Josef Brehjca Karel Kacl Alena Nova Jaroslava Ramesova Josef Bulina Anna Kaimlova Milada Novotna Bozena Rohlova Anna Bulinova Jaroslav Kobera Antonin Pek Jirina Ruzenecka Jaroslava Bulinova Vaclav Kobera Emilie Pelichovska Jiri Seje Jiri Cermak Milada Koberov Vaclav Pelichovska Jirina Souckova Miloslava Cermakova Zdenka Koberova Josef Pesek Marie Souckova Bozena Crmakovya Hana Kovarovska Anna Peskova Miloslav Souckova Jiri Fruhaug
Ludmila Kovarovska Jirina Peskova Jarmila Strakova Karel Hejma Antonin Kozel Miloslav Petrak Ludmila Strakova
Frantiasek Hejma Venceslava Krasova Zdenek Petrak Josef Suchy Jaroslava Hermanova Rudolf Kubela Jirina Petrakova
Wiroslava Syslova Marie Hockova Frantisek Kulhavy Zdenek Petrik Josef Sroubek Vara Honzikova Jaroslav Kulhavy Marie Pitinova Marie Sroubkova Marie Hockova Miloslav Liscka Stepan Podzemaky Jaroslava Storkova Bozena Honzikova
Milada Mikova Vera Pruchova Antonin Urban Zdenek Hronik Jitka Moravcova Josef Prihodova Vera Urbanova
Bozena Hronikova Vaclav Moravec Anna Prihodova Josef Vandrdle Marta Hronikova Karel Mulak Jaroslava Prihodovha
Dagmar Vesela Zdenka Hronikova Marie Mulakova Venceslava Puchmeltrova Karel Vlcek Vaclav Jadlicka Zdenek Muller
Miloslav Radosta Jaromir Zelenka Vara Kafkova Antonin Nerad Vaclav Rames Ivan Zid
A list. A list taken from www.holocaustreareashproject.org. A list of names that many of us will find hard to pronounce. A list of people from a far away country. A list of names of people of whom we knew and know little. A list of the names of the eighty-one children who were taken from Lidice in June 1942 never to return home. Seven other under-sixteens were selected for "Germanization" and sent to German families. The eight-one were murdered by gassing in the backs of trucks at Chelmno, Poland.
Between June 9th and 10th, not only were the under-sixteens abducted, but all men in the village were shot - some 173 in all - and buried in a mass grave, a grave dug by Jews imprisoned in Theresienstadt (Terezin) Concentration Camp. Of the women, nearly two hundred were taken to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, where many died. Some women and men who were absent from the village were murdered in Prague a few days later.
Two weeks after the destruction of Lidice, the smaller hamlet of Lezaky suffered a simlar fate. Eleven of the thriteen children taken from there were gassed at Chelmno, possibly alongside some of the Lidice children.
How much need is there for further comment? One only has to look around the World since then to despair and feel a chill creeping through the soul; that they died in vain because too many people have learned nothing. Yet, when Adolf Hitler declared - even as the people were murdered and the place that had been their home was literaly obliterated - "Lidice Shall Die, Forever", far across war-fractured Europe, a movement was born.
Despite their life and death struggle with a terrible enemy, there were people who were determined to act on behalf of those in a far-away country, of whom they knew little, with names that would not have slipped-off the tongue of most mineworkers in North Staffordshire. Pronunciation would have probably come more easily to a GP from Shelton, via Bradford and the Polish city of Lodz, who declared, in response to his more famous adversary, "Lidice Shall Live!"; Barnett Stross.