The international competition for the memorial in Lety will be announced in September

Lety (Písecko) – In the area of the former pig farm in Lety near Písek, where a concentration camp stood during the war, an archaeological survey has begun in recent days. Jana Horváthová, the director of the Museum of Romani Culture, which plans to build a memorial to the Romani Holocaust there, told ČTK today. According to Horváthová, the survey should be completed by the end of September. An architectural competition for the design of the memorial will take place at the turn of September and October. The museum hopes to open it by 2023.

Two years ago, a survey was conducted during which archaeologists found items such as handles or nails from the buildings of the camp, as well as small belongings of prisoners, such as buttons or beads. However, according to Horváthová, this survey was outside the pig farm area. The company Agpi had pigs on the site, hence the survey was not permitted. "Now, a survey of the graves and the entire camp area, which was located on the pig farm, will be conducted," noted Horváthová.

The first reports on the results of this year's survey are expected by the end of September, with a complete report anticipated by the end of the year. "We will conclude the architectural competition in April, when we should know the name of the winner. After that, the demolition of the pig farm can begin, which should be completed by the end of 2020. The entire area should be open to the public by 2023," stated Horváthová. According to her, the site is currently inaccessible to the public.

The state has allocated more than 100 million crowns for the demolition of the pig farm. Previously, the pig farm was purchased from the Agpi company for 450 million. Last year, the company had around 13,000 pigs in 13 halls on the site.

According to historians, from August 1942 to May 1943, 1,308 Romani people, men, women, and children passed through the camp in Lety, 327 of whom died there, and more than five hundred ended up in Auschwitz. Fewer than 600 Romani prisoners returned from concentration camps after the war. According to expert estimates, the Nazis exterminated 90 percent of Czech and Moravian Romani people.