Following the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic on March 14 1939, and the German occupation of the Czech rump state the following day, it was announced by Hitler from Prague Castle 16 March 1939, the establishment of the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
The German government justified it intervention [Breaching the terms of the Munich agreement of September 1938] by claiming the Czechoslovakia was descending into chaos, breaking apart on ethnic lines, and that the German military was seeking to restore order. The pro-German President of Czechoslovakia Emil Hacha submitted to German demands, stating that he accepted that the fate of the Czech people would be decided by Germany, Hitler accepted Hacha's declaration, and declared that Germany would provide the Czech people with an autonomous protectorate governed by ethnic Czechs, on the same day March 16 1939 Hacha was appointed president of the protectorate.
Hacha remained as technical head of state, with the title of State President, but in reality the Germans left him virtually powerless, vesting the real authority on the Reichsprotekor, who served as Hitler's personal representative, to appease outraged international opinion, Hitler appointed former German foreign minister Konstantin von Neurath to the post. The SS became the police authority, and Himmler named Karl Hermann Frank as police chief.
The new authority dismissed Jews from the civil service and placed them outside the legal system, political parties were banned as were trade unions, and the press and radio were subject to tough censorship.
The population of the protectorate was mobilised for labour to aid the German war effort. Czechs were drafted to work in the coal mines, consumer goods production was much reduced, with the population subject to strict rationing. German rule was quite moderate, at least by Nazi standards during the first months of the occupation, the Czech government and political system although reorganised by Hacha to reflect a pro-German stance, continued in formal existence. At this time the Gestapo directed its activities mainly against Czech politicians and the intelligentsia, the eventual goal of the Nazi state however was to eradicate Czech nationality through assimilation and deportation .During the early part of WW2 Hitler took the view that von Neurath was not a tough enough administrator, and on 29 September 1941 he appointed SS hardliner Reinhard Heydrich as Deputy Reichsprotektor, at the same time Neurath was relieved of his day to day duties, so in reality Heydrich had now replaced Neurath as Reichsprotektor. Under Heydrich's authority, Czech Prime Minister Alois Elias was arrested, and later executed.
Reorganisation of the Czech government took place, and all cultural organisations were closed. The deportation of Jews also commenced, and in the town of Terezin a ghetto was established as a way-station to the Nazi extermination centres.
Heydrich's ruthless hardline was to be followed by a somewhat softer approach, though the Czech people were left in no doubt that any resistance would result in draconian reprisals, the Reich Protector began to court Czech industrial workers and farmers, whose productive capacity was necessary to the German war effort, wages and benefits were raised to the equivalent of German counterparts. As a result of these policies there was a 73% reduction in acts of sabotage within six months, and by the spring of 1942 the German authorities could boast of a pacification of the Protectorate.
Heydritch became so confident that his pacification programme had worked, that he flagrantly ignored measures in place for his security, and travelled around Prague in an open vehicle.
On May 27 1942 two SOE trained agents Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik parachuted into the area from Britain their mission to assassinate Heydritch, they placed themselves on a tight curve on Heydritch;s normal road route, Gabcik attempted to shoot him, but his submachine gun jammed, this forced Kubis to throw a bomb at the car, which exploded near the rear wheel, injuring Heydritch, though he was not mortally injured by the blast, shrapnel from the explosion required hospital attention, the wound however led to septicaemia, and Heydritch died from the infection on June 4 1942.
There followed a widespread search by the Germans for Heydritch's assassins, they arrested many members of the Czech resistance , and on June 18 1942 the SS and police discovered the assassins Kubit and Gabcik, in the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague, a skirmish followed, Kubis died of his wounds during the exchange of weapons, Gabcik and other resistance fighters committed suicide in order to evade capture, the families of the assassins and the other resistance fighters were sent to Mauthausen concentration camp, where they were eventually killed.
In a barbaric act of retaliation, the Germans destroyed the village of Lidice on June 10 1942, the Germans shot all the men in the village and deported most of the women and children to camps in Germany.
The Nazis did not stop their retaliation with Lidice, they carried out further reprisals in the Protectorate. The village of Lezaky, population of fifty received similar brutal treatment, on June 24 1942, all adult residents men and women were shot, thirteen children were sent to Lodz, two sisters were selected for Germanization, the rest of the children were killed. Other reprisals resulted in 3,188 Czechs arrested and 1,327 sentenced to death, in addition thousands of Jews from Prague were deported to Majdanek concentration camp as well as to other camps.
Nazi propaganda units proudly filmed the destruction of Lidice, the film was intended to show the repercussions of resisting German rule. Soon after the event stories of the annihilation of Lidice appeared in international newspapers and the killings,deportations and destruction became an international symbol of Nazi brutality.
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