• Lidice Memorial
In June 1942, the village of Lidice was annihilated by National Socialists in an act of retribution. Today, a museum, a gallery and a park on the site where the village used to stand commemorate the crime and its victims.
Image: Lidice, undated, Lidice before and after its destruction, Památník Lidice
Lidice, undated, Lidice before and after its destruction, Památník Lidice

Image: Lidice, 2000, The memorial which was dedicated in 1962, Památník Lidice
Lidice, 2000, The memorial which was dedicated in 1962, Památník Lidice
Lidice, a small community north-west of Prague, had about 500 residents in 1942. After the chief of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and deputy Reich protector for Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich died of the injuries he suffered during an assassination attempt which had been carried out by Czech resistance fighters on June 4, 1942, a wave of brutal retributive actions was set in motion. The Gestapo suspected a farmer's family of having been in touch with the assassins because their son was a member of the Czech army in exile in Great Britain.
The German occupiers wanted to set an example at the farm: In the night of June 9/10, 1942, units of the Kladno Schutzpolizei (protection police), the Gestapo and the Wehrmacht marched into the village. All of the village residents were arrested and all men were shot on the farm of the family under suspicion. The Germans then set fire to the buildings and finally levelled the village to the ground. The women and children were brought to the nearby town of Kladno, where they were incarcerated in a sports hall for three days. The children were then brutally separated from the women. The women were later deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, the children were brought to the Łódź ghetto. 82 of them were deported to the Chelmno extermination camp and asphyxiated with exhaust fumes in gas vans. Only 17 children from Lidice, whom the SS considered to be »worthy of Germanising«, survived the war in educational facilities or in the care of German foster families.
Image: Lidice, undated, Lidice before and after its destruction, Památník Lidice
Lidice, undated, Lidice before and after its destruction, Památník Lidice

Image: Lidice, 2000, The memorial which was dedicated in 1962, Památník Lidice
Lidice, 2000, The memorial which was dedicated in 1962, Památník Lidice
173 men were shot on the spot in the course of the retributive action. 7 women were executed in the Protectorate in June 1942, 50 further women perished in concentration camps. 82 children were asphyxiated in gas vans in the Kulmhof extermination camp. Only 143 women and 17 children of Lidice's pre-war population survived the war.
Image: Lidice, 1942, The corpses of the murdered men in front of the farm of the family under suspicion, Památník Lidice
Lidice, 1942, The corpses of the murdered men in front of the farm of the family under suspicion, Památník Lidice

Image: Lidice, 2000, Memorial to the murdered children, Památník Lidice
Lidice, 2000, Memorial to the murdered children, Památník Lidice
In 1947, Czechoslovakia began constructing a new township under the same name for the returning survivors. The new settlement was established in close vicinity of the former village of Lidice. A symbolic grave and a monument to the murdered men were set up. In 1955, the »Rose Garden of Friendship and Peace« in honour of the victims was inaugurated. In 1962, a memorial and a small museum were opened. In 2000, a group of sculptures depicting the murdered children of Lidice was erected on the memorial premises. Sculptor Marie Uchytilová worked on the sculptures from 1969 until her death in 1989; the bronze casts were created in the 1990s thanks to donations from the Czech Republic and from abroad. In 2003, the memorial was extended by a gallery which is located in the new village.
Image: Lidice, 2000, Ruins of the former village, Památník Lidice
Lidice, 2000, Ruins of the former village, Památník Lidice

Image: Lidice, 2000, View of the memorial to the murdered children, Památník Lidice
Lidice, 2000, View of the memorial to the murdered children, Památník Lidice
Name
Památník Lidice
Phone
+420 (0)312 253 088
Web
http://www.lidice-memorial.cz
E-Mail
lidice@lidice-memorial.cz
Open
Museum: November to March daily 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., April to October daily 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
Gallery: November to March 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., April to October 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
Possibilities
Permanent exhibition, temporary exhibitions, workshops for children in the art gallery's educational centre, annual commemorative ceremonies on June 10, the anniversary of the village's annihilation