Roma memorial Lety opens

A memorial to the Porajmos, the genocide of the Roma under National Socialism, was opened in Lety in southern Bohemia. Both President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Petr Fiala spoke at the inauguration ceremony. The memorial, which will be open to the public from May 12, commemorates a concentration camp that was set up here for Roma from the Czech Republic during the years of National Socialist occupation. A labor camp primarily for Roma had previously stood on the same site.

After 1945, the place was forgotten, and later a pig farm was built. Since the Velvet Revolution, there have been efforts - also encouraged by the then President Václav Havel - to set up a reverent place of remembrance. But the respective governments refused to close the pig farm. For a long time, the government did not want to acknowledge that the Roma had been genocide, let alone that it was its own fault. This lack of interest was also due to the fact that Roma in the Czech Republic still have only a small lobby and are largely socially excluded.

It was not until 2018 that the state agreed to buy the pig farm. In 2022, the demolition was completed and construction of the memorial could begin. It is affiliated with the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno.

1,308 Roma, both old and children, men and women, were held in the camp between August 1942 and May 1943, 327 died and over 500 were murdered in concentration camps. In Hodonín u Kunštátu in Moravia there was a second camp that served as a holiday camp after 1945. A small memorial had already been set up there. You can find out more about the history of the camp in Lety at www.holocaust.cz .

New location for Czech lithium production

The lithium in the Ore Mountains has also created a gold rush atmosphere in the Czech Republic. The raw material is to be mined in the old mining town of Cínovec. The Czech Republic hopes that this will give it independence from the world market in this important area and enable it to move into the technological forefront. But not much has happened for years. The Geomet company was taken over by the majority state-owned energy company ČEZ. But mining is still a long way off.

Now Geomet has even had to accept a setback. Due to protests from local residents, the company gave up the desired location for the lithium processing plant in the town of Újezdeček, south of Dubí, and decided to build the plant in Prunéřov, west of Chomutov.

Residents had been protesting against the plant in Újezdeček for two years. The residents of the small settlement of Dukla in particular were afraid of the plant, which would have bordered on their property. For two years they fought a David versus Goliath battle. Geomet always claimed that Újezdeček was the best location. Criticism from district administrator Jan Schiller was certainly crucial to the success of the protest. Other regional and local politicians also sided with the residents. Geomet was repeatedly criticized for its information policy.

Now the residents of the Dukla settlement can celebrate. Geomet now wants to transport the mined lithium to Prunéřov by train. Újezdeček is only planned as a transfer point for the ore to the railway. There is a ČEZ coal-fired power plant in Prunéřov. Geomet wants to locate both the mechanical and chemical processing of lithium there. Up to 60 lithium trains per week are planned from Újezdeček to Prunéřov.

When lithium mining will begin in the Czech Ore Mountains is still up in the air. A feasibility study, which was supposed to be available at the end of 2023, has not yet been completed. The only thing that is certain is that mining will take place underground. The transport of the ore from the shaft to the transshipment point in Újezdeček is also still an open question. Most recently, two options were considered: a transport lift or a conveyor belt. Geomet plans to mine over 2 million tons of ore per year, which will be processed into around 25,000 tons of lithium.

Žatec wins another title

A year ago, the hop town of Žatec was left empty-handed. Then, on September 18, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Exactly seven months later, Žatec was also named a "Historic Town of the Czech Republic." The town was thus recognized for its long-term, successful renovation of the historic town center and individual buildings. The jury particularly emphasized that, in addition to using state funding, the town also succeeds in motivating private homeowners to carry out renovations in accordance with the monument's preservation requirements.

Žatec won the coveted title at the eighth attempt. The winners in each district always make it to the final. Žatec won the Ústí district for the eighth time in a row in 2023. The nationwide winner will receive 1 million crowns (40,000 euros) for monument preservation.

New Elbe bridges for pedestrians and cyclists

Construction of a new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists has begun in Ústí. The new Elbe crossing is being built downstream of the Beneš Bridge. It is a temporary solution for the period of the renovation of the Beneš Bridge. The temporary solution is to be three meters wide and to be completed by next winter. All supply lines that currently run over the Beneš Bridge will also be diverted over the temporary bridge. The long-overdue renovation of the Beneš Bridge is to be completed in October 2026.

