President Klaus pays tribute to victims of the Lidice tragedy

President Vaclav Klaus has attended a ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary of the razing of the Czech town of Lidice by the Nazis during the Second World War. Speaking to the Czech Press Agency after the event, President Klaus said that the Lidice tragedy made people aware of the sheer madness of Nazi ideology, not just in the Czech lands but all around the world. He also said that the event was one of the catalysts behind the expulsion of Czechoslovakia's German population after the war.

On 10 June 1942, the town of Lidice was raised to the ground by the Nazis in retaliation for the assassination of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich by Czech resistance fighters. Every man in the town was shot dead while all women and children were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. The site of the tragedy is now a national memorial.

Author: Coilin O'Connor