In contrast to yesterday’s merriment, today was a serious look back on the history of Czechoslovakia. First, we walked over to Charles University, and climbed several sets of stairs. Our legs were aching after yesterday, so this was done with extreme difficulty. After reaching a classroom at the top of the building, we discussed the pre-WWII history in preparation to watch a film.
Prior to WWII, Germany demanded the ‘Sudetenland’, a region of Czechoslovakia that had a significant German population. France, Britain, Italy, and Germany met, and decided to give away this region to Germany in the Munich agreement. Czechoslovakia was not invited to the meeting discussing its own borders.
This, of course, did not stop Hitler’s warmongering, as 6 months later Slovak was a separate collaborating republic and Germany occupied the Czech regions. Hitler placed his third in command, Reinhard Heydrich, in Prague. Heydrich soon earned the name ‘the butcher of Prague’ for ordering the execution of 5000 czechs.
As a result of being occupied before the war began, the Czech exiled government in London found it difficult to get recognition. The exiled government thus sent in various Czech and Slovak paratroopers into the country to aid the resistance. Eventually, two paratroopers were dropped near Prague with one mission: Assassinate Heydrich.
The film we watched, Anthropoid, followed the paratroopers and their assassination attempt. We saw them prepare, strike Heydrich’s car, and make their final stand in a church.
The most frightful part was the Nazi’s disregard for innocent lives. Their most effective counter-resistance tactic was slaughtering entire families. Their torture methods were absurdly brutal, meaning death was a better option than being captured.
The Germans retaliated so brutally after Heydrich’s death that it changed international outlook on Nazi Germany as a whole. Countries started to recognize it as an unusual entity unlike anything that had been fought before.
Following the movie, we took a bus to the town of Lidice and visited the memorial. It was one of the most devastating historical sights I have ever seen. Lidice had a population of almost 500 before the war, but was completely razed as a scapegoat for Heydrich’s assassination. Buildings were bombed until only rubble remained.
The town’s 173 men over 15 were immediately separated and executed. The women and children were separated from each other and sent to camps. Overall, 340 people were killed.
I’ll never forget the expressions of my peers as we left the museum. We sat on a bench waiting, a group of 16 in complete silence. Seeing these normally loud (sorry) but endearing people in uncharacteristic quiet was disconcerting.
I think Lidice asks us what you do when facing a regime that casually commits massacre as punishment. It’s not an easy answer. In Anthropoid, the troopers discuss the possibility of German retaliation against innocents. One states “I fear Czechoslovakia will be wiped from the map.” In the end, they choose to continue – to hold a war criminal accountable for his actions and show Czechoslovakia will fight.
In America, we take for granted the safety we have due to our nations size and surrounding oceans. We thus often forget the horrors of occupation – which in recent memory Czechoslovakia suffered twice! Perhaps that is why we still have neo-nazi fools traipsing around.
Following Operation Anthropoid and Lidice, the Munich agreement was considered dead, leading to the return of the Sudetenland after the war.