A bridge for pedestrians and cyclists is also being built in Děčín. It will be built onto the railway bridge. Unlike the one in Ústí, however, it will not be a temporary bridge, but will make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists to cross. In future, this will also make crossing the Elbe easier for all those who are using the Elbe cycle path. Until now, they had to take the inconvenient route over the Tyrš Bridge.

The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax revenue on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.

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School year 1945/1946: The students in a boys' class are so undisciplined that they send their teacher to the madhouse. Then a new teacher takes over and fascinates the boys: on the one hand, military uniform and caning with the cane, on the other hand, he makes the tough boys cry with his violin playing to the story of Jan Hus and amazes them with his stories from the various war fronts. If it weren't for his uncontrollable passion for women...

This film by father and son Svěrák is probably a classic example of the Czech film that many people in Germany love: lovingly drawn characters in a rather rural setting who experience different, more or less everyday stories, and all of this is staged without any great sensationalism. The background is an important time in Czech history, which was certainly anything but easy, but here it is given a conciliatory sepia tone. The film is one of the most popular films of all time in the Czech Republic and is number 6 on the list at csfd.cz.

For Jan Svěrák, this was his first feature film as a director; his father Zdeněk Svěrák wrote the screenplay and acted in it. The film was nominated for the 1992 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

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100 years of the Ore Mountain Theatre Teplice

The spa town of Teplice is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Ore Mountains Theatre (Krušnohorské divadlo). The monumental building on the edge of the spa park was ceremoniously opened as the "Teplitz-Schönau Municipal Theatre" on April 20, 1924. At the time, it was the largest theatre building outside of Prague. It was built in just under two years on the site of the previous building. It was destroyed in a fire in 1919. The current building is a Dresden co-production. The architectural competition was won by the Dresden architect with Bohemian roots, Rudolf Bitzan. He is known for the crematorium in Liberec (Reichenberg), designed the town hall in Freital-Döhlen and was also involved in the design for Leipzig Central Station. The interiors were designed by the Dresden artists Richard Guhr and Alexander Baranowsky.

Programs from the 1920s show a lively cultural life. The theater had three sections: opera, operetta and drama. Performances were performed at least once a day, sometimes several times. In addition to the large hall with over 700 seats, the theater had a small hall with 500 seats, a restaurant, a café and a cinema, as well as several other salons for dance events, for example. Due to the German-speaking majority of the population, performances were usually performed in German. At least once a month there was a Czech-language event. Many actors of Jewish descent also performed at the theater. Despite growing pressure from the fascist-minded Sudeten German Party, the directors managed to keep the Jewish actors, who made up about a third of the ensemble, until the Wehrmacht invaded the Sudetenland in 1938. In 1938 the theater not only lost its Jewish actors, but also some Germans quit their jobs. After 1945, the ethnic German population had to leave the country.

Today the theatre is run by the town of Teplice, which subsidises all venues under the roof of the cultural centre with 2 million euros every year. In addition to the modern cultural centre itself, this includes the Ore Mountains Theatre and, among others, the Zahradní dům (Garden House) near the castle. Today the theatre mainly hosts external productions, but cultural centre director Přemysl Šoba has announced four of his own premieres for the first time this year, partly supported by musicians from the Teplice Conservatory. As the cultural centre is currently being renovated, the Ore Mountains Theatre is also the venue for the North Bohemian Philharmonic this year. The Beethoven Festival in early summer will also take place in the Ore Mountains Theatre.

Interest in the European Union is increasing in the Czech Republic

On June 9, the people of the European Union will elect a new parliament. A Eurobarometer survey conducted in the Czech Republic in February suggests that voter turnout will be higher this time. According to the survey, 38 percent of eligible voters will go and vote. That may not be much for other countries. But in the Czech Republic, where turnout in EU elections has always been among the lowest, that would be a new record.

Interest in the European elections was already rising again before the last elections, after voter turnout had fallen to a historic low of 18.2 percent in 2014. After the Czech Republic joined the European Union on May 1 with nine other countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Southern Europe, voter turnout had always been just over 28 percent. In 2019, it returned to this level and even reached a new high of almost 29 percent.

