News: Sunday, May 12th, 2024

Holocaust Memorial for Roma and Sinti in Lety opens to public

A Holocaust Memorial for Roma and Sinti opened to the public on Sunday at the site of a former concentration camp in Lety, south Bohemia, with a commemorative ceremony.

Over 1,300 Roma passed through the camp between 1942 and 1943 and more than 300 died there, mostly women and children. Over 500 inmates were sent to extermination camps.

The memorial includes a place of remembrance and a visitor centre with a permanent exhibition that presents testimonies of witnesses in audiovisual form.

The site originally served as a pig farm and it took close to three decades for post-communist governments to buy out the property and erect a dignified memorial in its place.

Among those attending the comemorative event. on Sunday was Senate speaker Miloš Vystrčil, who stressed the importance of creating values for the future.

Prague Spring music festival launched

The 79th edition of the Prague Spring International Music Festival was launched on Sunday with a commemoration ceremony at the grave of Czech composer Bedřich Smetana at Prague’s Vyšehrad cemetary.

The festival, which will celebrate the Year of Czech Music, will offer dozens of concerts by symphony orchestras and other ensembles, including La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra of the Milan Opera and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France.

The opening concert, Smetana’s My Country, will be performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Kirill Petrenko. It will be screened live to the public at Prague’s Kampa park.

Locals told to advise caution following bear sighting near Zlín

Residents in the Zlín area have been advised to exercise caution after a brown bear was sighted on the outskirts of the town. The animal was first spotted on Saturday morning by a local man, who went for a run to a forest near Zlín.

The animal’s presence was later confirmed by experts, who examined its traces. According to their size, the animal could weigh up to 200 kilograms. The police advised people to avoid densely overgrown areas and keep their dogs on a leash when walking in a forest.

Anifilm attracts record number of visitors

The 23rd edition of the international animated film festival Anifilm in the north Bohemian town of Liberec, which ended on Saturday evening, attracted a record 36,000 visitors.

The main award went to Italian-French co-production Chicken for Linda!, an animated comedy which explores the relationship between a hardworking single mother and her daughter. The award for the best short film went to Zima, a mosaic portrait of a small fisherman’s village.

Czechia beats Norway 6-3 in second game of Ice Hockey World Championship

Czechs also won their second game at the Ice Hockey World Championship, coming up from two goals deficit to beat Norway 6-3 in Prague on Saturday. Two goals were scored by captain Roman Červenka, who played his 200th national team game.

The 38-year-old Červenka opened the scoring in the seventh minute, but Norway tied the game after 31 seconds and quickly took a 3-1 lead. By the break, Červenka managed to reduce the deficit. Ondřej Beránek equalised in the second period, with Matěj Stránský, Libor Hájek and Ondřej Palát adding the last three goals.

The Czech ice hockey team will next face Switzerland on Monday.

Weather forecast

Monday will be mostly sunny with occasional rain showers and storms. Day temperatures are expected to range between 19 and 23 degrees Celsius.