On 10 October 2012 Federal President Joachim Gauck and Daniela Schadt travelled to the Czech Republic. As well as holding political talks in Prague with President Václav Klaus and Prime Minister Petr Nečas, the Federal President met activists involved in the 1989 Velvet Revolution and visited the Lidice memorial just outside the capital.

Lidice symbolizes the sufferings of the Czech population during the German occupation. In June 1942, in reprisal for the attack on Reinhard Heydrich, German police units destroyed the villages of Lidice and Ležáky, shooting most of the men and deporting the women and children.

On 8 June this year, on the 70th anniversary of the crime, Federal President Gauck extended his sympathies in a letter to Czech President Klaus, at the same time voicing his shame. Klaus appreciated this as a “positive gesture”.