Prague / Czech Rep. (RNC Agency) 17.08.1997

A memorial was unveiled at the common grave of Roma-victimes of the holocaust in the south Moravian township Hodonin in Czech Rep. on Sunday.

About 200 men, women and children were buried in this grave who died in the former concentrationcamp in Hodonin. In the camp Roma from all over Moravia had been interned during World War Two.

From 1.317 inmates 200 died in the camp. 950 were displaced to death camp.The memorial - a nomad carriage wheel linked with a metal cross and a horse collar was created by the sculptor of Prague, Eduard Olaha, who is a Roma himself.

From about 7.000 Roma and Sinti, who had settled in Czech before the war, only about 600 survived.

After the war thousands of Roma emigrated, mainly from Slovak.

At present about 400.000 Roma are living in Czech. In the least weeks many of them wanted to leave the country to protest against the alleged racist environment.