Commemorative ceremony marks 82 years since Lidice massacre

Politicians, cultural figures and members of the public attended a ceremony commemorating the 82nd anniversary of the razing of Lidice by the Nazis on Saturday. Cardinal Dominik Duka celebrated a mass for the victims of one of the worst Nazi punitive actions undertaken during the Second World War and led prayers at a mass grave in the Lidice cemetery.

The cardinal reflected on the plight of people in war-ravaged Ukraine, the hostages kidnapped by Hamas in Israel and all the places in the world where there is no peace and where freedom, human dignity and the fundamental right to life are trampled upon. He spoke of the children who had lost their parents and expressed his admiration for those who, even in the face of death, did not stop defending their rights and values.

The old Lidice, a village north-west of Prague was one of two villages which were completely destroyed by German forces in a punitive action for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the highest ranking Nazi official in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. On June 10th of 1942, all 192 men over 15 years of age were rounded up and shot, the women were sent to concentration camps and the children to be re-educated.