At these Operation Anthropoid sites in Prague, you’ll be able to learn about one of the Czech Republic’s most significant events of World War II. Spend some time at these museums, memorials, and other historic sites while you’re here and you’ll know all you need to know about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich–the “architect of the Final Solution.”
Who was Reinhard Heydrich?
During the war, Reinhard Heydrich was one of the most powerful men in the Third Reich. He was chief of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst – the Nazi intelligence arm), the Gestapo, and the Reich Security Main Office. But most of all, he was the man in charge of coming up with a “final solution to the Jewish question.” In other words, a truly evil piece of work.
In September 1941, Heydrich became the Governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (i.e., the western half of Czechoslovakia that was under Nazi control). His first order of business was quashing the growing Czech resistance movement. His second, establishing the Theresienstadt concentration camp and ghetto (known in Czech as Terezín).
Also read: How to Visit Terezín Concentration Camp from Prague
In January 1942, Heydrich organized the Wannsee Conference at a villa outside Berlin. It was here that he outlined his Hitler-approved plan for the systematic physical extermination of the Jews–what we now know as the Holocaust.
Just two months later, the deadliest phase of the Holocaust began, to which he proudly lent his name. Operation Reinhard—his plan to kill Polish Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland—involved gassing more than two million Jews at the Belzec, Sobibór, and Treblinka extermination camps.
In addition to being known as the “Architect of the Final Solution,” Heydrich’s nicknames also include the “Butcher of Prague” and the “Man with the Iron Heart.”
What was Operation Anthropoid?
Operation Anthropoid was the name given to the targeted assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in May 1942 in Prague. It was planned by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and carried out by seven brave Czech resistance operatives—Jan Kubiš, Josef Gabčík, Josef Bublík, Adolf Opálka’, Josef Valčík, Jaroslav Švarc, and Jan Hrubý—and I don’t think I need to explain why.
The operation took place on the morning of May 27, 1942. The simple goal was for Josef Gabčík to gun down Heydrich as he commuted from his home north of the city to his headquarters in Prague in his open-top Mercedes Cabriolet. However, his gun jammed. From his hiding spot, Jan Kubiš then threw a grenade at Heydrich’s car which landed under the rear wheel.
Neither the gun nor the grenade killed Heydrich, but he did suffer serious injuries from the explosion. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he underwent surgery. He appeared to be recovering nicely in the days that followed, but on June 3rd he went into shock and died from sepsis the next day. Heydrich was the highest-ranking Nazi official to be assassinated during World War II.
The fallout
Following the successful assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler ordered a barrage of reprisals that resulted in the killing of an estimated 5,000 people. Among those were the entire population of the nearby village of Lidice. Despite having no connection to the assassins whatsoever, Nazi investigators falsely claimed they may have been hiding out here and that its residents were aiding them.
On June 9th, members of Heydrich’s SD rounded up all the males in town over the age of 15 and gunned them down against the wall of a barn, 199 in total. They deported the town’s women to the Ravensbrück concentration camp (195 of them). And they forced most of the town’s children into slave labor in Poland, though some with “Aryan” features were instead chosen for “Germanization.” Of the 95 children taken from the village, 81 were eventually gassed at Chełmno extermination camp.
The final manhunt
Despite the Nazis’ vigorous reprisals, there were still no leads on the whereabouts of the assassins. Turns out, they’d gone into hiding with a couple of sympathetic Prague families and eventually sought refuge at the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius.
One member of a local resistance group eventually turned himself in and sold the names of the assassins and the locations of their safe houses to the Gestapo for a hefty sum. A ruthless, execution-fueled manhunt ensued, culminating in a brutal shootout inside the cathedral.
Assassins Adolf Opálka and Josef Bublík were killed in the shootout, with Jan Kubiš passing away shortly afterwards from his injuries. Josef Gabčík, Josef Valčík, Jaroslav Švarc and Jan Hrubý sought refuge in the cathedral’s crypt but found themselves trapped. The Gestapo tried to force them out by using fire hoses to flood the crypt.
The men, armed only with pistols, fought back fiercely against the Gestapo’s seemingly endless supply of machine guns and hand grenades. Eventually, out of ammo and with the water level rising, the four remaining assassins took their own lives inside the crypt.
