Karel Holomek
Roma Association of Moravia, Czech Republic

First I would like to talk about why today both at home and abroad Holocaust still remains relatively unknown if not entirely unknown. There are several reasons for that. The communist regime kept silent about the facts since the Romany were to be assimilated. It was not desirable to give credence to any of those tangential points which would remind one that the Romany are not a social group but rather an ethnic one. It was only in 1989, after the velvet revolution, that the Romany were recognized as an ethnic or nationality minority. In the past centuries, the Romany never went to schools, they did not have any of their own educated individuals, their intelligentsia, they did not have a written literature which would disseminate elements of their culture among the majority population. In relation to the majority population the Romany remained for a long time in isolation and, to be quite honest about it, they still remain in isolation even today. The Romany who were physically liquidated during the war, were predominantly from the group of so-called Czech Romany, and that group was for the most part actually annihilated. The Romany arriving from Slovakia to the Czech lands after the war did experience persecution, but no liquidation for the most part, were not sent to extermination camps, so that following the war they did not have the same experience as the Czech Romany.

Slovakia was from 14 March 1939 on a separate Slovak Republic, where the final solution of the Gypsy question was planned for a later time. However, Slovakia's massive liquidation efforts aimed against the Jews are well known. Compared with Jewish holocaust, Romany holocaust was not as massive. There lived only some 7 thousand Romany in the Czech lands, a lot less fewer than Jews. But the Jews have their own state, where they continue to reinforce and develop their own culture and identity. Here the Romany had incomparably different conditions just to maintain their own culture, and history is its component part. But the most consequential reason why Romany holocaust is not known, is that centuries-old deep-rooted aversion against the Romany. This aversion accounts for a tendency to associate the Romany's suffering during the second world war with their distinct mentality and frequently asocial behavior towards the majority. Even in the contemporary Czech society, there is an obvious dislike among the public to admit that the Romany had suffered because of their anthropological differences, due to their ethnic origin. The Protectorate camps for the Gypsies, which were essentially concentration camps, are often erroneously described as mere labor camps, designed for "individuals who shirk work", where only males over 18 years of age were to be imprisoned. The society does not want to admit that in the so-called Gypsy camps even children under 5 were imprisoned.

In order to outline the situation in the Protectorate, one has to sketch the situation prior to the forcible occupation of our lands. In the First Republic, the majority's attitude crystallized in 1927 when Vagrant Gypsies Act was adopted. The society just protected itself against the Romany by this legislative regulation, it marginalized them, but was not interested in solving their problems or in involving them in the majority society in any way. The Act was quite discriminatory towards the Romany. From then on, vagrant Gypsies had to produce their Gypsy identity card, as opposed to the rest of the citizens who possessed citizen identity cards. In real life, Gypsy identity cards were issued even to those Romany who led a settled life, but without right of domicile. Municipalities refused to grant these rights to the Romany settled in their land-registry area. The result was evident exclusion of the Romany from the rest of the society. The leaders of itinerant groups had to produce their itinerant papers, where the magistrate recorded the length of the stay in the territory of that community. The itinerant Romany were prohibited from entering recreational areas, spas and major cities.

What was the situation like in the Second Republic, from 1938 through 1939, or more precisely from 19 November 1938 until 14 March 1939? From the mid-1930's on, the society's attitude towards the Romany began to get worse, primarily as the number of the Romany in the Czech lands went up. The Romany and Sinta arrived from the countries where fascists usurped power. These Romany were entirely without any rights in the Czech lands. Therefore there allegedly increased instances of poaching and trespassing on field involving theft. Our strongest political party, Czech Countryside Party (Strana ceskeho venkova), made a sure bet by escalating an anti-Romany campaign in its press. Calls for harsher-than-permitted-by-law dealing with the Romany increased. Already then there were preparations to concentrate the Romany in labor camps, but there was no time to carry them out.

A Protectorate was established after the Nazi occupation of the Czech lands, which had been stripped off Sudetenland following the Munich Treaty. In this Reich-dependent formation, there gradually came to be applied all of the anti-Romany measures previously adopted in Germany, sometimes in the precise wording of their German models. It is then likely that all of these measures would be applied even without the public's tacit approval. The solution of the Romany question in our lands may be divided into three stages: a repression preparation period, from 1939 to 1940; the second stage, 1940 to 1942, escalated the previous measures, while the third period, 1942 to 1945, meant undisguised racial policy.

