- Jan Kubiš
.
Jan Kubis
Jan Kubis was born in 1913 in Dolni Vilemovice,
Moravia (nowCzech Republic ). Jan was aBoy Scout . [cite book
last = Knobel
first = Bruno
title = Das große Abenteuer Lord Baden-Powells
publisher = Polygraphischer Verlag AG Zürich
year = 1962
location = Zürich
pages = 232
language = German] [cite web
title = Skauting »Historie
publisher = Junák - svaz skautů a skautek ČR
language= Czech
url = http://verejnost.skaut.cz/skauting/historie/
accessdate =2007-09-23 ]He fled
Czechoslovakia during World War II forGreat Britain . He was trained there as a parachutist. The Free Czechs, as he and other self-exiled Czechs were called, were stationed at Cholmondely castle nearMalpas inCheshire . He and his best friend,Jozef Gabčík both befriended the Ellison family, fromIghtfield ,Shropshire , whom they met while in Whitchurch, Shropshire. They both spent a great deal of time at the Ellison home and were so well liked by them that they were offered lodgings.In 1942, he was dropped into Czechoslovakia as part of
Operation Anthropoid . He died there following the successful assassination ofReinhard Heydrich .In 2006, it emerged that the severed heads of Kubis and Gabcik could quite possibly still be in existence. Recently, their remains were discovered in the
Dablice cemetery in Prague. Ironically, they are nearby toKarel Curda , the member of their squad who betrayed them to the Nazis.In 2007, a memorial at the place of the attack on Heydrich was planned.
The assassination in Prague
See the main article
Operation Anthropoid .Attempted capture of the assassins
Kubiš and his group were found on
June 18 in the Church of St. Cyril and St. Methodious on Resslova Street in Prague. In a bloody battle that lasted for two hours, Kubiš was wounded 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 other parachutists committed suicide to avoid capture after an additional four hour battle with the SS. [Ray R. Cowdery with Peter Vodenka: Reinhard Heydrich: Assassination. Victory WW2 Publishing Ltd. (1994) Lakeville, MN, USA ]ee also
*
Czech resistance to Nazi occupation
*Adolf Opálka References
External links
* [http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/183/czech_national_news/12882/ The Prague Daily Monitor: Experts find wartime paratroopers' grave]
* [http://www.wintersonnenwende.com/scriptorium/english/archives/sginferno/sgi04.html Lidice]
* [http://www.dolnivilemovice.cz/fotogalerie/thumbnails.php?album=8 Jan Kubis's remembrance in Dolni Vilemovice 2007]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.