21 Sep 2021, Tuesday
21 Sep 2021, Tuesday
Prioritized Daily Tasks
Day 3
10 AM - Debbie and I went to The City of Prague Museum, House at the Golden Rings, Tynska 630/6 Prague. It has artifacts, pictures, and models of Medieval Town to Present Day Prague
2:30 PM - ANTHROPOID Tour was about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the principal architect of the Holocaust, and third, in command in the Third Reich of Nazi Germany. The movie Operation Anthropoid is rated 'R" and we did not watch it, but we did read the history of Anthro[oid. On May 27, 1942, seven Czechoslovak parachutists dropped into Bohemia carried out one of the most daring actions of World War II, the assassination of Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich. The heroes of Operation Anthropoid later hid in the Church of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in central Prague, where they met their deaths following a massive (about 750 SS shoulders) siege on June 18, 1942. Jan Kubiš died, alongside Adolf Opálka and Josef Bublík, after a two-hour gun battle in the prayer loft; Josel Gabčík, Josef Valčík, Jaroslav Švarc, and Jan Hrubý committed suicide in the crypt rather than being captured. The village of Lidice was chosen as a target for reprisals in the wake of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich because its residents were suspected of harboring local resistance partisans and were falsely associated with aiding team members of Operation Anthropoid. All the men, women, and children in the village were killed, their homes burned and the dead's graves were opened and desecrated. Hitler wanted the men responsible for Reinhard Heydrich's death to be taken alive but the seven Czechs did not let that happen.
The Great Strahov Stadiumstadium here in Prague, capacity 250,000, was the largest stadium in the world, built during the communist era. The Rolling Stones was the last group to perform here. It was built for displays of synchronized gymnastics on a massive scale, with a field three times as long as and three times as wide as the standard Association football field.
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright is an American politician and diplomat who served as the first female United States Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Albright's parents escaped to England and she immigrated with her family to the United States in 1948 from Prague, Czechoslovakia.
5 PM - Steam room at the hotel
6:45 PM - Massage with hot stones
8 PM - Debbie regular full body massage
L to R, Heinrich Himmler, Adolfa Hitler, and Reinhard Heydrich
The two main participants in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich the butcher of Prague
picture of Prague's Astronomical Clock after the WW II bombing
Debbie wrote on Day 3; """This morning we walked to the Prague Museum. It is in an old building with many levels showing the history of Prague through many interactive showrooms with artifacts and videos. We could not take pictures, but found it fascinating.
King John of the Luxembourg dynasty was the ruler of Bohemia Empire. He had a son, 14 May 1316, and christened him,Charles IV, after his uncle. He was raised to be a ruler and was chosen to be the king of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor after his father passed away. Charles was married at the age of 7 to Blanche of Valois, who was 6-7 years old-to help combine countries and regions. At the age of 17, Royal prince Charles IV arrived in Bohemia in October 1333, and found it in dismal condition. The Old Town and Lesser Town had been experiencing long-term growth which was hindered by fighting over the throne and conflicts of power between the ruler and competing groups of Bohemian nobles.
King Charles IV ruled for 45 years and his ideas and governing ways caused a renewal of the area. New churches were established, walls were erected and bridges built. Commerce grew and the people loved their new king. At that time, Prague ranked high among European metropolises and as the centre of the Kingdom of Bohemia, it retained the form given by Charles IV until the second half of the 19th century.
This afternoon we went on a tour of Operation Anthropoid. Operation Anthropoid was a covert plan to assassinate one of Hitler's most powerful generals, Reinhard Heydrich, third in command.
Reinhard Heidrich was given the responsibility by Hitler to be the acting Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in early autumn 1941. He was not a good man and left paths of bloody terror. Two paratroopers from Prague were trained in Britain by the representatives of the Czechoslovak foreign resistance in London and five other men were chosen to help with the plan. There were safe houses and secret contact places and some families involved. At the very end of 1941 they were parachuted, by the Protectorate group called ANTHROPOID, with the task to liquidate Heydrich. On May 27, 1942, Czechoslovak paratroopers, Jan Kubis and Josef Gagcik,completed this most significant act of resistance performed during World War II.
In the morning Heydrich drove in a black Mercedes from his residence at Panenski Brezan. At 10:35 the car slowed down in the corner where both paratroopers had been ready for almost two hours. Josef Gabcik was hiding under his cloak a Sten gun. At the moment, when the car pulled into a sharp curve, Heydrich should have been covered by the lethal burst. At this critical moment, however, the submachine gun jammed. Jan Kubis pulled out from his briefcase one of the prepared special bombs and threw it into the car. The explosion broke through the vehicle's body, ripped out the right door and small parts of the vehicle's shell and tiny particles of upholstery punctured through a seat backrest into Heydrich's chest. The wounded Heydrich was taken to the hospital and operated on immediately. On June 4, 1941, at 730 am he died.
Much harsh reprisals after the attack were given. The 7 paratroopers involved in the assassination hid in the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Cyril and Methodius, thanks to the selfless help of church representatives. They were traced due to the betrayal and on June 18, 1942 they were all killed in combat with the 750 SS troops. They were hidden in the crypt of the church in the basement. The Germans tried flooding them out, gassing them out and then they shot 3 of them and the other 4 paratroopers took their own lives.
They sought all those involved in the plot and killed them and their families. They took the villages of Lidice and Lezaky on June 10, 1942 and killed every inhabitant, burned their towns and leveled it to the ground, never to be on a map again.
These brave paratroopers and those involved in the assassination wiped from the world not only hated killer of the Czech nation, but also a man, who fulfilled the most freakish project in human history, the man who was an architect of the Holocaust...This day is still the most memorable day in Czech history.
We have enjoyed our stay in Prague. It is a beautiful city with much heritage and history. Tomorrow we ride the bus to Prassau, Germany, and board the river cruise down the Danube River.
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