The Lidice Memorial had the unsightly buildings removed from the memorial area.

Lidice (Kladensko) - The Lidice Memorial removed unattractive buildings from the memorial site in May. These were buildings that served workers during the construction of the memorial and the new village, and later for the storage of furniture. One of them also served in the past as a temporary museum. They stood in the place where Rákos' farm was located before the village was destroyed in 1942. In the fall, the memorial plans to cut down the local invasive trees, and next spring, an orchard is to be gradually created here, which will include tree stumps from the original farm's garden as well as newly planted trees. Jana Chourová Plachá, the deputy director of the Lidice Memorial, said this today to ČTK.

Today marks 80 years since the destruction of the village. Václav Rákos and his sons Josef and Václav were shot by Nazis in Lidice on June 10, 1942, and his wife Marie was tortured to death in Auschwitz. Only their daughter Marie survived. 340 inhabitants of Lidice fell victim to the Nazis; after the war, 143 women from Lidice returned and, after two years of searching, 17 children.

Rákos' farm was situated by the road leading to Makotřasy. The buildings constructed here in the 1950s were never registered in the land registry. The area also gradually became overgrown with invasive trees, and some people left litter there. Therefore, the leadership of the memorial decided to change the situation and restore the place to a dignified form. "The goal is to alert visitors that they are still moving in the territory of the original village," said Chourová Plachá.

Although the buildings were not officially documented, their demolition was approved by heritage protectors because they were within the area of a national cultural monument. The memorial also officially recorded them for the preservation of information.

The future orchard may also include walnut trees originating directly from Lidice. In 1942, two relatives of the Rákos family, who lived in a nearby village, collected walnuts that had fallen from the heat after the burning of Lidice. Several trees grew from these in the former garden in Prague 6 and have been preserved. The walnuts will serve as seeds for new saplings that should also return to Lidice.

The Lidice Memorial is also planning to restore the spring that was located in the farm area. However, it is currently not possible to determine whether its source has been preserved. This could be revealed once the cleaning of the area from invasive trees begins in the fall.