Lidice

Lidice ([lɪɟɪtsɛ], German: Liditz) is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.

Lidice
Municipality
Municipal office
Flag
Coat of arms
Lidice
Location in the Czech Republic
Coordinates: 50°8′37″N 14°11′25″E
Country Czech Republic
RegionCentral Bohemian
DistrictKladno
First mentioned1318
Area
 • Total4.75 km2 (1.83 sq mi)
Elevation
343 m (1,125 ft)
Population
 (2022-01-01)[1]
 • Total555
 • Density120/km2 (300/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
273 54
Websitewww.obec-lidice.cz

Lidice is built near the site of the previous village of the same name, which was completely destroyed on 10 June 1942 on orders from Adolf Hitler and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in reprisal for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich.[2]

Geography

Lidice is located about 4 kilometres (2 mi) east of Kladno and 12 km (7 mi) northwest of Prague. It lies in a flat agricultural landscape of the Prague Plateau.

History

The first written mention of Lidice is from 1318. After the industrialisation of the area, many of its people worked in mines and factories in the neighbouring cities of Kladno and Slaný.

Lidice was chosen as a target for reprisals in the wake of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, because its residents were suspected of harbouring local resistance partisans, and were falsely associated with aiding team members of Operation Anthropoid.[3][4] On 9 June 1942, 172 boys and men between age 14 to 84 were shot.[5] Altogether, about 340 people from Lidice were murdered in the German reprisal (192 men, 60 women and 88 children). The village of Lidice was set on fire and the remains of the buildings destroyed with explosives. After the war ended, only 153 women and 17 children returned.[6] They were rehoused in a new village of Lidice that was built overlooking the original site, using money raised by the Lidice Shall Live campaign, initiated by Sir Barnett Stross and based in north Staffordshire in the United Kingdom.[7][8] The first part of the new village was completed in 1949.

Culture

An art gallery, which displays permanent and temporary exhibitions, is in the new village 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the museum. The annual children's art competition attracts entries from around the world.[9]

In culture

In 1942, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay published "The Murder of Lidice," a dramatic poem commissioned by the Writers' War Board in the United States.

In 1943, the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů wrote the musical work, Memorial to Lidice.

In 1943, The British author Gerald Kersh lightly fictionalized the massacre in the short novel "The Dead Look On."

In 2017, to mark the 75th anniversary of the tragedy, the English composer Vic Carnall wrote his Opus 17, In Memoriam: the Village of Lidice (Czechoslovakia / June, 1942), a work for solo piano.

In recent years numerous films have highlighted the events of the village's razing in 1942. The 1975 film Operation Daybreak, 2011 film Lidice and Anthropoid from 2015 all detail the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich and the subsequent massacre and razing of the village.

Legacy

In remembrance of the Lidice massacre, many neighborhoods adopted the name Lidice in the years after the tragedy, and memorials were built. Notable examples include[10] Lídice in Panama, San Jerónimo Lídice in Mexico, Lídice neighbourhood in La Pastora Parish of Caracas, Venezuela, Nova Lídice settlement in Medeiros Neto, Brazil, Lidice Memorial in Phillips, Wisconsin, Lidice Memorial Park in Crest Hill, Illinois, Plazuela Lidice town square in Montevideo, Uruguay, Lidic street in Santiago, Chile,[11] and others.

Twin towns – sister cities

Lidice is twinned with:

  • Coventry, England, United Kingdom.[12] A pedestrianised shopping area in Coventry is named Lidice Place.
  • Marzabotto, Italy.[13] There is the Marzabottská street in Lidice.

See also
  • Lidice Massacre
  • "Lidice Shall Live!"

References
  1. "Population of Municipalities – 1 January 2022". Czech Statistical Office. 29 April 2022.
  2. Gerwarth, Robert (2011). Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-0-300-11575-8.
  3. Gerwarth, Robert (2011). Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich. pp. 280–281.
  4. Wechsberg, Joseph (24 June 1948). "The Love Letter That destroyed Lidice". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 20. Retrieved 25 May 2016 – via Google News Archive.
  5. Gerwarth, Robert (2011). Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich. p. 281.
  6. Kaplan, Jan; Nosarzewska, Krystyna (1997). Prague: The Turbulent Century, Koenemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Koeln, p. 241 ISBN 3-89508-528-6
  7. "How Stoke-on-Trent helped Lidice recover from the Nazis". BBC News. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  8. Phillips, Russell (2016). A Ray of Light: Reinhard Heydrich, Lidice, and the North Staffordshire Miners. Shilka Publishing. p. 69. ISBN 9780995513303.
  9. International Children’s Exhibition of Fine Arts Lidice
  10. "Lidice ve světě" (in Czech). Lidice Memorial. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  11. "Panák pro lidické děti: český rodák vytvořil v Chile neobvyklou vzpomínku na vypálenou vesnici" (in Czech). Deník N. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  12. "Coventry's twin towns and cities - Lidice, Czech Republic". Coventry City Council. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  13. "Patto di gemellaggio con Stazzema". comune.marzabotto.bo.it (in Italian). Marzabotto. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
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