Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)

The Nazi German Occupation of Czechoslovakia started on the 15th of March 1939 when German troops entered the region of Bohemia and Moravia, having already had the Sudetenland thanks to the Munich Agreement. The region of Bohemia and Moravia was annexed into the German reich and a puppet government was established under rule of Konstantin von Neurath, who was later replaced by Reinhard Heydrich in 1939 as he was seen too soft on the Czechs. The Czech Government in exile sent two paratroopers to assassinate the Reichsprotektor, Reinhard Heydrich . The operation was code named Operation Anthropoid. The assassins were equipped with a Sten gun and a Impact grenade. The two paratroopers were Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš they planned on assassinating him when he was in his car on a road where the car had to slow down. When they reached the road, Jozef Gabčík, equipped with the Sten gun, opened fire, but the Sten gun jammed, so Kubiš threw his grenade which seriously wounded the Reichsprotektor. it is said that Heinrich refused help of a Jewish doctor. He died a few days later. The occupation ended when the Soviet troops entered Prague and liberated the rest of the Republic until 1945 when the Soviet Union invaded it and turned Czechoslovakia into a Communist State in 1948 .

Occupation Of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) Media

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  Adolf Hitler at Prague Castle

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  From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany

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  Edvard Beneš, the second President of Czechoslovakia and leader of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile

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  Ethnic Germans in Saaz, Sudetenland, greet German soldiers with the Nazi salute, 1938.

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  The partition of Czechoslovakia. First Vienna Award in red.

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  Hácha, Hitler and Göring meeting in Berlin, 14/15 March 1939

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  Viktor Pick's 1939 visa used to escape Prague on the last train out on 15 March. Later, he arrived safely in British Palestine.

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  First issue of a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1 koruna note (1939). An unissued series of 1938 Republic of Czechoslovakia notes were marked with an identifying oval stamp on the front left side until regular issue could be circulated.

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  The relatives of Czech paratroopers Jan Kubiš and Josef Valčík and their fellows, in total 254 people, were executed en masse on 24 October 1942 in Mauthausen concentration camp.