Lidice massacre — complete destruction of village and massacre of its population as a Nazi reprisal
The Nazi destruction of Lidice, killing roughly 340 civilians, became one of the most documented World War II war crimes and drew international outrage.
Key Facts
- Men and boys executed
- 173 (aged 15 or older) on 10 June 1942, plus 9 later
- Children gassed at Chełmno
- 82
- Total murdered
- Approximately 340 (192 men, 60 women, 88 children)
- Women deported to camps
- 203 women sent to concentration camps
- Survivors returning post-war
- 143 women and 17 children
- Ordered by
- Adolf Hitler and acting Reichsprotektor Kurt Daluege
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In late spring 1942, Czech paratroopers assassinated Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. Hitler and his successor Kurt Daluege ordered extreme collective reprisals against civilian populations in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, selecting Lidice as a target based on alleged, largely unsubstantiated connections to the assassins.
On 10 June 1942, German forces killed all 173 men and boys aged 15 or older in Lidice. The 203 women were deported to concentration camps, and 105 children were separated; 82 children were subsequently gassed at the Chełmno extermination camp. Nine children deemed racially suitable were given to German families for Germanisation. The village itself was burned and razed to the ground.
Approximately 340 Lidice residents perished in the reprisal; only 143 women and 17 children survived to return after the war. Nazi propaganda publicly boasted of the action, generating intense Allied outrage. The massacre became one of the most documented German war crimes of World War II and was commemorated in film, music, and international memory.