German soldiers near the corpses of the executed residents of the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia
German soldiers

 

German soldiers near the corpses of the executed residents of the mining village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia (20 km west of Prague).

The reason for the execution was the murder of Reinhard Heydrich, protector of Bohemia and Moravia, committed by Czech underground fighters on May 27, 1942 in Prague. By decree of SS Gruppenführer Carl Hermann Frank, the head of the SS and police in Prague, the villagers were accused of harboring the people who committed the assassination.

On June 10, 1942, German soldiers from the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen surrounded Lidice, the entire male population over 16 years old (172 people) was shot, all the buildings of the village were burned and razed to the ground. The women (172) were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, 60 of them died in the camp. Of the children (105) were left children under the age of one year and children suitable for Germanization. The rest (82 people) were destroyed in the death camp near Chelmno, another 6 children died.



Location: Lidice, Czechoslovakia
Image Date: June 10, 1942

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