At dawn on June 4th, the day of Reinhard Heydrich’s death, the first search of Lidice took place.

Eyewitness accounts recall a truck full of troops peeling off the main road from Prague to Kladno, racing into the village, and soldiers proceeding to eject residents from their homes, immediately lining them up for identification.

There was intimidation, bullying, and harassment, but generally, no one was harmed.

No hard evidence was found to incriminate the villagers, but plundering, looting, and ransacking of homes took place, with the consequent scattering of the residents’ belongings onto the ground.

It was becoming clear to the Gestapo that it was time to become creative in light of a lack of prima facie evidence. As for the Horák and Stříbrný families, they were arrested regardless and taken to Kladno for questioning.