European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 12, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Story and photos by Randy Pruitt staff writer few visitors pay much attention to ver Nevodova pole Stukova when they walk through the museum in Lidice Czechoslovakia she is the Short Gray haired woman who Sells them a ticket and gives them a smile. Sometimes she conducts Tours of the memorial that has come to symbolize the coldblooded brutality of the nazi regime Little do visitors know that the Story of Lidice a an entire Village wiped off the face of the Earth in a single twisted act of revenge a is pole Strukova s life Story. She lived there. Today nearly 50 years later the 65-year-old czechoslovakian lives in the rebuilt Village 12 Miles Northwest of Prague. It is an act of courage for her for to live in Lidice is to. Live with death. As custodian of the Lidice museum she hears death s rattle every Day. From every Corner names and faces of the past leap out pictures of people she knew letters they wrote things they wore Odds and ends of farm life. Pole Stukova knows better than anyone the horrors of War and what happened after Reinhard l Ley Rich German Quot protector Quot of Bohemia and Moravia was assassinated near Prague on May 27, 1942. The Gestapo upon finding a vaguely worded letter suspected that someone in the Village had links with the assassins. Hitler ordered the Complete destruction of Lidice. Pole Stukova 16 at the time lived in Lidice with her Mother father and two Brothers. She remembers june 9, when nazi storm troopers surrounded the town to round up every Man woman and child All 503 inhabitants. The next Day 173 men were herded into the Garden of a farmyard and shot to death. Pole Stukova s father was one of them the women and children were taken to a school in the nearby town of Ladno. Most ended up in a. Concentration Camp. Pole Stukova and her Mother were two of those women. Her 15-year-old brother Josef was later executed in a Forest near Prague. Antone 13, died in the Gas Chambers at Chemno Poland. Their Home along with the 103 other Homes in Lidice the Church and the two Story schoolhouse were burned and razed to the ground pole Stukova recalls the Day the German soldiers arrived. Quot we were working in the sugar beet Field at bus Tehran a nearby Village. Trucks filled with soldiers surrounded Lidice making a siege of it. They let everybody in but no one out Quot she said. She will never forget the Knock that came in the Middle of the night. Quot around Midnight the Gestapo started to come to the Homes and take the Vera Nevodova pole Stukova stands beside the eternal flame outside the Lidice memorial. Inhabitants away Quot she said. Quot they took the women and children to the school ordering us to take enough food for three Days. They took the men to the farm of or. it was at the Horak farm where the men most of them miners foundry workers and Farmers were shot the following Day. It was t until after the War that she Learned the Fate of her father. At the school the nazis further separated the women and children. Quot the children with Blue eyes and Blond hair were put with German families to be Germani Zed Quot she said. Quot eight babies younger than one year were put into an infant Home in Prague. Some died pole Stukova and her Mother Rusena spent 15 months together at the concentration Camp in Raven Briick Germany before being separated. Her Mother was taken to another German Camp in Neu Brandenburg. They lost touch with each other until the end of the War. They were reunited Back in Lidice. Rather in what had been Lidice. Tears flow Dow n pole Stukova s Cheeks when she recalls the Homecoming. Everything familiar had disappeared. Quot there was nothing but a huge Cornfield and a path led ,&Quot she said. The Well worn Trail led to the mass grave where her father and the other townsmen had been buried. Today the site is. Marked by a Plain wooden Cross of unpeeled tree trunks ringed with a thorny Crown of barbed wire. Not far away Are the foundations of the Church and schoolhouse. A statue a a weeping Mother and clinging child a needs no explanation. Pole Stukova said she came Back to Lidice because she had no other place to go and Quot we All knew each other survivors also came Back. Even today 50 other women of her time still live in the Village which was rebuilt in 1947-48. The new Homes were Given to concentration Camp survivors. Pole Stukova married and raised two children. For the past 20 years she s worked at the museum. Quot in the beginning it was horrible Quot she said. Quot but i got used to it. Today i can talk about it As a every Day pole Stukova walks to work crossing a wide Piazza that leads to an eternal flame. A fire Burns so others won t forget the human madness that transformed Lidice from a virtually Unknow n Village into a world Community. Before the end of the War the word Quot Lidice Quot began to crop up in unlikely places. On july 12, 1942, the Community of Stern Park Garden iii., was renamed Lidice. In Tabor s.d., a predominantly czech populated City the main thoroughfare was renamed Lidice Street. A memorial to Lidice was erected in Price wis. A Square in Havana was Given the name of Lidice and the cuban town of Regia was re baptized Lidice. In Brazil the Community of Vila Parada was renamed Lidice. A town in Southern Africa formerly named Berlin acquired a new name Lidice. A Quarter in the colombian town of Medellin was christened Lidice. Squares in the chilean port of Vina Del mar and in Callao Peru also Bear the name. In Mexico the. Village of san Jeronimo Paculdo . Was renamed san Jeronimo Lidice , in Cuba Brazil and Uruguay people named their children Lidice. And from round the world roses came. Ros Bushes by the thousands arrived from All Points in 1955 to become a part of Lidice s Friendship and peace Garden. Pole Stukova now watches visitors from East and West come with smiles and leave w Ith watery eyes. She understands. Tears Are not uncommon in Lidice. Pole Stukova is the eyed lady of Lidice and in her world tears need no translation. After Lidice now belongs to everyone. Stripes Magazine july 12y 1990