When asked about priorities for the European elections, the Czech Republic's priorities are defense and security (45 percent), independence in energy supply and industrial production (40 percent) and the future of Europe (35 percent). This differs in some ways from the overall picture of all 27 EU states, where only defense and security are higher in priority. The issue of migration and asylum is also given greater weight in the Czech Republic (33 percent) than in the EU as a whole (24 percent).

There are more similarities in the values that the EU Parliament is to defend over the next five years. Peace and democracy are at the forefront here. While the Czech Republic places a little more emphasis on solidarity between EU states and regions and respect for national identities, cultures and traditions, the EU as a whole places greater emphasis on the protection of human rights and the rule of law.

When asked what the EU should focus on to strengthen its influence in the world, however, the picture is again mixed. Defence and security, as well as independence in the supply of energy and raw materials and infrastructure, are top priorities. In the Czech Republic, however, the emphasis is on strengthening the competitiveness of the economy and industry (40 percent/EU27: 27 percent). In contrast, the EU27 rate food supply and agriculture higher at 30 percent than Czech respondents (23 percent).

High-speed rail line: decision in June

While the route of the new high-speed rail line from Dresden to Prague has been clarified on the German side, the decision on the Czech side is still pending. The ball is currently in the Ústí district's court. The district office is evaluating over 600 statements. In particular, the section south of the Bohemian Central Mountains, through which the high-speed rail line is to be run via a tunnel, has still not been decided between three options. The exit of the Ore Mountains Base Tunnel on the Czech side is still controversial. But the railway infrastructure administration Správa železnic is pushing for a decision. "June is our big wish. Otherwise everything will be delayed - not just the Ore Mountains Tunnel, but also the Prague-Lovosice section, which is to be built first," says Pavel Hruška, head of planning at Správa železnic.
The district office is expected to have processed all 600 statements by June. After that, the members of the district parliament will have the final say. If no decision is reached, the Ministry of Transport wants to take over the process and force a decision. This will enable it to revise the building law. District administrator Jan Schiller (ANO) is opposed to such a course of action: "We have already struggled so intensively with all the affected communities. It would all have been in vain," said the district administrator. He is still hoping to find a compromise.

Whooping cough wave in Northern Bohemia

In recent weeks, there has been an increase in whooping cough cases in northern Bohemia. Last week, the Ústí District Hygiene Station reported an increase of 130 new cases. Most of them were registered in the Děčín District (27). The disease is also increasingly appearing in the Chomutov (25 cases) and Ústí (24 cases) districts. The prevalence in the district remains unchanged at 16 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The disease is most prevalent in the 15-19 age group, with almost 92 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax revenue on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.

(This is an automatic translation by Google Translator.)

Overcoming language barriers is the most important and at the same time the most difficult task for all Saxon-Czech border regions. Immersing children in the neighboring language at an early stage is a special opportunity for the entire border region.

We have accepted this challenge as a project team of the INTERREG project “Neighbouring language from the beginning - Jazyk sousedů od začátku!” All Saxon-Czech Euroregions, the Saxon State Office for Neighbouring Language Education (LaNa) and TANDEM Pilsen Coordination Office for German-Czech Youth Exchange form a great team and were able to start the ambitious project in January 2024. We would like to design and implement the project together with you.

Conference programme

MONDAY AND AFTERNOON 29.04.2024

10 AM I 10 PM

Location: Library of the Ústí Region, Winston Churcilla 3, 400 01 Ústí nad Labem

Event language(s): German and Czech

The project "Neighbouring language from the start" is funded with EU funds from the Saxony-Czech Republic cooperation programme 2021-2027.

(This is an automatic translation by Google Translator.)

Funding for eight projects in the Elbe/Labe Euroregion approved

The Elbe/Labe Euroregion manages a small project fund filled with EU funds to support German-Czech projects. At today's meeting of the local steering committee in Děčín, eight project applications with a total funding volume of 69,236.80 euros were approved. These include, for example, holiday camps, sports games, joint excursions or cooperation between dog sports clubs. The applicants came from Sebnitz, Dolní Poustevna, Bad Gottleuba, Tisá, Teplice, Bannewitz, Krásná Lípa, Obercunnersdorf, Bärenstein, Česká Kamenice and Dresden.

