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| Heroes’ memorials demanded for Czech assassins of Holocaust chief | |
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| The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich is recognised as one of the most audacious operations of the second world war. But Ján Kubiš and Josef Gabcík, the two British-trained Czechoslovak paratroopers credited with killing one of Hitler’s most fanatical henchmen and chief mastermind of the Holocaust, are believed to be buried in Prague in an unmarked grave. | The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich is recognised as one of the most audacious operations of the second world war. But Ján Kubiš and Josef Gabcík, the two British-trained Czechoslovak paratroopers credited with killing one of Hitler’s most fanatical henchmen and chief mastermind of the Holocaust, are believed to be buried in Prague in an unmarked grave. |
| Now campaigners are calling on the Czech Republic to rescue their remains from obscurity and give them the burial they deserve. The pair are believed to lie in Ďáblice cemetery in Prague in a common plot also used to bury executed Nazis and wartime collaborators. The spot is close to where thousands of political prisoners killed under Czechoslovakia’s former communist regime are thought to be buried. | Now campaigners are calling on the Czech Republic to rescue their remains from obscurity and give them the burial they deserve. The pair are believed to lie in Ďáblice cemetery in Prague in a common plot also used to bury executed Nazis and wartime collaborators. The spot is close to where thousands of political prisoners killed under Czechoslovakia’s former communist regime are thought to be buried. |
| Despite the distinction of assassinating a leading Nazi, Kubiš and Gabcík were for decades ignored in their homeland and have yet to receive a proper burial – a failing that campaigners blame on the country’s present-day rulers’ reluctance to face its totalitarian past. “In Britain and France, resistance fighters are treated with the utmost respect. Ours are in mass graves and people are turning away from them,” said Neela Winkelmann, of the Prague-based European Platform of Memory and Conscience. “It’s disrespectful what we have done to Gabcík and Kubiš. They killed the only Nazi leader to be assassinated in the war, and he just happened to be one of the main architects of the Holocaust.” | Despite the distinction of assassinating a leading Nazi, Kubiš and Gabcík were for decades ignored in their homeland and have yet to receive a proper burial – a failing that campaigners blame on the country’s present-day rulers’ reluctance to face its totalitarian past. “In Britain and France, resistance fighters are treated with the utmost respect. Ours are in mass graves and people are turning away from them,” said Neela Winkelmann, of the Prague-based European Platform of Memory and Conscience. “It’s disrespectful what we have done to Gabcík and Kubiš. They killed the only Nazi leader to be assassinated in the war, and he just happened to be one of the main architects of the Holocaust.” |
| Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler’s feared deputy in the SS hierarchy, was acting head of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia when he suffered serious wounds from a grenade tossed by Kubiš into his open-topped Mercedes as he was driven to work in occupied Prague on 27 May, 1942. The grenade is believed to have been thrown after Gabcík’s British-made Sten gun jammed. Heydrich died eight days later. | Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler’s feared deputy in the SS hierarchy, was acting head of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia when he suffered serious wounds from a grenade tossed by Kubiš into his open-topped Mercedes as he was driven to work in occupied Prague on 27 May, 1942. The grenade is believed to have been thrown after Gabcík’s British-made Sten gun jammed. Heydrich died eight days later. |
| His assassination had been ordered by Czechoslovakia’s London-based government-in-exile in response to the Nazis’ brutal suppression of the country’s internal resistance movement. It unleashed a wave of bloody reprisals in which an estimated 15,000 Czechs were killed, including virtually all the inhabitants of the villages of Lidice and Lekazy, razed to the ground on Hitler’s orders. | His assassination had been ordered by Czechoslovakia’s London-based government-in-exile in response to the Nazis’ brutal suppression of the country’s internal resistance movement. It unleashed a wave of bloody reprisals in which an estimated 15,000 Czechs were killed, including virtually all the inhabitants of the villages of Lidice and Lekazy, razed to the ground on Hitler’s orders. |
| The assassins hid in Prague’s St Cyril and Methodius Orthodox cathedral before being traced. They committed suicide with five other resistance fighters rather than surrender. The events are recounted in a new film, Anthropoid – to be released in Britain on 9 September with Jamie Dornan as Kubiš and Cillian Murphy as Gabcík. The production follows the 2009 publication of HHhH, a novel based on the assassination by the French author Laurent Binet. | The assassins hid in Prague’s St Cyril and Methodius Orthodox cathedral before being traced. They committed suicide with five other resistance fighters rather than surrender. The events are recounted in a new film, Anthropoid – to be released in Britain on 9 September with Jamie Dornan as Kubiš and Cillian Murphy as Gabcík. The production follows the 2009 publication of HHhH, a novel based on the assassination by the French author Laurent Binet. |
| Yet the assassins’ renown is at odds with the anonymity of their reputed resting place, next to bushes close to the outer edge of the Ďáblice cemetery. Historians believe their bodies were dumped there along with their co-conspirators by the Nazi occupiers. The heads are said to have been removed and put in pickle jars in preparation for use as Nazi museum exhibits. But they disappeared at the end of the war. | Yet the assassins’ renown is at odds with the anonymity of their reputed resting place, next to bushes close to the outer edge of the Ďáblice cemetery. Historians believe their bodies were dumped there along with their co-conspirators by the Nazi occupiers. The heads are said to have been removed and put in pickle jars in preparation for use as Nazi museum exhibits. But they disappeared at the end of the war. |
| A nearby plaque pays tribute to “those who gave their lives” by assassinating Heydrich but omits mention of Gabcík or Kubiš. Under communism, the paratroopers’ exploits were ignored because, according to campaigners, the authorities did not want to credit them as they had been based and trained in Britain. “There was no general awareness during Communist times that the bodies of Gabcík and Kubiš were here because they came from the wrong side,” said Jiri Linek, of the organisation of former political prisoners, which maintains the graves holding the remains of those who perished during the Communist era. | A nearby plaque pays tribute to “those who gave their lives” by assassinating Heydrich but omits mention of Gabcík or Kubiš. Under communism, the paratroopers’ exploits were ignored because, according to campaigners, the authorities did not want to credit them as they had been based and trained in Britain. “There was no general awareness during Communist times that the bodies of Gabcík and Kubiš were here because they came from the wrong side,” said Jiri Linek, of the organisation of former political prisoners, which maintains the graves holding the remains of those who perished during the Communist era. |
| “If they had come from Russia they would have made big heroes of them. But they came from Britain and many of the political prisoners after the Communists took control in 1948 had been former army men with the resistance based in England.” | “If they had come from Russia they would have made big heroes of them. But they came from Britain and many of the political prisoners after the Communists took control in 1948 had been former army men with the resistance based in England.” |
| Campaigners have written to the Czech Republic’s Social Democratic prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, calling for the bodies to be exhumed and given a proper burial. They also want the cemetery – estimated to hold between 2,400 and 14,000 bodies in mass graves – declared a national memorial to victims of Nazism and communism. | Campaigners have written to the Czech Republic’s Social Democratic prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, calling for the bodies to be exhumed and given a proper burial. They also want the cemetery – estimated to hold between 2,400 and 14,000 bodies in mass graves – declared a national memorial to victims of Nazism and communism. |
| While the government responded by establishing parliamentary round table talks, the proposals are bogged down amid objections over costs. | While the government responded by establishing parliamentary round table talks, the proposals are bogged down amid objections over costs. |