<Museum> and <architects> signed a contract for the memorial in Lety</<Museum>>

Brno – The director of the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, Jana Horváthová, signed a contract with the authors of the winning design for the memorial to the Romani Holocaust in Lety near Písek. They will now develop the project documentation, with the opening of the memorial anticipated in May 2023, Horváthová told ČTK today. The construction is expected to cost 31.5 million crowns, with additional millions needed for equipment and exhibitions. According to Horváthová, however, there is a need for at least an additional ten million for the construction, which the museum will seek to obtain.

During World War II, a concentration camp for Romani people existed at the site. Later, a pig farm was established there. The state bought it in 2018 for 450 million crowns from the company Agpi, which had 13,000 pigs there. The government allocated 110 million crowns for the demolition of the pig farm.

The winner of the competition for the design of the Lety Memorial – the Memorial to the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti in the Czech Republic – was the proposal from Atelier Terra Florida and Atelier Světlík. Horváthová signed a contract with representatives of the winners in Prague. The amount for construction is 31.5 million crowns, of which 25.5 million will come from Norwegian funds and six million from the state budget. "We will be looking for additional funds for construction, as the amount is extremely low. The architects are brave for taking this on. We would need at least another ten million. Even if we don't secure them, we will build it on a limited budget," said Horváthová. She intends to seek funds from the government, which is the museum's founder, as well as from foundations and abroad.

According to historians, from August 1942 to May 1943, 1,308 Romani people, including men, women, and children, passed through the camp in Lety, 327 of whom died there and over five hundred ended up in Auschwitz.