Page 27 - Historical Fiction.pdf
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he didn?t believe that the war was right and               sent to one of SOE?s commando training                                                                                        Still following Heydrich?s orders, Klein
        Jan?s opinion on the subject was that his                  centers at Arisaig in Scotland. Warrant                                                                                 then set after Gab?ík, who hid in a
        country deserve much better from the way                   Officer Jozef Gab?ík (Slovak) and Staff                                                                                 butcher?s shop. The owner, a Nazi
        Czechoslovakia was getting treated                         Sergeant Karel Svoboda were chosen to                                                                                   sympathizer, someone who supported the
        currently. As far as physical appearance,                  carry out the operation on 28 October 1941                                                                              practice of Nazism, revealed his hideout to
        they wouldn?t really look as Germans or                    (Czechoslovakia's Independence Day), but                                                                                Klein, who collided with Gab?ík in the
        Aryans in the mix of the country. Yes, both                Svoboda was replaced with Jan Kubi? after a                                                                             shop. The assassin injured the driver in
        Jozef and Jan were different races and had                 head injury during training. This caused                                                                                the leg and scurried away to safety. The
        different nationalities, but they worked well              delays in the mission as Kubi? had not                                                                                  38-year old Heydrich was taken to nearby
        together. The assassinators were young                     completed training, nor had the necessary                                                                               Bulovka hospital where he died June 4 at
        adults, with a mind of peace after the war, if             false documents been prepared for him                                                                                   4:30 am.
                                                                             (Operation Anthropoid). The
                                                                             operation was given the codename                                                                              L a s t i n g   Ef f e c t s . . .
                                                                             Anthropoid, Greek for ?having the
                                                                             form of a human,? a term usually                                                                                     As I said before, the consequences of
                                                                             used in zoology. The plan was to                                                                              these conflicts went upon the many
                                                                             keep the two men at one of the                                                                                human beings during the time of the war.
                                                                             Prague churches to protect them                                                                               As Germany is no longer supported as a
                                                                             until the time of the assassination.                                                                          whole of Nazism and Fascism, the
                                                                             They struggled to find a willing                                                                              aftermath to the people won?t happen as
                                                                             church, so the went on with the                                                                               the world knows. Though the new
                                                                             original plan, which was to kill him                                                                          generation has come and Germany is no
                                                                             at a sharp turn while he was                                                                                  longer Fascist, there are still different
                                                                             traveling home.                                                                                               voices and memories that one
                                                                                                                                                                                           remembers. I don?t believe many would
         The physical appear ances of the thr ee pr ove                                                                                                                                    be able to just 'shake off ' what happened
        to be var ied with m any unique featur es  being                  Th e   As s a s s i n a t i o n                                                                                  during the assassination. To Václav Je?ek,
           compar ed to each other  (Heydr ich on left,                          The date was June 4, 1942, in                                                                             we could learn through these moments,
                    Jozef in m iddle, Jan on Right).                      Prague, Czechoslovakia. Civilians                   This is t he gravest one and t he landmark of                being that "the mistake of today is that


        they were to ever to get out of the scene in                      weren't going to expect something to                 where t he some conflict s happened. This                   people think that things can be done from
        time. The men looked as if they were Czech                 come, may that something be an attack.                                                                                  the top. No ? the individual is the one who
        (Jan) and Slovak (Jozef ), which many would                Neither did Heydrich, patrolling around                     also represent s heroes and t he ones who                   is decisive in history. The individual is the
        be able to see that they weren?t Aryan. This               through the country he was able to conquer                 were not  only sacrificed, but   ones of ot her              one who has to decide between evil and
        may have possibly affected their outcome,                  earlier. There were only few that knew                       sit uat ions . The Ss. Cyril and Met hodius                good."  The impact that was given through
        nevertheless no information about how                      about this assassination, with only some of                                                                             these historical moments were a definite
        Heydrich was able to know who they were                    the confidential Czech intelligence services                   Cat hedral is a memorial st one for t he                 learning point through fixing future
        has been told or discovered. Before their                  aware of the situation. Gab?ík and Kubi?                                    heroes in t he t ime.                       humanity. Many were to believe that "they
        deaths, the adventure they both agreed to                  were positioned at the tram stop near                                                                                   didn?t have any other
        caused them struggles they may have not                    Bulovka Hospital where there was a bend in                 Heydrich suffered many injuries, including a                 option"(Willoughby).
        been ready for.                                            the road while their colleague Josef Val?ík                broken rib, ruptured diaphragm and                              This lead to the new generation of
                                                                   signaled with a mirror the arrival of                      splinters in his spleen, with Kubi? was                   viewers of the older events to only look upon
                                                                   Heydrich?s open-roofed Mercedes Benz                       injured as well. The explosion shattered the              what happened. Yes, Jan and Jozef were able
        St r u g g l e s   a n d   Pl a n s
                                                                   (Operation Anthropoid). Gab?ík jumped in                   windows of a tram as shards of glass                      to prevent Heydrich from ever overcoming
               Preparation of the assassination began              front of the vehicle, but his sten gun, which              maimed passengers. Though harshly                         another patch of land or country, but the
        on October 20, 1941. Moravec had personally                were quite unreliable, jammed. Heydrich                    injured, Heydrich tried to chase Gab?ík but               effects for his family could have been
        selected two dozen of the most promising                   had his car stopped and tried to shoot Gab?ík              soon fell and collapsed. The driver Klein                 different. What for you is the message of
        personnel from among the 2,000 exiled                      when Kubi? hurled a grenade. Although the                  raced after Kubi?, but his sten gun jammed                what the parachutists did, 75 years ago?
        Czech soldiers based in Britain. They were                 bomb only hit the rear wheel of the car,                   and the resistance fighter got away.
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