ANO leader promises money for dignified memorial after insulting Roma Holocaust victims
A twenty-year-long futile drive to buyout a pig farm standing on the site of the former Roma concentration camp in Lety, south Bohemia has received fresh impetus from an unexpected quarter. ANO leader Andrej Babiš who last week insulted the memory of the hundreds of Romanies who died there in inhumane conditions or were sent to their death in Auschwitz, has pledged to visit the site, bow to their memory and find the money needed to buyout the farm and build a dignified memorial.
“If we started debating Andrej Babiš’ dismissal from the cabinet we would turn this into a coalition problem; which it is not. Neither the Social Democrats nor the Christian Democrats have anything to do with the said statements.”
“I have now discussed the problem with Culture Minister Daniel Herman and promised to find the money needed to buyout the farm and build a dignified memorial in its place.”
Babiš wrote on Twitter shortly after the storm broke. Whether this form of atonement will be enough remains to be seen. Both Human Rights Minister Jiři Dienstbier and members of the opposition say the matter is not closed. However, it will be voters who will have the last say when they go to the polls in the autumn regional and Senate elections. And so far nothing the controversial ANO leader has said and done has affected his strong lead in popularity ratings.