Lidice Memorial & Terezin Concentration Camp - Prague to Lidice

Private day trips from Prague to the Lidice Memorial and the Terezin Concentration Camp

Explore two of the most important and most moving World War II sights in the Czech Republic. They are both located north of Prague, not far away from each other. The town of Terezín housed a Gestapo prison and a Jewish Ghetto – transit camp. The village of Lidice suffered a very different fate. It was destroyed on orders from Adolf Hitler, in reprisal for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich that took place on May 27, 1942. You will ask yourself why such atrocities occurred during your visit.

Prague – Lidice Memorial – Terezin Concentration Camp: 9-hour Itinerary

45 minutes Prague to Lidice Memorial transfer
1.5 hours Sightseeing tour of the Lidice Memorial
45 minutes Lidice Memorial to Terezín transfer
1 hour stop for Lunch
1.5 hours Sightseeing tour of the Terezín Small Fortress – former Gestapo prison
1 hour Tour of the Ghetto Museum in the Terezín Big Fortress, a propaganda movie
1.5 hours Sightseeing tour of the Crematorium and the Terezín Big Fortress – former Jewish Ghetto
45 minutes Terezín to Prague transfer

This is a private tour, so the itinerary can be adjusted as you wish.

Lidice Memorial – The town of Lidice was razed to the ground by the Nazis

The Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia had tragic consequences for the village of Lidice, where the Nazis wrongly believed partisans associated with the resistance were hiding. The tragedy of this little village and its 503 inhabitants began on June 10, 1942, a few hours after midnight. Lidice was destroyed on orders from Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, in reprisal for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in May of 1942. The destruction of the village is recorded in a documentary, filmed by those who actually carried out that brutal crime. Parts of the film are shown on a video recording at the Lidice Museum. The men of Lidice were shot while the children were taken from their mothers. Most of them were poisoned by exhaust gas in specially adapted vehicles at the Nazi extermination camp of Chełmno in Poland. The women were sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp to be killed.

“Lidice Shall Live” Campaign

After getting rid of Lidice’s inhabitants, the Nazis began to destroy the village itself, first setting the houses on fire and then razing them to the ground with plastic explosives. They did not stop at that. Instead, they proceeded to destroy the church and even the last resting place – the cemetery. In 1943 all that remained was an empty space. Until the end of the war, the site was marked by notices forbidding entry. The news of the destruction of Lidice spread rapidly around the world. But the Nazi intention to wipe the little Czech village off the face of the Earth did not succeed. Several towns throughout the world took the name of Lidice in memory of the Czech village that met such a horrific fate. Also, many women born at that time were named Lidice. The once tranquil village Lidice continued to live in the minds of people all over the world, and after the war, the Czechoslovak government decided to build Lidice again.

Lidice – The Memorial to the Children who were Victims of the War

Today Marie Uchytilová’s sculptures from the 1990s overlook the site of the old village of Lidice.  It comprises 82 bronze statues of children who were murdered at Chełmno during the summer of 1942.  The memorial area is linked to the new village by an avenue of linden trees. In 1955 a rosarium of 29,000 rose bushes was created beside the avenue of lindens.

Terezin Concentration Camp, north of Prague

Terezín is a former military fortress and garrison town. In the late 18^th century the Habsburg Emperor Joseph II erected the fortress as a stronghold against the Prussians. He named it after his mother, Empress Maria Theresa. Terezín’s most tragic chapter came during World War II (1939-45). In 1940 Prague’s Gestapo set up the Small Fortress police prison. In 1941 the town of Terezín was changed by the Nazis into a Jewish Ghetto-transit camp. By the end of the war, more than 150,000 deportees had passed through the camp, and some 35,000 died there. Today, the camp stands as a memorial to the dead and a monument to human depravity.

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