Weekly review no. 15
12.01.2024
Road to Dolní Žleb Open Again
After exactly 20 days, the road from Děčín to Dolní Žleb reopened. On Thursday morning, the Elbe River level in Děčín had fallen below the 4-meter mark, which is the threshold for flood warning level 1. The road was cleared during the day, and the first cars were back on the road by the afternoon.
The road had been flooded when the first wave of flooding began shortly before Christmas. For the residents of the last village on the left bank of the Elbe before the border with Saxony—which is part of Děčín—this means that the train is now their only means of transportation to the outside world. Since the car ferry does not connect to the highway on the other bank of the Elbe, the only option is to take the train. The residents of Dolní Žleb are already used to this. When the Elbe approaches the first flood warning level, they move their cars to safe parking areas in the Děčín city area so that they have a vehicle for longer trips. However, the rising water brings with it further inconveniences. Bulk shopping is more difficult by train, and trash is not collected. Anyone who needs emergency services must be taken by boat to the other side of the Elbe by the fire department.
The situation on the rivers throughout the Czech Republic has now calmed down. Most recently, the first flood warning level was lifted in Litoměřice on Friday. The second flood warning level applied only to the Vltava River in Český Krumlov and Vyšší Brod. However, this is due to the fact that more water was released from the large Lipno reservoir, which had previously been held back by the dam for flood protection purposes.
Hřensko’s Mayor Resigns
The mayor of the border village of Hřensko, Zdeněk Pánek, resigned on December 31, 2023. Pánek declined to speak to the media about the reasons for his resignation. He simply emphasized that it was his own decision and that it was not for personal reasons, but rather because of his commitment to Hřensko.
The community is currently going through a difficult phase. Since the major fire in the summer of 2022, the Edmundsklamm has been closed due to the threat of falling trees and rockfalls. This meant that the largest source of income was lost, because the gorges belong to Hřensko. The municipality tried to counteract this by introducing an overnight tax and garbage fees for residents. But these are not real cuts. What is standard practice elsewhere, Hřensko had waived for its citizens during times of booming revenue. According to media reports, Pánek apparently no longer wanted to support these and other austerity measures, which forced him to resign.
Pánek is stepping down after more than nine years as mayor. Prior to that, the lawyer, who has an office in Děčín, served as mayor for four years in 2002 and also held the position of deputy mayor in between. His successor will be chosen at the next meeting of the local council. He must be elected from among the seven local council members. Until then, Deputy Mayor Robert Mareš will be in charge of official business. The next regular local elections will not take place until October 2026.
Trial Over Scandalous Speed Camera
The trial regarding speed measurements in Varnsdorf has begun at the district court in Ústí nad Labem. Four years after the police operation at Varnsdorf City Hall—which led to the arrest of Mayor Stanislav Horáček and his deputy, Josef Hambálek—the trial has begun, a case that caused quite a stir at the time. The city commissioned the company Water Solar Technology (WST) to measure speeds at four locations in the city. Thousands of drivers from Germany were also affected, as two speed cameras were located in the Studánka district, through which the busy Highway 9 from Saxony leads further into the interior of the Czech Republic. The Ministry of the Interior criticized Varnsdorf early on for agreeing to receive payment for each violation detected. As a result, WST received a fixed sum for each instance of speeding.
In Ústí, not only Horáček and Hambálek, but also Horáček’s girlfriend, Eva Petružálková, and the managing director of WST, Miloš Schubert, are on trial. The public prosecutor’s office accuses them of abuse of office or aiding and abetting, exploiting a public tender, bribery, and violating competition rules. Horáček, Hambálek, and Petružálková testified on the first two days of the trial. All defendants deny the allegations. They face prison sentences of up to 12 years. The trial will continue in March.
Opening of the Lety Roma Memorial in April
The memorial at the site of the former concentration camp for Roma in Lety, southern Bohemia, is expected to open at the end of April. It was originally scheduled to open on February 3. However, the date had to be postponed for technical reasons, according to reports. The delay was caused by problems during construction. Final work on the memorial is currently underway, and preparations for the exhibition are in progress.
In 2018, after years of advocacy by human rights organizations and Roma representatives, the Czech government decided to build a memorial at the site of the former concentration camp to commemorate the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti. Until then, a pig farm had operated there. The government purchased the property and had it demolished. The memorial, which includes a visitor center and an exhibition, has been under construction since last year. The Czech government is not the sole source of funding for the project. The Norwegian government is providing funding for the exhibition, and the German Embassy in Prague is involved in the construction of the memorial’s outdoor facilities.
Along with Hodonín near Kunštát in Moravia, Lety was one of two camps where Roma were interned in the 1940s. Both camps served as stopovers on the way to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Hundreds of Roma died in Lety and Hodonín. Hodonín, in turn, served as the site of a vacation home and a children’s summer camp for decades before a memorial was opened there in 2019 following years of effort.
The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax revenue based on the budget approved by the Saxon state parliament.