Lidice, Central Bohemian Region, Czech RepublicOperation Anthropoid - Lidice
Site of Heydrich’s Assassination:
by accident Gine saw the Memorial when we were on the way to
Lidice, and so we turned into the side street and found it right away. This is
the site where Heydrich actually got shot. Today the streets are different:
there is a highway and a ramp – instead of a curve, but they left a tiny
greenspace and put up this huge memorial – so that we do not forget.
And you know, that not a lot of tourists come here: because
nothing is written in English :-)
Who is Heydrich and why did they assassinate him?
- Many regarded him as the darkest figure within Nazi elite, Hitler called him the “man with the iron heart” – he only took orders from Hitler, Himmler and Goering.
- Reinhard Heydrich, born in 1904 in a rich family who lost their money after WWI
- During his career as Naval officer, he was notorious for his countless affairs and got dismissed in 1930. Lina his fiancée was already involved with the SS and introduced him to Himmler.
- He was the founding head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in 1932, an intelligence organization seeking and neutralizing resistance in the Nazi Party with arrests, deportations and murders
- 1934 he began building the Gestapo in an instrument of fear
- He was one of the organizers of the Kristallnacht on Nov 9, 1938
- On Himmler’s instruction he formed the Einsatzgruppen and was responsible for them: the special task force which travelled in the wake of the German armies and murdered over 2 Mill people (1.3 were Jews) by mass shootings
- Sept 1941 he got appointed as Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, after arriving in Prague in he wanted to eliminate opposition to the Nazis by suppressing Czech culture and executing members of the Czech resistance: he wanted to Germanize the Czechs: 92 people were executing within 3 days of his arriving in Prague. By Feb 1942 around 5000 people were arrested and if not executed got send to concentration camps
- Heydrichs brutal policies quickly earned him the nickname “The butcher of Prague”
What is the Operation Anthropoid?
- Anthropoid means: resembling humans
- March15, 1939: Hitler says: “Bohemia and Moravia are part of the German Reich again. I will enter History at the greatest German of all times”
- Operation Anthropoid: May 27, 1942: Heydrich was on his daily drive to the Prague caste – Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis waited at the tram stop on the curve near Bulovka Hospital. Valcik was 100 m north on lookout for the approaching car. As Heydrichs open-topped Mercedes appeared Gabcik stepped in front of the vehicle trying to open fire – his gun jammed. When Heydrich stood up to shoot him, Kubis threw a grenade into the vehicle. Heydrich unaware of the shrapnel in his body went out of the car to shoot Kubis but soon collapsed
- Heydrich was taken to Bulcoka Hospital - after a week his condition appeared to be improving, unexpectedly he collapsed while eating lunch, went into shock, dying the next morning June 4. They assume he died from infection of his wounds.
- More than 1350 people were executed in the aftermath of the assassination and hundreds died during interrogation: The Villages of Lidice and Lezaky (33 men and women, as well as 11 children send to Chelmno and 2 send to Germany for Germanization) were levelled after all male inhabitants were shot and women and children deported
National Memorial to the heroes of the Heydrich Terror:
one of the stops we wanted to do is to stop at the Orthodox
church St. Cyril on Resslova 9: it was here that the paratroopers after the
assassination were in hiding.
The church itself was not open, we could look in through
glass – and all we could say was that the Gallery is very high up: up there it
was that Adolf Opalka, Josef Bublik and Jan Kubis were keeping guard
We could go down into the crytpa: first they had a lot of
information about the Czech resistance and the 7 paratroopers – the
Assassination and the hide out.
From there a black pyramid
door went into the crypta: from the inside you have to know that there is a
door and how to open it, otherwise you would not be able to open it.
- The emphasis is the experience of the passage: it’s a point of no return – the decision of all the people who helped in the assassination war irreversible: it was a conscious decision, crossing the dividing line from safety to deadly dangers
- It divides: darkness and light – death and life
- To enter you only have to gentle push, when trying to get out you are drawn to the light, however the world outside is a trap, the direction offered by the ray of light should be rejected… you will leave opposite to it
In the crypta: we
had light – back then the little opening to the street was all light they had, underneath
is are still a lot of bullet holes. Up towards the ceiling was the small shaft
going up into the church, which they used to come down and where Karel Curda
talked to them. You really feel like your in a crypt along all the empty crypts.
