The Lidice massacre (Czech: Vyhlazení Lidic) was the complete destruction of the village of Lidice in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which is now a part of the Czech Republic, in June 1942 on orders from Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and acting Reichsprotektor Kurt Daluege, successor to Reinhard Heydrich. It has gained historical attention as one of the most documented instances of German war crimes during World War II, particularly given the deliberate killing of children.
In reprisal for the assassination of Reich Protector Heydrich in the late spring of 1942, all 173 men and boys from the village aged 15 years or older were killed on 10 June 1942. A further 9 men from the village who were not present at the time were arrested and executed soon afterwards, along with 8 men and 7 women who were already under arrest, and two boys who had recently turned 15. Most of the 203 women and 105 children were sent to a makeshift detention center in a Kladno school, after which the women were deported to concentration camps. 9 children who were considered racially suitable and thus eligible for Germanisation were handed over to German families, and 82 (excluding 14 children either under a year old or born after the massacre) were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were gassed to death.
