Senate speaker warns against dehumanising language at Roma Holocaust memorial

A memorial ceremony marking the victims of the wartime concentration camp for Roma and Sinti was held on Sunday in Lety near Písek. The camp, established in 1942, claimed the lives of more than 300 people. A memorial has stood on the site since 2024.

Speaking at the event, Czech Senate speaker Miloš Vystrčil said the country’s constitution rejects describing groups of people as “parasites” or treating anyone as inferior. He said the tragedies of the past should serve not only as a reminder of history, but also as a warning for the present.

Without naming them directly, Vystrčil was referring to recent comments by members of the Motorists party. MP and honorary party chairman Filip Turek spoke about the need for a “deratisation of parasites” in the state administration, while Foreign Minister and party leader Petr Macinka described some of his opponents as inferior.

Among the more than one hundred people attending the ceremony was writer and chief rabbi Karol Sidon, who said such events must continue to be remembered because people often try to suppress uncomfortable parts of history.