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89-705: The Lidice Memorial is a monument to the Lidice massacre perpetrated by Nazi Germany in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during the Second World War . The memorial was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The Lidice Memorial serves as a tribute to the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia . In 1942, the village was destroyed and nearly all of its citizens were killed or dispersed by

178-656: A doctor, who in 1945 became a local MP, founded the organisation Lidice Shall Live to raise funds for the rebuilding of the village after the war. Soon after the razing of the village, towns and quarters (neighbourhoods) in various countries were renamed, San Jerónimo Lídice in Mexico City , Barrio Obrero de Lídice (workers quarter of Lidice) and its hospital in Caracas , Venezuela , Lídice de Capira in Panama and towns in Brazil so that

267-402: A fever, Heydrich's recovery appeared to progress well. Hitler's personal doctor Theodor Morell suggested the use of the new antibacterial drug sulfonamide , but Gebhardt thought that Heydrich would recover and declined the suggestion. On 4 June Heydrich died from septicaemia caused by pieces of horse hair from the upholstery and his clothing entering his body when the bomb exploded. Late in

356-459: A film adviser for the Nazi Party . The small Czech village of Ležáky was destroyed two weeks after Lidice, when Gestapo agents found a radio transmitter there that had belonged to an underground team who parachuted in with Kubiš and Gabčík. All 33 adults (both men and women) from the village were shot. The children were sent to concentration camps or "Aryanised" . The death toll resulting from

445-561: A makeshift detention center in a Kladno school. Of these, 184 women and 88 children were deported to concentration camps; 7 children who were considered racially suitable and thus eligible for Germanisation were handed over to SS families, and the rest were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp , where they were gassed to death. The Associated Press , quoting German radio transmissions which it received in New York, said: "All male grownups of

534-589: A response to the massacre. The piece quotes from the Czech St Wenceslas Chorale and in the climax of the piece, the opening notes (dot-dot-dot-dash = V in Morse code) of Beethoven's 5th Symphony . Women from Lidice who survived imprisonment at Ravensbrück returned after the Second World War and were rehoused in the new village of Lidice that was built overlooking the original site. The first part of

623-751: A series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian throne. Efforts for a reform of the church in Bohemia started already in the late 14th century. Jan Hus ' followers seceded from some practices of the Roman Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by Sigismund . During the next two centuries, 90% of the population in Bohemia and Moravia were considered Hussites . The pacifist thinker Petr Chelčický inspired

712-421: A temperate climate, situated in the transition zone between the oceanic and continental climate types, with warm summers and cold, cloudy and snowy winters. The temperature difference between summer and winter is due to the landlocked geographical position. Temperatures vary depending on the elevation. In general, at higher altitudes, the temperatures decrease and precipitation increases. The wettest area in

801-571: A third through the expulsion of Czech Protestants as well as due to the war, disease and famine . The Habsburgs prohibited all Christian confessions other than Catholicism . The flowering of Baroque culture shows the ambiguity of this historical period. Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia in 1663. In 1679–1680 the Czech lands faced the Great Plague of Vienna and an uprising of serfs. There were peasant uprisings influenced by famine. Serfdom

890-530: A time. The dead were left lying where they fell. This continued until the afternoon hours when there were 173 dead. Another 11 men who were not in the village that day were arrested and murdered soon afterwards as were eight men and seven women already under arrest because they had relations serving with the Czechoslovak armies in exile in the United Kingdom. Only three male inhabitants of the village survived

979-563: Is a landlocked country in Central Europe . The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of 78,871 square kilometers (30,452 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate . The capital and largest city is Prague ; other major cities and urban areas include Brno , Ostrava , Plzeň and Liberec . The Duchy of Bohemia

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1068-672: Is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced , high-income social market economy . It is a welfare state with a European social model , universal health care and free-tuition university education . It ranks 32nd in the Human Development Index . The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations , NATO , the European Union , the OECD , the OSCE ,

1157-593: Is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy . The Parliament ( Parlament České republiky ) is bicameral, with the Chamber of Deputies ( Czech : Poslanecká sněmovna , 200 members) and the Senate ( Czech : Senát , 81 members). The members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected for a four-year term by proportional representation , with a 5% election threshold . There are 14 voting districts, identical to

