Travel Stories - Czech Republic

"lidice"

introduction

At about 20 minutes bussing from the capital city Prague lies the martyr village "Lidice". After the head-nazi protester "Reinhard Heydrich" died after the attack by Czech nationalists the Nazi’s took gruesomely revenge. As it appeared that two of the assisinators had ties with the village "Lidice" the village was surrounded by SS soldiers. People were gathered on the village-square after which the locals were shot, the women were sent to the concentration camp (Ravensbruck) and the children (first) to the city of Lodz in Poland. The village was first set on fire after which the remains were bombed. Finally the place was bulldozered so that nothing remained. After the war, a new Lidice rose alongside the old one and you can still see some of the foundations of the old village. The rest of the site is arranged as a park with various monuments. In the adjacent museum you can get impressions on how it should have been here. In the new village a gallery has been decorated with artworks and a film about the incident is shown.

The non-existent village

I take the tram from the center of Prague to the stop "Dejvicka" . There a bus departs towards the vilage and I buy a ticket on the bus. We drive through small boring villages and because it is also Sunday morning there is nobody on the street. We have now passed the airport and I keep a close eye on when I have to get of the bus. The ride takes about 30 minutes before I leave the bus stop only at a concrete box that serves as a bus stop. I see a sign "muzeum" and trudge that way. The parking lot is almost empty and I see a now barren garden where in the summer probably roses grow and bloom. In the distance I can see the museum building which, like the garden and the parking lot, are located a bit higher than the large park which I see in the distance, in the valley. On the other side of the road is the new "Lidice" where I do not have to go. In the park I see several monuments and decide first to look there.

The children's monument

The first monument is probably also the most impressive - it is built as a reminder to the children of the village that were taken away. It is lifelike and a bit frightening if you know the background. I walk over a small bridge that is laid over a stream and walk up the sloping path - this must have been the main street of the village, I think. Slightly higher up I reach a plateau where some concrete foundations can be seen - here the church and also the school of the village stood. There are some signs but the information is minimal - you really have to go into the museum. I walk all the way to the end of the "park" where the cemetery is located. One part is walled in while other, very simple graves with cabbage plants. No idea what the intention is behind it, but it is special. Right behind the cemetery and a small asphalt road you have a good view over the former village and the lake on your left hand side. You need a very good imagination to see a village with a church and 500 houses here. Now I walk all the way back to the museum where I get a plastic stencil folder with English text in my hands but first I have to walk along to the cinema. I have to pay 80 Czk entrance fee. There is a 20-minute film about life before in "Lidice" and everything about the attack on "Heydrich" and the cruel consequences. The museum is dark, but special, but to my knowledge it misses details of the attack - I remember "Oradour sur Glane" in France where every minute is told exactly what happened - I miss it a bit here. I even struggle to read the text on the walls here because of the darkness. The sculptures are unique with "Heydrich" and the "slaughterness in the village" as a gruesome highlight.

The slaughter of "Lidice":

On June 4, 1942, the former nazi “Reich Protector” of Bohemia/Moravia (Czech Republic) Reinhard Heydrich died from his wounds he sustained eight days earlier in an attack on his life in the suburbs in Prague. An angry Hitler ordered Kurt Daluege, Heydrich's replacement, to wade through the region and find the murderers. The Germans started an extensive revenge against the Czech civilian population. One of the reprisal measures fell on the village "Lidice" just outside of Prague where two archers/assisinators would come from. On June 10, the village were surrounded by German security police and all escape routes were closed.

The Nazis chose the village also because it was known that the residents were hostile to the German occupation and because they suspected that local partisans were hidden in Lidice too. The entire population was hunted and collected from their homes. All men older than 15 were locked in a shed and shot the next day. Nineteen other men who were working in a mine at that time and 7 women were sent to Prague, where they too were shot. The remaining women were transported to the concentration camp Ravensbrück, where a quarter of them died from exhaustion or in the gas-chambers. The children were sent to a concentration camp in the Gneisenaustraat in Łódź (current Poland), where they were graded according to racial characteristics. Those who met the Arian characteristics went to Germany (after the war most of them returned), the rest was gassed in Chełmno. All goods, supplies, animals, money and jewelery were confiscated and the village, the old church and the village cemetery were burned down, destroyed and/or blown up. The land on which the village had stood was plowed and leveled with bulldozers and even corpses were taken out to make everything forgotten. An original film, made by a German soldier, has been preserved.

Together, 340 people from Lidice were killed in revenge by the Nazis (192 men, 60 women and 88 children) .The total number of victims of the revenge actions is estimated at 1300. This figure includes resistance fighters, their sympathizers and random victims, such as the residents of Lidice. The Nazis proudly used the destruction of the village as propaganda as they had not done before with previous destruction of villages in Europe. In England the message was picked up and the British in turn used it in their propaganda which was heard by other listeners. Immediately after the destruction of the village, worldwide actions were taken to remember the name "Lidice". Names of villages and towns were renamed, it became a maiden name and songs with the name were recordeda and even films. After the war the village "Lidice" was rebuilt a few hundred meters away. On the spot where the original village stood are now memorials and a museum in memory of the 340 victims.

art

If I want to leave the building, the two ladies point out that I also have to walk to the gallery in the new village a little bit further in the city. I do not fully understand what is still there, but it seems to be a minute or so walking from here. The street of the new village I walk through is pretty quiet, I won’t say “dead”. The road is cut by two by a green center with (now) bare trees and there is nobody on the street. Right at the end is the gallery building - big and yellow and I carefully open the door. I see all modern art and it appears that these are "free" offered by dozens of artists worldwide. Once again I see a piece of film of old “Lidice” on a TV. I get to see a movie an 18-minute film about the village and the attack. At the edge of the road where I left this morning, I do not have to wait too long for the bus that brings me back where I left this morning, Prague.

tips & advice (2013)

Prague - Lidice: from station "Dejvicka" in Prague (accessible via the green metro line) you can take a bus (every 20 minutes) to the village Lidice "(duration about 20 to 30 minutes) - there are buses that go directly - others pass numerous stops. I paid 33 CZK for a ticket and bus A22 to the city "Kladno".

Spending time:

If you only want to walk through the park, this will take at most an hour (and then you have to take it easy with stops and make a big circle). If you also go to the gallery and museum then make an hour or 3 or 4 at most.

TIPS:

Take a sandwich because I have not seen any eateries.