Lehmann rejects the accusation that she does not respect the facts about Lidice

Lidice - The director of the Lidice Memorial, Martina Lehmannová, who resigned today, rejects the allegations that she does not respect the facts about Lidice. She no longer has confidence in the Minister of Culture, Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD), and therefore decided to resign, she said at today’s extraordinary press conference. Employees of the memorial expressed support for Lehmannová and stated that she had to face pressure, including from the Lidice organization of the Union of Fighters for Freedom, which was also highlighted in her statement by the last living Lidice woman, Jaroslava Skleničková.

Some survivors of the annihilation of Lidice accused the director last year of distorting the facts. This was a reaction to a television report about an alleged denunciation by a Lidice resident, who supposedly reported her Jewish landlord to the police. The report was based on research by historian Vojtěch Kyncl from the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences, who previously told ČTK that he relied on sources that he considers authentic.

"I am proud of my work at the memorial," Lehmannová added today, stating that she was given a choice by the minister to either resign or be dismissed. She has been at the helm of the memorial since April 2017. Her statutory deputy, Dagmar Kosová, head of the economic department, will temporarily lead the institution. The ministry will announce a competition for the position.

The employees of the memorial disagree with the acceptance of the resignation, claiming that a fabricated campaign has long been waged against the director. "We ask that the Ministry of Culture does not make decisions ad hoc based on fabricated complaints," said memorial spokesman Filip Petlička.

In a letter to the Minister of Culture, Skleničková writes, among other things, that she cannot complain about the activities of the memorial, as it functions well, dignifiedly, and with full responsibility. According to Skleničková, the report by Czech Television was poorly timed, and the director's appearance in it was neutral.

The Lidice Memorial commemorates the Nazi extermination of the village of Lidice on June 10, 1942. The pretext was the alleged connection of the village to the assassination of the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich; of the approximately 500 inhabitants of Lidice, only 160 survived the war. On June 10, 1942, 173 Lidice men were shot directly in Lidice, and subsequently, on June 16, 1942, another 26 citizens of Lidice were killed in Prague-Kobylisy. Fifty-three women from Lidice did not survive their time in concentration camps. In a deportation camp, 82 children from Lidice were suffocated in a gas vehicle. After the liberation, a total of 143 women from Lidice and 17 children gradually returned to Lidice.