SS-Brigadeführer Heydrich, head of the Bavarian police and SD, in Munich, 1934 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Visiting the locations in Prague where the heroes responsible for the assassination of Heydrich made their stand, we were thankful for their bravery.
Visiting the locations in Prague where the heroes responsible for the assassination of Heydrich made their stand, we were thankful for their bravery.
The world has the Czech and Slovak people to thank for eliminating Reinhard Heydrich. On June 4, 1942, twelve years to the day before my birth, Reinhard Heydrich succumbed to complications of injuries from the assassination attempt which had occurred in the previous few days. The assassination of Heydrich in Prague was perhaps overshadowed in the West by other events, but of significant importance as a turning point in WWII.
Heydrich (left) at Prague Castle in 1941. To Heydrich’s left is Karl Hermann Frank, State Secretary for the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and Higher SS and Police Leader for Bohemia and Moravia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Known as “Himmler’s brain,” Reinhard Heydrich is perhaps best remembered as the chairman of the infamous Wannsee conference during which the Final Solution was wrought. However, long before that infamous meeting, Heydrich had made a name for himself as a high-ranking official in the SS, responsible for the formation and the ascent of its Gestapo, organizing Kristallnacht, and as President of Interpol. Ironically, it is believed that his ancestry was Jewish, although he took great pains to suppress any information associated with these rumors.
Named Deputy Reich Protector in 1941 of what was called the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, consisting of Czech and Sudeten territory annexed by Hitler for strategic war machine purposes, Heydrich quickly imposed draconian measures designed to “Germanize the Czech vermin.” Terrorizing the population to convert “Czech garbage into Germans” was comprised of “methods based on racist thought.” In his first five months on the job, more than 5,000 people were arrested. In the weeks after February, 1942, resistance was suppressed with further brutality. Heydrich’s enthusiasm for torture, public executions and reprisals caused him to be referred to as “The Butcher of Prague.”
Reinhard Heydrich, Photo Credit: historynet.com
Heydrich appropriated this college building as headquarters, symbolic of the Nazi thought takeover
The Czech resistance used this residential building for clandestine radio operations. The Nazis reviled its “modern” architecture, and used the latest technology to ferret out forbidden radios from the street.
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- http://www.synagogue.cz/the-old-new-synagogue-page/about-the-synagogue/
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- The Jubilee Synagogue detail
Commemorative street plaques of Prague’s Jewish Holocaust victims at their former residence – here lived a father, mother and 11 year old daughter who were deported by Heydrich
Meanwhile, in London, the exiled Czech government coordinated a plan for the assassination of Heydrich with British assistance. Paratroopers trained by British commandos were dropped into the Czech countryside near Prague on December 28, 1941, and perfected their plan while in hiding. On May 27, 1942, on a suburban street that took a hairpin bend, the two assassins, best friends Josef Gabzik and Jan Kubis, made their move. As Heydrich’s Mercedes slowed to negotiate the turn, Gabzik raised an automatic weapon, which jammed. Heydrich inexplicably ordered his driver to stop, and raised his own weapon. At this moment, Kubis threw a bomb he had concealed in a briefcase at the car, wounding Heydrich, whose driver gave chase on foot. Gabzik returned fire, wounding the driver, as both assassins escaped.
Heydrich’s wound proved fatal. Horsehair and other material from the Mercedes seat had penetrated it, and he developed sepsis in the hospital, succumbing on June 4. In the aftermath, the SS conducted what they called a “ratissage” (literally, a rat hunt), in which over 10,000 were arrested. More than 1300 were promptly executed. Hitler personally ordered the eradication of the village of Lidice, after its entire male population was executed, with females and children taken to Theresienstadt concentration camp.
The assassins and their fellow paratroopers were hidden in the basement crypt of the Karel Borromaeus Greek Orthodox Church, in Old Town Prague. Their betrayer was a member of the Czech resistance who wanted the Nazi-offered financial reward. After torturing the young son of a woman who had operated one of the safe houses, including showing him his mother’s severed head, the Nazis obtained their location. The resulting stand-off at the Church ended when the Czech heroes were unable to tunnel their way out under the street and committed suicide.
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- Entrance to the Museum in the Church crypt
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- Steps from the crypt up to the church
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- The tunnel attempt – very moving to see fresh flowers
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- Josef Gabzik’s gun and uniform
The hiding place of heroes
Heydrich had been on his way to Paris to become the Head of the SS in France on the day he was shot. Had he successfully assumed this appointment, the outcome of the war might have been totally different. As it was, Admiral Canaris (Heydrich’s rival head of the Abwehr), believing the Allies would invade France at Calais, bungled the intelligence sufficiently so that the German defensive structure on the shores of Normandy allowed the successful D-Day invasion.