You can find out more about the funding opportunities offered by the Small Projects Fund at www.elbelabe.eu/kpf . We would be delighted to receive many good project proposals. Please spread the word!

To the list of approved projects

Ústí District modernizes Rumburk Hospital

Five years ago, the hospital in Rumburk was still a nursing case. Insolvent and threatened with closure. Some departments were closed, there was not only a lack of money, but also of staff. In between there was the takeover by the hospital holding company of the Ústí district and the Covid pandemic, during which the hospital regained importance. Especially since the borders were temporarily closed and patients could no longer be cared for by Saxon clinics as once planned.
The situation for the hospital has now improved. In the coming years, the district will invest heavily again. The equivalent of 37.5 million euros is planned. The money will be used to renovate the polyclinic, i.e. the medical care center. A completely new emergency room will be built and the hospital will finally have its own helipad. The majority of the investments should be completed by 2027. The renovation of the main building will take a little longer.
The hospital, which cares for 50,000 people in the Schluchsee area, was due to be closed years ago. At the same time, negotiations were underway with facilities in neighboring Saxony that were waiting for patients from the Czech Republic. But the plan failed due to lack of funding.

Děčín acquires electric buses

Public transport in Děčín will change in the next few years. This will be achieved by purchasing new electric buses for the city lines. The city has already started a bidding process to purchase 20 electric buses. The first ten buses are expected to be delivered next year. The city will only pay a fraction of the price. The majority will be covered by subsidies from the European Union.
Děčín has been testing electric buses from various manufacturers for three years now. The decisive factor was whether the buses could also handle the mountainous terrain of the Elbe city. The result was positive. The transport company is only expecting one additional quick charge during the day.
Which company ultimately supplies the buses depends solely on the lowest price bid. The city also demands a guarantee for the batteries for the full 12-year lifespan.
In order to reduce emissions, Děčín has already purchased 21 natural gas-powered buses, whose operating costs rose sharply following the price increases after Corona and Russia's war against Ukraine. Děčín also has diesel buses in its fleet.

Unemployment highest in Northern Bohemia

Ústí nL Unemployment in the Ústí region remains the highest in the Czech Republic. In March, the employment offices reported an unemployment rate of six percent. That was two percentage points higher than the national average. However, the rate remained unchanged from February. 33,643 people were registered as unemployed compared to almost 11,000 vacancies.

The affair surrounding Bystron and the Czech newspaper Deník N

AfD politician Petr Bystron has been in the headlines for almost three weeks. He is said to have accepted money from the Russian propaganda portal Voice of Europe. Bystron denies this and the party executive of the Alternative for Germany has expressed its trust in him. But the longer the affair lasts and the more details and new findings become known, the more the politician becomes a burden for the AfD. After all, he is second on the list of candidates for the European elections in June. The name of the Czech newspaper Deník N is always mentioned in connection with Bystron. It was at the beginning and first made the allegations public.

This is no coincidence. After all, Bystron is a politician with Czech roots. Born in Olomouc in 1972, his family emigrated to Germany at the end of the 1980s. For several years now, he has had a meteoric rise in the AfD. Nevertheless, Czech media continue to write the politician's name in Czech. That means Petr remains Petr, but his surname is Bystroˇň, with a soft N at the end. His origins explain the great interest of the media in the Czech Republic in him. However, Czech media have very good sources, especially when it comes to researching Russian influence. Long before Russia's attack on Ukraine, the Czech secret service warned of the threat from Russia and its growing influence not only in the Czech Republic, but also in other parts of Europe. Czech journalists are also among the most active in Europe, researching Russian influence in networks with colleagues from other EU countries. It was no coincidence that a Europe-wide network designed to investigate Russian fake news was headed by a Czech journalist years ago.

Added to this is the long-standing investigative tradition and the growing media landscape in the Czech Republic, which has even grown in the last ten years. Deník N is the best example of this. The daily newspaper was founded when newspapers were closing elsewhere. It originated in Slovakia, where it quickly found readers and subscribers. It was so successful that after years it founded a branch in the Czech Republic. This is what has now set the Bystron affair in motion.

The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax revenue on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.

(This is an automatic translation by Google Translator.)