Operation Anthropoid
The 1942 killing of Heydrich and the reprisals that destroyed Lidice and Ležáky.
Pudelek (Marcin Szala) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · ŠJů — CC BY 4.0 · ŠJů — CC BY 4.0 · ŠJů — CC BY 4.0
An operation carried out by Czechoslovak paratroopers trained in Britain and dropped into their own country, who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi ruler of Bohemia and Moravia, in 1942. The German response was collective reprisal: the village of Lidice was destroyed entirely and its men executed, as was Ležáky, and thousands more were killed. The episode is among the defining events of Czech memory of the war.
Older children yes, with an adult. The museum presents occupation, executions and resistance frankly, and some material is harsh. For younger children the Karel Zeman Museum or a technical museum are far better suited.
In Žižkov below Vítkov hill, reached by tram or an uphill walk from Florenc. It combines with the National Monument on Vítkov hill directly above it, and the city view from there.
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The Czech military history museum in Žižkov, reopened in 2022 after a full renovation lasting years, and today among the most modern displays in Prague. It covers the military history of the Czech lands from the nineteenth century to the end of communist rule, but its strength is the twentieth: the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the Munich Agreement of 1938 when Britain and France abandoned the state, the Nazi occupation, the resistance, then the 1948 coup and the Soviet invasion of 1968. Among its most important material is that relating to Operation Anthropoid — the 1942 assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovak paratroopers, and the reprisals that followed, which destroyed the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. The display is entirely new and designed to a high standard, with English throughout. Entry is free, which is exceptional for a museum of this quality. Allow two to three hours.
The 1942 killing of Heydrich and the reprisals that destroyed Lidice and Ležáky.
When Britain and France abandoned Czechoslovakia without consulting it.
The Soviet invasion that ended the Prague Spring, told from inside the Czech experience.
Žižkov district, below Vítkov hill