Within Hitler’s Third Reich, the name Reinhard Heydrich was always whispered with much more than just a hint of fear. Appointed to Director of the Nazi Secret Police, named the Gestapo, Heydrich was as loyal to the Führer as he was ruthless and brutal with his enemies. He also was Director of the Reich Security Main Office and the Deputy to the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler, who viewed Heydrich as his loyal protege and right hand man. As one of the main architects behind the Holocaust, he created the system that would lead to 6 million Jews being murdered simply for their ethnicity, most of whom were killed in the gas chambers. Hitler nicknamed him “The Man with the Iron Heart”.
After a large resistance movement had built up in the Protectorate of Bohemia in Moravia, a Nazi Protectorate created out of the modern day Czech Republic, Hitler fired Konstantin von Neurath as Protector and Heydrich was appointed as Protector in September of 1941. Here, Heydrich ruled with an iron fist. Within his first week, he ordered to public hanging of 142 people.
Meanwhile, the exiled Czechoslovak Government in London were becoming increasingly unpopular. Whilst resistance in other Nazi conquered territories, such as Poland and France, were seen as brave heroes, the Czech resistance were merely content with sabotaging a couple factories. Destined to prove themselves, they informed British Intelligence that they would assassinate Heydrich. The name of the mission would be Operation Anthropoid.
Two men were assigned to the mission, Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík, two former Captains in the Czech Army. The pair, along with some half a dozen commandos, parachuted into a wooded area just outside Prague.
By now, Heydrich’s mission to pacify the protectorate was complete, not just employing brutality but kindness where necessary, in an effort to distract the population from his crimes. In fact, he felt so confident in achieving his mission that he felt comfortable driving around in an open top car, armed with only handgun, with his driver also equipped with just a handgun.
Having been in Prague for five months and making little progress, Kubiš and Gabčík became increasingly frustrated. However, a plan was soon devised. On his morning route to work, Heydrich would go around a hairpin corner near Bulovka Hospital. Due to the slow speed that the car would take at this time, they decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to strike.
On the morning of May 27th, 1942, Gabčík and Kubiš stood at a tram stop, with a Sten gun and an anti-tank grenade respectively hidden on their persons. As Heydrich’s car turned the corner, Gabčík revealed himself and his gun from underneath his raincoat. Attempting to open fire, his gun had jammed, allowing Heydrich to order the driver to stop so he could shoot back with his Luger. This allowed Kubiš to roll the grenade underneath the car, where it exploded, sending shrapnel flying which wounded Heydrich fatally in his diaphragm, spleen and lungs. Kubiš grabbed a bicycle and tore off, whilst Gabčík escaped on foot. Heydrich also followed on foot, having ordered his driver to go after Kubiš. However, Heydrich, a well known sportsman, ran out of breath after a short pursuit. He looked down to find that he was bleeding from the side.
Despite hospital treatment, his wound became infected with sepsis and he collapsed on June 3rd, 1942, being declared dead the next day. Some suspected that horse hair from the lining of his car and been forced into his body during the explosion. Others suspect it was a pulmonary embolism whilst others believe that the grenade had been laced with botulism as a biological weapon, which potentially ended up in his body during the explosion. However, this last theory is possibly eronious as both Kubiš and a bystander were injured by the blast, neither of whom died. No matter how, the Butcher of Prague was dead.
His state funeral was held on June 7th 1942. Whilst Goebbels weaponised the assassination as pro-German propaganda, Hitler privately blamed Heydrich for his own demise.
Since it is 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.
Hitler speaking on Heydrich
However, he was still angered with the Czechs. He immediately ordered the massacre of 10,000 randomly selected Czech civillians, in what would become known as the Lidice Massacre. Every male in the village was shot on sight, whilst the females were sent to concentration camps. The village was then set alight whilst all the animals in the village were rounded up and shot. A similar massacre was then carried out in the village of Ležáky. The SS filmed the massacre that they perpetrated, intending it as a message to the world.
An informant ratted out the location of Gabčík and Kubiš, who were located in the Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral. They held off a group of nearly 800 SS Soldiers for quite some time, before the two committed suicide. In his “honour” the Operation to build Treblinka, Bełżec and Sobibór extermination camps was called Operation Reinhard. In the twilight of the war, Heydrich’s grave was destroyed by the Soviet Army.