Birmingham, the largest city within the Warwickshire Miners’ Federation Coalfield, was the first to accept the invitation to join the national Lidice Shall Live campaign.
Dr Barnett Stross Criticises Chamberlain and the Munich Pact 1942
Dr Stross addressed the Czech people – “The British people did not betray you, but would have gone to war on your behalf. It is not likely that the people of these islands will ever again allow any men to say that what happens in a far-off country to a free people is no concern of theirs.”
The Crushing of Democracy in Czechoslovakia 1947 – 1948
It was Thursday, the 10th of July, and the audience with Marshal Stalin had been arranged for 9.30am. Jan Masaryk and Dr Drtina met half an hour earlier in one of the rooms of the State residence put at their disposal, but Gottwald was late.
Coventry Empathy and Support for the Lidice Cause – 1943
It was announced in late 1943 that Coventry was to join the Lidice Shall Live movement. The decision was made at a meeting at the Council House on Wednesday the 1st of December, attended by representatives of the churches, Civil Defence force, social and other organisations.
Raise a Glass to Václav Zelenka – Son of Lidice – 1938–2021
On Saturday 13th November 2021, the community of Lidice and all those who knew him, raised a final glass to Václav Zelenka.
Durham Miners Boost the Lidice Shall Live Movement -1942
Dr Beneš, visited Durham on Sunday the 22nd of November 1942, at the invitation of the Durham Miners’ Association. He thanked the miners of Durham and Great Britain for their camaraderie in supporting the people of Czecho-Slovakia during their darkest days.
Bristol Hosts a Celebration of Youth – The Four Nations – 1943
The aim of the programme of cultural events was to give a platform to the young people of the occupied states of Yugoslavia, Czecho-Slovakia, Greece, and Poland, allowing them to explore, debate, fashion and creatively present the culture and heritage of their respective homelands to British audiences.
Expressions of Discontent and Delight in The Potteries – 1942
Not everyone was happy with efforts to rebuild Lidice. An article, anonymously penned by “The Calcutta Statesman” and published in the Evening Sentinel in October 1942, was keen to point out Britain’s lack of obligation towards the Czech people
The Lidice Shall Live Committee – Ready to Campaign – 1942
The inaugural Lidice Shall Live Committee was formally constituted in Stoke-on-Trent in early October 1942 and comprised a mix of elected representatives, miners’ delegates, and members of the Czecho-Slovak – British Friendship Club, Rotary Club, North Staffordshire Architectural Society and influential members of the public…
Nottingham Lidice Week – A Belated Festival – 1945
“Lidice, by its destruction, became a symbol: it belonged not only to Czechoslovakia but to all nations. It should become for us a memento and a pledge never to allow the conditions to arise that would make an occurrence of this type possible again.”
Lidice – The Total Annihilation of a Community 1942 – 1944
The physical deconstruction and erasure of the old village of Lidice took over two years of solid graft, was financially costly, and was paid for by the victims’ bank accounts. It was not until September the 25th, 1944, that Karl Frank could finally announce with much satisfaction that the clearing work had definitively ended.
Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin and Other Stars Give Support to Lidice 1942
When the formation of the committee was formally announced on September the 21st, 1942 in Washington D.C., the Lidice Lives Committee declared its ambition to create
“a village named Lidice in each Allied country, reaching a number of 30 to 36 Lidices all over the world by the end of the war.”
Lidice Shall Live – Hanley Town Hall to Park Parade – Sept 6th 1942
The meeting that launched the Lidice Shall Live movement was preceded by a colourful pageant organised by Barnett Stross. It assembled outside Hanley Town Hall in the morning:
North Staffordshire Miners – A State of Readiness – Sept 1942
At the Miners’ Hall, Burslem on Friday, September the 4th, the executive of the North Staffordshire Miners’ Federation declared:
San Jerónimo-Lidice, Mexico: “We shall never forget you” – 1942
“Women from remote Lidice, widows from concentration camps who know not where their children are, our home is your home, too. We shall never forget you.”
The Spirit of Lidice – Commemorations in US Communities 1942 –
News of Lidice severely impacted the American Czechoslovak communities. Many locals could remember the village of Lidice from the days of their youth or as the home of some friend or relative. Residents decided they needed to take action to commemorate fellow citizens sacrificed “on the altar of freedom.”
Czechs Rally to Support Victims of the William Pit Mining Disaster – 1947
On August the 15th 1947, 104 miners lost their lives in a pit explosion at the William Pit coal mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria. On the 27th of September, Evžen Erban, Secretary General of the Czechoslovakian Central Council of Trade Unions, announced a proposal for a Czechoslovak supported miners’ recreation home in Britain in commemoration of the victims. The scheme was reminiscent of the Lidice Shall Live campaign.
