Dignity for Lety – as Pig Farm Demolished

Pavee Point welcomes the news today that an industrial pig farm at the site of a one time Nazi ‘Gypsy Camp’ will begin demolition and a memorial will be built.

This has been long campaigned for by Roma activists and Pavee Point has supported these campaigns.

Lety in the Czech Republic is the site of what was termed a ‘Gypsy Camp’ which saw 1300 Roma people pass through it and at least 330 people killed, mostly children. In 1943, everyone in the camp – men, women, and children, were forcibly sent to Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration Camps to certain death.

“It is important that these places of remembrance are created to educate people about the history of Roma,” said Gabi Muntean of our Roma Programme who visited the Lety site in 2017 along with co-worker Tica Muntean.

“Memorials remind us of the dangers of racism and hatred. We continue to see the impacts of racism and exclusion on Roma today, most recently, with the discriminatory treatment of Ukrainian Roma fleeing the war.

“It is important that the work to promote Roma rights continues to ensure history is never repeated,” said Gabi.