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
Tag: Gestapo
The Fate of the Lidice ChildrenThe Fate of the Lidice Children
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 this former textile factory where two halls on the upper floor had been reserved for
A Fateful Incursion…A Fateful Incursion…
The fateful incursion came on the night of the 9th of June. It was on the initiative of SS-Standartenführer Horst Böhme, who telephoned Hitler in Berlin on the day of Heydrich’s funeral to present the evidence against the village and recommend retaliation. Böhme’s report relayed the reply which ran: Subject:
Lidice – the first violationLidice – the first violation
At dawn on June the 4th, the day of Reinhard Heydrich’s death, the first search of Lidice took place. Eyewitness accounts recall the truck full of troops peeling off the main road from Prague to Kladno, racing into the village, ejecting residents from their homes, and immediately lining them up
A Suspicious LetterA Suspicious Letter
An ill-conceived love letter was about to be handed to the secret Police which would have devastating consequences for the people of Czecho-Slovakia. It would give Karl Frank the excuse he needed to create a narrative, however bogus, to link the Bohemian village of Lidice with the murder of Heydrich.
40th Anniversary of “Lidice” by Ivan Cigánek40th Anniversary of “Lidice” by Ivan Cigánek
“The noose around Lidice, formed by a company of the Nazi Schutzpolizei was being tightened slowly but surely. Their commander, Major Marwelder, had been ordered to have his men posted so as to seal off Lidice hermetically by 10 p.m. Anyone wishing to enter Lidice was free to do so