Views of the Massacre In Lidice From London & New York, 19
Following the successful assassination of Gestapo official Reinhard Heydrich, adevastating revenge was taken on the town of Lidice, where suspected assassins supposedlyreceived "aid and assistance through circles connected with the attack on Heydrich." (NY Times,June 1, pg. 7) Through examination of articles in North America and Europe around the time ofthe Lidice massacre, this essay will briefly discuss the events which took place surrounding andincluding the massacre, what people knew and why according to their news sources, and howpeople reacted to this event (which also depended on the quality and substance of the news On May 27, 1942 at approximately 10:30 am, two Czech patriots, Jan Kubis and JosefGabcik, parachuted from Britain into Prague. They ambushed Heydrich's Mercedes and threw abomb into the front seat. Heydrich received a splinter in his back and was seriously wounded, andwas then taken to the Bulkova hospital. He remained in critical condition for days until he died on On June 9, five days after Heydrich died, an army of the Security Police surrounded thevillage of Lidice, prohibiting anyone from leaving. 172 men and boys over 16 years old were
Even the final article in the series produced in the Timesdidn't fully capture the horrors that the people of Lidice, including Jews, were going through. The Times kept the public updated as to what thedeath toll was and that was about it in each short, to-the-point articles. The NewYork Times stated that the "Czech Government Vows Revenge. Thesewords were used and reused throughout the articles. Nowhere in any Times article does it obviously link the executions to the assassination ofHeydrich. ), and "the name of the village has been erased from official records. " Since the attack does not necessarily giveresponsibility to anyone having anything to do with Lidice. Then theexecutions of the men began taking place. The village was entirely demolished; burned, dynamited andbulldozed. " (The Times, page 20column 2, June 6th, 1942) The Times articles were written by "correspondents" and some information was receivedthrough wireless, and radio sources. I have also learned that reporting is sometimes modified to meet the objectives of thegovernment or party which is in control. Bothsources were descriptive as to who were the ones being executed, reporting that "21 furtherexecutions (were carried out), of which seven are Jews and one a woman. The 90children were taken to a concentration camp at Gneisenau, where they were given German namesand distributed to German families. The New York Times articles were written by Daniel T. " The note also called for the "application of reprisals wheneverpossible" in order to put a stop to the "madness of these German assassins.
Common topics in this essay:
York Times,
Czechoslovak Government,
Lidice Times,
Brigham Times,
Times Times,
Security Police,
VILLAGE WIPED,
HEYDRICH DEATH,
Times June,
Heydrich's Mercedes,
york times,
times article,
times articles,
reinhard heydrich,
final article,
front page,
assassination heydrich,
town lidice,
june 1 pg,
village lidice,
atrocities taking,
primary source information,
times june 1,
ny times june,
1 pg 7,
|
Acceptance Essays
