Salt Lake Telegram | 1943-09-24 | Page 5 | Lidice Death Witness Vanishes in France

Lidice Death Witness Vanishes in France prance By John A. A Tarris Parris LONDON Sept 24 UP One UP-One One of the few men who knew the full story of what happened at Lidice when that Czech village was wiped out by the nazis has vanished in France probably a victim of the gestapo agents who trailed him miles across Europe I In a big steel filing cabinet on the third floor of an old brownstone brownstone brownstone brown- brown stone building here in London he heis heis heis is listed as Karl Horak but his true identity known to fewer than thana a dozen persons is hidden among the names on the Lidice town roll Bit by bit Czech intelligence gence agents here have pieced together the story of his month 12 flight from Czechoslovakia toward Britain Britain Britain Brit Brit- ain where he had hoped to tell his story but the trail disappeared three months ago with word that he was crossing the German frontier frontier frontier fron fron- tier to France No further reports have been received from the underground network network net net- work worl which helped him to fight sickness hunger despair and always always always al al- al- al ways the gestapo as he made his way across Germany Piece Together Stor Story But before he vanished Horak told part of his story to underground underground underground under under- ground leaders and from their reports the intelligence officers have been able to piece together a fair picture of what happened at Lidice Horak didn't face a nazi firing squad in St. St Martins Martin's churchyard at Lidice because he had lingered over a glass of wine in Prague and missed a bus home He hitched a ride part way then cut across the fields through forest On the forests forest's edge he stumbled into a German patrol and hid in inthe inthe inthe the underbrush The run was just rising when he reached a hill overlooking overlooking overlooking over over- looking Lidice Heard Screams An angry glow rose from the valley in which the village nestled He heard guns and saw German armor drawn up about the village He heard the screams of women I and children being carted away I in trucks to concentration camps and nazi ed educational centers Next he saw a pile of bodies in St. St Martins Martin's churchyard He watched great fires sweep through the town He saw nazi artillery blast the town into rubble From I his vantage point on the hill he I watched Lidice die His father was among the dead along with Father Sternberger the priest the schoolmaster ter the grocer Suchy the verger the publican the policeman the grave gravedigger digger and the aged gardener Found Underground When the sun was high Horak moved back into the forest and headed for Prague keeping leeping to byways byways by by- ways and back trails In Prague he went to an underground post and told what he had seen He said he was determined to get to England Three days after Lidice Horak Horal began his flight How he managed managed managed man man- aged to get to France is a closely guarded underground secret but there were days when he hid in forests and barns slept in the rain and snow was cold and went hungry i iA A Czech intelligence officer Friday Fri Fri- day moved Horak's dossier from II the active to the inactive files His name was put with the martyr martyrs mar mar- tyr of Lidice I