The genocide of the Roma during the Second World War is an integral part of European history and not only because it should not be forgotten in the teaching of history. Unfortunately, due to the controversy of the topic, this often happens.
 
The virtual reality camp in Lety near Písek, created by ROMEA in cooperation with the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, CTU in Prague with the financial support of the US Embassy in Prague, offers a unique opportunity to bring this topic closer to students in a more attractive and digestible way.
 
"I've seen countless documentaries and movies from the war and from various concentration camps, but it's incomparable to virtual reality. It was an immediate, intense and very personal experience that literally got me to my knees, "says artist Věra Horváthová.
 
However, we need to raise additional funding for the further development of virtual reality and for workshops in schools and other educational institutions. Now we lack to co-finance a total of CZK 500,000.

Your gift will help to improve the virtual reality itself and to spread information about the fate of the Roma during the Second World War to other schools.

Workshops

We offer the virtual reality of the Lety camp as part of three-hour workshops at schools and other educational institutions. Participants can try what it's like to find themselves in a concentration camp for a while. They will get acquainted with the fate of surviving witnesses and with the broader context of the Roma genocide in the Czech lands.

Further development of virtual reality

Although the virtual model is already fulfilling its function, we would like to further improve and develop it to ensure its greater authenticity. In addition to improving the graphic and sound side of the model and creating the introductory input sequence, we primarily want to enrich it with audio testimonies of surviving witnesses. Other language versions are also planned.

History of the camp in Lety near Písek
 
The so-called The Gypsy camp in Lety near Písek was established on August 2, 1942 by an order to combat Gypsy mischief. It was an exact copy of the German model, its racial motivation was not obscured. Based on a nationwide census, a total of 1309 people were concentrated here, including pregnant women, the elderly and the sick, and young children. A quarter of the prisoners in the camp died, over 500 of whom were transported to Auschwitz. After its liquidation in 1943, the camp was razed to the ground and erased from historical consciousness for many years.