A place sadly often forgotten. Following the discovery of a radio transmitter in the village of Ležáky, the Gestapo had their proof to instigate another massacre in reprisal for the assassination of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich in Prague several weeks earlier. The Gestapo began to make arrests in Ležáky and three other villages, following information given to them by Karel Čurda, a parachutist turned informant. So, on the 24th June, two weeks after the village of Lidice was razed to the ground, 500 SS troops and police surrounded Ležáky.
The entire adult population consisting of 33 men and women were shot. Thirteen children were taken away, eleven of whom were later gassed at Kulmhof (Chelmno). Two sisters, selected for Aryanisation survived, and were later found and returned post war. Eighteen months after the destruction of the village, a group of forced labourers from a concentration camp were ordered to dismantle the ruins of Ležáky. The village, unlike Lidice, was never rebuilt and only a memorial exists today.
Images below show the ruins, and a postcard showing the memorial site shortly after the war.
Regards,
Carl
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