Background of Lidice:
Lidice is a village in the Czech Republic just north-west of Prague. It is built on the site of a previous village of the same name which, as part of the Nazi created Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, was completely destroyed by German forces in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in the late spring of 1942.
On June 10, 1942, all 192 men over 16 years of age from the village were murdered on the spot by the Germans in a much publicised atrocity. The rest of the population were sent to Nazi concentration camps where many women and nearly all the children were killed. The buildings were then bulldozed so that no trace of the village's former existence would be found.
The atrocity committed against this mining community outraged the British public, particularly in the mining communities of North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. Shelton GP and city councillor Dr Barnett Stross, coined the slogan "Lidice Shall Live" in direct response to Hitler's orders that "Lidice Would Die Forever!" This gave the lead to the campaign to rebuild the village after the war, which gathered huge support in North Staffordshire by thousands of mining families.
The Lidice Shall Live Movement was formally launched three months later, at a mass meeting in the Victoria Hall, Hanley, with the Czech president-in-exile, Dr Edouard Benes, as the chief speaker.
The people of Lidice will always remember the role played by Sir Barnett Stross and the miners of North Staffordshire.
No comments:
Post a Comment