"The police have advised us that they have found 580 kilograms of bronze pieces that corresponds to the about 800 Czech security agency guards Terezin wartime memorial ...
Bronze plates stolen from graves at Terezin memorial cemetery ... lost bronze plates," Stanislav Krejny, from the National Memorial in Terezin, told the paper. The thief or thieves took the plates in sacs to the salvage point in Nehasice, about 50 kilometres away from Terezin. The salvage point operator will not probably be punished because the police would have to prove that he knew the bronze was stolen, MfD writes. The thieves, on the contrary, face two to eight years in prison, if found guilty, the paper writes. It writes the salvage point in Nehasice pays 108 crowns per kilogram of bronze. The theft of 327 plates was reported on Tuesday last week.
Later it was found out that another 497 plates are missing. The thieves stole plates with names because they are the largest on the 2380 graves at the national cemetery. The memorial incurred a damage of 2.5 million crowns. It wants to replace the bronze plates with new ones made of resin combined with bronze powder that allegedly perfectly imitates the metal. It is not known when the plates will be replaced, but the memorial would like to manage it by May 18 when Terezin traditionally pays tribute to the Nazism victims. A private security agency started to guard for free the National Cemetery in Terezin on Monday. It will stay there till May 18. The Culture Ministry wants to prepare within two weeks a project to protect the complex with a camera system. People who died in the Gestapo prison in Terezin's little fortress, the Jewish ghetto in the town and the concentration camp in nearby Litomerice lie buried at the National Cemetery. This was the largest complex in the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Some 220,000 people from all over of Europe passed through it during the war. Only about one third of them lived to see the end of the war. Some of the prisoners died in Terezin, others in extermination camps. The Terezin Memorial was established in Terezin's little fortress in May 1947.
(Ceske Noviny)
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