Lidice

About

All in retaliation for the assassination of one man, Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, by Czech partisans, in the late spring of 1942. Lidice was chosen to be made an example of because the village was suspected of sheltering partisans. In the long list of Nazi war crimes Lidice is mind-bogglingly horrendous, particularly the treatment of innocent children, 82 of whom died in the Chelmo concentration camp. The first part of the present village of Lidice dates from 1949, and was built close to the original site which is now a dedicated memorial area. A beautiful avenue of linden trees connects the new village to the memorial site which is overlooked by a Rosarium consisting of 29,000 rose bushes. There’s also a very powerful sculpture by Marie Uchytilova dedicated to the 82 children murdered at Chelmo. A cross with a crown of thorns marks the mass grave of the men, while a museum and exhibition hall details Lidice’s history.