1246-416: Is as high as 10 °C (50 °F). The country's capital, Prague, has a similar average temperature, although this is influenced by urban factors. The coldest month is usually January, followed by February and December. During these months, there is snow in the mountains and sometimes in the cities and lowlands. During March, April, and May, the temperature usually increases, especially during April, when

1335-592: Is located within modern Poland) in the northeast. Known as the lands of the Bohemian Crown since the 14th century, a number of other names for the country have been used, including Czech/Bohemian lands , Bohemian Crown , Czechia , and the lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslaus . When the country regained its independence after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918, the new name of Czechoslovakia

1424-519: Is modeled on the U.S. Senate , but each constituency is roughly the same size and the voting system used is a two-round runoff. The president is a formal head of state with limited and specific powers, who appoints the prime minister, as well the other members of the cabinet on a proposal by the prime minister. From 1993 until 2012, the President of the Czech Republic was selected by a joint session of

1513-573: Is named after Lidice and one of the buildings has a small plaque that explains its tragic story. A street in Sofia , Bulgaria , is named to commemorate the massacre and the Lidice Memorial in Phillips, Wisconsin , U.S., was built in memory of the village. In the wake of the massacre, Humphrey Jennings directed The Silent Village (1943), using amateur actors from a Welsh mining village, Cwmgiedd , near

1602-581: Is preferred by the Czech government. If using Czechia, clarify in the story that the country is more widely known in English as the Czech Republic." Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area, dating back to the Paleolithic era. In the classical era , as a result of the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, Bohemia became associated with the Boii . The Boii founded an oppidum near

1691-455: Is still warm and dry. During October, temperatures usually fall below 15 °C (59 °F) or 10 °C (50 °F) and deciduous trees begin to shed their leaves. By the end of November, temperatures usually range around the freezing point. The coldest temperature ever measured was in Litvínovice near České Budějovice in 1929, at −42.2 °C (−44.0 °F) and the hottest measured,

1780-496: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , the country took in half a million Ukrainian refugees , the largest number per capita in the world. The Czech Republic lies mostly between latitudes 48° and 51° N and longitudes 12° and 19° E . Bohemia , to the west, consists of a basin drained by the Elbe ( Czech : Labe ) and the Vltava rivers, surrounded by mostly low mountains, such as

1869-631: The Austrian Empire . During the 18th and 19th century the Czech National Revival began its rise, with the purpose to revive Czech language , culture, and national identity. The Revolution of 1848 in Prague, striving for liberal reforms and autonomy of the Bohemian Crown within the Austrian Empire, was suppressed. It seemed that some concessions would be made also to Bohemia, but in the end,

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1958-692: The Battle of White Mountain , the Habsburgs consolidated their rule. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Crown lands became part of the Austrian Empire . In the 19th century, the Czech lands became more industrialized; further, in 1918, most of the country became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic following the collapse of Austria-Hungary after World War I . Czechoslovakia

2047-681: The Circumboreal Region , within the Boreal Kingdom . According to the World Wide Fund for Nature , the territory of the Czech Republic can be subdivided into four ecoregions : the Western European broadleaf forests , Central European mixed forests , Pannonian mixed forests , and Carpathian montane conifer forests . There are four national parks in the Czech Republic. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park ( Biosphere Reserve ), and

2136-597: The Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group . The traditional English name "Bohemia" derives from Latin : Boiohaemum , which means "home of the Boii " (a Gallic tribe). The current English name ultimately comes from the Czech word Čech . The name comes from the Slavic tribe ( Czech : Češi, Čechové ) and, according to legend, their leader Čech , who brought them to Bohemia, to settle on Říp Mountain. The etymology of

2225-582: The Holy Roman Empire . In 1212, Přemysl Ottokar I extracted the Golden Bull of Sicily from the emperor, confirming Ottokar and his descendants' royal status; the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a Kingdom . German immigrants settled in the Bohemian periphery in the 13th century. The Mongols in the invasion of Europe carried their raids into Moravia but were defensively defeated at Olomouc . After

2314-492: The Human Development Index ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human Development". From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and since 1993 in its own right, has been a member of the Visegrád Group and from 1995, the OECD . The Czech Republic joined NATO on 12 March 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 21 December 2007 the Czech Republic joined the Schengen Area . Until 2017, either

2403-703: The Krkonoše range of the Sudetes . The highest point in the country, Sněžka at 1,603 m (5,259 ft), is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River , but it also contains the source of the Oder River ( Czech : Odra ). Water from the Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea , Baltic Sea , and Black Sea . The Czech Republic also leases

