Cold Open

It’s the morning of May 27th, 1942, in Prague, in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

Reinhard Heydrich scowls in irritation as his open-top Mercedes speeds through the city street. Heydrich prides himself on his punctuality, but today, he’s running late. He glances at his watch and tells his chauffeur to drive faster.

At the age of 38, Heydrich is already a high-ranking SS officer and part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. Recently, he’s been promoted and given responsibility for the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia”—the Czech lands occupied by the Nazis.

Heydrich promised Hitler he would rule with an iron fist. And by the spring of 1942, he has already declared martial law and ordered numerous mass arrests. His harsh actions have earned him a new nickname too. His enemies now call him “The Butcher of Prague.”

Heydrich's car approaches a streetcar stop, thronged with waiting passengers. Beyond that, the road bends sharply, and the chauffeur slows down as he approaches. But as the car glides around the corner, Heydrich spots a man on the sidewalk beside him. The man drops his raincoat—revealing a submachine gun.

Heydrich ducks down.

But there is no gunfire. The man’s weapon has jammed.

Seizing his chance, Heydrich pulls out his pistol.

His would-be assassin dives for cover, but Heydrich is too good a shot.

He shoots his assailant twice in the leg, and the man goes down. But before Heydrich can take aim again— a blast throws him backward.

Heydrich feels a sharp pain in his side and sees blood seeping through his shirt. Dazed, he sits up and looks around, just in time to see a second man with a briefcase hurry away from the Mercedes.

Heydrich is injured, but he can’t let his assassins get away.

He grits his teeth and stumbles from the car, still clutching his pistol. Heydrich shoots, but now his aim falters.

A spasm of pain seizes him. He collapses to the ground as his assailants vanish into the crowd.

Reinhard Heydrich is taken to hospital. Still conscious, he vows revenge for the attack. But he won’t live to see it. Shrapnel from the explosion has damaged his lung and spleen beyond repair, and he will die a week later from blood poisoning.

It’s a victory for the Czechoslovakian resistance. But it will come at a heavy price. The Nazi response will be swift and merciless. They will hunt down those responsible for the assassination and execute thousands more as punishment for the attack on Reinhard Heydrich in the streets of Prague on May 27th, 1942.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is May 27th, 1942: The Assassination of the Butcher of Prague.

Act One: Operation Anthropoid

It’s 2.30 AM, on December 29th, 1941, in a heavy bomber flying over Nazi-occupied Prague, five months before the attack on Reinhard Heydrich.

Onboard, 27-year-old Czech resistance fighter Jan Kubiš offers up a silent prayer as the British Halifax bomber rattles around him.

Jan is one of a dozen parachutists on the plane who are waiting to make their jump. Standing behind him is 28-year-old Slovak Jozef Gabčík. The two men have been charged with a secret and highly dangerous mission. They both know they have little chance of surviving it. But they are willing to sacrifice their lives to rid their homeland of the Nazis.

Czechoslovakia was carved up by Adolf Hitler in the spring of 1939. Slovakia became a separate client state run by fascist allies of Germany. Meanwhile, the Czech lands were effectively annexed by the Nazis and renamed the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.”

But with the support of British diplomats, Czechoslovakian leaders formed a government-in-exile in London. There, they coordinated efforts to end the German occupation of their country. But the resistance struggled to secure widespread support on the ground in Czechoslovakia. Many Czechs and Slovaks seemed cowed to the brutality of the Nazis and the futility of opposing a force that now occupied almost all of Europe.

Hoping to undermine German rule and inspire his countrymen to join the resistance, exiled Czechoslovakian Intelligence leader František Moravec proposed a daring plan. Reinhard Heydrich had become the face of Nazi rule in Prague. Taking him out would send a powerful message and avenge the horrific treatment of Czech citizens under his rule. And so, Operation Anthropoid was born.