Map of Operation Anthropoid sites in Prague
Today, you can visit several sites in and around Prague related to the events of Operation Anthropoid. These includes museums, monuments and memorials, and some of the original historical sites.
This map contains all the Operation Anthropoid sites in Prague I mention in this post. To save this map: Click on the star ⭑ next to the map’s title to save in your Google Maps. To use this map: When you get here, open Google Maps on your phone, click “Saved” at the bottom, then click “Maps.”
1. Heydrich assassination site
You can, in fact, still visit the actual site of the assassination attempt. While here, there are three main things to see, the first being the very location where the assassins stopped Heydrich’s car. This location was strategically chosen for its sharp curve that would force Heydrich’s driver to slow down, giving the assassins time to shoot Heydrich.
The area has changed a bit since 1942, but the curve in the road is still here. You can see it just behind the memorial that’s here, where the road curves around the blue building to merge with V Holešovičkách.
2. Operation Anthropoid Monuments & Information
In this same area are also two monuments and two informational boards on the history of Operation Anthropoid. The main monument is a steel pillar with statues of three men on top representing two soldiers and a civilian whose role in the resistance was invaluable.
The triangular shape represents the triangle within the Czech flag and but also evokes the “Czech Hedgehog”–an anti-tank obstacle often associated with the D-Day beach landings. Also in this area is another memorial–a large stone slab marking the site of the ambush.
You’ll also find two separate informational boards with tons of historical information on Heydrich, his assassination, the manhunt that followed, and even some about Heydrich’s funeral in Berlin. These boards are all in Czech so be sure to have your translator app ready if you don’t speak Czech.
3. Mural depicting the assassination
Just a short walk from the above monuments and information spots, you’ll be able to see a mural depicting the events of Operation Anthropoid on the side of a wall that lines the roadway. The background is in yellow and the timeline of events runs from right to left.
It begins with the assassins parachuting into the Czech Republic and meeting up. It points out the location of the planned attack, then shows the assassins arriving to the scene on bicycles. Next is the arrival of Heydrich in his Mercedes, the jammed gun, and the throwing of the grenade. It ends with the assassins dead inside the church crypt.
(Some of the mural had been spray-painted over when I visited in May 2025, but the area was being cleaned up so maybe the mural will be refreshed soon.)
4. Cathedral of Ss Cyril and Methodius
Over in Prague’s “new town” you can visit the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius where the final Operation Anthropoid battle took place. There are several things to see here. I’ve written a full post on visiting the Operation Anthropoid memorial here that you can read for all the details. Otherwise, don’t miss:
5. The Operation Anthropoid Museum and Crypt
Underneath the church there’s a small but informative museum dedicated to the events of Operation Anthropoid with some interesting artifacts as well. At the back of the museum is a door that leads into the crypt. These two spots are known collectively as the National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror (Památník Hrdinů Heydrichiády).
Inside the crypt are some memorials to and biographical info on the men who assassinated one of the evilest men to walk this planet, at the site where their lives ended.
6. Exterior Memorials
Above the entrance into the museum (next to the church entrance) is a memorial to those killed in nearby Lidice. And on the southern side of the church is a black stone memorial plaque denoting the location of the crypt where the assassins were killed. Below it is the window the Nazis used to flood the crypt; you can still see the bullet holes all around it. On the ground, stone tiles spell out ‘1942’.
7. Memorial to Marie Loudové and Karla Loudy
And just down the building a little bit you’ll find another black memorial plaque next to a door. This one is dedicated to Marie Loudové and Karla Loudy who lived here. They were “dedicated members of the resistance” who were executed by the Nazis on October 24, 1942 in Mauthausen concentration camp for their role in Operation Anthropoid.
Read my full post here on visiting the Operation Anthropoid Memorials here at the church for many more details and photos.
8. Lidice Memorial
About 40 minutes north of Prague is the location of the former village of Lidice whose residents were massacred as payback for Heydrich’s assassination. Today, you can visit a really well-done museum on these events and see several beautiful memorials in the space where this village used to be.
The centerpiece of the area is the Lidice Memorial, a large memorial colonnade with two main wings, each with themed relief sculptures.
9. Lidice Memorial Museum
In the memorial’s eastern wing is the Lidice Memorial Museum. It originally opened in 1962 but underwent a full renovation and transformation in 2006. The museum’s permanent exhibition is titled “And Those Innocent Were Guilty…” and is filled with artifacts and stories from Lidice’s destruction.
