The Butcher of Prague

The story is based on the massacre in the Czech village of Lidice in central Bohemia. In June 1942, Lidice was exterminated and burnt by Nazis in retaliation for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. However, Lidice is not a classical war movie, but a psychological drama based on the true story of a man who survived the massacre. Facts: Lidice was completely wiped off the map, its buildings was burned, then blew up the structures. They also razed the church and the cemetery. Males above the age of sixteen, all were shot to death. The women and children were taken to the gym of the elementary school in Kladno. 3 days later, the children were taken from their mothers. The women were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. The children – the youngest a year and six days old – were sent to Lodz, Poland. There they lived for the next three weeks. Then, an order came that they were to be sent to the Chelmno death camp. The children were told to undress for a “shower” before the journey. In their underwear, holding soap and towels, they were loaded onto a truck that had been modified so that the exhaust fumes were sent into the back of the vehicle. Within eight minutes, the children in the truck were dead. There had been 105 children in Lidice. 17 survived the war.