13.7. 1943 The Nazis burned down Český Malín

Among the most famous villages murdered by the Germans during World War II are Lidice and Ležáky. But the Nazi rampage in Český Malín also had a tragic end, where 400 people, including young children, perished.

When the tragic 13th of July 1943 came, a German detachment with about 1500 men arrived in the village first thing in the morning. The Germans first surrounded the Ukrainian Malín and from there the village of Český Malín. There they went into every house and, under the pretext of examining documents, drove the entire population into the streets, from the youngest to the oldest, sick and healthy.

They grouped them together and took them in groups to the Ukrainian Malin. There they separated the children, women and old people from the men and young people. In the meantime, the shooting had already started in the Ukrainian Malin. After lining up and counting the inhabitants of Český Malín, the Germans took them to the gardens between the houses in Ukrajiny Malín, which the Germans had already begun to burn.

Then the Germans herded all the men and some of the women in groups into the church, school and other buildings in Ukrayiny Malin, which they poured incendiary liquid on and set on fire. Those who tried to escape or jump out of the windows were beaten with automatic rifle shots and other weapons. "The rest of the women, children and old men were taken by the Germans back to Český Malín in groups. They cynically explained to the frightened women that they would be released in five minutes. In the meantime, however, they herded them into barns, which they set on fire. They continued their rampage in Český Malín, setting fire to other houses and buildings," the collective of authors writes in the book Krajané: Po stopyce Čechů v východní Evropě.

Only those who were not present in the village on 13 July 1943 or who happened to be in the field at the time were left alive. In addition, Václav Vladimírovič Uhlíř managed to escape from the burning school, Maria Josefovna Zajícová and Ludmila Václavovna Činková from the burning barns. The Germans also burned four compatriots from other villages who happened to arrive in Český Malín on that fateful day.

Witnesses described horrible scenes of bestial behaviour of the Germans. They killed kneeling women with children, pleading for mercy. "In front of the burning barn, they impaled children kneeling in front of them on bayonets, begging for their lives and threw them into the fire. They locked the old woman in the barn, which they set on fire, still shooting at her. In hospitals, they killed the sick who couldn't walk. They threw hand grenades into cellars where people were hiding," the authors of the book "Krajané: In the Footsteps of the Czechs in Eastern Europe" write.

400 people died in the Czech town of Malin, 132 in the Ukrainian town of Malin. 68 houses and 223 barns were burnt down in Český Malín .

Sources: collective of authors, Krajané: Po stopyách Čechů ve východní Evropě, Vladimír Liška, Nejděsivější místa české historie, https://newsbeezer.com/