2492-637: The Moldauhafen , a 30,000-square-meter (7.4-acre) lot in the middle of the Hamburg Docks, which was awarded to Czechoslovakia by Article 363 of the Treaty of Versailles , to allow the landlocked country a place where goods transported down river could be transferred to seagoing ships. The territory reverts to Germany in 2028. Phytogeographically , the Czech Republic belongs to the Central European province of

2581-584: The Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . This area of the former state of Czechoslovakia had been occupied by Nazi Germany since 5 April 1939. On the morning of 27 May 1942, Heydrich was being driven from his country villa at Panenské Břežany to his office at Prague Castle . When he reached the Kobylisy area of Prague , his car was attacked (on behalf of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile) by

2670-633: The Ordnungspolizei of Nazi Germany in response to Operation Anthropoid , the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich . The monument, located in Sokol Park in the town of Phillips, Wisconsin , was erected in 1944. This article about a property in Wisconsin on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lidice massacre In reprisal for

2759-642: The Potsdam Conference . In the 1946 elections , the Communist Party gained 38% of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament, formed a coalition with other parties, and consolidated power. A coup d'état came in 1948 and a single-party government was formed. For the next 41 years , the Czechoslovak Communist state conformed to Eastern Bloc economic and political features. The Prague Spring political liberalization

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2848-468: The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , immediately acted on the orders. Members of the Ordnungspolizei and SD ( Sicherheitsdienst ) surrounded the village of Lidice, blocking all avenues of escape. The Nazi regime chose this village because its residents were suspected of harbouring local resistance partisans and were falsely associated with aiding Operation Anthropoid team members. All men of

2937-733: The Slovak and Czech soldiers Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš . These men, who had been part of a team trained in Great Britain, had parachuted into Bohemia in December 1941 as part of Operation Anthropoid. After Gabčík's Sten gun jammed, Heydrich ordered his driver, SS- Oberscharführer Klein, to stop the car. When Heydrich stood up to shoot Gabčík, Kubiš threw a modified anti-tank grenade at Heydrich's car. The resulting explosion wounded both Heydrich and Kubiš. Heydrich sent Klein to chase Gabčík on foot and, in an exchange of fire, Gabčík shot Klein in

3026-408: The assassination of Reich Protector Heydrich in the late spring of 1942, all 173 men from the village who were over 15 years of age were killed on 10 June 1942. A further 11 men from the village who were not present at the time were later arrested and executed soon afterwards, along with several others who were already under arrest. Out of a total 503 inhabitants, 307 women and children were sent to

3115-574: The disinformation and secrecy involved with other crimes against civilian populations , with intense outrage occurring among Allied nations and particularly Anglosphere countries. The history has been depicted in multiple forms of media since the end of the conflict. Examples include the internationally known drama film Operation Daybreak and the composer Bohuslav Martinů composed orchestral work Memorial to Lidice . From 27 September 1941, SS - Obergruppenführer and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich had been acting as Reichsprotektor of

3204-561: The 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo , supporting the Slavs fighting against nearby settled Avars , became the ruler of the first documented Slavic state in Central Europe, Samo's Empire . The principality of Great Moravia , controlled by Moymir dynasty , arose in the 8th century. It reached its zenith in the 9th (during the reign of Svatopluk I of Moravia ), holding off the influence of

3293-576: The Czech Republic is found around Bílý Potok in Jizera Mountains and the driest region is the Louny District to the northwest of Prague . Another factor is the distribution of the mountains. At the highest peak of Sněžka (1,603 m or 5,259 ft), the average temperature is −0.4 °C (31 °F), whereas in the lowlands of the South Moravian Region , the average temperature

3382-684: The Czechoslovaks for their anti-Nazi resistance. The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945, with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising . Most of Czechoslovakia's German-speakers were forcibly expelled from the country, first as a result of local acts of violence and then under the aegis of an "organized transfer" confirmed by the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain at

3471-492: The Emperor Franz Joseph I affected a compromise with Hungary only. The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the never realized coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Bohemia led to a disappointment of some Czech politicians. The Bohemian Crown lands became part of the so-called Cisleithania . The Czech Social Democratic and progressive politicians started the fight for universal suffrage. The first elections under universal male suffrage were held in 1907. In 1918, during

