The largest part of the Romani camp in Lety was in the area of the pig farm

Lety - Archaeologists have discovered that the largest part of the concentration camp for Roma in Lety near Písek was located in the area of the former pig farm, in places above the halls. The remnants of the camp were still visible in the 1970s when the pig farm was being built under the communist regime. This was stated today by the head of the archaeological team Pavel Vařeka from the University of West Bohemia. The Museum of Romani Culture wants to build a memorial to the Roma Holocaust at the site where the former pig farm stands and open it by 2023.

The museum will announce a landscape architecture competition for the design of the memorial in Lety near Písek on October 14. The winner is expected to be announced in June 2020. This was said to reporters by Monika Duždová, head of the Holocaust memorials department at the Museum of Romani Culture. Construction of the memorial is planned to begin in 2021, and the museum intends to open the site in 2023. They have secured a promise of one million euros (25.8 million CZK) from Norwegian funds for construction and half a million euros (13 million CZK) for exhibitions and activities.

"The largest part of the camp is located within the pig farm, possibly only ten percent extends outside the pig farm. Now it is absolutely clear, it has emerged from our research, and the surprising finding is that a large part of the camp was not destroyed. The remnants have survived very well to this day, they are covered with fill," Vařeka said. Archaeologists examined the grassy area above the halls.

It is very surprising that archaeological research has definitively proven that at the time when the pig farm began to be constructed, the remnants of the camp must have been visible on the surface, he emphasized. "Even in the 1970s, the camp, its remains, layout, foundations, some burned structures, must have been visible on the surface. Our findings are also confirmed by aerial photographs, at that time secret, taken by the Czechoslovak army," Vařeka said.

Into the waste pit uncovered by the archaeologists, debris and parts of structures were tossed during the camp's dismantling in 1943. The occupiers destroyed the camp by setting it on fire. "The pit also contains items from the prisoners, such as pieces of clothing, shoes, and several small pieces of jewelry," Vařeka said.

The pig farm was built in the 1970s by the Joint Agricultural Enterprise for Animal Production in Písek. Archaeologists conducted their first probes near the pig farm in 2017. The then-owner, Agpi company, did not permit them to conduct research in the area. By the end of 2020, the pig farm is expected to be demolished. The demolition and research will cost 111 million CZK.

Archaeologists found that during the construction of the pig farm halls, part of the camp was destroyed, as workers excavated it in the latter half of the 1970s. "However, the soil including the remnants of part of the camp was brought to the adjacent meadow, and the fill has preserved a large part of the camp," Vařeka said. In the western part of the pig farm, archaeologists uncovered wooden huts, two large ones added later, which had stone substructures, sometimes only brick foundations. The camp's facilities such as a laundry, shower room, stable, disinfection station, and waste pit have also survived.

In September this year, archaeologists found individual graves in Lety. They uncovered a grave with the remains of a female prisoner under 40 years old, a grave of a newborn, and also found seven grave pits. According to sources, 120 prisoners should be buried at the site, including over 70 children, and the cemetery should cover an area of 400 square meters.

"The research has proven that the existence of the camp at this site really was. The Roma, the public, and politicians will not now be able to refute what has been proven. I perceive this (research) very positively," Duždová said.

The pig farm was built from 1972 and covered an area of 7.1 hectares. In the 1990s, the Agpi company began operations there. In 13 halls, they kept 13,000 pigs. Last year, the state purchased the site for 450.8 million CZK. The operator is the Museum of Romani Culture.

According to historians, from August 1942 to May 1943, 1,308 Roma, including men, women, and children, passed through the camp in Lety, of which 327 died there and over 500 ended up in Auschwitz. About 600 Roma returned from concentration camps after the war. According to experts, the Nazis exterminated 90 percent of the Czech and Moravian Roma.