Moravec considered dozens of highly qualified Czechoslovakian soldiers for this mission. And after rigorous evaluation, Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík were chosen for the job. Jan and Jozef spent many months training for the operation at a military base in Scotland. They completed dozens of practice jumps, undertook extensive weapons training, and learned the locations and codewords of local operatives who would help them in their mission.

All of their training has led to this moment, 10,000 feet over Prague. As the plane soars over the city, Jan completes his final safety checks and nods to Jozef. The jump signal light turns from red to green. And Jan unhooks himself from the safety line. He feels the familiar shock of adrenaline as he stares through the open door at the snow-covered city below, its twinkling lights just visible through the clouds.

Jan takes a deep breath…and jumps.

The shock of the cold night air steals the breath from his lungs as he plummets toward the earth. The aircraft vanishes into the clouds above him as Jan pulls his ripcord, and the parachute jerks open.

Five minutes later, Jan lands in a snow-packed field. He hides his parachute and goes to meet Jozef, who has landed only a few hundred feet away. The two of them must move fast or risk discovery. But they soon realize their jump has not gone to plan. They have landed in a field miles from their planned drop location.

Luckily, a resistance member lives in the area and lets Jan and Jozef spend the night, with their weapons and equipment hidden in the shed.

The next day, the two men set out to meet their first contact, a local police inspector. But as Jan climbs the stairs to the man’s apartment, he grows tense. There is every chance that this contact may have already been arrested or compromised. So, when a middle-aged man opens the door, Jan repeats the password that they’ve been instructed to share: “Adina greets Pilsen – March 8th is good”.

To his relief, the policeman recognizes the phrase and ushers them inside. He uses his authority as an inspector to get Jan and Jozef false identification papers and helps them make contact with other members of the anti-Nazi underground.

But Jan and Jozef’s arrival is not welcomed by everyone in Prague. When local resistance leaders learn of their mission, they warn of terrible reprisals if Heydrich is killed. They contact Czech Intelligence in London and beg them to call off the attack. But the exiled leaders insist the assassination must proceed as planned.

Five months of preparation will follow before Jan and Jozef will finally be ready. And there will be no stopping them at that point. Operation Anthropoid will go ahead. And Reinhard Heydrich will die.

Act Two: The Aftermath

It’s 10.30 AM, on May 27th, 1942, just moments after Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík ambushed Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.

With the sound of pistol shots still ringing in his ears, Jan leaps onto his bicycle. Pedestrians scream and scatter across the street as he kicks off with his feet and launches himself into the crowd.

Things have not gone according to plan. Jozef’s submachine gun jammed, and Jan’s grenade only wounded Heydrich.

Now, Jan maneuvers through the gaps in the crowd and pedals away as fast as he can. He doesn’t slow down until he is several miles from the scene of the attack and certain no one has followed him.

His heart races, and his lungs ache from the exertion. He wipes the sweat from his brow but then notices blood on his hands. He must have sustained a wound in the chaos. And he knows the Germans will be looking for a man with a bicycle, but this injury will make him all of the more suspicious. He has to find someone who can clean him up.

Jan hides the bike and does his best to wipe away the blood on his face. Then he takes stock of his surroundings. Thanks to his training in Scotland and the months he's spent in Prague, Jan knows the area—there is a doctor friendly to the resistance living nearby.

So he makes his way to the doctor’s home, doing his best to blend in with the crowds. But his heart is pounding all the way, and he expects to hear the shout of a German soldier or a hand on his shoulder at any moment.

But Jan reaches the doctor without incident. The man cleans and dresses his head wound. And as the adrenaline wears off, Jan feels disappointment sets in. Operation Anthropoid’s carefully laid plans seem to have failed. Heydrich has survived the attack, and now the Nazis will surely demand retribution.

The failure weighs heavily on Jan’s mind. But there is nothing to be done. He must go into hiding and wait for news of Jozef. So, the next morning, Jan says goodbye to the doctor and heads to his safe house, crossing his fingers that Jozef also survived the attack.

Jan remains at the safe house for days. He spends his time listening to the radio, reading the papers, and anxiously waiting for news. It’s not until June 4th, more than a week after the assassination attempt, that Jan hears the news he’s been waiting for. Reinhard Heydrich has died of his wounds.

