Lidice

Czech Republic

The village of Lidice, located just outside Prague to the northwest, was destroyed by the Nazis as an example to the Czech resistance in early June of 1942. The immediate cause of widespread reprisals was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. He died on June 4, 1942, eight days after being shot in Prague by two Czech patriots. More than 170 men and several dozen women were executed in the village. Several hundred women were sent to Ravensbrück. Twenty-three of the 105 children were chosen to be “Germanized;” the others were murdered at Chełmno.