Lidice-Tragedy, Revenge, Reconciliation

Lidice-Tragedy, Revenge, Reconciliation

A Roundtable Discussion following the screening of "In the Shadow of Memory" (a film by Jacky Comforty)

Date: April 24, 2012 Thuesday
Time: 2:00-5:00 p.m.
Place: Dolapdere Campus, Movie Theater

In June 1942, Lidice, a village in Czechoslovakia, ceased to exist. Lidice had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia, and Hitler’s order was given to “teach the Czechs a final lesson of subservience and humility”. Village population was killed and/or deported to its entirety. The village was then destroyed – literally wiped off of the map. Seemingly nothing was left of the village, not even the outline.

Nazi propaganda had openly, and proudly, announced the events in Lidice, unlike other massacres in occupied Europe which were kept secret. The information was instantly picked up by Allied media and it became a symbol of Nazi war crimes.

The first commemoration ceremony to honor the memory of Lidice tragedy victims took place on July 10 1945. During this mourning act it was announced that Lidice would be rebuild. The foundation stone of the new village was laid down in May 1947. At the beginning of 1950s the first museum was opened. Today Lidice Memorial is an active institution and there will be a poster presentation organized and delivered by the Lidice Memorial accompanying the screening and the roundtable discussion. The discussion will concentrate not only on atrocities of the 2nd World War, but also the revenge and animosity between neighboring nations in Europe used by propaganda during the Cold War era. Czech – German reconciliation after the end of bi-polar world is a good example of positive impact of the unified Europe and the European Union.

PROGRAM:
14:00 – 15:00 Movie – Screening (52 mins.)
15:00 – 17:00 Discussion and Questions & Answers facilitated by talks of:
Dr. Irena Krasnická, Consul General of the Czech Republic, İstanbul
Dr. Vojtěch Kyncl, Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague
Prof. Dr. Ayhan Aktar, İstanbul Bilgi University