Every country has its heroes. Among the Slovak ones is Jozef Gabčík, a courageous soldier and one of the key participants in Operation Anthropoid, a mission to assassinate Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich. The operation is considered one of the most significant acts of resistance during World War II.
This April marks the 111th anniversary of Gabčík's birthday. He joined the Czechoslovak Army in the 1930s. In 1939, he sabotaged gas vessels in a plant where he worked, a portend of his future involvement in the assassination. Fearing arrest as the plant was occupied by Nazi soldiers, he escaped to Poland where he met Jozef Kubiš, another future operation participant. Together they left for France, and after a brief stint in the Foreign legions, they joined the Czechoslovak exile army in Great Britain.
In late 1941, Gabčík and Kubiš were selected by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London to be part of Operation Anthropoid, a secret plan to assassinate Heydrich. This was one of the key architects of the Holocaust and leader of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. The building on Porchester Gate, London, which housed Czechoslovak military intelligence, now bears a plaque commemorating where the assassination was planned.
Both men parachuted into Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on December 28, 1941. On May 27, 1942, they carried out their mission by ambushing Heydrich's car in Prague and throwing a grenade at it. The firefight that ensued was chaotic. Gabčík and Kubiš managed to escape the scene, believing they had failed. The Nazis turned the city upside down and eventually found the two heroes hiding in a Prague cathedral with other paratroopers. After a fierce gun battle lasting several hours, during which they were seriously wounded, the soldiers saved the last bullet for themselves, preferring courageous death over surrender. Unbeknownst to them, Heydrich was wounded in the ambush and died of his injuries a few days later.
Adolf Hitler’s fury on learning about the attempt on Heydrich’s life was terrible. The consequences of Operation Anthropoid for the people of Czechoslovakia were severe. In retaliation, the Nazis carried out brutal reprisals, including the mass eradication of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky.
Operation Anthropoid was the only successful assassination of a top Nazi officer during World War II. The story has been the subject of numerous books, films, and other works of art. In the 2016 movie of the same name the powerful story of the Czechoslovak paratroopers’ heroism was retold once again. The courageous Slovak Jozef Gabčík was played by famous Irish actor Cillian Murphy.
The assassination of Heydrich is viewed by Slovaks in the same manner as the Slovak National Uprising: an act of resistance against Nazi Germany. They remember the sacrifice of Jozef Gabčík. In 2017 a former Slovak president promoted him to Major General in memoriam. A museum stands in the small village of Poluvsie, Gabčík’s place of birth. Opposite the museum, young and old citizens meet every year to honor his memory at the monument of the fearless hero.
Photos: TASR
