another possible signs of resistance. They immediately brought into operation special actions.
4 700 000 inspected , 13 113 retained, 621 arrested. This is the result of the operation of
450 000 Nazis who searched through almost every house and flat in an effort to find
offenders. In following months they executed more than 2 thousand people without certain
reason. Nazis’ fury didn’t have the end.
In addition to inspections, special commission was established in Prague. Its mission
was to enquire into all suspicious affairs which can disclose offenders and this commission
happened to be fatal for Lidice. Once, the officers received letter for some Anička who
worked in a factory in Slaný. Her superior opened her letter without authorization and then
informed the commission. The letter was: “Dear Anička, I’m sorry I’m writing you so late and
I hope you understand me but you know that I had much work and concerns. What I wanted
to do, I did. In the fatal day I slept somewhere in Čabárna. I am good. See you this week and
then we will not meet again. Milan.”1 This letter started investigation which disclosed
complicated story. The letter itself was from married man who had secret relationship with
Anička and he wanted to end this relationship through the letter. The problem was that when
Nazis questioned Anička, she brought in that her lover asked her if she knows some people
from Lidice. He wanted to give regards to Horák’s family from Pepík who he met some days
ago. Finally, Nacis found that two families from Lidice had two missing sons since 1939 who
probably acted abroad. Nazis’ uncontrolled desire to punish everyone who could be connected
to Heydrich’s assassination was promoted again. They didn’t need so many real evidences to
take this chance and intervene. Connection of Lidice and assassination seemed clear enough
for Nazis and the clocks of unsuspecting Lidice started counting down its last hours.
Lidice was a small village located about 20 km north-west of Prague. It lye in
peaceful nature of central Bohemia, surrounded with moderate hills and wide forests. Its
population was 503 inhabitants who lived in about 50 houses. Children were thoroughly
educated at local school, adults worked mainly in factories and mines in Kladno or Slaný
which were the towns near Lidice. They lived their hard but quite happy lives in their loved
village, visited their church, rowed on boats on the pond, listened to fizzle of the stream
flowing through the village.
However, this peace was radically disturbed on 9th of June 1942. During the day,
Nazis set up the plan to surround Lidice and not to let anybody to get out of the village. As
they decided, they did but the command from above was much cruel. According to talk with
Adolf Hitler, Gestapo (secret police of Nazi Germany) were obligated to shoot all adult men,
transport women to concentration camps, gather the children suitable for Germanization and
place them into Reich’s families, other children bring up in different ways, burn the village
out and level it with the ground. The command was clear and proceeding of Gestapo too. It
was around 11 pm and people were dreaming in their beds. Firstly, Gestapo found chief
magistrate of Lidice who had to provide them accounting of cash balance, livestock, stock of
corn and so on. Then Gestapo went round all houses, woke all adults and children and forced
them to leave their houses in the middle of night. They could take only blanket, warm clothes
and some valuable things. Other groups of Gestapo searched the houses in order to gather
things with some value but it wasn’t enough for them. They raised confused atmosphere by
throwing furniture out of windows. The ground was besprinkled by broken beds where people
peacefully slept, chairs on which they ate their breakfasts, toys which small children played
with. The rest of Gestapo inflamed cleaned houses. Even the church and graveyard didn’t
arouse any respect in their obscured eyes.
Gestapo coldly destroyed every building in the village and in the same emotionless
way they destroyed lives of living human beings; unprotected and unarmed people who just
wanted to work, have happy family and raise their children. The worst fate met men from
Lidice. Males, who were older than 16, were assembled in a local grange of Horak’s family
where they spent whole night. Nobody of them knew why everything was happening and
what was going to happen. On the other hand, they suspected that it will probably not end in a
good way. The feeling of uncertainty and fear accompanied them till their last minutes of life.
