(p. 112–145)

AN EIGHTH TRAM IS ENTERING THE CORNER, going down to Holešovice. It seemed that the trailer was about to tip over, but in the end, it negotiated the curve like all the other trailers before. For a moment, he thought the young woman on the tram was waving at him, but she only raised her hand to straighten her hair. Since the morning, they both saw lots of faces behind the tram windows. Jan is looking up the hill. Still nothing. Jožka is sitting on the wall, his coat over his arm. He feels a trickle of sweat flowing down his neck. When it turns to his collarbone, it takes almost as a sharp turn as this one. Theodor Šulc in Rybná Street is cleaning the van windscreen with such a dirty cloth, the windscreen looks even worse than before. František Šitta is leaving his office and lighting a cigarette. Then he tilts his head back and looks at the sky. A cloud here and there, but it will be a nice day. Now Jožka is staring at the road instead of Jan who sits on the low wall, looking at the bicycle he had used to come here. The scratch on its frame was not there yesterday. No one will be at home at the Khodls’ yet. The hour hand on the clock moves to the next half an hour. Someone buys a newspaper at the newsagent’s and then hops on the tram number three. Jan reaches into his briefcase and his finger touches the hand grenade. He looks up and a woman carrying two bags smiles at him. Then she disappears behind the fence. Hans Ulrich Geschke takes a gulp of coffee and starts dictating to his secretary. He feels her perfume and cannot concentrate. The hour hand moves to the lowest point on the dial. A fly is marching along the saddle of Jan’s bicycle. Swaggering. The hour hand starts to climb the steep hill. And so does the van. František Šitta is complaining about the dirty windscreen all the way.

 

Secret State Police

The Main Office of the State Police in Prague

– II G –

Prague, 27 May 1942

Preliminary report,

On May 27, 1942, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich was going from his summer residence in Panenské Břežany to Prague in his car with the license plate SS-3. The car was going along Kirchmaierova Street to V Holešovičkách Street, slowing down significantly when taking the sharp corner. At 10:35, an explosive bomb was thrown at the car and someone started shooting with a submachine gun. After a preliminary reconstruction of the event, it can be confidently stated that it was the act of two perpetrators who put their bicycles against the wire fence on the opposite side of Kirchmaierova Street. One of the culprits managed to escape and ride his bike along Kirchmaierova Street to the centre of Prague. He was immediately pursued by members of the police and state troops but without any result so far. The Obergruppenführer’s driver pursued the second culprit along Kirchmaierova Street towards Theresienstadt, but he was injured with a few shots and failed to stop him. The bomb hit the right rear wheel of the Obergruppenführer’s car, ripping through the back side of the bodywork, and the SS-Obergruppenführer’s back was injured by shrapnel. A Czech plain-clothes police officer immediately stopped a truck that drove the Obergruppenführer to the nearby Bulovka Hospital. He was immediately operated on by the best German doctors in Prague. The driver was admitted to the same hospital with multiple shots through his legs.

The following subjects have been found at the crime scene: a submachine gun, a coat of one of the perpetrators, two briefcases, each with an explosive bomb of unknown character, a bicycle, and a cap. As for the submachine gun, it is of the same type the Main Office of the State Police had already seized from English agents parachuted in the precinct within the authority of the Office in April and May.

Since 10:50, extensive search measures have been launched, for example, stopping passenger rail transport from Prague, closing all streets, etc. An intensive investigation at the crime scene continues.

Dr. Geschke

SS-Standartenführer

 

Announcement

 

1) On May 27, 1942, an assassination on the Acting Reich Protector, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich, was committed. A reward of 10 million Czechoslovak crowns has been put on the perpetrators’ heads. Anyone harbouring the perpetrators, providing them with assistance, or having information available and not providing it to the authorities, will be shot together with their family.

2) As soon as this announcement is published on the radio, the state of emergency will be declared on the territory of the Prague Oberlandrat. The following measures have been adopted:

1. a) Curfew from May 27 9 p.m., to May 28 6 a.m. for all civilians.
2. b) Closing of pubs, cinemas, theatres and places of public entertainment; interruption of public transport.
3. c) Anyone who goes out at the time specified in defiance of the ban will be shot if they do not halt at the first call.
4. d) More measures may follow, and will be announced on the radio.

 

The Higher Commander of SS and the police

at the Reich Protector

in Bohemia and Moravia.

 

The conductor of the tram line 3 trailer

Car no. 1469,

František Zima, No. 5315

Born in Prague on 11 March, Protestant, married, citizen of the Protectorate,

Address: Prague VII, 879/52 Jedličkova Street.

 

We were going from Rokoska to the Kobylisy tram depot. On the corner of V Holešovičkách Street and Fügnerova Streets, there was a sudden explosion, and the tram jerkily stopped. I got out of the trailer and went to the back of the tram, thinking that the air tank at the brake had burst. When I was at the back of the tram, I saw a car at the kerb and heard people yelling in Czech several times: “Catch him, catch him!” At the same time, I saw a man running towards Fügnerova Street. He took a bicycle standing against the fence opposite the line 14 stop and rode towards Libeň. This man was chased by civilians. During the pursuit, the culprit shot at his pursuers several times. The man was about 1.70m tall, strong, and wearing dark clothes and no hat. I cannot state his age. I haven’t seen the second culprit.

