May 27, 1942 – 68 years ago today
Reinhard Heydrich (1904 -42) was one of the most ruthless and bloodthirsty of the Nazis. Highly cultured (he was an accomplished violinist), Heydrich was the number 2 man in the S.S. (right beneath Heinrich Himmler) and the man responsible for organizing and implementing the Holocaust. In January 1942 he chaired a meeting at the Wannsee villa outside Berlin which planned the systematic deportation of the Jews of Europe (from Ireland to Turkey and from Portugal to the USSR) to the extermination camps in Poland. A ruthless, cold blooded and systematic killer, Heydrich (called The Hangman of Prague) was made “Reich’s Protector of Bohemia and Moravia” (what was left of Czechoslovakia after Munich) in 1941. In that position, he ruthlessly put down any opposition to the German government. Heydrich was so effective and feared, that Hitler even once remarked that he would one day make a good Fuhrer. Heydrich was scheduled to leave Prague in 1942 to take up his new position as Head of the German Occupation Government in France. He is reported to have said that “A death sentence has been passed on the Jews of France and Belgium”. The Czechoslovak government in exile decided that the world needed a dramatic demonstration that Czechoslovakia was resisting the Nazis and decided that Heydrich needed to be assassinated. Many in the Czech Resistance begged the Edvard Benes government in exile not to go ahead with an assassination because they rightfully feared the utterly ruthless German reprisals that would follow. Nevertheless it was decided to have Czech soldiers in the army stationed in Britain to do the deed in an Operation called “Operation Anthropoid”. Two Czechoslovak soldiers based in Britain, Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik were selected for the mission.
In December 1941, the paratroopers landed in Czechoslovakia and made their way into Prague. Through resistance workers who worked in Heydrich’s household they familiarized themselves with Heydrich’s daily routines. A perfect spot was found for the assassination which was in the Prague suburb of Liben where Heydrich’s car had to slow down and brake in order to negotiate a horseshoe turn in the road. Gabcik had a Sten gun and was assigned to shoot Heydrich and Kubis had a British modified anti tank bomb to use as a back up weapon. On May 27, 1942 at 10:30 am Jan Kubis and Josef Gabchik mounted an attack on Heydrich’s car. As Gabcik pulled his Sten gun from out of his rain coat and tried to fire, the Sten gun jammed, Jan Kubis seeing what had happened ran forwards and reaching into his briefcase he pulled out and hurled his bomb which exploded against the car. All of the assassins escaped even though Kubis was injured in the face by shell fragments. The mortally wounded Heydrich died on June 4, 1942 from blood poisoning (septicemia), caused by fragments of leather from the automobiles upholstery. Kubis and Gabcik and 5 others took refuge at the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in New Town, Prague. The Gestapo offered 10,000,000 Crowns for information leading to the arrest of the assassins, and promising death to anyone who aided them or knew about their whereabouts without reporting them. Eventually the parachutists were betrayed by a member of their own team named Karel Curda. The Nazis learned out about their hiding place and on June 18, 1942 they surrounded the church. Trapped in the crypt, 4 parachutists fought it out with the S.S. and Gestapo and the other 3 fought from the choir loft – for two hours. The Nazis used the Prague fire department to try to flood them out of the crypt. The four men in the crypt tried but failed to tunnel through to the sewers and escape. All the paratroopers were killed either by the Nazis or by their own hands. S.S. casualties were reported as 14 killed and 21 wounded, but might have been higher. Terrible reprisals followed the assassination. The villages of Lidice (June 10) and Lezaky (June 24) were completely destroyed, all the men were shot, the women taken to concentration camps and most of the children were taken to be adopted by German families. After all the bloodshed, many people questioned whether it was worth it, that the price that Czechoslovakia had to pay for the Nazi collective punishment policy was too high. President Benes felt that it was a tragic necessity because it showed the world that Czechoslovakia was still resisting, also it forced the British to renounce the Munich Agreement and pledge that after the war the Sudetenland (which was ceded to Germany in the Munich appeasement Agreement of 1938) would be returned and that Czechoslovakia would be made whole. Also agreement was reached that after the war over 2 million Germans from the Sudetenland would be expelled due to their treason against the Czechoslovak Republic.
After the war Kurt Daluege and Karl Frank – the two SS generals responsible for the Lidice and Lezaky massacres were returned by the Americans to Prague and after trial, they both were hanged in 1946 as was the traitor Karel Curda.
Note: Heydrich had a younger brother named Heinz Siegfried, who though once as fanatical a Nazi as his infamous older brother, had a metamorphosis and even became active in obtaining false identification documents for Jews in order to save them. When he feared his activities were about to be discovered by the Gestapo he shot himself on November 19, 1944.
Reinhard Heydrich – the face of evil
The assassins – Warrant Officers Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik
The assassination site with Heydrich’s car. Note the horseshoe turn in the road which forced his car to slow down which enabled the attack.
Bullet-scarred facade of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Prague where the attackers were cornered. Note the slit where the S.S. tried to flood them out with fire hoses.
Enjoy this brief 30 minute documentary about the assassination
Tags: Reinhard Heydrich
