Lidice Massacre

This film (drama)Also known asLidice，is aCzech Republic, SlovakiaProducerwomen sex，At2011Released in year 。The dialogue language isCzech, German，Current Douban rating7.6(For reference only)。

On May 27, 1942, after Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated by Czech agents in Prague, Hitler became furious. At Heydrich's funeral, he raged that he would take reprisals and declared that the blood of millions would pay for Heydrich's murder. About 3,000 Jews residing in the "special residence area" of Terezin were sent to death camps, with many more unknown. The SS in Prague were terrified, fully aware that failure to capture Heydrich's assassins would undoubtedly trigger Hitler's murderous wrath on those responsible for the operation's failure. Arthur Neber, in the name of the Reich Main Security Office, ordered the urgent printing of numerous special editions of the German Criminal Police Bulletin, containing telegrams sent to police departments and local administrators, instructing: "Special surveillance must be implemented at all stations, on trains, and on all means of transport; all foreign residents in workers' hostels must be registered and checked; no suspects are to cross the border." The Gestapo set an efficient trap for the assassins. For Hitler, Heydrich's death required a much greater cost than the deaths of the Jews. This brutal reprisal would become a massacre that the Czech people would never let the world forget. The target of this reprisal was a small mining village called Lidice, located in the Kladno region northwest of Prague. Lidice was a beautiful place, nestled in a low valley, with grassy areas surrounding the village church, a picturesque landscape filled with vibrant colors. The village was dotted with various farms and orchards, and its residents lived peaceful, self-sufficient lives, with little interest in politics. On June 4, the day Heydrich died, Lidice was searched for the first time. Eyewitnesses vividly remember how a detachment of SS and Gestapo from Prague arrived via the main road, audaciously stormed into the village, and lined up the residents to check their identities one by one. The questioning was conducted by the SS and Gestapo. Throughout the process, the atmosphere was filled with threats and intimidation, but overall, the residents of Lidice did not suffer significant harm. Perhaps for their amusement, or out of frustration for finding no weapons or guilty "evidence," the Wehrmacht and police units ransacked the tidy homes of the villagers, smashing furniture and throwing it into the street. It was evident that "evidence" could be fabricated for the Gestapo. The trucks of the German army eventually roared back to Prague. No formal connection was found between the village of Lidice and the assassination of Heydrich. One excuse for choosing this village as a target was that two families living there—the Hockolas and the Streborneys—had sons who were members of the Czech resistance in Britain. Furthermore, the Germans claimed that there were hidden machine guns in the village and that English-Czech paratroopers had landed in the area. However, survivors of the subsequent massacre still absolutely deny these accusations. In the end, the Hockola and Streborney families were arrested, but no signs of parachutes were found. The second key incursion into Lidice occurred on the night of June 9. Karl Böhm, at Heydrich's funeral, called Himmler in Berlin to inform him there was enough "evidence" to indict the village and suggested taking retaliatory action. Böhm reported: Target: Lidice village in the Kladno region. At 7:45 PM on June 9, 1942, SS district commander Karl Frank phoned with verbal instructions: Following the Führer's orders, the following measures should be taken against Lidice village today: First, execute all adult male residents; Second, send all female residents to concentration camps; Third, gather all children together, sending those suitable for Germanization to live with SS families; those unfit for Germanization would receive other forms of education; Fourth, the entire place must be burned to the ground with the help of the fire brigade. Böhm set off to Kladno to personally command the operation, accompanied by Otto Gischek, the head of the Gestapo in Prague, and Weissmann, the head of the Kladno region's Gestapo. The regular police had surrounded the village, leaving only one entrance open for residents to enter. Then, a unit of security police, led by SS squad leader Max Rostock, marched into Lidice. Subsequently, the Gestapo reported: During this operation, 199 male villagers were executed, and 195 female villagers were arrested. A special execution squad sent from Prague erected a line of mattresses against the barn's walls to prevent ricochets. They selected the adult men and boys, shooting ten at a time, while women, young boys, and children were sent to a transit camp; the women were ultimately sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, and among 95 children, only nine were deemed suitable for Germanization education; most of the children vanished without a trace, and only 16 were