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- WWII in Prague Tour – Sandeman’s
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- Pete with our guide, Martin
Tips: We took the WWII in Prague tour. There is quite a bit of walking with this tour, as you start at the Powder Tower (Prasna brana) through Old Town, proceed to the Jewish ghetto – which Hitler wanted to preserve to glorify his eradication of Jews, the Jewish cemetery, as well as monuments to the Resistance and other memorials related to the post-war and Cold War Soviet occupation. We found the description of the final battleground in Old Town Square, in which the people rose up after Hitler’s suicide, most poignant. This tour lasts for two hours, and is available daily at 10am and 2pm. Reservations recommended. Note that you will have additional time at the Church museum when the tour concludes. We felt a bit rushed at times, but there is a lot to cover. If you have more than a few days, you’ll probably want to revisit the individual sites in more depth. Our guide, Martin, was a personable fellow with excellent English, but his heavy accent and quick delivery made him difficult to follow at times. His book of photos from the Occupation allowed us a fascinating “then and now” aspect (see examples here). Ticket prices are 600CZK (about $30USD) for adults, 500 CZK for students (about $25USD).
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There is always more to learn about the details of WW II in Europe, in this case Prague.
Hi Carole – Yes, indeed. It is a compelling period of history.
What a fascinating tour and scary figurehead, I can’t imagine what would have happened if he did survive.
Hi Noel – Even looking at his photographs gives me the creeps. Truly the face of evil. He would have been formidable in his new assignment in France. It could have been a very different war.
Absolutely chilling! Thanks for making sure we don’t forget this period in history.
Hi Irene – One of my fears is that it will be forgotten.
Just learned about this story when we were in Prague last month. Very interesting piece of history.
Hi Veronica – Indeed. And all the more so being able to see the locations, which would appear so ordinary otherwise.
this would not be a destination for me, but I know that my history-buff hubby would find it intriguing.
Hi Doreen – Glad to pass the info along.
I’d never heard of Heydrich and this story is all new to me. Fascinating!
Hi Billie – This, obviously, is only the last part of the story. Heydrich rose to power in the Nazi ranks as head of the SD intelligence unit. The Final Solution was his concept after the success of Kristallnacht – which was also under his guidance. His outlook was shaped as a teenager when he joined an anti-Semitic organization as a result of the economic aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles in Germany. Fortunately, he was sufficiently narcissistic to dismiss the need for security during his tenure in Prague.
We are both history buffs and WWII is a fascinating chapter both in the European and Asian areas. This tour sounds so interesting and I can understand why you felt rushed at times because it takes a while to absorb such sobering history and see the actual places where so many people were slaughtered. When we visit Prague this tour will also be a must do” on our list.
Hi Anita – I think you’ll be glad you did. It was a natural for us on this particular trip because two weeks prior we’d visited the Normandy beaches and cemeteries, again with a guide. We happened upon this tour only by chance. On our next visit, I am going to take the time to investigate additional resources and guides. The story of the uprising in Old Town Square after Hitler’s suicide is a fascinating coda to this one, and of course there are many more.
A very interesting post. I just finished reading the alternate history novel “Dominion” by C.J. Sansom that portray Britain as it might have been had the Nazis won the war. Quite a chilling concept.
Hi Michele – Thank you for reminding me of this book. I’ve wanted to read it for years and will queue it up on my iPad.
I’ve read quite a lot about the war but I keep coming across new things. I hadn’t heard of Heydrich so thanks for sharing.
Hi Karen – There’s much more to know about Heydrich than his tenure in Prague, of course. He’s in the inner circle of sinister henchmen to Himmler and Hitler, right along with Eichmann and Goering.
Amazing what we’re still learning about WWII. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Nat – Glad to share this pivotal, and lesser-known, event.
Fascinating yet disturbing, more people should share these stories. I have read two books in the last year that included the story of Kristallnacht. Thank you Betsy for taking the tour and for sharing the story of this horrific time.
Hi Suzanne – Thank you, Suzanne. I’m very interested in fiction and non-fiction about this period and region. I am amazed at how quickly adjacent territory, like Sudetenland, was assimilated into the Third Reich. If you were an average citizen, it must have been shocking and surreal.
Very interesting post. Thanks for the history lesson. I love to find out about history through tours of the places where it was made, even when the history is as disturbing as in this case.
Hi Donna – Yes, I agree we need to see and learn. The locations seem so innocuous now, but it wasn’t that long ago. And could happen again. In 1968 on these same streets, Russian tanks rolled in.
Hi Betsy,
I thought I had learned a fair bit about WWll when I was in Prague a couple of years ago, but had not heard this amazing (and very disturbing history). I’m wondering if this might be a tour that started after my visit, since I don’t remember seen it advertised anywhere.
Hi Nancie – I’m not sure how long this tour has been offered; I first noticed the brochure in our hotel’s lobby and saw it again in other places. I do think it could be an entire day and still not cover everything. Overlapping our sightseeing on this tour were memorials to the student patriots of Prague Spring. That, also, could be a completely separate tour. So many layers of history in this region.
Glad you shared the details of this episode in Prague. I wasn’t aware of Heydrich specifically when I was in Prague.
Hi Kristin – Thanks, glad you found it interesting. We hope to return to Prague and dig a little deeper.
Chilling how that time embodied so much evil. My son spent time in Prague in high school and came back a changed person. He spoke for many hours about the horrible events that occurred there. Thanks for sharing more details.
Hi Alison – Agreed, so much and so compressed into a relatively short period. Prague is much, much more than this story, though. How wonderful for your son to get to know the city at such a relatively young age.