Lidice – A Light Across the Sea is the inspiring story of how workers from the UK helped rebuild a Czechoslovak village raised to the ground by the Nazis during the Second World War.

On 9 June 1942 the Nazis – under the command of Adolf Hitler – destroyed the small Czechoslovak town of Lidice, killing all the men and sending the women and children to concentration camps. Hitler proclaimed that ‘Lidice Shall Die’ and in the UK the ‘Lidice Shall Live’ campaign was born in direct response to Hitler’s declaration.

The ‘Lidice Shall Live’ campaign was launched in Stoke on Trent in September 1942 at the Victoria Hall. The campaign was led by local MP Barnett Stross who asked workers and miners to donate a weeks wages to help rebuild the village. Around one million pound (in today’s money) was raised to rebuild the village. A remarkable amount when you consider the UK was at war and rationing was in place across the country.

This documentary, released in 2013, features interviews with the survivors, archive footage and the memories of people who were at the launch of the campaign in 1942.

“The miner’s lamp dispels the shadows on the coalface. It can also send a ray of light across the sea to those who struggle in darkness”. So said Sir Barnett Stross in 1942 and the film takes its name from this title.

Courtesy of Inspired Film and Video, Stoke on Trent