the demo (because how can you show yourself at anti-racist demonstrations when your party is deporting people??!!), which was not easy and cost us many injuries, as security was provided to them by…off duty Socialist Party affiliated police officers!
The Federation Anarchiste and the platformist Alternative Libertaire at the demonstration…
![[Image: 58708134543464678715589.jpg]](http://a.imageshack.us/img251/4037/58708134543464678715589.jpg)
And btw…general strike today!
http://fireandflames.blogsport.de/2010/0...-campaign/
Background
On March 2, 1939, (two weeks before the German occupation), the Czecho-Slovak government ordered that a labor camp be set up for "people avoiding work and living off crime" (at the time labour duty was mandatory).
The construction of a camp near the village of Lety (in Písek District) started on July 17. The location was picked because nearby forests, owned by the House of Schwarzenberg, had been devastated by a storm. The first twelve prisoners arrived on July 17, 1940. The camp consisted of several large and small wooden barracks, and were surrounded by a wooden fence. Josef Janovský was named commandant. Czech gendarmes (četníci) guarded the places (service in such camps was considered a disciplinary punishment). Similar forced labor camps existed in Planá nad Lužnicí, Mirošov, Hradišťko and other places; prisoners were typically used for hard labour such as road construction. In total, around 50,000 people went through such labour camps during the war. The total number of prisons and camps of all kinds within the boundaries of modern-day Czech Republic was 2,125 (František Nedbálek, Místa utrpení a vzdoru, Prague 1984).
[edit]
As Labor camps
During 1940, 233 persons were sent to Lety, of whom 197 had previous criminal records. During 1941, the numbers were: 537 persons, 498 with previous criminal records, and 45 persons labeled as Gypsies. There were 27 escape attempts with 25 escapees caughtcitation needed. The prisoners were forced to do hard work in a quarry, were treated harshly and the sick lacked medicine. Many guards, including commander Janovský, were regularly stealing food from the camp stores, further reducing meager rations for the prisoners.
[edit]
Situation of Romani people in the Protectorate
Starting in 1940, Romani were forbidden to travel. In 1942, the measures already in force in Germany were applied in the Protectorate as well and, as an immediate result, a few hundred people deemed "asocial" were deported to Auschwitz. On June 24, 1942, the Protectorate Minister of the Interior, Richard Bienert, ordered the collection of statistics about "Gypsies, mixed Gypsies and people with gypsy style of life". citation neededAround 6,500 people were recorded in these statistics (based on older records and often on skin color). citation needed
On July 10, general Horst Böhme, Chief of Security Police, ordered Romani to be moved into two camps: Lety for Romanies from Bohemia, Hodonín for those from Moravia.
[edit]
As 'Gypsy' camps
All pre-existing prisoners at Lety were released or transferred, except for 19 Romani already imprisoned. On October 2, 1942, the first new internees arrived. The capacity of the camp was soon exhausted. Even though new buildings were constructed, the site continued to be overcrowded. Some internees were able to secure their release by bribing officials in Prague.
Internees worked on logging trees, road building and on neighbouring farms. The food was meagre and the rations decreased over time. During winter, internees were not provided sufficient clothing. Brutality on behalf of the guards was common. A typhoid epidemic started in December 1942 and did not recede until the camp was closed in May 1943. Commander Janovský was recalled for inability to deal with the epidemic and replaced by Commander Blahynka.
The first transport with 94 people to Auschwitz left on December 4, 1942, and a second followed with 417 people on May 14, 1943. Most of the remaining prisoners were sent to the camp in Hodonín.
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Overall numbers
The records are generally considered incomplete and all figures can be considered minimums[1]:
Compilation of existing data gives a total of 1,327 prisoners interned in the camp
359 deaths (estimate), including all children born in the camp
Around 1/4 of the prisoners were either released or attempted to escape (approximately 100 escapees succeeded)
Over 500 deported to Auschwitz
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Extermination at Auschwitz
Main article: Auschwitz concentration camp
During the course of the war, a total of 4,831 Romani from the Protectorate were sent to Auschwitz. Of those, few survived. Estimates vary, but well over 4,000 Romani died there.
[edit]
Postwar investigations
[edit]
Lety
After the war, several trials of Lety camp personnel began. Commander Janovský was jailed and charged in 1945. The investigation was stopped in 1946 but restarted in 1948. Both guards and former prisoners gave testimony about his brutality and theft, but Janovský was acquitted.
Guard Josef Hejduk was accused of torture, and former prisoners accused him of several murders. He was acquitted in 1947; the witnesses were not deemed trustworthy due to their criminal records. Harsh treatment was explained by the "need to deal with dangerous criminals." citation neededGuard Josef Luňáček, also accused of torture, was found guilty of a minor offense and punished with an official warning (důtka).
