Lidice Massacre
Memorial to the children of Lidice in the park in front of the museum
Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
'Lidice'
Not a grave of the murdered for freedom
but grows seed for freedom- Walt Whitman
" Cry to us ,murdered village while you grieve
Ashes raw on history makes us understand
What freedom asks of us . Strengthen our hands
Against the arrogant dogmas that deprave
And have no proof but death as their command
Must the innocent blood for ever to remedy
These fantastic fits that tear mankind apart?
The pangs we felt from you atrocious hurt
Promise a time when even the killer shall see
His sword is aimed at his own naked heart."
Cecil Day Lewis- From his collection, 'Word All Over' 1943.
C. (Cecil) Day Lewis ( 1904-1972) was one of the leading poets of the 'Auden' generation of the 1930's. Born in Ireland, Lewis studied at Oxford University. Served in the Home Guard, and worked in the Ministry of Information during World War 2. Later to become a professor of poetry at Oxford from 1951-1956, and a writer of detective stories. C. Day-Lewis was also Poet Laureate from 1968-1972.
A small collection of his work was published in 1941 under the title 'Where are the War Poets'? This was expanded for a revised volume of his poetry as 'Word All Over' and published in 1943.
His work has not really remained in favour compared with some of his associates such as W H Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Sir Stephen Spender. I can't find any collection of his work that was published after 1982. Few of Day-Lewis' poems have made it into World War 2 poetry anthologies. His most famous poem is probably 'Stand To', about his experiences in the Home Guard.
In December 1941, two Czech agents Jan Kubis and Joseph Gabiek, who were serving with Polish forces in Britain, were parachuted into Czechoslovakia. Their mission was to assassinate Heydrich, the SS commander of Bohemia and Moravia. The Allies including the Czech government in exile- were aware of the risk of reprisals but decided that Heydrich was simply too dangerous to be allowed to live. He was deemed to be particularly brutal even by Nazi standards, and one theory is that he was due to be dispatched to France, where he could have caused major damage to the Resistance there. On 27th May 1942, , the agents,who had managed to remain in hiding , attacked as Heydrich was being driven down a quiet street in Prague, following his usual routine from his villa to Prague castle, in an open top car.
The agents struck with a sten gun- that jammed- and hurled an anti tank grenade at the car, Heydrich was wounded and initially survived, but died in hospital on 4th June 1942 . Particles from the vehicle and various other fragments had contaminated his wounds.
Round up of alleged Czech resistance fighter began. Dozens died under SS interrogation, hundreds of people already in prison , both Jewish and Czech were executed. A particular example was made of Lidice , a village some twenty kilometres from Prague.
On 10th June 1942, the village was surrounded. Some accounts state that the SS took control, other that Czech police conducted the operation . All the women and children were taken to Kladno, where they were separated. 184 women were taken to Ravensbruk concentration camp, the 80 children to Lodz. Some of the children were taken to live with German families and to become 'Germanified', the rest were gassed at Chelmno Upon Nerr in Poland. 173 men -including youths as young as 16 were executed at the village.. The settlement was burnt, and its ruins bulldozed. The Germans brazenly announced the massacre to the world via a radio broadcast on 10th June 1942- even filmed the atrocity - and this was to become document 379 at the Nuremberg trial in 1945.
The Czech government in exile in London denounced the atrocity, along with Winston Churchill. A 'Lidice Shall Live' movement was launched in September 1942 in Stoke Upon Trent led by local MP Barnett Stross, with a great deal of support from Staffordshire miners.
The British authorities staged a film titled 'The Silent Village' (1943) , seeking the help of the South Wales Miners Federation, and the' people of the Swansea and Dulais valleys' . Parallels were drawn due to the fact that Lidice was partly a mining community. The village of Cwmgiedd was chosen for a filmed re-enactment.
The Frtiz Lang/Bertold Brecht movie, 'Hangmen Also Died from 1943, has been the first in a whole series of films about the assassination of Heydrich. Heydrich was the most senior Nazi to have been assassinated. The question of whether killing one mass murderer , knowing that the short term consequence would be savage reprisal, but saving more lives in the longer term, is one of the toughest moral dilemmas going.
Cecil Day Lewis poem is short, not particular complex or obscure. And virtually forgotten. The Lidice massacre is now largely remembered by films, starting as mentioned in 1943, ranging through to the Czech language film 'Atentat' ( 'Assassionation') from 1964, 'Operation Daybreak' (1975), 'Operation Anthropoid ' ( 2016), 'HHhH' (2017). However in the 1940's , poetry were written about the Lidice atrocity ......and the next blog post will look at other poetry.
Links
Radio Prague page on the 'Literary legacy of Lidice' Very useful page
Lidice memorial website maintained by the Cultural Ministry of the Czech Republic
Youtube
Lidice -A Light Across the Sea ( Excellent documentary about the 'Licide Shall Live' campaign from Staffordshire)
The Silent Village ( 1943 film from Britain )
I wish to thank all fellow members of the World War II Forums who posted on the recent 'Lidice' discussion thread.
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