Hodonin concentration camp

The concentration camp in Hodonín was a World War II internment camp for Romani people (Gypsies) from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (which nowadays forms the larger part of the Czech Republic).

On March 2, 1939, (two weeks before the German occupation), the Czecho-Slovak government ordered that a labor camp be set up for "people avoiding work and living off crime" (at this time labour duty was mandatory).

The camp next to the village Hodonín (near the town Kunštát) was constructed later and was opened during December 1940. The camp consisted of several large and small wooden barracks, and were surrounded by a wooden fence. Projected capacity of the camp was 300 people during summer, 200 during winter. New barracks were added later, lifting official capacity to 750 prisoners in 1943. Running water, sewage and electricity infrastructure was planned but never finished. Czech gendarmes (četníci) guarded the places (service in such camps was considered a disciplinary punishment). Štefan Blahynka, commander of Hodonín camp. Similar forced labor camps existed in Planá, Mirošov, Hradištko and other places; prisoners were typically used for hard labour such as road construction. In total, around 50,000 people went through such labour camps during the war. The total number of prisons and camps of all kinds within the boundaries of modern-day Czech Republic was 2,125 (František Nedbálek, Místa utrpení a vzdoru, Prague 1984).

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