SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich is widely regarded among historians as the most sinister figure within the Nazi leadership. It was under Heydrich's command that Einsatzgruppen death squads ruthlessly murdered nearly 1.5 million Jews throughout Eastern Europe, and under his direct orders where plans for the Final Solution took place at the Wansee Conference in 1942. Little did I know at the time during my visit, but 1942 would also be the same year in which Heydrich would acutely meet his end. And that seemingly, just by chance, I would happen to be exactly where it all took place. Reinhard Heydrich was the highest ranking Nazi to be assassinated in the Second World War and the dramatic story behind it is often untold and forgotten.
Memorial and bullet-scarred exterior of the Church of Ss. Cyril and Methodius
There are certain places where time stands still and the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius is certainly one of them. It sits just on the edge of Prague's New Town, only blocks from the Vltava river and the adjoining Jiraskuv bridge. Bullet scars from that day in early June 1942 still mark the faded exterior walls of the church. It was here where Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík, two British-trained Czech soldiers, and assassins of Reinhard Heydrich during Operation Anthropoid, fought to their literal last breathe deep within the church's crypt. If you read the entire story of Heydrich's demise and the heroism of the Czech resistance fighters who embarked on essentially a suicide mission, it's as dramatic as anything you'll come across.
Just as the Jews of Warsaw would heroically rise up less than a year later to fight the Nazi machine despite insurmountable odds, we remember many of the forgotten heroes whose names have now seemingly faded from our collective conscience. It's up to us to keep them alive.
By marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day we recognize the critical importance of not only words in honoring the memory of those lost, but the necessity of deeds and actions to ensure that the saying Never Again will ever lose its true meaning.
The heroes of Operation Anthropoid
