ICOM Prague 2022 | Tragedies which should not be forgotten

Tragedies which should not be forgotten: Lidice Memorial and Memorial Lety u Písku

Architecture Art History sights Memorial

Very few places have histories as tragic as the villages of Lidice and Lety u Písku (Lety at Písek).

As an act of Nazi revenge after the assassination of Reinhard Heidrich in occupied Czechia, the village of Lidice was supposed to be completely wiped off the maps and surface of the Earth. On the 10th of June, 1942, a commando of Nazi soldiers shot 173 of Lidice’s men to death. Women and children were sent to concentration camps where most of them also tragically died, and the village houses were burnt to the ground. The whole process of destruction was filmed by the Nazis themselves, and after World War II, this documentary footage was used as evidence during the Nürnberg trials.

In cooperation with the Lidice Memorial, you will have the chance to see the museum which was established there already in the 1950s, as well as the reverent area and the Rose Garden. Experts from the museum will introduce stories of local people from the past and present, including information about building up the new village in post-war times.

After lunch, another place connected with mourning is on the program: a village called Lety u Písku, where a concentration camp for Roma and Sinti people used to be. Thanks to experts from the Museum of Romani Culture, we will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the mournful destiny of the place which, unlike Lidice, was not given the importance it deserved soon enough due to the openly anti-Roma attitudes of Communist party leaders.

Recommended for members of: ICMEMO, ICeETHIC