Gestapo prepared the backyard of this grange for execution. They covered the walls with
mattress not to let bullets ricochet. The new day started and members of Gestapo were
prepared to kill. Around 7 a.m. first five men were brought out of the cellar. Their probably
had never thought that their life will be ended in such an unfair and discreditable way. Two
shots into chest, one shot into head and than one more shot from higher officer. Their
motionless bodies fell one on another as dominoes. Gestapo left their bodies where they fell
and following men had to cross them. The backyard turned into mass grave. Gestapo even
searched dead bodies for gold and tore gold teeth up. They handled human beings as
worthless things. The cold Gestpo’s approach confirmed their program during the execution
too. They peacefully broiled geese and hens, drank what they found and had actually
wonderful working day. The oldest shot man was 84 years old. On the other side, the
youngest man was less than 15 years old. According to command only men from 16 years
where supposed to be shot but his father wanted to spare her wife from worries and took him
into the group of men. He couldn’t know what will follow. Overall, 173 men were executed
this day.
The rest of families - children and women, were gathered in the local school. Mothers
and their children didn’t know what was happening too. They only heard hubbub of dying
village; sound they had never heard before. After dreamless night Gestapo transported all of
them into a gym in a grammar school in near-by Kladno. The process of children’s
examinations in attempt to find some of them able to be Germanized started. Only three
children satisfied their strict conditions for reeducation. Cruel fate was waiting for the rest of
them and their mothers. The fact that Nazis woke them up in the middle of the night, forced
them to leave their houses, burgled their houses and destroyed them, and killed their husbands
and father wasn’t enough for them. In the gym, they tore children off their mothers’ arms.
Gestapo said that they will send mothers into work camp by trains and children will be
transported by buses to have more comfortable journey. Everything was one big lie. Three
children who were picked for reeducation were deported into Reich’s families. The rest of 88
children experienced journey to Lodz- the Racial and Displacing Head Office. In two dirty
and unequipped rooms they waited for decision what to do with them. Their only property
was what they had on; their only care was when they helped each other. Nobody was
concerned about them. Finally, leaders in the head office received report to transport children
into next camp where they will be executed without judicial judgement. Their last journey in
the life started.
It is not absolutely sure what happened next but according to some proofs and
testimonials, they were probably transported to annihilation camp in Chelmn. Before the
transport, Nazis choose seven more children suitable for Germanization which saved their
lives. But the rest of them were predestinated to die. Chelmn was a camp hidden in the middle
of gross forests in Poland. Children were put to death right after arrival. In the special
designer cars their lungs filled by mortal gas. Their young and unblemished life was at the
end. From 105 Lidice’s children only 17 survived: 9 children in German families, 6 of the
youngest children till the age of 1 placed in crèche in Prague, and one boy which was born to
her mother after tragedy in Lidice. There were other children who survived but died before
they could come back home: one boy who died in crèche, another 6 born children who didn’t
survived. Only 17 children had a chance to come back home, if they were old enough to
remember where they come from.
When we come back to the gym in Kladno, we know what happened to all children
but what life tests were waiting for women from Lidice? The most important person in their
lives – children - were deported from them. Mothers didn’t know it was the last time they held
their children, smoothed their hair, sang the songs to lullaby them. When children were gone,
their mothers and sisters older than 16 years were transported to concentration camp in
Ravensbrück. This camp lied about 85 km far from Berlin and was considered as the biggest
camp for women in Nazi Germany. The camp was established for 6000 women but in 1945
there were about 40 000 women! Women from Lidice had to stay for three long years there.
The conditions dominating the camp are unimaginable for modern people living
comfortable life with sufficiency of food, water, hygiene, and affable homes. Poorly dressed
women were obliged to stay for hours and hours on the courtyard in any weather. They slept
in the three-decked beds full of fleas and lice or on the bare ground. Warm clothes, blankets
or hot water didn’t exist there. The food was poor, consisting of peace of bread, 2 to 5
potatoes or beet and some floury soups for dinner. The situation worsened in 1945. At least
little bit eatable food turned into bread with admixture of saw-dust, peels of potatoes and
nothing for dinner, only black coffee for ill women.
Their main routine was hard and exhausting work. Women worked in the camp or they
were hired into large factories as Siemens. It was monotonous work of components’
assembling or sewing. Endless working hours, no food, no rest and psychical and physical
terror from wardresses was devastating. Women were hit even when they only turn the head.
Many women couldn’t stand this pressure and died of exhaustion or illnesses. If they were
sick, there was a hospital. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a hospital in a sense we all know hospitals.
