Ležáky

Ležáky (German: Ležak, from 1939: Lezaky), in the Miřetice municipality, was a village in Czechoslovakia. During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the village was completely razed by Nazi forces as reprisal for Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich's assassination in late spring 1942.

Ležáky was inhabited by poor stone-cutters and cottagers living in eight houses near the mill. The village was named after the Ležák rivulet.

Beginning 24 September 1941, SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich was Acting Reichsprotektor for the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The area had been occupied by Nazi Germany since 5 April 1939.

In December 1941, several Allied paratroopers were dropped into the region. Some were sent to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich in an action known as Operation Anthropoid. Another group was part of Operation Silver A. Several Ležáky residents helped the latter group by providing a hiding place for their radio set.

On the morning of 27 May 1942, Heydrich's car was attacked by Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, Czech and Slovak soldiers acting for the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Heydrich died on 4 June 1942.

After the assassination, the Nazis imposed martial law. On 10 June, the village of Lidice was razed and all male inhabitants aged over 15 were shot. Lidice was selected because its residents were falsely accused of harbouring local resistance partisans and aiding Operation Anthropoid team members.

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