3560-423: The Franks. Great Moravia was Christianized, with a role being played by the Byzantine mission of Cyril and Methodius . They codified the Old Church Slavonic language, the first literary and liturgical language of the Slavs , and the Glagolitic script . The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century when it was unified by the Přemyslid dynasty . Bohemia was from 1002 until 1806 an Imperial Estate of

3649-407: The Habsburgs became first the elected and then in 1627 the hereditary rulers of Bohemia. Between 1583 and 1611 Prague was the official seat of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and his court. The Defenestration of Prague and subsequent revolt against the Habsburgs in 1618 marked the start of the Thirty Years' War . In 1620, the rebellion in Bohemia was crushed at the Battle of White Mountain and

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3738-403: The afternoon of 27 May, SS- Gruppenführer Karl Hermann Frank proclaimed a state of emergency and placed a curfew in Prague. Anyone who helped the attackers was to be executed along with their families. A search involving 21,000 men began and 36,000 houses were checked. By 4 June, 157 people had been executed as a result of the reprisals but the assassins had not been found and no information

3827-412: The animals in the village—pets and beasts of burden —were slaughtered as well. Even those buried in the town cemetery were not spared; their remains were dug up, looted for gold fillings and jewellery, and destroyed. A 100-strong German work party was then sent in to remove all visible remains of the village, re-route the stream running through it and the roads in and out. They then covered the entire area

3916-411: The centre-left Czech Social Democratic Party or the centre-right Civic Democratic Party led the governments of the Czech Republic. In October 2017, the populist movement ANO 2011 , led by the country's second-richest man, Andrej Babiš , won the elections with three times more votes than its closest rival, the Civic Democrats. In December 2017, Czech president Miloš Zeman appointed Andrej Babiš as

4005-404: The children who were murdered at Chełmno in the summer of 1942. A cross with a crown of thorns marks the mass grave of the Lidice men. Overlooking the site is a memorial area flanked by a museum and a small exhibition hall. The memorial area is linked to the new village by an avenue of linden trees. In 1955 a "Rosarium" of 29,000 rose bushes was created beside the avenue of lindens overlooking

4094-485: The collapse of the Habsburg monarchy at the end of World War I, the independent republic of Czechoslovakia , which joined the winning Allied powers, was created, with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in the lead. This new country incorporated the Bohemian Crown . The First Czechoslovak Republic comprised only 27% of the population of the former Austria-Hungary, but nearly 80% of the industry, which enabled it to compete with Western industrial states. In 1929 compared to 1913,

4183-404: The country's administrative regions. The Chamber of Deputies, the successor to the Czech National Council , has the powers and responsibilities of the now defunct federal parliament of the former Czechoslovakia. The members of the Senate are elected in single-seat constituencies by two-round runoff voting for a six-year term, with one-third elected every even year in the autumn. This arrangement

4272-427: The effort to avenge the death of Heydrich is estimated at over 1,300 people. This count includes relatives of the partisans, their supporters, Czech elites suspected of disloyalty and random victims like those from Lidice. Nazi propaganda had openly and proudly announced the events in Lidice, unlike other massacres in occupied Europe which were kept secret. The information was instantly picked up by Allied media. After

4361-421: The fate of the remaining children but in late June Adolf Eichmann ordered the massacre of the remainder of the children. However, Eichmann was not convicted of this crime at his trial in Jerusalem, as the judges deemed that "... it has not been proven to us beyond reasonable doubt, according to the evidence before us, that they were murdered." On 2 July, all of the remaining 82 Lidice children were handed over to

4450-405: The government and economy were suppressed by a Soviet -led invasion of the country during the Prague Spring in 1968. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in the country and restored democracy . On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved , with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic

4539-400: The gross domestic product increased by 52% and industrial production by 41%. In 1938 Czechoslovakia held 10th place in the world industrial production. Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a liberal democracy throughout the entire interwar period. Although the First Czechoslovak Republic was a unitary state , it provided certain rights to its minorities,

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4628-417: The independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia . Both countries went through economic reforms and privatizations , with the intention of creating a market economy , as they have been trying to do since 1990, when Czechs and Slovaks still shared the common state. This process was largely successful; in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognized by the World Bank as a "developed country", and in 2009

4717-403: The largest being Germans (23.6% in 1921), Hungarians (5.6%) and Ukrainians (3.5%). Western Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany , which placed most of the region into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . The Protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich, and the president and prime minister were subordinated to Nazi Germany's Reichsprotektor . One Nazi concentration camp

