The victims of one of the worst acts of brutality of the Second World War, have been remembered at a ceremony in the city centre.
The ceremony marked the 83rd anniversary of the Lidice atrocity, which took place on 10 June 1942, when Nazi forces entered the mining village of Lidice, Czechia.
In retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, 'The Butcher of Prague', by British-trained Czech resistance fighters, the Nazis executed 173 men, forcibly removed the women and children and destroyed the village.
Today (Tuesday 10 June) the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, Councillor Steve Watkins and Honorary Custodian, Councillor Ross Irving laid a wreath at the Messenger of Hope pear tree – grown from a cutting from the only living thing to survive the atrocity.
Cheryl and Alan Gerrard - trustees of the Lidice Lives organisation – have donated a print of ‘Lidice Shall Live’ by Sid Kirkham to the city. The artwork – the original of which is in the prestigious Lidice Collection in Czechia – will be hung in the newly named Lidice Hall at the Civic Centre in Stoke as a lasting reminder of the enduring friendship between Stoke-on-Trent and Lidice.
The bond between the two communities goes back to September 1942, when news of the massacre sparked an extraordinary response in Stoke-on-Trent. Local GP and Councillor Barnett Stross, alongside the North Staffordshire Miners' Federation led the "Lidice Shall Live" campaign in direct defiance of Adolf Hitler's claim that "Lidice shall die".
The campaign was launched at a mass meeting at the Victoria Hall in Hanley on 6 September 1942. It raised £32,000 - the equivalent of more than £1.5 million today – with most of the donations coming from local miners who gave part of their wages to help rebuild the village.
Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, Councillor Steve Watkins, said: “I am incredibly proud to represent our city as we remember both the tragedy that took place in Lidice and the inspiring response of the people of Stoke-on-Trent.
“At the launch of the Lidice Shall Live campaign, at the Victoria Hall in Hanley, Dr Edvard Beneš, the Czech President in exile, said ‘From now on, Stoke-on-Trent will live forever in the heart of every Czech citizen.’ The newly named Lidice Hall will be another powerful reminder of this enduring friendship for generations to come.”
Honorary Custodian, Councillor Ross Irving, said: “As Lord Mayor, I was proud to plant the Messenger of Hope pear tree outside the Victoria Hall in Hanley in 2018, alongside Cheryl and Alan Gerrard.
“Seven years on, it’s an honour to be involved in continuing to remember the victims of this terrible atrocity and celebrating the strong links between our two mining communities in my role as Honorary Custodian of the city of Stoke-on-Trent.”
For more information on Lidice, go to www.stoke.gov.uk/Lidice
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