Weekly review no. 30
26.04.2024
Roma memorial opened in Lety
A memorial to the Porajmos, the genocide of the Roma under National Socialism, has been 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 Nazi occupation. A labor camp mainly for Roma had previously stood on the same site.
1,308 Roma, old people and children, men and women, were held in the camp between August 1942 and May 1943, 327 perished and over 500 were murdered in concentration camps. There was a second camp in Hodonín u Kunštátu in Moravia, which served as a vacation camp after 1945. A small memorial had already been set up there earlier. You can find out more about the history of the camp in Lety at www.holocaust.cz.
After 1945, the site fell into oblivion and a pig farm was later built. Since the Velvet Revolution, there have been efforts to establish a reverent memorial site, partly inspired by the then President Václav Havel. However, the respective governments refused to close the pig farm. For a long time, the government did not want to acknowledge the genocide of the Roma, let alone its own guilt. This lack of interest was also due to the fact that Roma still only have a small lobby in the Czech Republic and are largely socially excluded.
It was not until 2018 that the state agreed to purchase the pig farm. The demolition was completed in 2022 and construction of the memorial could begin. This is attached to the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno.
New location for Czech lithium production
Lithium in the Ore Mountains has also created a gold-rush atmosphere in the Czech Republic. The raw material is to be extracted in the old mining town of Cínovec. The Czech Republic hopes that this will make it independent of the world market in this important area and put it among the world's technological leaders. However, not much has been happening for years. The company Geomet was taken over by the majority state-owned energy company ČEZ. But dismantling is still a long way off.
Geomet has now even suffered a setback. Due to protests from local residents, the company abandoned the desired location for the lithium processing plant in Újezdeček, south of Dubí, and decided to build the plant in Prunéřov, west of Chomutov.
Local residents had been protesting against the plant in Újezdeček for two years. The inhabitants of the small settlement of Dukla in particular feared the plant, which would have bordered directly on their land. For two years, they fought a David versus Goliath battle. Geomet always claimed that Újezdeček was the best location. The criticism of district governor Jan Schiller was certainly decisive for 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 inhabitants of the Dukla settlement can celebrate. Geomet now wants to transport the extracted lithium to Prunéřov by train. Újezdeček is now only planned as a transshipment point for the ore on the train. A ČEZ coal-fired power plant is located in Prunéřov. Geomet wants to locate both the mechanical and chemical processing of lithium there. Up to 60 lithium trains a week are planned from Újezdeček to Prunéřov.
However, it is still unclear when lithium mining will begin in the Czech Ore Mountains. A feasibility study, which was due to be completed by the end of 2023, has still not been finalized. The only thing that is certain is that mining will take place underground. The transportation of the ore from the shaft to the transshipment point in Újezdeček is also still open. Most recently, there were two options in play: a transport lift or a conveyor belt. Geomet plans to extract 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 came away empty-handed. Then, on September 18, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Now, exactly seven months later to the day, Žatec has also been named a "Historic Town of the Czech Republic". The town was thus recognized for its many years of successful restoration of the historic town center and individual buildings. The jury particularly emphasized the city's success in motivating private homeowners to renovate their buildings in line with monument conservation requirements, in addition to the use of state subsidies.
Žatec won the coveted title at the eighth attempt. The winners in the individual districts always go through to the final. Žatec was the winner in the Ústí district for the eighth time in a row in 2023. The national winner receives 1 million crowns (40,000 euros) for the preservation of historical monuments.
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 time the Beneš Bridge is being renovated. The temporary bridge will be three meters wide and will be ready by next winter. The temporary bridge will also be used to reroute all supply lines that currently cross the Beneš Bridge. The long-overdue renovation of the Beneš Bridge is due to be completed in October 2026.
A bridge for pedestrians and cyclists is also being built in Děčín. It is being built next to the railroad 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 simplify the crossing of the Elbe for all those traveling on the Elbe cycle path. Previously, they had to take the cumbersome route across the Tyrš Bridge.
If you would like to receive our weekly review regularly in your email inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
To the newsletter registration
The production of this newsletter is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon state parliament.