The Memorial To The Children Victims Of The War, Lidice, Czech Republic

Lidice (German: Liditz) is a village in the Czech Republic just northwest of Prague. It is built near the site of the previous village of the same name which, as part of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, on orders from Adolf Hitler and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, was completely destroyed by German forces in reprisal for the assassination, in Operation Anthropoid, of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in the late spring of 1942. On 10 June 1942, all 173 men over 15 years of age from the village were executed. Another 11 men who were not in the village were arrested and executed soon afterwards, along with several others already under arrest. Meanwhile, 184 women and 88 children were deported to concentration camps; a few children considered racially suitable for Germanisation were handed over to SS families and the rest were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were gassed to death. After the war ended, only 153 women and 17 children returned.
The Memorial to the Children Victims of the War
It comprises 82 bronze statues of children (42 girls and 40 boys) aged 1 to 16 to honour the children who were murdered at Chełmno in the summer of 1942. A cross with a crown of thorns marks the mass grave of the Lidice men. Overlooking the site is a memorial area flanked by a museum and a small exhibition hall. The memorial area is linked to the new village by an avenue of linden trees. In 1955 a "Rosarium" of 29,000 rose bushes was created beside the avenue of lindens overlooking the site of the old village. In the 1990s the Rosarium was neglected, but after 2001 a new Rosarium with 21,000 bushes was designed and created. Situated 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the museum, in the new village, is an art gallery which displays permanent and temporary exhibitions. The annual children's art competition attracts entries worldwide.