CREST HILL – Will County Executive Larry Walsh joined local officials and the Consul General of the Czech Republic in commemorating the 70^th anniversary of the destruction of Lidice, Czechoslovakia.

     Walsh joined State Sen. Pat McGuire and Crest Hill Mayor Ray Soliman in presenting proclamations during the ceremony at Lidice Park in Crest Hill on Sunday, June 10.

     The three men joined Consul General Dana Hunatova in remembering how Adolf Hitler ordered that Lidice be destroyed on June 10, 1942, in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia. The townspeople were executed or sent to concentration camps or gas chambers. The town was taken off maps and the cemetery was even plowed under to demonstrate Hitler’s power.

     In defiance of Hitler’s actions to eliminate Lidice, Dominic Romano, who built a subdivision in what is now Crest Hill, changed its name from Stern Park to Lidice. On July 10, 1942, the memorial was unveiled.

     Walsh told attendees that he is the proud grandfather of 18, and every morning, he prays that they will someday live in a world without war. A world in which such atrocities do not occur.

     The ceremony was sponsored by the member organizations of the Czechoslovak American Congress and the City of Crest Hill. It also was taped and will be available for viewing on Crest Hill community television.