Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the assassination attempt on SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi Germany acting Reichsprotektor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The operation was carried out in Prague on 27 May 1942 after having been prepared by the British Special Operations Executive with the approval of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Although only wounded in the attack, Heydrich died from his injuries on 4 June 1942. His death led to a wave of vicious reprisals, including the destruction of villages and killing of civilians, by German troops.
Heydrich, who was head of all security agencies of the Nazi State, had been a key player in the rise of Adolf Hitler. As a Nazi potentate, he was given overall charge of the Final Solution and the Holocaust of the Jews in Europe. Despite the risks, the primary purpose of Anthropoid, from the Czech perspective, was to confer legitimacy on Edvard Beneš's government-in-exile in London.
Read more about Operation Anthropoid: Memorials, Portrayals
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