Jan Kubiš

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This article is about the Czechoslovakian resistance fighter. For the Slovak diplomat, see Ján Kubiš.

Jan Kubiš (June 24, 1913 – June 18, 1942) was a Czech soldier, one of a team of Czechoslovak British-trained agents sent to assassinate one of the most important Nazis, Reinhard Heydrich, in 1942 as part of Operation Anthropoid.

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[edit] Jan Kubis

Jan Kubis was born in 1913 in Dolni Vilemovice, Moravia (now Czech Republic). Jan was a Boy Scout.[1] [2]

He fled Czechoslovakia during World War II for Great 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 near Malpas in Cheshire. He and his best friend, Jozef Gabčík both befriended the Ellison family, from Ightfield, 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 of Reinhard 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 to Karel 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.

[edit] The assassination in Prague

See the main article Operation Anthropoid.

[edit] Attempted capture of the assassins

Bullet-scarred window of the Church of St. Cyril and St. Methodious in Prague where Kubiš and his compatriots were cornered.
Bullet-scarred window of the Church of St. Cyril and St. Methodious in Prague where Kubiš and his compatriots were cornered.

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.[3] The other parachutists committed suicide to avoid capture after an additional four hour battle with the SS.[4]


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Knobel, Bruno (1962). Das große Abenteuer Lord Baden-Powells (in German). Zürich: Polygraphischer Verlag AG Zürich, 232. 
  2. ^ Skauting »Historie (Czech). Junák - svaz skautů a skautek ČR. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
  3. ^ McDonald, Callum: The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The SS “Butcher of Prague”. ISBN 0-306-80860-9
  4. ^ Ray R. Cowdery with Peter Vodenka: Reinhard Heydrich: Assassination. Victory WW2 Publishing Ltd. (1994) Lakeville, MN, USA

[edit] External links