Translated into Czech, approved, and signed by

Frant. Zima

Closed by:

Neubecker

 

THE FLAT IS VERY QUIET, only the kitchen clock is measuring the moment. Marie Nováková asked Jan to sit on the chair below the window to see his face. Here and there, the sun glimmers through the clouds, and the blood on Jan’s face changes from dark crimson to red. Marie wipes the red with a white towel she would then probably throw away. Besides blood, she feels John’s sweat and something that would probably be the gunpowder, or the smell of the war or death. John raises his arm and puts his hand on the window. The sun is trying to push through his outstretched fingers to the flat, but then it hides behind a cloud. Then they both started at the sound of a rustle coming from the door. Jindriška is trying to get the bicycle into the flat. On her hands, she has the blood that was on the handlebars. The polka dots on her dress are the same colour as Jan’s blood when the sun isn’t shining. Marie puts a bandage and plaster on the wound. Jan undresses his bloodstained shirt and puts it on the towel. He gets one of Mr. Novák’s shirts and an apple from the bowl on the table and leaves for the Piskáčeks in Libeň. The girl smiles at him in the doorshe then locks behind him. Before she closes the door, Jan Kubiš turns around and salutes to her. Jindriška comes to the kitchen and strokes her mother’s hair. She wipes her tears in the bloodstained towel and stands up. She takes a knife from the cupboard drawer and starts chopping the first potato. Doing something that makes sense.

 

The marine band will give a concert at the Old Town Square.

On Sunday, May 31, the marine band will give a concert at the Old Town Square from 12 a.m. to 1 p.m. The band was invited to Prague to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Skagerrak. The celebration will takes place in the German Opera in the morning, with the attendance of invited guests. The concert will certainly please the friends of the navy. (LBM)

 

Lard instead of butter to all consumers.

The Czech-Moravian Union for Milk and Fats informs consumers and suppliers that lard instead of butter may be provided to all consumers during the 35th supply period (from May 11 to June 7). Fresh raw lard or rendered lard instead of fresh butter will be provided not only to common consumers and children between 6 and 14 years of age, but also to children of up to 6 years of age.

 

Prague, 27 May 1942.

 

Subject: Visit of the State President Hácha at the State Chancellor, SS-Gruppenführer K.H. Frank, on May 27, 1942 at 4 p.m.

 

Present were the representative of the military power at the Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia, General Toussaint, and the Commander of the Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst, SS-Standartenführer Böhme.

 

The State President expressed his regret at the unfortunate event. He asked about the state of health of the Acting Reich Protector, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich. Then the State Chancellor read him the operation protocol of Dr. Dick. The State President also asked if he or the government should make any arrangements. The State Chancellor explained that no action was expected from the Czechs so far. He would consider whether a personal intervention of the State President or a member of the government would be necessary. In such a case, he would inform them within two hours.

Then the official announcement of the assassination, referring to the reward and the declaration of the state of emergency in the Prague Oberlandrat was read to the State President. The State President took note that he too must be at home after 9 p.m. He expressed his willingness to do so. Before leaving, the State President asked to be informed of the nearest term when he could visit SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich.

Böhme

 

VLADIMIR KRAJINA IS AFRAID TO LOOK DOWN, and he’s watching the knot on the string tied to the window handle. He cannot shake the feeling that it keeps coming untied. He’s holding to the ledge below the window with his other hand. Then he finally looks at the bottom of the air shaft. His eyes are wandering along the grey and yellow walls and pass a lit bathroom window. There are some sheets of paper down in the air shaft, reflecting the remains of the light. Next to them, there is something that looks like a box of margarine or a corpse. Professor Krajina’s fear passes for a moment; he even stops listening to the noise from his flat, probably made by the Gestapo searching the cupboards, and tries to focus on the corpse. Then there is light in another window and it lands on the hairy corpse. It’s a teddy bear without a leg. It probably fell down from the upper floors. In Lumírova Street at the other end of Prague, Karel Čurda is trying to straighten his back in another air shaft. He’s been slouching there for an hour, and judging by the noise, the raid in the house still hasn’t finished. The air shaft is completely dark, and he can see a small piece of the dark sky only when he looks up. The sky isn’t lighter than the dark in a pass, but softer to the touch. When he was quickly putting on his shoes, he pulled one of the socks awry, and now it pinches, rolled up under the fingers of his right foot. Jan Zika ties one end of the clothesline behind the foot of the heavy library and tugs at the rope several times. Then he throws it from the window on the third floor. He notices Der Selbstmord als soziale Massenerscheinung der Gegenwart by Masaryk in the library. But he doesn’t notice that the rope is frayed at one point because Mrs. Preisslerová used to stretch it on the nail in the balcony wall when she wanted to dry washed clothes in the sun. Jan Zika sits on the parapet and looks down. Adolf Opálka hears the slam of the door, hoping that was the end of the raid. He’s playing with a pigeon feather between his fingers and looking forward to coming out of his shelter. To the sky in May. The state of emergency.