Whatever happens now, Jan knows he has done his duty. And more good news soon follows. A message reaches him that Jozef also escaped undetected and is hiding out at another safe house in Prague. Jan breathes a sigh of relief. Operation Anthropoid is a success after all.

But his celebrations don’t last long. In the evening papers a few days later, Jan reads about the Nazi’s terrible retribution for Heydrich’s death. The village of Lidice, just outside Prague, has been wiped out. Wrongly believing that Heydrich’s assassins were there, German forces executed all male villagers over the age of 15, and sent the women and children to a nearby concentration camp. Then they razed the town to the ground.

But they didn’t find the men who killed Reinhard Heydrich. So, now the Nazis make a public announcement. Unless the assassins are apprehended by June 18th, an even more terrible mass punishment will be inflicted on the Czech people.

It’s clear to Jan that he can’t stay in his safe house any longer. He’s putting the owners in too much danger. So, he reunites with Jozef Gabčík and searches for a new hiding place. But no one seems willing to put their friends and communities at risk to harbor the two men.

Eventually, their prayers are answered by Orthodox priests, who agree to hide the two men in the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Jan, Jozef, and several other resistance fighters move into the church under the cover of darkness. It’s the perfect hiding place: the high windows mean the men can’t be seen at night, the thick stone walls are easily defensible, and the crypt of the church is accessible only through an inconspicuous stone hatch.

The men hope that they will be safe here. But the cathedral won’t provide sanctuary for long. Soon, German soldiers will track them down, and the resistance fighters who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich will be forced to make their last stand.

Act Three: The Last Stand

It’s June 18th, 1942 in the crypt of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius, three weeks after the attack on Reinhard Heydrich.

Jozef Gabčík sits crouched against a wall of the crypt, gripping his pistol. He and the other Czech resistance fighters with him count out the last of their ammunition.

The men have been betrayed, and this morning, hundreds of German soldiers surrounded the cathedral. So far, the resistance fighters have fought off the Nazi attack. But now they are running out of bullets—and time.

Jozef’s partner Jan Kubiš, has already been mortally wounded, and another man has committed suicide to avoid capture. So, Jozef and the remaining four men have retreated to the basement of the church to make their last stand.

The crypt is dark, except for a sliver of light from a small window high in the wall that looks out onto the street outside. Overhead, Jozef can hear the shouts of German soldiers as they swarm through the cathedral. He keeps his pistol trained on a hatch in the ceiling, the only entrance to the crypt.

Then suddenly, the voices overhead fall quiet. Jozef hears a hissing noise, followed by a gush of water. Soldiers on the street outside have pushed a hose through the window, and water is beginning to fill the crypt. The Germans are trying to flush them out.

Seconds tick by as water sloshes at their feet. Jozef looks grimly at his remaining companions. They’d all rather die than fall into the hands of the Nazis. So, they each wish each other luck and say a prayer for their families. Then one of them takes a cyanide pill, while Jozef and the three other men raise their pistols to their temples.

Jozef nods at his companions and then fires.

It has taken 750 German soldiers more than six hours to defeat the Czech resistance fighters. But Jan, Jozef, and their fellow operatives are not the only ones who pay for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The Nazi regime will murder around 5,000 Czechs in revenge and send countless more to the concentration camps, including most of Jan and Jozef’s friends and family.

As the highest-ranking Nazi officer to be assassinated during the war, Reinhard Heydrich’s death was a powerful symbol of resistance. It proved that even the most feared members of the regime were not invulnerable, and gave hope to insurgents all over Europe. But whether it was worth the terrible cost to the people of Czechoslovakia will be debated for decades after the attack on May 27th, 1942.

Outro

Next on History Daily. May 28th, 1934: The first quintuplets to survive infancy are born in Canada, only to face a childhood of exploitation as tourist attractions.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Supervising Sound Designer Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Lauren Sudworth.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.