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

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. During the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, it was razed by

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

forces as reprisal for Reich Protector

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

'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 (, ) 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 commissioned SS rank after ...

'' and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich was Acting ''

Reichsprotektor These are lists of political office-holders in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which from 15 March 1939 until 9 May 1945 comprised the Nazi-occupied parts of Czechoslovakia. The lists include both the representatives of the Nazi-rec ...

'' for the Nazi

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...

.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 Reinhard Heydrich, the commander of the German Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a principal architect of the Holocaust, was assassinated during the Second World War in a coordin ...

. 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 Jozef Gabčík (; 8 April 1912 – 18 June 1942) was a Slovak soldier in the Czechoslovak Army involved in the Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of acting ''Reichsprotektor'' (Realm-Protector) of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ...

and

Jan Kubiš Jan Kubiš (24 June 1913 – 18 June 1942) was a Czech soldier, one of a team of Czechoslovak British-trained paratroopers sent to eliminate acting Reichsprotektor (Realm-Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia, SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Reinhard H ...

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

and Slovak soldiers acting for the Czechoslovak government-in-exile.Kaplan and Nosarzewska, ''Prague: The Turbulent Century'' p. 241 Heydrich died of his injuries on 4 June 1942.

Massacre

After the assassination, the Nazis imposed martial law. On 10 June, the village of

Lidice Lidice (; ) is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Lidice is built near the site of the previous village, which was completely destroyed on 10 June 19 ...

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 (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

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 (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 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 Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...

, urged the SS to be merciless in Ležáky. He organized a massacre. In the early afternoon of 24 June, Ležáky was surrounded by 150 Gestapo men 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, German people, people, and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nati ...

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

Chełmno extermination camp Chełmno, or Kulmhof, was the first of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and was situated north of Łódź, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, Germany annexed ...

, 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 (rank), major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, and the National Socialist Flyers Corps, NSFK ...

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

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

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) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lezaky 1942 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia Populated places in Chrudim District Nazi war crimes in Czechoslovakia Reprisals 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