The Tragedy of Lidice
Anthony Head describes the ways in which an atrocity has been commemorated, sixty years on.
Lidice was once as infamous as Guernica or Auschwitz. Today few outside the Czech Republic recognise the name. Lidice (pronounced liditseh), a few kilometres west of Prague, is today a quiet and leafy village of wide streets and spacious homes. Adjacent to it lies an undulating valley of meadows and trees, with a few stone ruins of a farmhouse and church, and a striking bronze sculpture of children. This is the site of the original village, and what happened here on June 10th, 1942, appalled the world.