On June 24, 1942 the Czech village of Lezaky was razed by SS troops in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich on May 27th. While many people remember the massacre at Lidice ( June 9, 2012 Daily Event), fewer remember the second village destroyed. As was the standard operating procedure, the people were all rounded up, the thirty-three adult men and women were shot while the thirteen children were spared for the moment. Eleven children were sent to Chelmno and murdered in the gas vans, far more cruel than a shot in the back of the head. Two children, sisters and the only survivors, were chosen to send to German families for Aryanization and survived the war. Like Oradour-sur-Glane in France the village was never rebuilt, however unlike the French town there was nothing left to rebuild. The town was completely razed and now only memorials are left to mark the scene of the massacre. |
