The tragic fate of the Czech village was unknown to most participants. They were overwhelmed by the events depicted on the screen. The Centre Director, Mrs. Mary Kluk, recalled that in 2012 the movie Lidice was shown in both other Holocaust and Genocide Centres in South Africa, in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Deputy Head of Mission, Ms. Nicol Adamcová, described the historical context of the movie. The destruction of Lidice was a retaliatory action carried out by the Nazi Germany following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Deputy Reich Protector, by a group of Czech-Slovak paratroopers.    

The screening was accompanied by an exhibition of drawings by South African participants in the International Children’s Exhibition of Fine Arts in Lidice that had been established to commemorate child war victims.

It is worth mentioning that the Durban Holocaust and Genocide Centre’s garden commemorates another tragic site on the Czech territory – the Theresienstadt Ghetto (Terezín). Please look at the enclosed photos.