It also includes the fates of each of the villagers killed or deported as well as some tributes to Heydrich’s assassins. And as I’ve only seen in the Czech Republic, they include photos of each of their corpses alongside their info, so be prepared for that.
10. Other Lidice Memorials
The area where these are located is huge and you’ll find walking trails throughout which lead to several different memorials and remembrance spaces. These include:
- Children’s War Victims Memorial
- Lidice Women’s Monument
- Rose Garden
- The Lidice Pear Tree – The only tree to survive after the village was burned to the ground
- Mass grave of the town’s murdered men
- Foundations of the Horák farm – The barn where the Nazis executed all the village’s men
- Other ruins from the former village’s church and school
Visiting Lidice
Lidice is about a 40-minute drive northwest of downtown Prague. And yes, driving is most definitely the easiest and fastest way to get here. It’s an easy drive through the countryside and there’s plenty of parking. Parking costs 50CZK (about $2.40US) and can only be paid in cash. (But you can use a card to pay for museum admission.) You can also park along the main road near the food stands and walk the trail to the memorial/museum.
You can also take the metro to Nádraží Veleslavín station (Line A) and then either bus 300 or bus 322 to the Lidice stop. Or you can take the metro to Zličín station (Line B) and then bus 324 to the Lidice stop. From the Lidice bus stop it’s a 5-min walk to the museum.
The train is obviously going to take longer and require more effort. But if you don’t have your own rental car, Uber is always an option and will cost around $20US each way. (At least it did on the Saturday morning in May that I checked.) Getting back to Prague could be an issue though.
If you need one, you can rent a car here.
11. Panenské Břežany Memorial to the Oppression and Resistance
Within the Upper Castle complex in Panenské Břežany is the Memorial to the National Oppression and Resistance. Today it’s a museum, but during the war Reinhard Heydrich lived here with his wife and children (who continued living, and running a branch of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, here until the war ended).
The museum’s exhibition is titled “Crime and Punishment.” It covers critical events in Czech history like the Munich Agreement, Nazi occupation, and the Holocaust. It also includes an entire exhibit on Operation Anthropoid. You can even experience the assassination attempt in virtual reality, so that’s interesting to say the least.
12. The Army Museum Žižkov
Prague’s National Army Museum covers the entirety of Czech army history. Naturally, that also includes World War II. The museum is divided into seven galleries, but for our purposes you’ll want to be sure to visit “The Period 1938-1948, World War II.” This is where you’ll find exhibits and artifacts related to Operation Anthropoid.
Admission is free and you can easily get here via bus or taxi. (Or walk if you’re staying in either the Žižkov or Karlin neighborhood like I did recently.)
13. Kobylisy Shooting Range
On the northern edge of the city is the Kobylisy Shooting Range, a military training facility dating back to 1889. However, during the war, the Nazis used it for mass executions, including those related to the reprisals following Heydrich’s assassination.
Between May 30 and July 3, 1942, the Nazis killed around 550 Czech citizens in retaliation for the assassination in shootings that took place nearly every one of these days. These victims included the priests who helped hide the assassins as well as police officers, students, and other resistance actors. Today, the site now serves as a memorial to these victims and as a monument to anti-fascist resistance.
Prague Operation Anthropoid tours
If you’d like to explore some of the Operation Anthropoid sites in Prague on a guided tour, check out these popular options:
Where to Stay in Prague
Prague has so many great areas in which to stay. Here are a few of my favorite hotel recommendations:
Or you can check out all Prague hotel options here.
Recommended Books & Movies
Operation Anthropoid is a lot more complex than my brief summary and is definitely worth learning more about. For more on Operation Anthropoid, check out these great books and movies:
More info for your visit to Prague
- Hotels: Find great places to stay on Booking.com (my go-to). Expedia and Hotels.com are worth checking too. VRBO is best for apartment rentals.
- Rental cars: Check out the best local rental car deals here.
- For great local tours, check out all the options from Viator and Get Your Guide.
- Save some cash: For the rest of your Prague sightseeing, pick up a Prague GoCity pass.
- Don’t forget a Prague guidebook and this must-have Czech customs and culture guide!
Like this post? Have questions about visiting any of the Operation Anthropoid sites in Prague? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading.
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