Ležáky (german: Ležak, from 1939: ''Lezaky''), in the Miřetice municipality, was a village in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. During the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law ** ...

, it was razed by

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

forces as reprisal for Reich Protector

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inc ...

's assassination in late spring 1942.

History

Ležáky was inhabited by poor stonecutters and cottagers living in eight houses near the mill. The village was named after the Ležák rivulet. Beginning 24 September 1941, SS-''

Obergruppenführer ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the '' Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissi ...

'' and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich was Acting '' Reichsprotektor'' for the Nazi

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German occ ...

.Kaplan and Nosarzewska, ''Prague: The Turbulent Century'' p. 214 The area had been occupied by Nazi Germany since 5 April 1939. In December 1941, several Allied paratroopers were dropped into the region. Some were sent to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich in an action known as

Operation Anthropoid On 27 May 1942 in Prague, Reinhard Heydrichthe commander of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and a principal architect of the Holocaustwas attacked and wounded in an assassination ...

. Another group was part of Operation Silver A. Several Ležáky residents helped the latter group by providing a hiding place for their radio set. On the morning of 27 May 1942, Heydrich's car was attacked by Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, Czech and Slovak soldiers acting for the Czechoslovak government-in-exile.Kaplan and Nosarzewska, ''Prague: The Turbulent Century'' p. 241 Heydrich died on 4 June 1942.

Massacre

After the assassination, the Nazis imposed martial law. On 10 June, the village of Lidice was razed and all male inhabitants aged 14 to 84 were shot. Lidice was selected because its residents were falsely accused of harbouring local resistance partisans and aiding ''

'' team members.

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

agents found a radio transmitter in Ležáky, which belonged to Operation Silver A. Alfréd Bartoš, the leader of resistance group Silver A, killed himself shortly thereafter. While not everyone in Lidice had been killed, Gerhard Clages, the commander of the

Pardubice Pardubice (; german: Pardubitz) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 89,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban mon ...

, urged the SS to be merciless in Ležáky. He organized a massacre. In the early afternoon of June 24, Ležáky was surrounded by 150 Gestapo man under the command of Clages, 30 Czech collaborators, and over 300 other SS men. They removed all inhabitants, and the village was destroyed. All 33 adults (both men and women) were shot. Only 13 children were spared. A 26 June press release announced the outcome. In mid-December 1943, the Ležáky ruins were removed by 65 men from Nazi work camps. Of the 13 children, sisters Jarmila and Marie Šťulík were selected for "

Germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In li ...

"; both were located and returned to their families after the war. The remaining 11 children were sent to the

Chełmno extermination camp , known for = , location = Near Chełmno nad Nerem, ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (German-occupied Poland) , built by = , operated by = , commandant = Herbert Lange, Christian Wirth , original use = , construction = , in operat ...

, where they were gassed in summer 1942, together with one girl from Lidice."The History of Ležáky Memorial 1942 - 1943"
.
Ležáky Memorial
'. Unlike Lidice, Ležáky was not rebuilt after the war; only memorials remain today. On 1 September 1942, Clages was promoted to

Hauptsturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Hstuf'') was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Hauptsturmführer'' was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a ...

for organizing the massacre. He was then promoted to

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World ...

on 9 November 1944. However, that promotion was posthumous; Clages had been killed in action in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

on 15 October 1944.

References

Literature

Jarmila Doležalová
(one of the two children that survived the war), František Vašek: ''Křižovatky času – Ležáky v datech'' (''Crossroads of time - Ležáky in dates''), 2007. History of the village since first written mention until today. * * Kaplan, Jan and Nosarzewska, Krystyna (1997). ''Prague: The Turbulent Century'', Koenemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Koeln. * Vojtěch Kyncl: ''Ležáky - Obyčejná vesnice, SILVER A a pardubické gestapo v zrcadle heydrichiády'', 2009,
cz PDF
,

External links

Official Website
(cz,en,de,ru)
Website dedicated to the village, photogallery
(cz, en, de) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lezaky 1942 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia Populated places in Chrudim District Nazi war crimes in Czechoslovakia Collective punishment Former populated places in Eastern Europe Razed cities National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic Reinhard Heydrich Operation Anthropoid Mass murder in 1942 Massacres committed by Nazi Germany

History

Massacre

See also

References

Literature

External links