Lidice

On 4 June 1942, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotector of Bohemia and Moravia, the Blond Beast, died of an infection related to the wounds received in a commando assasination, code named Operation Anthropoid. The commandos were betrayed and committed suicide in St. Cyril's crypt in Prague. In reprisal for Heydrich's death, thousands were murdered by the Nazis. Based on spurious evidence, they decided that the commandos were connected to the town of Lidice. Accordingly, on 10 June members of the OrPo and the SD surrounded the town. 173 men were executed on the spot. 82 children were shipped first to Lodz and then were gassed at Chelmno. 184 women were sent to Ravensbruck. The town itself was burned down, blown up, the animals shot or confiscated, even the dead disinterred from the city cemetary, all recorded on film by the Nazis. An Organisation Todt detachment then spent two years disposing of the rubble to erase the village entirely. They did not succeed. A new Lidice was rebuilt for the few survivors who returned, and the razed village is sacred ground.