photo #9170650

This image shows the Monument to the Child Victims of War in Lidice, Czech Republic. It commemorates the tragic events of June 10, 1942, when the village of Lidice was completely destroyed by the Nazis in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The Tragedy: After the assassination of Heydrich, all the men from the village were executed and the women were sent to concentration camps. Most of the children from the village were deported to the Chelmno extermination camp, where 82 of them were gassed. The Monument: The bronze sculpture group consists of 82 life-size statues (42 girls and 40 boys). It was designed by sculptor Marie Uchytilová, who worked on it for twenty years to give the children a human face based on archival photographs. Location: The memorial stands on the site where the village used to be, approximately 20 kilometers west of Prague. Today, the monument serves as a global symbol of the suffering of innocent civilians in wartime. You can visit the official memorial site in Lidice to learn more about this history.