found after World War II. The selected nine children were to be handed over to a child-rearing organization—a system favored by Himmler, focused on maternal families and providing welfare for children with SS fathers. However, the entire village was set ablaze; whatever could be blown up was blown up, and what could be bulldozed was bulldozed, with debris removed. Poultry and pets were shot, and the cemetery was disturbed. Apart from a plain that would soon become overgrown with weeds, all traces of the village vanished completely. The next day, a pre-prepared script was broadcast: "In the course of hunting for the assassins of SS General Heydrich, there is ample evidence proving that the villagers supported and assisted these assassins. Besides aiding the assassins, these residents participated in other hostile actions against Germany, such as hoarding ammunition and weaponry, illegally possessing transmitters, and stockpiling large amounts of controlled materials... All buildings in the village have now been demolished, and the village's name has been erased." However, in a sense, the village of Lidice did not disappear. The Germans themselves are responsible for this oversight. Extensive descriptions of the details of this massacre were captured on old film reels by the Reich Film Company. Film footage documenting the Lidice massacre became undeniable facts and evidence in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Military Tribunal. Only the final moments of the village were preserved: the burning houses of Lidice, the patrolling troops and police in the streets, and, of course, the pile of bodies at the Hockola family's farm. The corpse of a dog tethered in a kennel was also filmed; the camera then panned to a German officer through binoculars: in the frame, the church's steeple was shown collapsing after being blown up three times; evidently, the officer was very angry; the pastor had already been killed, and the film also recorded the "image" of the destroyers themselves: they seemed to be making a family movie, laughing at the camera and joking with each other. To leave no trace, the Gestapo captured large numbers of laborers from the Jewish settlement near Terezin and forced them to construct a railway in Lidice to transport all the debris away. Every day, large amounts of rubble were removed from Lidice. As the work neared completion, some of these laborers were sent to concentration camps and death camps, while others were executed on the spot, and their bodies were burned and buried in place. What enraged the Gestapo was that the white terror deliberately created in Lidice and elsewhere failed to scare off the assassins. The reports that had been utilized and reviewed became worthless. Heinz von Panwitz—the head of the Gestapo's anti-subversion department in Prague—suggested to Frank that amnesty should be granted to anyone willing to confess within a specified period. Heinz ultimately persuaded Frank to set a limit of five days and announced the amnesty on June 13. On June 18, the Gestapo discovered seven assassins in the basement of St. Charles Borromeo Church. After a shootout, all seven agents perished; two committed suicide by poison, while the others ended their own lives with their guns. Finally, the Gestapo cut off the head of one of the assassins—Czech lieutenant Jan Kubis—and showed it to his family, causing his elderly mother to faint on the spot. The case of Heydrich's assassination was thus concluded, and the village of Lidice disappeared from the map, but after World War II, the Czechs began to rebuild Lidice. When the former residents returned, they found only a barren expanse of grassland. Workers uncovered an old village sign of Lidice during their excavation efforts, and to this day, this sign, symbolizing Lidice, remains in place. Destruction and Rebirth The Gestapo's actions, leveling Lidice village and attempting to erase it from the earth, ignited outrage across the world. On June 12, as news of the Lidice tragedy broke, a small town in Illinois, USA, announced it would rename itself Lidice. A month later, a village near Mexico City also adopted the name Lidice, which has now grown into a city of two million inhabitants. Following that, villages in Brazil, Venezuela, Israel, and South Africa, as well as squares, streets, and even girls' names in various places, began to be called Lidice. People from all corners of the world, though not knowing each other, united in support of the oppressed Czech people in the fight against fascism. Starting in 1948, volunteers from around the world began to build a new village of Lidice beside the ruins. A beautiful rose garden created a bridge of happiness between the old and new villages. The seeds for these roses were gifted by peace-loving individuals from various countries, including blessings from China. The old village ruins were soon covered by vast expanses of lush green lawns, with undulating hills adorned with verdant trees and golden ponds, making it feel like a paradise on earth. This evokes profound reflections, as peace is the only way to bring about such a beautiful world; with peace, humanity has hope.