The shape of the original village

Thanks to work of the military institute of topography in Dobruška we have a chance to see a video display of simulation of the original shape of the village Lidice. It is exhibited in the reception of the museum of Lidice Memorial. During virtual flight over the reverent area and new Lidice the silhouettes of houses that do not exist anymore start slowly appearing from the silent landscape. With the aid of modern technical equipment we can imagine much better what kind of village Lidice used to be.

Die to technical heftiness it is not possible to display the whole video show on our website therefore we offer you at least static picture of the village shape.

Picture view:

• Picture in JPG format, shape of the picture 900 x 1280 points, size 387kb
• Picture in JPG format, shape of the picture 2366 x 3366 points, size 1,8MB

This picture was developed from air photos from 1938 and 2005 that were supplied from the military archive by The Military Geographical and Hydro meteorological Office in Dobruška.

The project was developed by Aleš Kachlík – a student from the school of graphic Michael in cooperation with Ing. Čestmír Sklenička.

There was a German report referring to the intervention in Lidice on June 10 1942 which was released and printed in protectorate and German Reich press on the following day, June 11 1942. Among other things there was mentioned:

"The village of Lidice…. erased from maps... "

There are only a few cases where we know what conditions, sacrifice and courage it must have taken so that this intention could have been avoided. It also applies to the archive of The Military Geographical and Hydro meteorological Office in Dobruška.

This instrument helps us recognize location of the village houses that stood on the reverent area in August 1938. The photographs of the reverent area were taken in 2005. However it could not be created without the aerial photographs of the original village Lidice and its neighbourhood that were rescued and well kept until today. It is only a beginning of the usage of these archived documents.

The map though can be helpful for the visitors of The Lidice Memorial already today for their easier orientation on the reverent area. It can be as well used as an instrument for guide services and it will also help the living witness of the tragedy and their descendants as well as teachers for their work.

The resolution kept in the archived originals has much wider use. Further exploitation will also depend on an educational centre of The Lidice Memorial that is being prepared.

It is very difficult to list everyone who has merit in preparation and publication of this instrument. Those people are from The Military Geographical and Hydro meteorological Office, from The Lidice Memorial and elsewhere. They all deserve words of thanks; especially we would like to thank the head of the archive of Military Geographical and Hydro meteorological Office Marie Hájková and the employee of The Lidice Memorial Martina Pešková and Aleš Kachlík, a student of the school of graphic Michael.

Annotation by Ing. Čestmír Sklenička from Lidice