PRAGUE, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The 76th anniversary ceremony commemorating the victims of the Czech village of Lidice which was razed to the ground by the Nazi regime on June 10, 1942, was held in Lidice on Sunday.
Several government ministers attended the memorial ceremony. Representatives of political parties, embassies and various associations, as well as war veterans and international guests laid wreaths at the common grave of murdered people.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said in his speech that the shocking crime of the Nazis should be a warning for future generations.
Lidice Memorial Director Martina Lehmannova emphasized that the name Lidice became a symbol for all who wanted to fight for freedom, democracy, equality of people and mutual respect. Sunday's ceremony, according to her, was a gathering of people who respect human life regardless of nationality, skin colour or belief.
The Nazis burned the village down in 1942 in retaliation for the assassination of Nazi Deputy Reichsprotector Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovak paratroopers.
All the man in the village were shot dead, women sent to a concentration camp, most of the children were sent to the gas chambers.