It gives you also more to think, when you see where they started to dig...
which was actually quite a bit. Once you reach the end with the stairs, where
the Nazis blew it up the gravestone lying on top and then came down.
Afterward we also went around to the side and saw the little
window which is quite high up in the air where they brought the hose down to
fill up the crypt.
It is still very sobering when you think about that none of
them was barely 30 years old and they did it for the freedom of their country.
And you think would I be able to do it? Or help – like the woman who also
killed herself.
and right across the street is a little pub: when you go in you can see pictures of WWII as well above the door to the toilets it reminds you of the "German Police"... ok it was time for a coffee... but this felt too smoky, so we went back towards downtown.
And who were those brave resistance fighter:
- Adolf Opalka: born in 1915, joint the army in 1936, in 1941 he volunteered as a soldier for covert operations behind enemy lines and was in Scottland in a special training school and became the leader of the group codenamed “Out Distance. He parachuted into Bohemia on March 28, 1942. He was up as a guard in the church, where he took poison and shot himself. On his 27th birthday he wrote “Longing for home is a terrible thing, I know – yes now I understand. I’m willing to suffer through and do whatever it takes, but only home and to honestly work, work for something – home in Resice. Parts of me are all over the world – 27 years life behind me. Death for my homeland. With that I have dealt and am ready to do what it takes”. They also killed his aunt and father
- Josef BubliK: born in 1920, he joined the 1st Czecheslovacik Mixed Brigade was founded in Great Britain and volunteered for special assignments behind enemy lines and was in the group BIOSCOOP who did sabotage tasks. On April 28, 1942 he was airlifted into Czecheslovakia. He operated in Prague and died in the choir loft, he was wounded and ended his life with a bullet
- Jan Kubis: born in 1913, he got paratrooper training in Great Britain and replaced another injured comrade from operation Anthropoid, was airlifted on Dec 29, 1941 and landed outside of Prague. Hebled to death in the choir, he was secretly buried in a mass grave in Prague. His girl friend Ana Malinowa was also killed
- Jaroslav Svark: born in 1914, took poison and ended his life with a bullet
- Jan Hubry: born in 1915, he fled via Yugoslavia to France, and enlisted to the Czech Regiment. He was detailed for special assignments behind enemy lines and also part of the BIOSCOOT and arrived with his comrades on April 28, 1942 in Czecheslovakia. He was in the crypt and shot himself
- Josef Valcik: born in 1914, trained in Britain
- Josef Gabcik: born in 1912 in Slovakia, from 1937 he was employed in a chemical factory, in 1939 he went to France via Poland, he received an award for his bravery during his time at the French legion. He volunteered for combat assignment in their occupied homeland, received special training and was assigned to carry out the assassination. He was airlifted on Dec 29, 1941 and landed outside of Prague. He died in the crypt.
Why is the memorial
in the church and what happened here?
- After the assassination the 7 combats were hiding in the Church of St. Cyril
- At 16.15 on June 18, 1942: 800 German soldiers and Waffen SS besieged the church
- After 72 hours of fighting the paratroopers fell – all of them died
We heard about the town the Nazis killed everyone, but it was
only when we looked more into the history, that we learned it was because
Heydrich got assassinated and we decided to pay it a visit too.
Once there, we didn't had any Czech money left and guess what
it's paid parking and there is no ATM in the next 15 km, but the only Czech speaking
parking guide was super nice and waved us through.
What happened to Lidice?
- After the Assassination of Heydrich, Hitler demanded the murder of 10.000 Czechs in retaliation for the killing – some of his SS leaders argued that it would interfere with the long term plan but instead focus on 2 small towns: Lidice & Lezaky: they suspected that the villagers of both towns were sheltering resistance members – but there was no evidence
- Lidice was at that time a small town 20 km out of Prague and had 483 inhabitants living in 96 houses
- On June 9, 1942: the day of Heydrich’s state funeral German police and SS officers surrounded Lidice at 3.30 am: they got told to assemble in the village square: They then separated all male > 15 years and starting at 7 am they were shot by fire squad on the yard of the Hroak farm: 173 men
- the 195 women and children were taken to the schoolhouse, the women were transported to Ravensbrueck, 60 of them died in the camp
- The Children: Before separated the children were screened on who possessed sufficient German background or appropriate racial features to make them candidates for the Germanization and placed those 8 with adoptive parents. It is only assumed that the other 92 children were loaded in a truck and transported to Chelmno (the first killing center of the final solution): exhaust fumes were send in the back, within 8 minutes they were dead. of the 104 children only 17 survived
- What happened to the town: The Germans destroyed the church and even the cemetery, they set the houses on fire, diverted the river and knocked over the trees and the name was wiped of the map – And the Nazi propagandist filmed the operation to document the resistance to German rule
- The mass graves for Lidice men was dug by a group of prisoners from Theresienstadt
Survivors of Lidice:
- Jaroslava 16 years at that time tells: the soldiers came at 3.30 am, looked normal and just told them to leave everything since they would be transported to the school and would stay there for 2 days. First they decided to send her with the children, but because she was 16 she was send to the concentration camp, where she spend 3 years – she lived through it hoping to see her father again.
- Ana Nesporova: born in 1920 – after the war she devoted her life that Lidice was not forgotten. Her brother Josef Horak served as a pilot. Because of their connection to Britain, the Horak family got singled out for execution, her husband got shot on June 16. She got spared because she was 9 month pregnant and the Germans had already difficulties making soldiers take part in such firing squads and did not want to shoot their own men for disobeying orders. 2 weeks later her daughter was born and she was send to Ravensbrueck where she was for 3 years. Her daughters fate is unknown. On the death march she could break away and walked to foot back to Lidice (460 km from Ravensbrueck). She found nothing but a field of Rye where once the village stood. Anna’s brother returned to the Czech republic, his family was the only family and brought his family up in Kladno where all Lidice survivor lived. In 1948 when the communist took over it was decided that the Lidice men survivor who fought with the British will not get a house in the new Lidice and he got sacked from the Czech Army and he smuggled out to Britain to be with his wife and joined the RAF and died in an airplane crash a year later. Ana was not allowed to go to his funeral. Ana was hold for questioning as a possible traitor, but did get a house in the new Lidice from the funds “Lidice shall live” movement. Finally after the fall of the communist Ana could go in contact with his brothers family in Britain. She repeatedly told her story and died with 86 in 2006.
Lidice
today:
- After the war a new town of Lidice was built near the remains of the old one
- 17 children and 143 women survived and came back after the war
- On June 19, 1955 a rose garden “Park of peace and friendship” opened
What was once Lidice:
When you stand on the Terrace and you look on the valley
below you can't believe there was once a town and now it's gone: you see a huge
grassy area with trees around and there is simply nothing left – but the memory
will keep on on this huge empty meadow with trees and memorials
- Memorial plaza: with some huge carvings along the wall about the history
- A small museum: with pictures and more information about what happened in Lidice
- The mass grave: only a plague remembers those 173 men here
- Foundation of the Hroak farm: here they got assembled and got shot
- Memorial to the women dying
- The main street: it is not there anymore, but when you looked at the plan the path you walk today is like the old main street… once there stood houses left and right
- The Altar of the church: got rebuilt and stand there reminding us of a town
- Foundation of the little schoolhouse, which was originally built in 1713
- The old cemetery: not even it was spared – even the cemetery and the gravestones got destroyed – everything. It was not enough to kill the alive and destroy all the buildings… not even the dead were left alone. Today they planted shrubs
- On the way back we walked over to the lake and then the memorial for the children: you can see 42 boys and 40 girls who got murdered looking into the valley
- Ending up in the garden of peace: where they played music.... this connects the old non-existing Lidice with the new town of Lidice.
Sometimes I wonder, what must the soldiers thought
when they were doing it?
2025-05-23