The Orthodox Church of Sts Cyril and Methodius
In October 2004 I visited the Orthodox Church of Sts Cyril and Methodius situated in Resslova Street, Prague. This was the hiding place for the team who took part in one of the most audacious assassination attempts of World War Two, when Jan Kubis and his team of Czech soldiers assassinated Reinhardt Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague.
Reprisals by Hitler saw the village of Lidice completely destroyed and levelled to the ground. All its menfolk were shot. The women were transported to concentration camps along with children who were not selected for Aryanisation.
Having seen the movie and having read a book about the incident, it was only natural for me to visit the church and see for myself where the brave team took refuge. It was a very moving experience.
Read on.
Jan Kubis was one of a team of British-trained agents sent by the Czechoslovak government in exile in London during World War II to assassinate SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich who was the Nazi in command of Prague and Bohemia. His savagery and ruthlessness in suppressing the population earned him the name of "The Butcher of Prague".
The team was Adolf Opalka (the leader), Josef Valcik, Jan Kubis and Josef Gabchik. Heydrich's car, driven by SS-Oberscharfuhrer Klein, had to slow down to take a sharp bend where the Czech team waited. As the car approached, Gabchik took aim and pulled the trigger of his Sten, but the gun failed and did not fire. Klein, believing Gabchik to be alone, stopped to shoot at him. Kubis then threw an anti-tank grenade at the car. This exploded and severely wounded Heydrich.
Despite Himmler sending his best doctors, Heydrich died in agony in a Prague hospital at 4:30am on June 4 at the age of 38. Although the exact cause of death has not been definitively established, the autopsy states that Heydrich's death was most likely caused by bacteria and toxins from the bomb splinters. A highly elaborate funeral was staged for him in Berlin, with Hitler attending. Hitler himself perhaps encapsulated Heydrich's general attitude best, in his acknowledgment that Heydrich was partly to blame for his own death through his arrogance and blasé attitude:
"Since it is the opportunity which makes not only the thief but also the assassin, such heroic gestures as driving in an open, unarmoured vehicle or walking about the streets unguarded are just damned stupidity, which serves the Fatherland not one whit. That a man as irreplaceable as Heydrich should expose himself to unnecessary danger, I can only condemn as stupid and idiotic."
The team then took refuge at the Orthodox Church of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Resslova Street, Prague, but the information wrung out other resistance members gave away the hiding-place. On June 18th 1942 the Germans surrounded the church. The soldiers attacked, but they were held off for fourteen hours by the seven parachutists. When all hope was lost they all committed suicide.
The retaliation from the Nazis was savage, a stark warning to potential copycats. On June 10 all males over the age of 16 in the village of Lidice, 22 km north-west of Prague, were murdered a day after the town was burned. Heydrich's eventual replacement was Ernst Kaltenbrunner.
After Heydrich's death, the first three "trial" death camps were constructed and put into operation at Treblinka, Sobibór, and Belzec. The project was named Operation Reinhard in Heydrich's honor.
Over fifteen thousand Czechs were killed in reprisals.
Here are the images that I took in 2004
The Heydrich assassination was related in the 1976 movie Operation Daybreak.
More information on Heydrich and the assasination attempt can be found on Wikipedia here.
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