Ceskoslovwnsko Posta 30th Anniversary of Massacre of Lidice, Ležáky and Terezin

CESKOSLOVWNSKO POSTA on 16 February 1972 issued three first day cover stamps marking the 30 anniversary of the destruction of the Czechoslovakian villages of Lidice and Ležáky, the massacre and internment of their citizens, as well as the incarceration of Jews from the village of Terezin.

The atrocities took place after Operation Anthropoid, a Czechoslovakian-led mission, to assassinate the Nazi's third in command, SS officer Reinhard Heydrich, who was the main architect behind the Final Solution and the head of Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia. The Nazis razed the Czechoslovakian villages of Lidice and Ležáky, literally wiping Lidice from the map.

A false lead led these fascists to believe that two Czech pilots from Lidice had been involved in the assassination of Heydrich. Even after learning the truth, the fate of Lidice had been decided. All men between ages 15 and 84 were executed (173 total). 53 Lidice woman died in concentration camps. 81 children who were deemed racially inappropriate for Germanisation were murdered by the exhaust fumes of modified trucks at the Nazi extermination camp in Chelmno-on-Ner. The village houses were burned to the ground, along with the Lidice shop buildings and St. Martin's church. The town's cemetery was completely destroyed, the village trees were cut down, and the village pond was filled in with debris, leaving nothing to remain of the town.

German retaliation for Reinhard Heydrich's assassination didn't end there. Hundreds of Czech patriots were condemned to death following the 27 May 1942 assassination attempt (which ultimately proved fatal). In under a month's time, from 28 May 28 to 24 June, the Nazis condemned 695 Czech loyalists to death, including 589 men and 106 women. In the end, more than 13,000 were arrested and as many as 5,000 were murdered in reprisals. The girlfriend of Kan Kubiš -- one of the assassins -- Anna Malinová was among those arrested. She subsequently died in the Mauthausen-Gusen (Austria) concentration camp.

Another source has been established that during this period 3,000 Jews were taken from the Terezin ghetto (Theresienstadt) and exterminated. No one knows how many died in the concentration camps.

A sober estimate is that at least 5,000 Czechs were killed to avenge the death of one murderous Nazi. Among them were all the priests of St. Bartholomeus, not one of whom would say a word about their commando-guests who took refuge within the church.