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"The Holocaust Phenomenon" project was initiated by the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, in 1997. The project's aim is to formulate discussion concerning the history of our country between 1938-1945. This page should provide information on new activities which are being prepared in the framework of this project and provide those who are interested with basic guidelines.

Based on the initiative of President Vaclav Havel and the working meetings of experts from historical societies, a suggestion was made to undertake an extensive project entitled "Phenomenon Holocaust", to which the Office of the President immediately granted its patronage. During the Second World War, the Czech lands became an integral part of Nazi Germany. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was established in the occupied nation, in which the German occupation administration organised one of the "most successful" genocides of the Romany and Jewish communities in modern history. The question of the level of co-responsibility of Czech society could not be freely researched and discussed under the communist government. It is therefore extremely important for us to return to those abandoned chapters of Czech history, and to become concerned with the problem of the Holocaust and racial intolerance during the Second World War at a time when the last witnesses of this time are still alive.

A similar process is underway in societies in a number of nations in Western civilisation. President Vaclav Havel supports the current initiative of the American government on the opening of international dialogue on the historical connections of the Second World War and the search for justice for surviving victims of the Holocaust.