The Path to Lidice: And the Legacy of the Lidice Shall Live Campaign

The Lidice Shall Live movement is often overlooked by historians, sometimes treated as a peripheral, insignificant by-product of Operation Anthropoid, except for general references like "Lidice was rebuilt with the help of British miners...". Amongst the bookshelves and in the download sections of libraries, there is a dearth of satisfactory material dealing with how the village of Lidice came to be rebuilt; and the Lidice Shall Live campaign, despite years of awareness-raising, continues to be perceived as an enigmatic symbol of brotherhood, with little in the public domain existing to give it firm foundations. Up until now.

The Lidice atrocity impacted an American society still reeling from the Japanese bombing attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. There, the sense of collective moral outrage meant Lidice was an effective propaganda tool to help energise the American public for the fight against Nazi Germany and Japan, bolstering calls for the nation's full entry into the European War. Britain was in a different situation. There, a mix of nationalities and classes had been actively working with a common purpose to survive the war for well over two years-motivation was not an issue. Empathy and camaraderie for those experiencing the fullest fury of Nazi tyranny led to a fundraising cause to build the village anew.

The Path to Lidice honours the tens of thousands of people across Britain and beyond yet to be thoroughly acknowledged and recognised for the part they played in selflessly giving of themselves to help Lidice live again, the victims of atrocity in all its forms, and at all levels, everywhere. And for that reason, the book is for all of us.