The story of Lidice
On the 10 June 1942, Nazis entered the mining village of Lidice, shot 173 men, removed all the women and children and razed the village to the ground. The atrocity took place in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, 'The Butcher of Prague', by British-trained Czech resistance fighters.
In Stoke-on-Trent, the response to the brutality of Lidice was led by local GP and Councillor Barnett Stross with the North Staffordshire Miners' Federation. On 6 September 1942, the "Lidice Shall Live" campaign was launched at a mass meeting in the Victoria Hall, Hanley. The campaign was named in defiance of Adolf Hitler's claim that "Lidice Shall Die".
The campaign to rebuild Lidice raised £32,000, which is the equivalent of more than £1.5 million today. Most of this came from miners who donated part of their wages. Lidice was rebuilt after the war, with a memorial and museum commemorating the tragedy.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is proud of the city for the role it played in rebuilding the mining village of Lidice. At the inaugural meeting of the Lidice Shall Live campaign, Dr Benes, the Czech President in exile said: "This meeting has made it clear that Lidice has not died: it lives on in the hearts of the people of Stoke-on-Trent at least. From now on, Stoke-on-Trent will live forever in the heart of every Czech citizen."
More information on Lidice can be found on the Lidice Lives website. Click the link below: