Operation Anthropoid - may 27, 1942

Operation Anthropoid - 78 years ago, the attack on Reinhard Heydrich took place. In my opinion, he was one of the most important people responsible for the Holocaust.

The assassination took place on May 27, and the assassins were Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík. A sharp turn in Prague-Liben was chosen as the ambush site. During the speed reduction, a shootout ensued between Jozef Gabcik and Heydrich and his driver. Jan Kubiš, throwing a modified hand grenade, damaged the car and seriously injured Reinhard Heydrich. After the not fully successful operation, the bombers managed to escape and for some time hid with six other members of the resistance movement in the crypt of the Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Cyril and Methodius. The Nazis came across the hideout due to the betrayal of Karel Čurda, who revealed the names of people helping the paratroopers. On June 18, 1942, the cathedral was surrounded by the SS group and the Gestapo. Gabčik, Jaroslav Švarc, Jan Hrubý, Josef Valčík, Adolf Opálka and Josef Bublík committed suicide in the surrounded church. Kubiš, however, lost consciousness wounded by grenade shrapnel in the church choir, and died in a sanitary ware while being transported to the hospital.

As a result of the wounds, Heydrich died on June 4. As part of the repression, by the end of June 1942, 1,000 people had been arrested. After false information that the bombers were hiding in Lidice, the families of two Czech officers of the former Czech army were murdered, and Hitler ordered to raze Lidice to the ground. Nearly 200 men were shot, 198 women were transported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, several children were found susceptible to Germanization, and the rest was murdered. In addition, 33 people were shot in Ležáky because of a Czech radiotelegraphist hiding there and two hiding places for Czech paratroopers.

See more:

• Reinhard Heydrich - Holocaust Architect
• The Gleiwitz incident - events from 31.08.1939