Located in the Bohemian town of Lety near Písek is a memorial dedicated to the former prisoners of the forced labour camp at Lety and later the »Lety Gypsy Camp«.

Lety, around 1942, The »Lety Gypsy Camp«, Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu


Lety, 2011, Memorial to the victims of the »Lety Gypsy Camp« , Michal Ritter, CC BY-SA 3.0

On March 15, 1939, the German Wehrmacht occupied what remained of Czechoslovakia and on the following day, it was incorporated into the German Reich as the »Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia«. Shortly afterwards, persecution of Jews and of Sinti and Roma began in the Protectorate. According to a census, there were 6,540 »Gypsies« living in the Protectorate in 1940. The Protectorate Ministry of Interior began enforcing their settlement from November 1939 on. Beginning August 1940, Protectorate authorities set up a total of six forced labour camps for »asocials«, among other places in Lety u Písku and Hodonín u Kunštátu. Among the inmates were many Roma without steady work or permanent residence - they made up about 14 per cent of the prisoners at Lety. After the »fight against the Gypsy plague« had been decreed on July 10, 1942, the entire Roma population of Bohemia and Moravia was persecuted on racial grounds. In August 1942, the Roma were registered by local authorities. Roma who had not settled were taken to the camps at Hodonín and Lety, which had now been converted to »Gypsy camps«. At the time, there were over 1,250 Roma held captive in Lety, which was guarded by Czech constabulary and administered by the Protectorate Ministry of Interior. About a quarter of the Roma inmates died of the harsh conditions in the camp. On December 3, 1942, the German criminal police (Kripo) in the Protectorate deported about 93 prisoners from Lety to the main camp at Auschwitz. As decreed by Heinrich Himmler on December 16, 1942, mass deportations of Roma to Auschwitz-Birkenau began and in early 1943, a »Gypsy family camp« was set up there. On May 7, 1943, about 400 Lety prisoners were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. At the same time, about 400 prisoners were released after they were no longer deemed to be »Gypsies«. The deportations were planned by the German Kripo and executed by Protectorate authorities and local constabulary. The camp at Lety was closed in December 1943.

Lety, around 1942, The »Lety Gypsy Camp«, Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu


Lety, 2011, Memorial to the victims of the »Lety Gypsy Camp« , Michal Ritter, CC BY-SA 3.0

About 1,300 people were held captive at Lety u Písku. Roma prisoners constituted the large majority. Over 300 people died at the camp, over 240 of them children. More than 800 Roma were deported from Lety to Auschwitz, where almost all were murdered by the SS.

Lety, around 1942, Prisoners of the »Lety Gypsy Camp«, Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu


Mirovice, 2008, Pig farm on the premises of the former »Lety Gypsy Camp«, František Kostlán

After the war, the memory of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma was for the most part repressed in Czechoslovakia. In 1972, a pig farm was established on the former camp premises. Only in 1995 could a memorial be set up in Lety on the initiative of Václav Havel, president of the Czech Republic at the time. The granite monument was designed by Zdenek Hula and is located on the camp's former temporary cemetery. A further memorial is situated on the parish cemetery in the neighbouring town of Mirovice. In the camp's early days, victims were buried here; the memorial, which was dedicated in 2001, is close to the children's mass grave. In recent years, the Czech government has been faced with demands to have the pig farm closed in order to appropriately honour the victims of the »Lety Gypsy Camp«. In February 2009, the government turned down these demands due to cost concerns. Instead, the government purchased the premises of the former »Hodonín Gypsy Camp« and plans to set up an information centre there on the topic of Roma persecution.

Mirovice, 2008, The memorial close to the children's mass grave, František Kostlán


Mirovice, 2008, Close-up of the memorial, František Kostlán

Name

Památník romským obětem v Letech u Písku

Address

Lety 67
398 67 Lety

Phone

+420 (0)545 581 206

Web

https://letypamatnik.cz

E-Mail

sekretariat@rommuz.cz

Open

accessible at all times

Possibilities

Annual commemoration on May 13, on the anniversary of the last deportation from Lety to Auschwitz-Birkenau