Nazi Concentration Camp Found in Czech Republic

News November 11, 2020

(Courtesy Petr Brestovanský)
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Liberec Concentration Camp
(Courtesy Petr Brestovanský)

LIBEREC, CZECH REPUBLIC—Radio Prague International reports that traces of the main building of a World War II–era concentration camp, including tin cups, dish fragments, brick floors, and foundations, have been uncovered in what is now the northern Czech Republic. The site is one of four Romani internment camps that had been built in the city of Liberec. Historical records indicate that at least 130 Romani people were held at this camp by the Nazis between 1941 and 1943, when they were transferred to larger death camps such as Ravensbrück, Buchenwald, and Auschwitz. Archaeologist Petr Brestovanský of the North Bohemian Museum said the building had been constructed with forced Romani labor. The camp later held French prisoners who were forced to work in a nearby quarry, he added. To read about the origins of the Romani, Europe's largest minority group, go to "World Roundup: India."

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