Jiří Václav Hampl, co-author of the Lidice children’s memorial, dies at 92

Czech sculptor Jiří Václav Hampl, co-author of the memorial to the children of Lidice has died at the age of 92. Hampl is best known for his work on the Lidice memorial which he created with his wife, sculptor Marie Uchytilová. They started working on the memorial, which consists of 82 statues of children in 1975, despite the fact that the communist authorities were against it and gave them no support whatsoever. Exhausted by the effort Marie died of a heart attack in 1989, one day before the start of the Velvet Revolution that toppled the communist regime. Jiří Hampl carried on, determined to finish their work. He spent years fundraising, and in the end, finished the memorial in 2,000. He donated it free of charge to the village of Lidice.