Dr Barnett Stross Inspires the North Staffordshire Miners – August 1942
At a meeting of the North Staffordshire Miners’ Federation, at the Miners’ Hall, on the 10th of August 1942, Dr Stross presented fresh news to the union executive – with a view to securing a greater depth of commitment from Britain’s coal-mining communities:
Campaign Members Resolved that Lidice Shall Live – Stoke Town Hall 1942
A committee of activists, all heavily involved in the Lidice Shall Live project and led by Dr Barnett Stross – met to discuss arrangements for the launch at the Victoria Hall on the 6th of September.
A British Lidice – The Silent Village by Humphrey Jennings 1943
In August 1942, having received consent from the President of the Mineworkers’ Federation of Great Britain, Will Lawther, at their Conference in July, the British Crown Film Unit began scanning the country’s coalfields looking for a location to create a propaganda film based on the Lidice atrocity.
A New Lidice – A Solemn Resolution – 6th June 1945
On June 10th, 1945, some 100,000 people gathered on the gentle slopes of Lidice to attend the first commemorative event. They came as pilgrims – as organisations, as families, and as individuals.
Alan Bush and the WMA Perform Choral Piece Devoted to Lidice – 1947
Following Dr Barnett Stross and the British Lidice Shall Live delegation in their pilgrimage to Lidice in 1947 were eminent composer and conductor Alan Bush and his Workers’ Music Association (WMA) Singers.
North Staffordshire Miners Receive Backing in Blackpool – July 1942
George Jones, the Midlands Miners’ Secretary from the Warwickshire branch, put the Lidice Shall Live proposal forward as a suggestion on behalf of his members on the opening day of the Mineworkers’ Federation of Great Britain’s Annual Conference at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, on the 20th of July 1942.
Roses for Lidice – Weapons of Peace in a World of M.A.D – 1954
On Thursday, July the 15th, 1954 from offices in Westminster, Dr Barnett Stross launched a public appeal for funds to purchase rose trees for a Lidice International Garden of Peace and Friendship.
Lidice Lives Mocks Hitler’s Cruelty at Stern Park Gardens – July 1942
Merely two weeks following the disaster which befell the citizens of Lidice, the Chicago Sun magazine had an idea. It approached the Czechoslovak community living in a federal housing project on the outskirts of Joliet. Officials of the estate agreed to change its name to “Lidice” so that Adolf Hitler’s announced intent of erasing the community off the map would not come to pass.
GAL Feltham Dance, Compete and Rally to Rebuild Lidice – 1943
On Saturday the 3rd of July 1943, the Middlesex Chronicle reported that working in conjunction with the national Lidice Shall Live campaign, a Feltham-based Lidice Shall Live Committee based within the General Aircraft Ltd Works had arranged a series of events in support of the fund for the rebuilding of the Czech mining village, which the Nazis destroyed a year ago after a massacre of its people.
Victory Radio Theater – Consequences of Complacency Warnings – 1942
A little over a month after the horror that befell the village, on July 20th, Hollywood actors appeared on the first episode of Victory Radio Theater. Wirelessly broadcast across all states, the bulk of the presentation was a stage adaptation of the hit 1940 movie “The Philadelphia Story”, but at the end of the show, the main cast of James Stewart, Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn made patriotic comments to promote the war effort.
Czech President-in-exile, Dr Edvard Beneš Vows Justice for Lidice – 1942
President Beneš had acknowledged the likelihood of reprisals when discussing the pros and cons of Anthropoid with Colonel Moravec the previous autumn and must have expected some backlash following the death of Heydrich. Nevertheless, even he seemed genuinely shocked at the savagery of the Nazi response.
A Rose for Lidice – Anthem for The Garden of Peace and Friendship – 1956
In 1956, the musical composition “A Rose for Lidice” was commissioned retrospectively by the Lidice Shall Live Committee to celebrate the opening of the Garden of Peace and Friendship on June 19, 1955.
The Writers’ War Board – Exposing the Malevolence of Nazi Germany – 1942
As early as June 12th, in their reporting of the atrocity, many newspapers in the USA emphasised a sense of incredulity and revulsion at the fate of the village. What is more, there was talk of retribution for Lidice and the need for a definitive end to Nazism.
Łódź to Chełmno – The Cruel Fate of the Lidice Children – July 1942
Eighty-eight children of Lidice were separated from their mothers and deported from Czechoslovakia by the Nazi Main Race and Resettlement Authority to a transit camp in Łódź, at Gneisenaustraße 41. The children were put in a former textile factory. There, they slept on a bare floor and covered themselves with what was available to them. They ate meagre food rations, and the older children looked after the younger ones—the youngest child was a mere 13 months old.
Formation of the US Writers’ War Board – January 1942
The idea for a production line of professional writers who would create high-quality propaganda to ensure America’s war effort remained resilient during the years of conflict ahead was initially proposed by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., who agreed to an initiative to seek civilian writers to help promote the war effort of the United States to its citizens.
