August 17, 2005
The Czech town of Terezin (widely known as Theresienstadt), which was the site of a Nazi death camp and Jewish ghetto during World War II, should become an European centre of Holocaust commemoration, the governor of the region of Usti nad Labem, Jiri Sulc, has said. "It is a shame of Europe that the two most important museums which are devoted to the Holocaust victims are situated in Washington and Israel," Sulc told the news agency CTK. He said the Washington museum, which he had visited, was very impressive. "Unfortunately, it is not situated in Europe, which has been strongly afflicted by the Holocaust. I naturally do not doubt the importance of the commemorative sites (such as) Auschwitz and others, but the Czech Republic can merely take 'pride' in the shameful case of the pig farm in Lety," Sulc said, referring to the controversial use of a site which was a Nazi concentration camp designed for Gypsies. Terezin, about 40 kilometers north of Prague, became a holding ghetto for Jews. Nearly 35,000 people were killed there.
