Lidice, Czech Republic

After two days in Prague, I’ve become more comfortable with the Czech public transportation system. I’ve experienced trams, buses and the underground Metro. I decided to use all three and venture outside the city into the countryside for a visit to the Lidice memorial.

The farming village of Lidice (pronounced Li-deech-aye) was about 15 miles northwest of Prague. On June 10, 1942, it was wiped off the face of the earth.

Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler’s third in command and the architect of the Holocaust, was ambushed by Czech resistance fighters on the morning of May 27, 1942, while riding in his open Mercedes toward Prague. Wounded by an explosion, Heydrich refused to be operated on by non-German doctors. He succumbed to infection eight days later.

An enraged Hitler ordered revenge. The resistance fighters were eventually cornered in a Prague church and took their own lives. But not before the Nazis decided to make an example of the unfortunate village of Lidice.

The Gestapo intercepted a letter that supposedly hinted at a connection between a family in the village and Czech resistance. That connection later turned out to be nonexistent. Nonetheless, eager to show the consequences of killing a high-ranking German officer, harsh orders were issued.

Early on the morning of June 10, 1942, German soldiers surrounded the village and woke the civilians at gunpoint. All 173 men over the age of 15 were drug toward a large barn, lined up along its stone walls and shot, 10 at a time. No explanation was provided.

The 203 women of the village were forcibly separated from their children and sent to concentration camps.

All the buildings including church and school were burned. Explosives were brought in to detonate remaining stone walls. Trees were toppled. A small creek and roads leading into the village were re-routed.

All pets and farm animals were slaughtered. Lidice’s small cemetery was dug up and looted. The rubble of the village was covered over with topsoil and then planted with crops. Lidice was figuratively and literally wiped off maps.

Today, I walked the grounds covering the former village. A few original basements had been exposed. The perimeters of the church and school were evident. The priest and school master were among the executed.

In the small museum, the wooden doors to the church and an original village sign had been recovered and were displayed. I met an elderly Dutch couple carefully looking over the exhibits. They mentioned how many small villages in the Netherlands looked just like the former Lidice.

An incredibly sad monument was dedicated to the children. All 88 boys and girls under the age of 15 were transported by train to Poland. A few were considered racially suitable and handed over to SS families.

The rest were gassed at Chelmno concentration camp upon their arrival.

The Nazis did not hide the news of the Lidice massacre like countless others during the war. German propaganda openly and proudly announced the events as a warning to anyone who would resist their rule.

In fact, the Germans filmed the destruction of Lidice. It was entered as evidence at the Nuremberg trials following the war:

Allied news outlets picked up the information and international outrage followed. Coal miners in Britain raised funds in a “Lidice Shall Live” campaign. Towns around the world were re-named in remembrance, including Lidice, Illinois, in the United States.

For me, it was a harrowing and vivid reminder of the horrors of war and how innocent men, women and children were destroyed in the catastrophe.

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