Estrada Real - Lidice

Encircled by the Parado River, Lidice is a small district of Rio Claro. Formerly known as Santo Antônio do Capivari, in 1944 the district changed its name in honour of the Czech village that was decimated by the Nazis two years earlier as retaliation for the assassination of one of Hitler’s SS Generals. Hitler suspected that the villagers were harbouring the assassins and he wanted to make an example of them by razing the village and executing or imprisoning its citizens. His overall intent was to erase the village from history. To ensure that the memory of the village remained alive, communities in the United States, Panama, and this district in Brazil changed their names to Lidice.

In the central square of Lidice is a 16ft (5m) tall bronze monument of a phoenix representing the Czech village’s rise from the ashes. It also “symbolizes the friendship between the people and peace among nations”. The nearby Cultural Centre exhibits various Czech artifacts, artworks and traditional puppets.

On my way out of town I stopped at a local bakery for a snack when I discovered that from its rear balcony, I was able to enjoy a bird's-eye view of Lidice's verdant valley with its gently curling river and the mountainous region beyond.

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