| Operation Anthropoid | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) in World War II | |
 Heydrich's Typ 320 damaged by the anti-tank grenade | |
| Type | Assassination |
| Location | |
| Planned | December 1941 – May 1942 |
| Planned by | Special Operations Executive, František Moravec |
| Target | Reinhard Heydrich (DOW) |
| Date | 27 May 1942 |
| Executed by | Jozef Gabčík, Jan Kubiš |
| |
Reinhard Heydrich, the commander of the German Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a principal architect of the Holocaust,[1] was assassinated during the Second World War in a coordinated operation by the Czechoslovak resistance. The assassination attempt, code-named Operation Anthropoid, was carried out by resistance operatives Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš on 27 May 1942.[2] Heydrich was wounded in the attack[3] and died of his injuries on 4 June.[2]
The operatives who carried out the assassination were soldiers of the Czechoslovak Army who were prepared and trained by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) with the approval of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, led by Edvard Beneš. The Czechoslovaks undertook the operation to help confer legitimacy on the government-in-exile, and to exact retribution for Heydrich's brutal rule.[4] The operation was the only verified government-sponsored assassination of a senior Nazi leader during the war. Heydrich's death led to a wave of reprisals by SS troops, including the destruction of villages and mass killings of civilians, notably the Lidice massacre.
Multiple memorials have been created in different nations such as in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and in the United Kingdom as a result of both the assassination and its aftermath. The events have been the subject of various films (usually in the general context of World War II in popular culture and specifically portrayals of Heydrich).
- ^ Browning i, Christopher (2007). The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – ]March 1942. University of Nebraska Press.
In a brief two years between the autumn of 1939 and the autumn of 1941, Nazi Jewish policy escalated rapidly from the pre-war policy of forced emigration to the Final Solution as it is now understood—the systematic attempt to murder every last Jew within the German grasp.
- ^ a b Daniel T. Brigham (5 June 1942). "Heydrich Is Dead; Czech Toll At 178". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ McNab 2009, pp. 41, 158–161.
- ^ Burian 2002, p. 31.