4806-418: The leg below the knee. Kubiš and Gabčík managed to escape the scene. A Czech woman went to Heydrich's aid and flagged down a delivery van. He was placed on his stomach in the back of the van and taken to the emergency room at Bulovka Hospital . A splenectomy was performed, and the chest wound, left lung, and diaphragm were all debrided . Himmler ordered Karl Gebhardt to fly to Prague to assume care. Despite

4895-560: The massacre Winston Churchill proposed destroying three German villages with incendiary bombing for every village destroyed in reprisals by the Wehrmacht. Anthony Eden , Leo Amery , and Ernest Bevin were supportive of the idea, but Archibald Sinclair , Clement Attlee , Herbert Morrison , and Stafford Cripps convinced him that it would waste resources and open the risk to similar Luftwaffe reprisals against British communities. In September 1942, coal miners in Stoke-on-Trent , Staffordshire , in Great Britain led by Barnett Stross ,

4984-505: The massacre, The Murder of Lidice , which was excerpted in the 17 October 1942, edition of Saturday Review , a larger version of which was published in the 19 October 1942 Life magazine, and published in full as a book later that year by Harper. There is a memorial sculpture and small information panel commemorating the Lidice massacre, in Wallanlagen Park in Bremen , Germany. Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů composed his Memorial to Lidice , an 8-minute orchestral work, in 1943, as

5073-409: The massacre, he was so distraught he turned himself in to SS officers in the nearby town of Kladno, confessed to being from Lidice, and even said he approved of the assassination of Heydrich. Despite confirming his identity, the SS officers simply laughed at him and turned him away, and he went on to survive the war. A total of 203 women and 105 children were first taken to Lidice village school, then

5162-511: The massacre, two of whom were in the Czechoslovak Air Force and stationed in England at the time. The only adult man from Lidice actually in Czechoslovakia who survived this atrocity was František Saidl (1887–1961), the former deputy-mayor of Lidice who had been arrested at the end of 1938 because on 19 December 1938 he accidentally killed his son Eduard Saidl. He was imprisoned for four years and had no idea about this massacre. He found out when he returned home on 23 December 1942. Upon discovering

5251-684: The months of May to August (average around two such days per month). Severe thunderstorms , producing damaging straight-line winds, hail , and occasional tornadoes occur, especially during the summer period. As of 2020, the Czech Republic ranks as the 21st most environmentally conscious country in the world in Environmental Performance Index . It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 1.71/10, ranking it 160th globally out of 172 countries. The Czech Republic has four National Parks ( Šumava National Park , Krkonoše National Park , České Švýcarsko National Park , Podyjí National Park ) and 25 Protected Landscape Areas. The Czech Republic

5340-457: The morning of 14 June, the train halted on a railway siding at the concentration camp at Ravensbrück . The camp authorities tried to keep the Lidice women isolated, but were prevented from doing so by other inmates. The women were forced to work in leather processing, road building, textile and ammunition factories. Eighty-eight Lidice children were transported to the area of the former textile factory in Gneisenau Street in Łódź . Their arrival

5429-430: The movement of the Moravian Brethren (by the middle of the 15th century) that completely separated from the Roman Catholic Church. On 21 December 1421, Jan Žižka , a successful military commander and mercenary, led his group of forces in the Battle of Kutná Hora , resulting in a victory for the Hussites. He is honoured to this day as a national hero . After 1526, Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as

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5518-444: The name would live on in spite of Hitler's intentions. A neighbourhood in Crest Hill, Illinois , U.S., was renamed from Stern Park to Lidice. There is a shrine at Lidice park on Prairie Avenue in Crest Hill; the original shrine was at the end of Kelly Avenue at Elsie Street. A square in the English city of Coventry , devastated by Luftwaffe bombing , is named after Lidice. An alley in a very crowded area of downtown Santiago , Chile ,

5607-437: The nearby town of Kladno and detained in the grammar school for three days. The children were separated from their mothers and four pregnant women were sent to the same hospital where Heydrich died, forced to undergo abortions and then sent to different concentration camps. On 12 June 1942, 184 women of Lidice were loaded on trucks, driven to Kladno railway station and forced into a special passenger train guarded by an escort. On

