Ma Bistrass

Roma in the Czech Republic

The Roma history and current life in Czechia is complex and multifaceted. The Roma communities has suffered various persecutions over the time being. They have been persecuted during the genocide of the Nazi Regime and have suffered from ongoing suppression in form of forced relocation, sterilization and other suppressing policies during the communist regime.

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How many Roma live in the Czech Republic?

Roma are one of the largest minority in the Czech Republic with approximately 2%. In the 2021 census, around 20,000 Czech citizens declared to be members of the Roma minority. Experts assume that their actual number is much higher, at around 200,000 to 300,000.

When did Roma settle in Czechia?

The first Romas settled in Bohemia and Moravia as early as the end of the 14th century. At first they were welcome, but then they quickly became excluded and marginalized. The centuries that followed were characterized by severe persecution and forced settlement.

How did the Roma live under the communist regime?

After the Second World War, the communist regime sought to assimilate the Roma. Settlements were dissolved and people were harshly resettled into other parts of the country. Extended families were torn apart. Teachers and social workers of the government insisted that parents no longer speak Romani to their children, but only Czech. As a result of this forced assimilation, many Roma no longer speak their language and have lost an important link to their roots. Despite this suppression, many Roma do long for the time of communism, as they felt less marginalized and housing was usually provided.

What happened to the Roma after 1989?

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the social situation of the Roma in the Czechia did not improve significantly. This also applies to coming to terms with the past. Public attitudes towards the Roma are still very negative today, which is not good ground for remembrance work. The genocide committed against them has long been denigrated and distorted up to the highest political levels.

How do people in the Czechia today deal with the genocide of the Roma?

The reappraisal is progressing slowly. Only little attention is being brought towards the genocide of the Roma during the Second World War in the general public. During the communist regime the commemoration of the genocide orchestrated by the Nazis was not desired. They did not want to give them a “special role”. Even today, as an example, the genocide of the Roma is hardly mentioned in current school textbooks.

There were two concentration camps specifically for Roma and Sinti in Czechia in 1942-43, namely Hodonín near Kunštát (Moravia) and Lety near Písek (Bohemia). In April 2024 the Memorial Lety u Píscu opened. The commemoration is mainly driven by the local Roma communities and institutions.

What happened in these concentration camps?

Both camps were run by the Czech gendarmerie. The conditions were terrible. Entire Roma families were interned. More than 1,300 Roma were interned in each of the two camps, including many small children, newborns and elderly people.

Around 500 people were deported to Auschwitz from the Lety concentration camp alone, and a further 330 died in the Lety concentration camp itself. Most of the victims were small children.

Of the 6,500 Czech Roma and Sinti living in the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, only around 600 returned from the concentration camps after the war. This means that 90 percent of Roma and Sinti with Czech roots were killed.

How are the Roma regarded in the Czechia today?

The prejudices under which the Roma community suffers are similar to those in other countries. They are often criminalized and stigmatized. Many Roma families live in the outskirts of cities in poor conditions.

There have been many antiziganist attacks by neo-Nazis in recent years. Outside of the Roma community those attacks do not cause indignation. One exception is the arson attack in Vítkov on April 18, 2009, in which a barely two-year-old girl was horribly disfigured by severe burns.

Roma women were sterilized.

Over decades Roma women were forced to be sterilized by the authorities. Those illegal sterilizations of Roma women took place between 1966 and 2012. The women did not decide to undergo the procedure of their own free will and were ill-informed of the consequences. Some of them have sued for compensation. They have until the end of the 2024 to do so. Since the procedure first started on January 1st of 2022, 629 women have been received compensation. For some women, the applications were rejected due to insufficient medical documentation.

What is the current situation of Roma in Czechia like?

„Today 80% of Roma live in isolated residential areas“ Jana Horvathova, Director of the Museum for Roma Culture in Brno, stated in 2021. „During the communist regime, Roma-Kids were very poorly educated and put in special-needs schools.“ Today integration of Roma is still not a relevant topic to the government forming parties. An estimate of one third of Roma in the Czechia live in unacceptable conditions – often without running water or electricity, most of whom are dependent on social welfare. In order to receive social welfare, they must provide proof of permanent residence. This in turn drives them into the hands of profiteers who offer them tiny accommodation at horrendous prices.

What is the level of education of the Roma?

Due to the poor education system the were and often still are forced into, unemployment among the Roma is still a major topic. Als reservations formed on prejudices make it hard to enter the labor market. Still today every third Roma child attends a special-needs school. Their prospects of qualified vocational training are therefore minimal from the outset.

Do members of the Roma minority who survived persecution under the National Socialist occupation receive so-called “compensation” from the Federal Republic of Germany?

According to the Independent Commission on Antigypsyism (UKA) Sinti and Roma are still massively disadvantaged in compensation programs, compared to other victim groups. The current compensation funds are administered by the Czech government.