LIDICE MEMORIAL (PAMÁTNÍK LIDICE)
What an emotional visit... This small village was completely destroyed during the Second World War and preserved as a memorial to the horrors of war. When the SS arrived in June 1942, the 184 men of Lidice were killed on the spot, the women and children sent to concentration camps in Chełmno, Poland. The reason for such a massacre? The attack perpetrated by the Czech commando of Operation Anthropoid, which claimed the life of Gauleiter Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler's dauphin and favorite. The Gestapo having learned that members of the commando had taken refuge in the village for some time (which was untrue), Hitler ordered that not a single stone be left standing, nor any survivors, and this was done with regard to the male population over the age of 16. A few women returned from Ravensbrück despite their terrible conditions of detention, and only 17 of the village's 105 children survived the deportation. Such was the worldwide emotion aroused by this massacre that many Czech families in exile, notably in the USA, named their daughters after Lidice in the years that followed. The museum explains the story of that fateful day. The garden is a place of meditation, where you can wander through the many statues and works of art created in memory of the families who lost their lives at Lidice and in the camps. A moving and poignant visit, to be undertaken with respect for the site.
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