5696-438: The new Lidice, because they had served in the forces of one of the western powers. Horák and his family returned to Britain and the RAF; he died in a flying accident in December 1948. A sculpture from the 1990s by Marie Uchytilová overlooks the site of the old village of Lidice. Entitled " The Memorial to the Children Victims of the War " it comprises 82 bronze statues of children (42 girls and 40 boys) aged 1 to 16, to honour

5785-426: The new prime minister. In the 2021 elections , ANO 2011 was narrowly defeated and Petr Fiala became the new prime minister. He formed a government coalition of the alliance SPOLU ( Civic Democratic Party , KDU-ČSL and TOP 09 ) and the alliance of Pirates and Mayors . In January 2023, retired general Petr Pavel won the presidential election , becoming new Czech president to succeed Miloš Zeman. Following

5874-419: The new village was completed in 1949. Two men from Lidice were in the United Kingdom serving in the Royal Air Force at the time of the massacre. After 1945 Pilot Officer Josef Horák and Flight Lieutenant Josef Stříbrný returned to Czechoslovakia to serve in the Czechoslovak Air Force. After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état the new Communist Party government would not allow them to apply to be housed in

5963-399: The official English short name in 2016. The short name has been listed by the United Nations and is used by other organizations such as the European Union , NATO , the CIA , Google Maps , and the European Broadcasting Union . In 2022, the American AP Stylebook stated in its entry on the country that "both [Czechia and the Czech Republic] are acceptable. The shorter name Czechia

6052-419: The others are Šumava National Park (Biosphere Reserve), Podyjí National Park , and Bohemian Switzerland . The three historical lands of the Czech Republic (formerly some countries of the Bohemian Crown) correspond with the river basins of the Elbe and the Vltava basin for Bohemia, the Morava one for Moravia, and the Oder river basin for Czech Silesia (in terms of the Czech territory). The Czech Republic has

6141-450: The parliament for a five-year term, with no more than two consecutive terms ( Václav Havel and Václav Klaus were both elected twice). Since 2013, the president has been elected directly. Some commentators have argued that, with the introduction of direct election of the President, the Czech Republic has moved away from the parliamentary system and towards a semi-presidential one. The Government 's exercise of executive power derives from

6230-471: The site of modern Prague. Later in the 1st century, the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi settled there. Slavs from the Black Sea – Carpathian region settled in the area (their migration was pushed by an invasion of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe into their area: Huns , Avars , Bulgars and Magyars ). In the sixth century, the Huns had moved westwards into Bohemia, Moravia, and some of present-day Austria and Germany. During

6319-411: The site of the old village. In the 1990s the Rosarium was neglected but after 2001 a new Rosarium with 21,000 bushes was created. In 2024 as the state of the monument was damaged by time and conditions, a public collection started raising funds to restore it. A surprise donation was made by an American donor that boosted the project as it received $ 165,000. As it turns out the donor was Donald R. Yadesky

6408-458: The small South Wales town of Ystradgynlais . An American film was made in 1943 called Hitler's Madman , but it contained a number of inaccuracies in the story. A more accurate British film, Operation Daybreak , starring Timothy Bottoms as Kubiš, Martin Shaw as Čurda and Anthony Andrews as Gabčík, was released in 1975. American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a book-length verse play on

6497-486: The temperature and weather tends to vary during the day. Spring is also characterized by higher water levels in the rivers, due to melting snow with occasional flooding. The warmest month of the year is July, followed by August and June. On average, summer temperatures are about 20–30 °C (36–54 °F) higher than during winter. Summer is also characterized by rain and storms. Autumn generally begins in September, which

6586-583: The ties between Bohemia and the Habsburgs' hereditary lands in Austria were strengthened. The leaders of the Bohemian Revolt were executed in 1621 . The nobility and the middle class Protestants had to either convert to Catholicism or leave the country. The following era of 1620 to the late 18th century became known as the "Dark Age". During the Thirty Years' War, the population of the Czech lands declined by

6675-468: The town were shot, while the women were placed in a concentration camp , and the children were entrusted to appropriate educational institutions." Approximately 340 people from Lidice were murdered in the German reprisal (192 men, 60 women and 88 children). After the war ended, only 143 women and 17 children returned. Nazi propaganda openly and proudly announced the events at Lidice in direct contrast to

6764-531: The village had occupied with topsoil and planted crops, and set up a barbed-wire fence around the site which had notices reading, in both Czech and German, "Anyone approaching this fence who does not halt when challenged will be shot". A film was made of the process by Franz Treml, a collaborator with German intelligence. Treml had run a Zeiss-Ikon shop in Lucerna Palace in Prague and after the Nazi occupation, he became

