Remembering Lidice

I'm going through some of my family's estate to put online and came across a pin with "Lidice" on it. It was in amongst my father's (now deceased) belongings and was something I'd never seen before.  I was quite surprised at what I learned in my research.  Despite having a Bachelor's in U.S. History, having studied a great deal about World War II, and my ancestors having been from Czechoslovakia, I've never heard of Lidice.  Lidice was a town not too far from Prague.  In World War II, Hitler invaded and took over Czechoslovakia.  The leader of the government in exile, created a resistance movement.  Their famous mission was to assassinate Hitler's security police chief, Reinherd Heydrich--who had ordered so many people executed that he was called the "Hangman."  They succeeded.  In retaliation, Hitler had all the men of the town of Lidice, 173 of them, immediately executed.  The remaining women and children were sent to concentration camps.  Hitler then announced that the town of Lidice had been obliterated from history.  

Hence the pins...so that Lidice would always be remembered.  I'd say that little pin did it's job.   For more about what happened at Lidice, please read this great article from the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team.