Lidice – The Name Forever Associated with Peace and Reconciliation 1942 –
If there is an instance of a catalyst for the trend of christening baby girls “Lidice” it would be José D’Elía (21 June 1916–29 January 2007). The high-profile Uruguayan labour leader, trade unionist, and politician worked as a shop employee at first before joining the trade union movement. By 1945, he was taking part in the establishment of the Worldwide Labour Union Federation.
Lidice – Shock and Strong Reactions in the US to Devastating Atrocity – June 1942
If future generations ask us what we fought for in this war, we will tell them a story about Lidice… And here is our answer to the Nazis. You did not exterminate Lidice – you gave them an eternally lasting life. You have given them a name that will live forever in the hearts and minds of free people everywhere. You have made them a symbol of the struggle for freedom – the war call of millions who value freedom more than their lives.
Lidice Children Enjoy Visit to UK: Coventry, Stoke, London and Kent – 1962
The Lidice Shall Live Committee organised for children from Lidice to visit Britain on a number of occasions. One such cultural encounter took place in the summer of 1962 when 15 children and 5 women arrived on Tuesday, the 19th of June to be the honoured guests of communities such as Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent, London, and Deal in Kent.
The Forgotten Factor and Moral Re-Armament Comes to Britain – 1947
On Sunday, June 20th, 1948, something significant happened at Victoria Hall, the birthplace of the Lidice Shall Live campaign. The event typified the change in direction the nation was taking. A mere three years prior, the flags of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union were warmly embraced in the auditorium. Now their presence would have been met with disquiet, even alarm in some quarters.
Opening the Lidice Rose Garden of Peace and Friendship – June 1955
The Lidice Rose Garden of Peace and Friendship was opened on the 19th of June 1955. People flocked to the village from far and wide to see the spectacle. Dignitaries were present from around the world, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, as well as other leaders from both sides of the Iron Curtain, including the Soviet Union, Italy, Hungary, East and West Germany, the USA, and Poland.
Celebrating the Anglo-Soviet Mutual Assistance Agreement – 1942
Across the free world, shock at the news of Lidice was tempered by the announcement by Moscow Radio on Thursday, June 11th, of the highly significant announcement of the signing of an Anglo-Soviet Mutual Assistance Agreement that would see the two nations support each other in real terms for the next twenty years.
Hanley Museum – “A World Against Oppression and Tyranny” – 1942
In Britain, the first seeds of a national public response to the tragedy that befell Lidice were sown a mere three days following the atrocity at an exhibition of artworks organised by the North Staffordshire Branch of the Czecho-Slovak – British Friendship Club at the old Hanley Museum, Pall Mall, Stoke-on-Trent (see below) on the afternoon of Saturday the 13th of June.
The Memorial to Child Victims of War – Marie Uchytilová – Lidice 2000
Marie Uchytilová-Kučová was born in Kralovice, Czechoslovakia, on the 17th of January, 1924. On her own initiative, in the early 1960s, she decided to create a lasting monument in remembrance of all child victims of war, modelled on the children of Lidice.
Sir Barnett Stross – The Last Years 1960-1967
As his health failed in 1964, Sir Barnett Stross, the MP, found it difficult to cope with the extra responsibilities the post of Deputy Secretary of Health within Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s Government demanded of him.
Visual Diary of Visits to Czechoslovakia inc Prague and Lidice – 1957-1964
These photographs, a selection from a visual diary of visits to Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 1960s, which exist in a traditional leather album, came into our possession about a decade ago. The pictures were a gift from Stoke-on-Trent-based local historian Fred Hughes. Unfortunately, a close inspection of the photos and/or the folder gives no…
The Key to Lidice – A Celebration of Friendship Between Nations – 2017
On Saturday, May 27th, 2017, the Mayor of Lidice, Veronika Kellerová, presented three keys in a special ceremony: one to Czech President Miloš Zeman, the second to Jan Thompson, British Ambassador to Czechia, and a third to US Charge D’affaires, Kelly Adams-Smith.
August 1942 – Renouncement of the Munich Agreement
Formal negotiations on the renouncement of the Munich Agreement began at the end of January 1942. At a luncheon given by Anthony Eden on January the 21st.
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – Reaching Out 1942
“Your hour of liberation is drawing near. Hold fast to your faith, faith in your own leaders in this country, faith in the miners of this country, faith in the United Nations who will again restore to you the liberty which you have lost and peace to this tortured world.”
UNRRA – A United Nations Mission for a Continent in Need 1945 –
UNRRA was a United States led initiative under the auspices of the United Nations. Set up in Washington D.C. on the 9th of November 1943 at the White House, it was signed off by Franklin D Roosevelt along with 44 signatories representing nations throughout the world (this was later extended to 48).