Memorial to those who died following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Cathedral of Sts Cyril and Methodius, Prague

            A memorial dedicated to all those who died in the aftermath of Operation Anthropoid in 1942. Operation Anthropoid was a plot to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich (one of the main architects of the Final Solution and also in charge of occupied Czechoslovakia where he had earned the nickname 'The Butcher of Prague' due to his brutality).

Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš were members of the Czechoslovak Army-in-Exile and were trained at a commando centre in Scotland before parachuting into occupied Czechoslovakia with the mission to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich on his way to his office in Prague. The plot did not go according to plan when Jozef Gabčík's machine gun jammed as he tried to shoot Heydrich as he passed by in the back of his chauffeur-driven open top Mercedes. However, Jan Kubiš managed to throw a grenade into the back of the car which exploded. Heydrich tried to give chase with a pistol when he got out of the car but then collapsed from his injuries. Heydrich was taken to hospital and seemed to be recovering from his wounds but then succumbed to an infection and died.

Nazi retribution for the attack was brutal. The Nazis raised the village of Lidice to the ground and shot all the male population over 15 years old. Most of the women and children were deported to concentration camps where they were murdered.

Jozef Gabčík, Jan Kubiš along with a a number of other operatives involved in Operation Anthropoid, eventually sought refuge in the Cathedral of St Cyril and Methodius (with the knowledge of Bishop Gorazd, the priest in charge of the cathedral). Their whereabouts were eventually betrayed and 750 SS soldiers laid siege to the church trying to force those inside out by shooting at the the church, tear gas and trying to flood the crypt where Gabčík and Kubiš were hiding. None of the operatives surrendered and either died from their wounds or committed suicide. 

Bishop Gorazd and a number of other church members, along with the entire immediate families of the operatives were all subsequently executed by the Nazis.

The brutality with which the Nazis responded was one of the influencing factors for the post-war Czechoslovak government's decision to expel the ethnic German population (over 3 million people) at the end of the WWII,

Taken in: Bohemia / Hlavní město Praha / Praha 2 / New Town (show map)

Taken on: October 24, 2023

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Sets appears in: • Prague

Groups appears in: • Prague • Prague ... more » • Prague / Praha • War Memorials • Praha - Prague • European Capitals • Flickr War and Memory in Art and Photography Gallery • : War Memorials : • Scars of War • Images of World War Two • Praha, Prague, Prag, Praga • Second World War « less

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