Wake Up Call

** Big correction: Lidice is the town... (not Licide) and it is Heydrich is the last name! (Thanks David!)

Today was by far the best/hardest day.  I took a trip to the village of Lidice, about 25 minutes away from Praha.  Before today, I had never heard anything about this town- I chose it over another trip option which was a visit to Trezein, a Jewish Ghetto.  In my opinion, what could be worse than a Ghetto? Today was full of history, followed by emotion.  Lidice is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen,

Just a quick history- Hitler had a right hand man(who helped plan Hitler's Final solution) who thought too highly of himself named Reinhard Heydrich.  He was assassinated by two Czech men in 1942.  Long story short- Hitler decided to show the Czech people who they were messing with, found flimsy connections to the assassination and the village and told the SS to "kill all the men, send the women to Ravensbrueck, save the children who can be Germans and deal with the other children however you want." He also wanted the village leveled. That's exactly what happened- and today there are only a few women and children who survived.  All but 5 kids were killed the exact same day. The women, on the other hand, kept up hope they will be reunited with their families.  Over 2/3 of the women from Lidice survived the camp as well as the death march- never did they know everyone was previously murdered.

The village of Lidice is rebuilt on a different parcel of land.  They left the land of the old village to grow, as well as put memorials up.  There is a rose garden (that can be smelled from a ways away) with 300 different types of flowers, as well as other statues and memorials across the land.


We were honored with a survivor who was lucky enough to return home with her mother and older sister after the war was over.  Mrs. Sklenichova was only 16 (and 3 months) when she was taken away.  She was the dividing line between the women and the children.  She was also a daddy's girl, so it hit a little close to home- especially when I read a passage of her book about her memories before it happened. Below are some pictures from today- it was a great experience.  She is the author of "If I Were a Boy, I Would Have Been Shot..." The pictures cannot do it justice.

Mr and Mrs Sklenichova (She is the survivor).  They have been together for 50 years!

The rose garden. 

Hard to see (I know) but there is a cross, two white poles on either side and a thicket of trees in between.  This is where the men were shot by the SS.  They were shot in rose of 5. After they were shot, the soldiers would move two steps back and they would bring out a new row of 5 and lined them up infront of the dead bodies. The poles represent the wall, and the trees the men who died there. 

The beautiful country side of Lidice, where a village of 500 used to be.

Another rose garden picture. 

At the end of the rose garden, there was a sitting area in which the memorial gave respect to other cities and towns that were demolished/leveled during the war.  Once again, the green pasture in the background is where the town used to be.

Such pretty flowers! They were all so beautiful!