Czechs mark 76th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid

On Sunday Czechs marked the 76th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid, a daring mission in which Czechoslovak parachutists were dropped into occupied Bohemia to assassinate Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich.He succumbed to his injuries on June 4 and the Nazis unleashed a massive punitive action.

The parachutists involved in the operation died in a siege of the Church of Ss. Cyril and Methodius where they had found sanctuary. The Nazis then hunted down and killed all those connected with them and those suspected of having helped them.

That same month they razed to the ground the villages of Lidice and Ležáky, killing the male inhabitants and sending women and children to concentration camps as exemplary punishment for the assassination. The brave act of resistance significantly boosted the morale of the occupied nation.

Ahead of the anniversary, two streets in Prague’s Výšočany district were renamed Moravcová and Strnadová in honour of the families that helped the parachutists and paid for it with their lives.