Lidice Massacre

THE MASSACRE

MEN: In the early hours of June 10th, 1943, Germans rounded up all men of the village 16 and older and took them to the Horak farm on the edge of the village. Mattresses were taken from neighboring houses and stood up against the wall of the Horaks' barn. Shooting commenced about 7 a.m. At first the men were shot in groups of five, but later order was given for groups of ten men be shot at one time. The dead were left lying where they fell and the newly brought out soon-to-be victims had to first walk past them and stand in front of them. The firing squad always took two steps back and the scene of horror repeated itself. The men were not blindfolded and were taken to the place of execution without bonds. This spectacle continued until the afternoon hours when there were 173 dead bodies lying in the Horak farm orchard. The next day, another nineteen men who were working in a mine, along with seven women, were sent to Prague, where they were also shot. Male Jewish prisoners from Terezin were brought and made to dig a large pit and bury the dead bodies. 

After the men were shot, the women and children taken away, and all furnishings, livestock, and valuables were looted, the SS set fire and began destroying all traces of the village. They destroyed the cemetery and extracted gold teeth and other valuables from the corpses.

WOMEN: All the women and children of the village were rounded up and taken to the Lidice village school. Then they were taken to the nearby town of Kladno where they were detained for three days. The children were forcibly separated from their mothers and transported to Łódź ghetto. The women were loaded onto trucks and driven to Kladno railway station and forced into a special passenger train guarded by a large escort. In the morning of June 14,1942 the train halted in the railway siding where it was met by several dozen armed women warders with dogs, the Lidice women had reached their destination, Ravensbrück Concentration Camp where they were subjected to forced labor, beatings and execution. 

CHILDREN: Eighty-eight Lidice children were transported to the area of the former textile factory in Gneisenaustreet of Lodz. Their arrival was announced by a telegram from Horst Bohme's Prague office which ended with, the children are only bringing what they wear. No special care is desirable. The care was minimal. The children were not fed sufficiently and a few babies cared for by the older girls were constantly crying with hunger. The children slept on plain floors and covered themselves with coats if they had any brought from home. They suffered from a lack of hygiene and from illnesses. Under commands from the camp management, no medical care was given to the children. Shortly after their arrival in Lodz, officials from the Central Race and Settlement branch chose seven children at random for Germanisation. 

Adolf Eichmann ordered the killing of the remaining children. Eighty one Lidice children were transported to the Chelmno Extermination Camp where they were gassed to death in "Gas Vans". Out of the 105 Lidice children, 82 died in Chelmno, six died in the German Lebensborn orphanages and 17 returned back home. 

After the men were shot, the women and children taken away, and all furnishings, livestock, and valuables were looted, the SS set fire and began destroying all traces of the village. They destroyed the cemetery and extracted gold teeth and other valuables from the corpses.