- Jozef Gabčík
Jozef Gabčík (
8 April 1912 in Poluvsie, today part ofRajecké Teplice in Slovakia -18 June 1942 inPrague ) was a Slovak soldier involved inOperation Anthropoid , the assassination ofReinhard Heydrich (one of the most important men in Nazi Germany).Gabčík was a Slovakparatrooper of a "rotmistr" (approx. UKStaff Sergeant ) rank. At the end of 1941, he andJan Kubiš secretly landed in theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to plan the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, which they carried out on May 27, 1942. Heydrich was mortally wounded and died in hospital several days later. The Nazi officials in the Protectorate carried out an extensive search for the two men in the subsequent days. Eventually, they found them together with other paratroopers in an Orthodox Church in Prague. However, after a six hour battle, in which the Germans lost at least 14 killed and 21 wounded, Gabčík and the others, with the exception of Kubiš who was seriously wounded by a grenade, committed suicide before the Nazis could reach them in the Church catacombs. [Ray R. Cowdery with Peter Vodenka: Reinhard Heydrich: Assassination. Victory WW2 Publishing Ltd. (1994) Lakeville, MN, USA] Kubiš was wounded in the battle and died shortly after arrival at the hospital. [McDonald, Callum: The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The SS “Butcher of Prague”. ISBN 0-306-80860-9 ]The village of
Gabčíkovo in southern Slovakia is named after him, and one of the biggest dams on theDanube next to the village is named after the village. Jozef Gabčík also gave name to the "5th special forces regiment of Jozef Gabčík" of the Slovak Army, based inŽilina .With the aim to commemorate the heroes of the Czech and Slovak Resistance, the
Slovak National Museum in May 2007 opened an exhibition presenting one of the most important resistance actions in the whole Nazi-occupied Europe.Notes
ee also
*
Czech resistance to Nazi occupation
*Slovak National Uprising
*Adolf Opálka External links
* [http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/183/czech_national_news/12882/ The Prague Daily Monitor: Experts find wartime paratroopers' grave]
* [http://www.snm.sk/?lang=eng§ion=podu&org=1&id=750 Operation Anthropoid Exhibition in Slovak National Museum]
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