Let's talk about the first stage. On 30 November 1939, the Protectorate ministry of the interior ordered county authorities and police authorities to request that itinerant Romany settle permanently. Their registration then followed. Some 7 thousand individuals were counted, of which 6,500 were Romany. Failure to observe these measures was to result in internment in new penitentiary and labor camps that opened in August 1940 in Hodonin u Kunstatu for the Romany who lived in Moravia, and in Lety in the vicinity of Pisek for the Romany living in Bohemia. Only adult males were interned. These steps were intended to put a figure on how many individuals would be subject to the final liquidation of the Gypsies. It was not talked about, but it was a Nazi objective from the outset of their rule in the Czech lands. All these efforts directed at the Romany and Sinta had an obvious racial foundation. The Romany were to be liquidated not as asocial elements but rather as an anthropologically unsuitable race. This statement is corroborated by the fact that from 1937 on there worked in Germany, as part of the Reich Institute of Health, a Research Institute for Racial Hygiene and Biological Investigation of the Populace. This research institute was a place where anthropological measures and research of the Romany and Sinta took place. Typical features of the Gypsies were determined, according to which, among other things, people were subsequently selected for concentration camps. The efforts to settle the Romany permanently were problematic since Czech communities evolved activity to the contrary. They tried in all possible ways to prevent the Romany from settling in their territory. This attitude towards the Romany is apparent for the entire duration of the war. Proposals to put people into penitentiary labor camps were drawn by the municipal magistrates.

The second stage, that of escalation, commenced on 9 March 1942, when a decree concerning preventive combat against criminality was promulgated. The Protectorate government introduced preventive police custody. Everyone deemed to threaten the public order through their asocial behavior were to be placed into preventive police custody. The asocial elements referred to expressly included the Gypsies and individuals leading the Gypsy way of life. Preventive police custody was to be served in enforcement camps and workhouses in Prague Ruzyne, in Brno Olsovec, in Pardubice, in Lety and in Hodonin. In the meantime, those penitentiary labor camps were turned into assembly camps. Sometimes, municipalities would name inconvenient people, Romany included, who ended up there.

Now to the third stage, that of undisguised racial policy. A fundamental turn in the solution of the so-called Gypsy question took place after the inclusion of Protectorate authorities into the apparatus of occupation, following the assassination of Reinhardt Heydrich on 27 May 1942. The summer of that year witnessed the unmasking of the racial undertone of anti-Romany measures. The general commander of Protectorate police issued on 10 July 1942 an edict "concerning combat against the Gypsy nuisance". This included a headcount of the entire Romany population, mix blood individuals included. The count took place on a single day. The day of counting of the Gypsies (Tag der Erfassung der Zigauner) happened to be on 2 August 1942. Prague's Central against Crime was put in charge of the racially oriented undertaking. Community mayors were to draft lists of individuals concerned. On this August day, entire Romany and mixed Czech-Romany families had to come to appropriate gendarmerie stations or police units. Questionnaires were filled out and fingerprints taken. Preliminary decisions as to who was a Gypsy, an individual of mixed blood, or persons merely living the Gypsy lifestyle rested with the gendarmerie. The final evaluation took place gradually. In this manner, some 6,500 Romany were registered in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The new approach also included withdrawal of citizen identity cards from the Romany, if they had any; from then on, they had to use just the Gypsy identity cards. Later on it was even stated that the exchange of identity cards was conducted due to racial and biological reasons. The racial motivation of these undertakings was corroborated by taking away itinerant papers from the Romany only. Non-Romany itinerants could keep them. The 2 August 1942 list registered all Romany and Romany mixed blood individuals in the Protectorate and isolated them openly from the rest of the society. Individuals thus registered were divided into two groups. The first group, which was smaller and included individuals deemed to cause social problems, was sent to the newly opened, so-called Gypsy camps in Lety in the vicinity of Pisek and in Hodonin, but this time around already with their entire families, i.e. women, children and old people included. The Gypsy camps in the Protectorate were located in those areas were sections of the Pilsen-Moravska Ostrava freeway were being built. They were transformed from the original penitentiary and labor camps, and later, assembly camps.

These camps consisted of wooden one-story barracks, housing a maximum of 300 individuals in summer and 200 in winter. The instant these camps were turned into Gypsy camps, the barracks housed already in summer 1942 three times as many people than intended for, as entire families were deported and not only adult males. The influx of additional Romany into these camps created unbearable living conditions for the inmates. Although additional barracks were added, quickly and on the go, these new ones had no insulation and therefore were not suitable for winter, but still there was not enough of them. Some Romany were then housed in their itinerant wagons they had arrived in. The wheels were removed, the horses sold. The people housed in these wagons were the first ones to die as the cold inside these wagons was atrocious. The rest of the wagons not used to house people were sold to farmers in the neighboring villages. Personal witnesses stated that these Romany wagons were quite well equipped for their time as the wheels used tires and had shock absorbers, which was uncommon. They were a sort of circus-type trailers. Camp administrators made relatively good money from these sales. Upon entering the camp, everyone had to turn in all jewels and valuables, plus any spare garments. They were not likely to ever get them back. The majority of houses the interned Romany left were either destroyed or looted during the war. Those who survived had no place to go to after the war. The communities had to provide other housing for them. Of the Gypsies in Hodonin, a total of 1,396 individuals walked through Gypsy camp gates in the course of its one-year existence. The catastrophic living conditions, cold, hunger, hard physical work in road construction or in a quarry caused an outbreak of typhoid, and later of typhus, which was very dangerous as it felled prisoner after prisoner, mostly children. The living conditions seem to have been even worse in Lety. It was proven that the camp commander enriched himself to the detriment of the prisoners. He cut their rations of food, as he was reselling the food. Pursuant to the accepted terminology, these were no extermination camps since no executions took place there, there were no gas chambers. But the prisoners were subject to a very harsh rule introduced by the Czech gendarmes who staffed the camp. They made a good use of psychology according to their German model, as used in similar facilities elsewhere, and chose from among the especially aggressive inmates those who then carried out the unpopular tasks of watching over and punishing the prisoners. The imprisoned Romany thus came to believe their main enemies were some members of their own community. They encountered the Czech gendarmes relatively rarely. But this principle of Divide and rule was used already by Caesar.

