Lidice

Lidice (German: Liditz) is a village in the Czech Republic just northwest of Prague. It is built near the site of the previous village of the same name which, as part of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, on orders from Adolf Hitler and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, was completely destroyed by German forces in reprisal for the assassination, in Operation Anthropoid, of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in the late spring of 1942. On 10 June 1942, all 173 men over 15 years of age from the village were executed. Another 11 men who were not in the village were arrested and executed soon afterwards, along with several others already under arrest. Meanwhile, 184 women and 88 children were deported to concentration camps; a few children considered racially suitable for Germanisation were handed over to SS families and the rest were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were gassed to death. After the war ended, only 153 women and 17 children returned.

History

The village is first mentioned in writing in 1318. After the industrialisation of the area, many of its people worked in mines and factories in the neighbouring cities of Kladno and Slaný.

Lidice (film)

Lidice (also known as Fall of the Innocent in the UK) is a 2011 Czech drama film produced by Adam Dvořák from a screenplay by Zdenek Mahler. It was initially directed by Alice Nellis, but after she contracted Lyme disease (borreliosis) Petr Nikolaev took over. It tells a story involving the Nazi massacre at—and destruction of—the Czech village of Lidice. It was released in June 2011.

The budget of the film was around 65-70 million Kč (around US $4 million).

Plot

The film is presented as a true story set during World War II. With the German takeover of Europe underway, the deputy Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich arrives in Prague and his underlings begin enforcing his authority in the towns and villages across the occupied country. In Lidice, the film's main protagonist, František Šíma, is sent to prison following a family dispute that boils over resulting in the accidental death of one of his sons. During Šíma's incarceration one of the other villagers, Václav Fiala, strings along his mistress with lies about his bravery as a resistance fighter against the Germans. Heydrich is assassinated and during the Gestapo investigation that follows, a letter Fiala has written describing his supposed heroism comes to their attention. It leads to the total destruction of Lidice and the mass execution and deportations of its citizens. Throughout the atrocity, Šima remains in jail, where news of what happened is kept from him. On his release, he returns to Lidice where he finds the village has been obliterated and finally learns of the tragic events.