The Chief of Police in the Protectorate, Friedrich Sowa, was sentenced to 10 years for crimes that included extermination of Romani. The decision was later overturned, since he acting on Himmler's orders, and he was expelled from the country.
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Forgotten and Rediscovered History
After the war, the existence of Romani camps was practically forgotten outside the Romani community, except by specialized historians. The whole community of Czech Romani was annihilated and the new ones, who came from Slovakia and Romania, had no knowledge of this tragedy. During the 1970s, a large factory pig farm was constructed near the site of the Lety camp. A tourist hotel has been built on the site of the Hodonín camp.
In 1992 the book Black Silence by Paul Polansky compiled historical records and testimonials of survivors. The book started heated discussions in the Czech Republic about Czech relations to the Romani and their history.
The most recent book on Lety is 1997's And No One Will Believe You by Markus Pape. One review noted[2]:
Previous studies of the Romani Holocaust in Czechoslovakia have, as Pape suggests, rejected survivors’ memories of extermination, executions, murders and rape carried out by the commandant and his guards, and have claimed that the camp did not function as an extermination camp. Such claims are joined to the assertion that survivors have, with the passing of time, confused what they saw with their own eyes in the camp. At the same time, previous studies have concluded that state documents exclude the possibility of such crimes having been committed. Pape succeeds, with this volume, in demonstrating that the state documents themselves not only support, but actually go further than, the eye-witness accounts; the idea that Lety really was an extermination camp is the first of the two main theses of the book... The second thesis of the book is that the camp at Lety operated with a certain independence from the Reich and erratic control from Prague.
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Political symbolism
The existence of the camps (or, more precisely, that they were guarded by Czech policemen and the existence of the pig farm near Lety) quickly became a very powerful symbol in Czech politics. Some politicians, starting with minister Vladimír Mlynář, tried to appeal to the conscience of the population; some warned of "rewriting history in name of political correctness" citation neededand "artificial planting of guilt into public opinion" citation needed. The issue started to attract minor political groups seeking to receive media attention.
Romani activists picked the pig farm as a symbol of the Czech stance toward the Romani, insisting it is a source of shame for the country internationally. They have repeatedly asked the government to relocate the farm. Their efforts gained further attention by a resolution of the European Parliament in 2005 asking the Czech Government to remove the farm. Opponents have criticized the massive cost of the farm's relocation, and insisted it has no impact on the actual life of the Romani people. They claim that the real intention of the activists is to extort money from the state and that the farm's removal would lead to a worsening of already tense relations between ethnic Czechs and Roma. In both 2005 and 2006, the Czech government announced its intention to buy and liquidate the farm, but has recently decided against it.
In 2005, an exhibition of historical photographs and documentation entitled Lety Detention Camp: History of Unmentioned Genocide was held in the European Parliament and toured cities in Europe.[3]
More recently, organizations in the Czech Republic such as the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust, Dzeno Association, and Romea are working to keep the issue alive and defend the site from right-wing extremist political demonstrations.[4]
^
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/czech...ation-camp
^ Book review: Nikdo vám nebude věřit
^ Lety genocide exhibit moves from Brussels to Prague, causes political action Radio Prague, 28-06-2005
^ Renewed Controversy at the Lety Concentration Camp Radio Prague, 24-01-2006
[SIZE="4"]Porajmos[/SIZE]
Literally, the "devouring" of the Romani in the Nazi genocide that Europe's ruling elites choose to forget.
Here are some estimated figures quoted on wikipedia, sourced to AJ Edelheit & H Edelheit, History of the Holocaust: a handbook and dictionary, Westview Press, 1994:
Pre-War Romani population ........ Romani population annihilated during WW2
Austria .............. 11,200 ................ 6,500
Belgium ............ 600 ...................... 400
Bohemia & Moravia ......13,000 ............ 5,500
Croatia ............ 28,500 ................... 28,000
Estonia ............. 766 ................... >700[43]
France .............. 42,000 .................. 14,000
Germany ............. 20,000 ............. 15,000
Hungary .......... 100,000 ................ 28,000
Italy .............. 25,000 .............. 2,000
Latvia ............ 1,000 ................ 1,000
Lithuania ............ 1,000 ................ 1,000
Luxembourg ............ 200 ................ 200
Poland ............ 50,000 ................ 13,000
Romania ............ 300,000 ................ 36,000
Serbia ............. 60,000 ............... 12,000
Slovakia ............ 80,000 ................ 2,000
Netherlands ............ 300 ................ 200
Soviet Union ........ 100,000 .............. 30,000
Total .......... 833,800 ................ 195,800
As the figures above show, the Ustase Nazi quisling regime in Croatia did a particularly efficient job of exterminating Romani at Jasenovac and other concentration camps.
For more on Jasenovac, see here:
http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/...php?t=1395
![[Image: Markus-Madarsko.jpg]](http://www.romea.cz./images/servis/Markus-Madarsko.jpg)