This afternoon, Czech President Mr. and Ms. Milos Zeman paid a visit to the Memorial Hall. After attending the closing ceremony of the "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit held in Beijing yesterday, President Milos Zeman came to Nanjing, accompanied by Li Qiang, secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, and visited the Memorial Hall.
 

President Milos Zeman was the second foreign head of state to visit the Memorial Hall after Queen Margaret II of Denmark. He is also the first incumbent president to visit the Memorial Hall.

The first stop of the Mr. and Mrs. Milos Zeman group was the memorial square of the Memorial Hall where they offered wreath to the victims and bowed to express condolence.

In the memorial square, the Milos Zeman couple were earthing up and watering a Czech tilia tree.

In front of the meditation room of the Memorial Hall, Milos Zeman wrote a message and signed on the guest book.
　　

On the scene, the head of the Memorial Hall gave Mr. and Mrs. Milos Zeman a "Zijin Grass" badge and silk scarf symbolizing peace.

Milos Zeman said that the reason for visiting the Memorial Hall was the same as the one that he went to participate in the military parade ceremony on the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in Beijing two years ago. During the Anti-Japanese War, Chinese compatriots were massacred.“Today I came here to mourn these victims. I think this is my duty”.
　
When talking about the “New Silk Road”, Milos Zeman said that the “New Silk Road” is the most important global infrastructure initiative in the new era, and we are very willing to participate in such an initiative. I am very much looking forward to the step of "Belt and Road" can be extended to the friendly Czech Republic!
　　
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During World War II, the Czech Republic, like Nanjing of China, suffered a brutal massacre launched by fascists!
　
The Lidice Tragedy and the Leshaki Tragedy were two horrific cases in which the German fascists of World War II conducted indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi’s leader in the Czechoslovakia.

Picture of Lidice Tragedy

At 19:45 on June 9, 1942, Carl Frank, the head of the Waffen-SS region, ordered a verbal instruction from Berlin: Today, in accordance with the order of the head of the state (Editor's Note: Hitler), the following measures should be taken against Lidice village:
　
First, shoot all adult male residents;
　　
Second, put all female residents into concentration camps;
　
Third, gather the children together and send the qualified ones to families of the Imperial Waffen-SS for German education; the remaining children who are not suitable for German education will be educated in other forms;
　　
Fourth, it is necessary to burn the entire place and flatten it with the help of fire brigade.
　
On June 10, 1942, the Nazi army surrounded Lidice Village under the pretext of that some villager had hidden the assassins. All 173 men over the age of 15 were shot and the women and children were escorted to concentration camps.

On the scene of Lidice Tragedy

Most of the 104 children in the village were killed in the gas chamber of Chelmno, Poland, and only 17 survived after the war.
　
The Nazis also set fire to the houses and razed the village to the ground.
　　
Two weeks later, the Gestapo extended to the village of Leshaki in the eastern Bohemian, 170 km southeast of Lidice. Just because the villagers were suspected of having contact with the resisters of the landing from the air for assassination, the devils burned the village and killed all adult men and women.
　
Eleven of the 13 children died in the Nazi concentration camp. The original 47 residents of Leshaki Village completely disappeared from the world.
　　
After World War II, the Czechs began to rebuild the village of Lidice. When the original inhabitants returned to their original places, they only saw a deserted meadow.
　　
In the excavation project, the workers unearthed an old village sign of Lidice Village. So far, this sign symbolizing Lidice Village has been remained in the spot.
　　
On June 10 each year, the Czech Republic will hold a commemorative ceremony in the village of Lidice to mourn the innocent victims who died in the horrendous massacre by the German fascists.
　
In 2011, the Czech Republic also filmed the Lidice Holocaust, which recorded this tragedy. The picture shows the film still of Lidice Holocaust. 

What happened to the children in Lidice Tragedy is heartbreaking.

Old photos of children in the village preserved on the website of Lidice Exhibition Hall 

In November 1949, in order to mourn the Lidice Tragedy of June 10, 1942 and all the children died in the war, against the killing and poisoning of children, and protect children’s rights, the International Federation of Democratic Women held a council meeting in Moscow, in which it was decided that June 1st of each year is set as the International Children's Day.
　
War brings pain, and the extension of the butcher knife to civilians and children is the darkest chapter in the history of human civilization. On December 13, 1937, the Japanese invaders launched the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing, killing innocent civilians. As the victim of the war, people from all walks of life in the Czech Republic have entered the Memorial Hall for many times.

On June 11, 2014, Mladek (left), the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic led a delegation to visit the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. The picture shows the Minister was reading a display board about the story of John Rabe.

After the visit, Minister Mladek also left a message on the guest book: deeply mourning the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

On April 22, 2015, Novak (second from right), the Czech Moravia-Silesian Governor, was visiting the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

On July 29, 2014, the Czech National Television crew interviewed Yu Changxiang, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.
　
He said, "Some acts of the Japanese government are outrageous. The Nanjing Massacre is a history that has actually happened. I told my story from beginning to end, hoping more people could understand this history, and hope that war and pain will not repeat."
　　
War brings only sorrow and pain to all mankind. It annihilates humanity and order.
　　
At the moment, every time we look back at history, it is like lighting a spiritual torch. In the age of peace, reflecting on the cruelty of war will remind us of profound warning!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Produced by “Zijin Grass Studio”