The Village Erased

Nazi forces razed the Czech village of Lidice, executing 173 men and deporting women and children in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.

Falsely linked to the assassination of Gestapo chief Reinhard Heydrich, Lidice was surrounded before dawn. German police shot every male resident over fifteen — 173 men — against a farmyard wall, then burned the village to the ground. Women were sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp; most of the 105 children were gassed at Chełmno. The Nazis publicized the massacre as a warning, but it instead galvanized global outrage and Allied resolve.

Falsely linked to the assassination of Gestapo chief Reinhard Heydrich, Lidice was surrounded before dawn. German police shot every male resident over fifteen — 173 men — against a farmyard wall, then burned the village to the ground. Women were sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp; most of the 105 children were gassed at Chełmno. The Nazis publicized the massacre as a warning, but it instead galvanized global outrage and Allied resolve.

Key people: Reinhard Heydrich, Karl Hermann Frank

Also on June 10

More war history