
Czech Republic Field Visit
As activists of the Zero Discrimination Association, we participated in the International Activists Meeting organized by EGAM (European Anti-Racism Movement) to draw attention to the increasing violence against Roma in Europe. Together with 50 anti-racist and Roma activists from 18 European countries, we talked about the problems that Roma people experience within different national borders and discussed how we can form a unity in the international arena to combat these problems and what kind of actions we can take. The most important point that came to the fore in all the discussions was this: regardless of which national borders they are in, Roma people constitute the most disadvantaged group in the society they live in; discrimination and social exclusion are the common experience of all Roma groups. The common conclusion of the discussions was this: crossing borders, sharing the problems and fighting across Europe is of great importance for anti-racist and Roma organizations.
As part of the meeting program, we made a field visit to Usti nad Labem, one of the most disadvantaged Roma ghettos in the Czech Republic.
Here are some general observations about Roma living in the Czech Republic:
Roma people in the Czech Republic live in extremely poor conditions. According to recent surveys, anti-Gypsyism has reached very serious levels in a large part of the country's population. Roma people are discriminated against in housing, in the labor market and in other areas of life. Roma children and young people are isolated in the Czech education system.
Roma people in the Czech Republic are the target of racist attacks and violence. In the last few years, Roma groups have been the main targets of hateful anti-Roma demonstrations and marches. These demonstrations often turn into acts of violence and attempted massacres. Not only neo-Nazi groups and followers of racist right-wing parties, but also ordinary citizens are participating in these acts of violence. Anti-Roma people can find supporters in all political parties from left to right. Politicians compete with each other to gain the support of anti-Roma people, who make up a large part of the electorate.
The policy of social inclusion in the Czech Republic and its instruments have completely collapsed. The majority of the funds that came from the European Union to ensure the social inclusion of Roma and to eliminate problems such as poverty and anti-Roma sentiment have been spent irregularly and have had no effect. The situation of Roma communities is getting worse every day.
Again, as part of the meeting program, we attended the commemoration of Roma who were subjected to persecution and sent to their deaths in concentration camps in the Czech Republic during World War II.
During World War II, in the Czech Republic, as in many parts of Europe, the Roma community was also a victim of genocide, along with Jews, homosexuals and groups opposing the Nazi regime. Roma were rounded up one by one from their homes by the Czech police and subjected to torture and death in concentration camps. The heads of these death camps were not Nazis. They were run by the Czech police. Those who survived the Czech death camps were handed over to the Nazi SS and sent to the Birkenau death camp in Auschwitz, where they were left to die in the gas chambers.
One of these death camps designed for Roma was in the village of Lety in southern Bohemia. In 1973, the Communist government in Czechoslovakia built a large-capacity industrial pig camp on the site of the camp. This camp, built on the site of the genocide of the Roma, has operated to this day and continues to do so. Pigs are currently wallowing in the mud where Roma were tortured and killed.
All of this happened despite Czechoslovakia signing the Helsinki Final Act at the end of World War II, which foresaw the transformation of the sites of genocide into places of memory and commemoration.
After the collapse of communism, it was thought that the situation would improve, but the state-owned pig camp was not demolished, on the contrary, it was sold to a private company. In the years that followed, the Czech government was regularly criticized by various international institutions for buying the pig farm, demolishing it, cleaning up the pig manure, and erecting a monument to the people who were killed there. Many Czech governments promised to remove the pig farm at the ministerial and even prime ministerial levels. However, these promises have not yet been kept, and there has been no political will to do so. It seems that such promises are made only to reduce international pressure. The governments say they do not have the financial capacity to buy the pig farm. The owner of the farm states that no talks have been held with them on this issue.
We know that this pig farm, which was established on the site of the Roma genocide, receives agricultural subsidies from the EU. Without this aid, the farm will probably lose money and will soon close.
Human rights groups are demanding that the EU stop providing agricultural aid to the farm.
The industrial pig farm located in this place where Roma were subjected to genocide is a shame for all of us and a symbol of the situation of Roma not only in the Czech Republic but throughout Europe.