Women who were ill where killed by fatal injections or they got in hands of local doctor
Rosenthal. He used women for his nightmarish experiments. Rosenthal amputated their limbs,
tried to invoke inflammation in order to try new medicines to cure them then. Woman in camp
couldn’t find help or better place anywhere. They were entirely dependent on moods,
manipulation and decisions of their jailers.
Besides suffering in the camp in Ravensbrück, there was another threat called
“transports of death”. Once in a while, some women were chosen and sent to Oswiecim where
most of them died. Fortunately, the end of the war was approaching. In 1945 Soviet troops
fighting against Nazis were getting closer and closer to Ravensbrück. Therefore, women had
to leave the camp. They walked about 40 kilometers per day without rest or food. The Soviet
troops were quick and Nazis couldn’t guard all woman. Many of them succeeded to escape
and got to Soviets. Women from Lidice was lucky because when Soviets found out that they
are from Lidice, which became well-known place for all people fighting against Nazi, the sent
all Lidice’s women home, back to their native Czechoslovakia. However, this final happy end
didn’t met 49 women from Lidice who died during their hard stay in concentration camps.
Women got back into their motherland but they couldn’t return to their homes. The
place, where old Lidice stood, was absolutely different. No houses, no roads, no school, no
life. Only ground with grass, flowers, and stones sometimes mixed with brick rubble. Nobody
could say that this place was flourishing village three years ago. Nevertheless, Czech nation
doesn’t give up. Tragedy in Lidice spread all over the world and other nations displayed
support to afflicted village. Therefore, don’t be surprised if you met Cuban girl who
introduces herself as Lidice Atenia Guerra Gonzales or if you visit Columbian town Medelinn
with district called Lidice. It is not coincidence!
Mainly people in Czechoslovakia felt need to remedy and repair what happened. On
the third jubilee of Lidice massacre the Czechoslovak minister Václav Nosek solemnly read
decree which started restoration of Lidice. In 1949 women from Lidice moved to new houses
built close to original Lidice. Some of them get married again, established new families and
second life of Lidice could begin.
Nowadays, Lidice is a well-maintained and fresh village full of life. If you go through
the village, you walk into Lidice memorial which remind people of tragic Lidice’s history.
The memorial is a longish bow-shaped building. Inside you find museum containing all
important information about the history. If you stay in front of the building you see whole
place where original Lidice stood. Now it looks like a slow valley with bright green grass,
some trees and pond on the right side. The only things which remained from original village
are bottoms of Horak’s grunge and marked location of the church and the school. The most
impressive is The Memorial to the Child Victims of the War. It is a statue of group of children
with powerless and innocent expression in their eyes. On the right side from the main building
there is The garden of friendship and peace. This garden was opened in 1955 and consists of
roses sent from all over the world. 29 thousand bushes of roses from 32 countries symbolize
solidarity between different nations and effort to make our world better. I stood in the middle
of garden and smelt sweet aroma. After depressive and gloomy sight-seeing it made me feel
better and forget about all worries. I suddenly believed that there is always hope for better
future.
Our world has experiences many bloody experiences during its existence and we still
can’t be sure that something will change and people will live in peace. Our history shows us
that people have made mistakes over and over. So why can’t mankind learn from their
mistakes? I can’t understand how anybody is able to make such a horrible thing which
happened to Lidice but we can see that it is very easy to make people do wrong things. Lidice
is a very small village in our big world but it warmed up reactions all over the world.
Therefore, everybody should try to make our world better no matter how powerful the person
is. We can’t let people do same mistakes as people in our history did. Don’t forget to find
roses of hope in every situation as roses in Lidice symbolized return of hope for better lives of
people from Lidice.
1 page 2, Konopka,V. Zde stávaly Lidice, Naše vojsko, Praha 1962
Sources:
Konopka,V. Zde stávaly Lidice, Naše vojsko, Praha 1962
Kocourek, R. Lidice, Vyšehrad, Praha 1972
Novák, V. A hořel snad i kámen, Panorama, Praha1982
interview: Pavel Pokorný, guide of Lidice memorial
by
sayessay (student)