6853-525: The village were rounded up and taken to the farm of the Horák family on the edge of the village. Mattresses were taken from neighbouring houses where they were stood up against the wall of the Horáks' barn to prevent ricochets. The shooting of the men commenced at about 7:00 am. At first the men were shot in groups of five, but Böhme thought the executions were proceeding too slowly and ordered that ten men be shot at

6942-494: The word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root * čel- , meaning "member of the people; kinsman", thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk (a person). The country has been traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia ( Čechy ) in the west, Moravia ( Morava ) in the east, and Czech Silesia ( Slezsko ; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia , most of which

7031-607: The Łódź Gestapo office, who sent them to the Chelmno extermination camp 70 kilometres (43 miles) away, where they were gassed to death in Magirus gas vans . Out of the 105 Lidice children, 82 were murdered in Chełmno, six were murdered in the German Lebensborn orphanages and 17 returned home. The village was set on fire and the remains of the buildings destroyed with explosives. All

7120-535: Was a long-time supporter and member of the Friends of History Society. 50°08′35″N 14°11′25″E  /  50.14306°N 14.19028°E  / 50.14306; 14.19028 Czech Republic – in Europe  (green & dark gray) – in the European Union  (green)  –  [ Legend ] The Czech Republic , also known as Czechia , and historically known as Bohemia ,

7209-514: Was abolished between 1781 and 1848. Several battles of the Napoleonic Wars took place on the current territory of the Czech Republic. The end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 led to degradation of the political status of Bohemia which lost its position of an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire as well as its own political representation in the Imperial Diet . Bohemian lands became part of

7298-657: Was announced by a telegram from Horst Böhme 's Prague office which ended with: the children are only bringing what they wear. No special care is desirable. The care was minimal and they suffered from a lack of hygiene and from illnesses. By order of the camp management, no medical care was given to the children. Shortly after their arrival in Łódź, officials from the Central Race and Settlement branch chose seven children for Germanisation . The few children considered racially suitable for Germanisation were handed over to SS families. The furor over Lidice caused some hesitation over

7387-518: Was at 40.4 °C (104.7 °F) in Dobřichovice in 2012. Most rain falls during the summer. Sporadic rainfall is throughout the year (in Prague, the average number of days per month experiencing at least 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) of rain varies from 12 in September and October to 16 in November) but concentrated rainfall (days with more than 10 mm (0.39 in) per day) are more frequent in

7476-627: Was coined to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak nations within one country. After Czechoslovakia dissolved on the last day of 1992, Česko was adopted as the Czech short name for the new state and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic recommended Czechia for the English-language equivalent. This form was not widely adopted at the time, leading to the long name Czech Republic being used in English in nearly all circumstances. The Czech government directed use of Czechia as

7565-602: Was forthcoming. The eulogies at Heydrich's funeral in Berlin were not yet over when, on 9 June, the decision was made to "make up for his death". Frank, Secretary of State for the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, reported from Berlin that the Führer had commanded the following concerning any village found to have harbored Heydrich's killers: Horst Böhme , the SiPo chief for

7654-639: Was founded in the late 9th century under Great Moravia . It was formally recognized as an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire in 1002 and became a kingdom in 1198. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, all of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy . Nearly a hundred years later, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt led to the Thirty Years' War . After

7743-551: Was located within the Czech territory at Terezín , north of Prague. The vast majority of the Protectorate's Jews were murdered in Nazi-run concentration camps . The Nazi Generalplan Ost called for the extermination, expulsion, Germanization or enslavement of most or all Czechs for the purpose of providing more living space for the German people. There was Czechoslovak resistance to Nazi occupation as well as reprisals against

7832-530: Was stopped by the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia . Analysts believe that the invasion caused the communist movement to fracture, ultimately leading to the Revolutions of 1989. In November 1989, Czechoslovakia again became a liberal democracy through the Velvet Revolution . However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened ( Hyphen War ) and on 31 December 1992, the country peacefully split into

7921-509: Was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a parliamentary democracy during the entirety of the interwar period . After the Munich Agreement in 1938, Nazi Germany systematically took control over the Czech lands. Czechoslovakia was restored in 1945 and three years later became an Eastern Bloc communist state following a coup d'état in 1948. Attempts to liberalize

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