Commemorative act in Hodonín u Kunštátu

Yesterday, Tuesday, 20 August, the Museum of Romani culture held a commemorative act to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust of the Roma and Sint. This took place at the Holocaust Memorial to the Roma and Sinti in Moravia, Hodonín u Kunštátu.

The event commemorated one of the largest mass transports of Romani men, women and children from the so-called Gypsy camp in Hodonín near Kunštát to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp (21 August 1943).

The Hodonín camp is one of two places (the other is the camp in Lety near Písek) where entire families of Moravian and Czech Roma and Sinti were forcibly concentrated during World War II. A memorial has been created at this site, which is managed by the Museum of Romani Culture.

The commemorative gathering served to honour the memory of the victims of racially motivated persecution and genocide at the site, which is one of the symbols of the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti on the territory of the former Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

The commemoration included speeches by the museum's director, Jana Horváthová, the families of the survivors, and other distinguished guests. In addition to the remembrance, it has also been said that in order to prevent similar atrocities in the present and future, and to prevent further genocides, we must show solidarity not only with our own, but also with those who are different from us.

The commemoration of the victims took place at the Žalov emergency cemetery with the laying of floral offerings, as well as the commemoration of the camp victims buried in the municipal cemetery in Černovice. Dana Gabaľová and Dorota Gabaľová participated on behalf of the Terezín Initiative Institute.

Illustration by Dana Gabaľová

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