German president to visit ČR, may go to Lidice

Berlin, Sept 25 (CTK) - German President Joachim Gauck will meet his counterpart Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Petr Necas, and he may also visit the Lidice village, central Bohemia, during his visit to the Czech Republic on October 10, according to CTK's information.

The date of the visit, Gauck's first in his capacity as president, has been announced by his office.

Lidice was razed to the ground in 1942 within the Nazi reprisals for Czechoslovak paratroopers' lethal attack on German Deputy Reichsprotector Reinhard Heydrich.

On the tragedy's 70th anniversary this June, Gauck sent a letter to Klaus, assuring him that Germany is aware of its historical responsibility for the massacres in Lidice and Lezaky, another Czech village completely destroyed by the Nazis, and that it shares the pain for the victims.

In the letter Gauck expressed his admiration for the Czechoslovak paratroopers who attacked Heydrich.

Klaus announced Gauck's planned visit to the Czech Republic at his meeting with Czech ambassadors at the end of August, but he did not specify its date then.

Gauck became German president this March when he replaced Christian Wulff who was forced to resign over scandals dating back to the period before his presidency. Wulff paid an official visit to the Czech Republic in 2010. Last December, he represented Germany at the funeral of former Czech president Vaclav Havel.