Crest Hill City Councilwoman Tina Oberlin reads the House Resolution 933 offered by Natalie Manley at the Lidice Memorial ceremony June 7. (Photo courtesy of state Rep. Natalie Manley)

 

 

State Rep. Natalie Manley offered a House Resolution honoring Crest Hill’s memorial to the Village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia, which was destroyed by Adolf Hitler, in 1942.

Manley read House Resolution 933 at a recent Crest Hill City Council meeting.

“The Lidice Memorial that the community of Crest Hill has so dedicatedly nurtured for eight decades is an international symbol of resistance to Nazi brutality,” said Manley, D-Joliet. “Many generations of local volunteers have enhanced it, making certain that Lidice will never be forgotten.”

Beginning June 9, 1942, Hitler ordered the total annihilation of the Village of Lidice in retaliation of the death of a high-ranking Nazi officer. At the time, Hitler falsely claimed that residents of Lidice were linked to the death, when in fact, the officer was killed as the result of a top-secret British and Czechoslovakian operation.

On that evening, Nazi forces executed 173 men and boys by firing squad in groups of 10. Women and girls were shipped to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where they endured forced labor, medical experimentation and execution in gas chambers.

Children were evaluated for potential “Germanization” under Nazi racial laws. Nine children were selected for “Germanization” through the Lebensborn Program. The rest were executed in gas chambers, or placed in orphanages, where few survived.

About 20 Lidice residents who were working away from home were captured in following days and executed.

The entire village was burned and plowed flat, while Hitler broadcast the total destruction as propaganda as to what would happen to anyone who resisted the Nazi rule.

Two days later, Dominic Romano, developer of the Stern Park subdivision (which would become part of Crest Hill) became the first person to rename his development after Lidice, dedicating it on July 12, 1942.

A year later, Romano rededicated it during a visit by exiled Czechoslovakian President Edvard Benes in May 1943.

The area known as Lidice, Illinois, was incorporated into the City of Crest Hill in 1960. Also, Crest Hill became a sister city to the Czechoslovakian village. A sign saying “Lidice” could be seen as a destination on local Pace buses.

In 1995, vandals destroyed the monument, which received global attention. Through the generosity of the Czechoslovakian American Congress, and global donations, the original monument was replaced with a larger granite monument, plaza and park.

Then, in unity with the Park and Peace and Friendship in Lidice, Czechoslovakia, the City of Crest Hill planted 82 rose bushes, in honor of the 82 innocent Lidice children whom Hitler killed.

“There is good reason why this jewel of Crest Hill has become a destination stop for visitors along the Historic Route 66, who come from around the world,” Manley said.

“I want to particularly thank Mayor Ray Soliman and Council Member Tina Oberlin, along with countless other past mayors, community members and volunteers, who have dedicated their time to this memorial. Because of them, the memory of those children and people of Lidice will never die.”

Crest Hill hosts an memorial celebration annually on the first Sunday in June, the closest date to the destruction of Lidice in 1942. The event is attended by representatives of the Czechoslovak American Congress and residents from Czech areas and schools in the Chicago area.

A 2013 documentary, “Lidice, A Light Across the Sea,” is available on You Tube.

Farmers Weekly Review Editor Nick Reiher contributed to this story.