Footsteps of WWII · Czechia & Austria
Lidice Memorial
Memorial · 10 Jun 1942
The story
After the attack on Reinhard Heydrich, the Gestapo falsely linked the mining village of Lidice, west of Prague, to the assassins on the strength of an intercepted love letter. On 10 June 1942 German security police shot the village's men and boys over 15 on the Horák farm, sent the women to Ravensbrück and took the children; most of the children were later gassed at Chełmno, while a few judged 'racially suitable' were handed to German families. The village was burned, blown up and levelled, and its name erased from maps. The crime was publicised by the Nazis themselves, and towns from Britain to Latin America answered by taking the name Lidice. The memorial landscape was laid out between 1946 and 1962.
What to look for
A grassy valley where the village stood, with the foundations of the church, school and Horák farm, the cross over the men's mass grave, Marie Uchytilová's bronze group of 82 children, a rose garden of some 21,000 bushes and a museum with the exhibition 'And Those Innocent Were Guilty...'.
Plan your visit
Open daily 9:00–17:00. Adults 150 Kč, children 70 Kč. The memorial landscape is open-air; allow time to walk down to the village site. About 30 minutes by bus or car from Prague. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror · 18 km
- Operation Anthropoid Memorial, Prague-Libeň · 20 km
- Terezín Memorial · 41 km
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