The second, no-problem group was left alone for now. At the same time, preparations for final liquidation went on quietly. The Gypsies and Gypsy mixed blood individuals with steady jobs were left alone, but they were put on notice that they would be subject to preventive police custody if they give up their jobs, show shun work and make no amends when cautioned, or if they leave the place of their domicile or fail to see to it that all family members lead orderly life. The final liquidation even of these Romany, who lived quietly and caused no trouble, commenced on direct order by Heinrich Himmler "concerning deportations of Gypsies and Gypsy mixed blood individuals" to a Gypsy camp in Auschwitz II - Birkenau. Gradually, nearly all the Romany and Sinta in the Protectorate were transported to this extermination camp, those interned in the camps in Lety and Hodonin, and those who until then had been left alone. In this manner, the entire group of the Czech Romany, which of course included the Romany living in Moravia, was liquidated, which is to say some 5,500 people. Only 500 Romany survived the concentration camps and another 500 saved themselves by escaping to Slovakia or joining guerrilla groups. In exceptional and isolated cases they were vouched for by their community and not sent away in a transport.

It follows from the above, that the suffering of the Romany in the Czech lands and its consequences can be rightly called a genocide. Next to the liquidation of the Sinta of Germany, there perished also the so-called Czech Romany, as they did not survive the war as a group. Their place was taken up by the Romany from Slovakia. The story of the Romany in post-WW2 Czechoslovakia is a story of the Slovak Romany only. They emigrated in several waves from Slovakia to Bohemia and Moravia. Those who survived represent the tragic fate of a small ethnic group who prior to the second world war stood for a splendid example of integration into village communities, especially in Southeast Moravia. That process was tragically interrupted by the war. Similar situation holds also in respect of the German Sinta and Romany, who ended up in the Auschwitz gas chambers, on a single day, together with the Czech and Moravian Romany. The process of this integration has not been completed for many of the Slovak Romany. Between 1948 and 1968, they were subjected to harsh and forcible assimilation. This fact, combined with additional circumstances such as their migration to large industrial centers, resulted in the loss of their traditional structures, culture and language. The Romany occupy the lowest rung in the society as regards health, education, employment and social matters. They were unsuccessful in forming their own strong elite, and in essence they did not ever attempted it. After 1968, the Communist government acceded to a program of cultural autonomy for the Romany. But there were never made any attempts to recognize them as a nationality. That came to pass as late as 1990. Despite all of this, the Romany have always lived in a profound isolation from the rest of the society, and it has remained unaltered, although attempts to change that have been noted on both sides, the majority and the Romany minority. There was a brief period after 1989 lasting perhaps until 1992, when under the general euphoria of the times even the Romany were met with understanding, and when the principles were drafted for resolving the issue of cohabitation. However, the period after 1992 is marked by a gradual loss of hopes, and now the Romany suffer from everything which is characteristic for the lowest social strata. After 1997, Czech administrations have been evolving greater efforts in respect of improving the standing of the Romany because that year saw the commencement of a Romany exodus to Canada, which goes on even today in strong and significant waves even to other destinations. But what is particularly ominous is the spiritual condition of the society, there are many mutual misunderstandings and misconceptions between the majority and the Romany. And all of this can be changed only over a longer period of time. The sentiment on the part of the Romany that they are not adequately heard and accepted by the society, is the most decisive reason which leads them to resolve their situation by leaving. The society has no immediate solution to offer. Nearly 55 years after the war we regret to say that not even the Romany suffering during the war led to a sort of enlightenment we could embrace. Common suffering unites people. This can be observed among the Jews and the Romany, which is after all corroborated by our joint programs. We do not see it, however, in the society as a whole. I'd hate to be a pessimist. The Czech Republic is obviously striving for a functioning democracy, but that is still some time away. The process of co-existence of the Romany in the society is but one component of nationwide processes and can be addressed in this context only and on that level. I have no doubts that through a complex way of solving joint problems and through reinforcement of the civic society's spirit, improvements in the Romany's situation will be achieved. The road of the Czech Republic into Europe rests precisely on that. After all, an educated Romany generation, a future elite in the best meaning of the word, is only just now being formed in elementary schools. Personally I cannot foresee any other development unless, of course, the Czech Republic wants infamy.

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