LONDON e¢

PARIS

25 YEARS LATER

Where are
he children

oO

Lidice?

By V. RASIN

PRAGUE
ERHAPS it was the mechani-
cal organization and the
monstrous brutality of Nazism in
Lidice that shook the conscience
of the world in June, 1942 and
united the people to fight reso-
lutely against all forms of fas-
cism. Everyone knows that the
alleged ‘“‘guilt” of the inhabi-
tants of Lidice for the assassi-
nation of the top S.S. leader
Reinhard Heydrich, the enemy
of the Czech nation, was a mere
fabrication. Post-war evidence
given by the Nazis, as did the
documents of that time, proved
that the falsity of this charge
was known to the Nazi authori-
ties already at the time of the
execution. But, not one of the
men of Lidice survived and of
the 195 women, 49 died in the
Ravensbruck concentration
camp. The village-was razed to
the ground and its name effaced
from the maps.

On that night in June, child-
ren went to bed as quietly as
usual in Lidice. Destruction was
approaching in the dark of mid-
night and soon after it invaded
the sleeping cottages.

And so, in the morning, when
the women and children left
their homes in Nazi camions,

the first shots of the execution
squad rang out, and to the
sounds of howling dogs and bel-
lowing cattle, the first flames of
the blazing village reached up
to the sky.

Three days later came the
hour of parting, in the gymna-
sium of the Kladno secondary
school where the people of Li-
dice had been held. Mothers set
out for their sad journey to
Ravensbruck, while the children
were. dealt with according: to
Article 3 of Hitler’s personal
order which said: ‘‘To gather to-
gether children suitable to be
Germanized and to put them into
families of the SS in the Reich.
The remainder to be educated
otherwise.” According to the
physiognomy and the pseudo-
scientific study of the dimen-
sions of the children’s heads,
nine were selected as racially
suitable, and abducted. Seven
children under one year (the
youngest baby was 14 days old)
were transported to a special
institution in Prague. Six child-
ren were born in a secret shelter
of the Gestapo in Prague after
the Lidice tragedy. They were
taken away from their mothers
and most of them died soon
after birth. Eighty-two children
were murdered in the Chelm ex-
termination camp after one

MOSCOW ¢

Today's children pick roses in the Czech village

of Lidice. In

the background is the simple monument over the mass grave of the
men executed by the Nazis and the site of the destroyed village.

month of suffering in occupied
Poland. Seventeen children sur-
vived.

It is difficult to imagine the
martyrdom of the children of
Lidice. One of the stolen boys,
Vaclav Hanf, said after return-
ing to his country in 1945: “They
put me into a train (he was six
at that time) and I went alone
to a town. There I met my sister
Anna again and for a time I was
allowed to live with her in a
German family whose name was
Strauss. Then suddenly I was
taken to a camp which was
headed by an SS-man. Food was
scarce and we were beaten for
the slightest reason and detain-,
ed in dark underground cells.
When being transported to an-
other camp, we were strafed by
planes and one of the bullets
passed through my arm. I was
ill for a long time, without any
medical care. One day we were

A former Canadians Ii

HE seven-hour work day is

finished. The evening is

ahead. How to spend the free
hours before going to bed? Some
people go to the movies, others
settle before TV sets or take off
to concerts. But some hurry
to schools for working youth
and after a day’s work, sit he-
hind school desks to receive an
elementary or high school edu-
eation.

One such school is in the
Soviet city of Babayevo. Here, in
one of the classrooms, a group
of students surrounds a tall
worker. He is Gregory P. Matz-
kevich, former Russian-Canadian

ene time resident of Vancouver,
who arrived in the Soviet Union
in 1958 and is now working in
the forest industry there.

“Nine years ago I came to the
Soviet Union,” says Matzkevich.
“My wife and I were received
warmly and given a home and
employment. True, in the begin-
ning it was a bit dull. Everything
new, unusual, no friends or ac-
quaintances. But that did not
last long. Soon we got to know
many people, acquired good
friends. My work is appreciated,
my comrades respect me. Espe-
cially, since I began my studies.

“For us, workers In the forest

June 16, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 8

industry, the state provides spe-
cial privileges. We get a month's
vacation with pay yearly and
every three years an_ extra
month is added. Thus, I'm get-
ting two months vacation this
summer at the expense of the
industry I am working for.

“During the period of this
additional vacation we will be
provided with free transporta-
tion to any place in the country.
There is the choice of the Far
East, Crimea or Caucasus—any
place, any distance.

“We have two children—l!1-
year-old David attending the 4th
grade and 6-year-old Serge, a
kindergarten pupil. We are all

all ordered out into the court-
yard. The SS were bringing in
a 12-year-old Polish boy. He had
to put his head on a block and
the SS-man chopped it off with
a big axe. They told us that this
treatment would await anyone
who committed a serious of-
fence.” s

Marie Hanfova, Vaclav’s 12-
year-old sister, was sold for 50
marks to the Richter family
and was compelled to use their
name. Another—the third of the
Hanf children, Anna, who sur-
vived, was also sold by the SS
for the same sum to another
German family at Cottbus.

All of these deported children
met with a similar fate, return-
ing home one after another as
they were found. This continued
until the summer of 1947. They
had forgotten their mother
tongue, some of them could not
recognize their own mothers any

ein the

‘a-learning, as the saying goes, .
\

old and young.”

Yes, Gregory Matzkevich is
working and studying. And one
does not interfere with the other.
He is studying with great love
and diligence. And he has a lot
of subjects to learn: Russian
language, literature, algebra, ge-
ometry, history, physics, chemis-
try, etc. He'll complete the
eight-year course this year and
get his graduation papers.

An ordinary worker who re-
turned to his fatherland from
far-off Canada is working and
studying. This right is granted
every citizen of the U.S.S.R.

Free education in schools and

more.
vived.

"RIO DE JANEIRO © PEKING © NEW DELHI ¢ DJAKAT

Nevertheless,

Eighty-two childret
survive. Death appl
stealthily. They Jay

the concrete flo

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of the collec a

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bit of straw, W!
only half-dresse@,

had been
leave their
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t night.
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me
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They knew nothing ® 4

fate of their parents
village. They begs®
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paper, and

: postage sta

imagine an

for coin
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yth

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than are the. letem
children of Lidice:
children took care ®
er—the two-three i

olds who “

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because we
nothing

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hu

ar

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stand up in,” one
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to his aunt

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pelicho'®

agut

laugh at our reques
send it (something 7

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ot
nd OO

how long we a!@ ood

at this place.

and Venda”
Venda 10.

—

en u

ing i

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of J
At the peginning ° 0

were
where all
lost. Only
of Andrzej
gardener,

upon their rragi¢ ane

transpor

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how they wet

how all of
to undress

them
and

the ing

wit

to the nearby i
were no gas ©

The job was done
metically seale iven ol
the truck was

by forest,

gassed and

burned at a

es were either Rive
into the Varta at
But still “te “rit

ponsible for
not been pun

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been brought 4

ren are still

ee
nocent P peor
still

of innocent
The world h

its lesson from

SSR

universities,
vice, care 4 f
and choice °

cording to

are the bene

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By the

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Soviet poweh

Matzkevich,
work five d

the other tw

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