 

Prague, 28 May. (The Czech News Agency) On May 28, 1942, the martial court in Prague sentenced the following citizens to death by shooting:

1. Václav Stehlík, born in Kamenný Újezd on October 14, 1897,
2. Růžena Stehlíková, née Nováková, born in Rokycany on April 19, 1898,
3. Václav Stehlík, born in Kamenný Újezd on October 28, 1915,
4. František Stehlík, born in Rokycany on August, 11 1925,
5. František Mareška, born in Kriegern (Kryry) on December 2, 1911,
6. Josefina Marešková, née Stehlíková, born in Kamenný Újezd

on February 10, 1914,

mostly staying in Rokycany. The condemned provided shelter to people undocumented by the police who had participated in acts against the Empire. The sentence has been executed today. The property of the convicted has been confiscated.

 

The sky this week.

The Sun is gradually coming to the summer solstice, and its ascension is coming up. The day is slightly getting longer. On May 31, the Sun rises at 4: 57 a.m. and sets at 8: 58 p.m. At the beginning of the week, the day will be 16 hours 1 minute long; therefore, it will be for 10 minutes longer in a week. The Moon is moving through Capricorn to Aquarius and Pisces, and on June 5, it will be in its last quarter at 11: 26 p.m. It is moving into the heavenly landscape where there are no planets; therefore, it won’t enter into conjunction with any of them. Mercury is the Evening Star, setting almost three quarters of an hour later than the Sun in the middle of the week. Mars shines like a little star of the second size class. This week, it sets around midnight. Jupiter, just as Mars, is visible only in the south-west in the early evening. Since it is moving away from the Earth, its apparent diameter is reduced to 30.1″. Saturn comes out in the morning before sunrise, but it is very close to the Sun, and therefore not visible. Uranus is moving near Saturn and, just like Saturn, it is hidden at daylight.

Audience of the State President and the government of the Protectorate at SS-Oberstgruppenführer and police Generaloberst Daluege.

The government has also announced a reward of 10 million crowns to capture the perpetrators of the assassination.

 

Prague, May 30, 1942. (ČTK) On May 29 at 5 p.m., in Prague Castle, the SS-Oberstgruppenführer and police Generaloberst Daluege, who is in charge of the affairs of the Acting Reich Protector, received the State President Dr. Hácha in the presence of the State Chancellor, SS-Gruppenführer K.H. Frank, and the cabinet ministers in the presence of State President. SS-Oberstgruppenführer Daluege made a major statement on the new situation caused by the assassination of the Acting Reich Protector, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich, and announced the execution of the Führer’s orders. During the following audience of the government at the representative of the Reich Protector, the State Chancellor K.H. Frank, he gave a further explanation of the Führer’s orders and discussed the measures the government was going to carry out on its own initiative.

 

JOŽKA GABČÍK IS GOING DOWN THE STAIRS of a tenement house in Pankrác and notices that they are not beaten in the middle, but at the railing. Anna Malinová, who lives here, must be the only young girl in the house. He puts the last piece of bread with cherry jam into his mouth, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, and sets off towards Resslova Street. He’ll walk around the brewery, across the valley, and then along the river. Fishermen in their boats will be rocking on the water, waiting for a good bag or just for the end of the great history. An echo will bounce off the bars of the railway bridge and the salvo sound will finally break. In Kobylisy, the body of Vladislav Vančura and other murdered people are loaded on a truck. Johannes Moerschel opens the collar of his Schutzpolizei uniform and squints into the sun. When he’s relieved from the service, he’ll have a beer and sausage at the Na Špejcharu garden restaurant. In a villa in Zbraslav, the wind moves the window in the study room, and a page from the History of the Czech Nation falls down on the carpet. Jaroslav Foglar abruptly wakes up form a dream in his bed and sees the back of Jan Tleskač through the window for a moment.

 

Great military concert in the Royal Garden at Prague Castle.

 

Prague. (LBM) During the Prague Music Weeks in 1942, a great military concert took place in the Royal Garden at Prague Castle on Sunday at 4 p.m., attended by many thousands of Prague’s German citizens. Directed by the senior musical stage manager, prof. Hermann Schmidt, three bands of the Army, two bands of the Air Force, a band of the SS forces, two bands of the anti-riot police and three platoons of pipers gave a concert. In the second part of the concert, all the eight bands and the three platoons of pipers played together, performing inter alia The Anthem and Prayer before the Battle from “Rienzi” by Wagner and examples of military music of all kinds. In the first part of the programme, the bands played on their own, conducted by their bandleaders.

The gala concert was honoured with the visit of SS-Oberstgruppenführer and police Generaloberst Daluege, who is in charge of the affairs of the Acting Reich Protector, as well as the State Chancellor, SS-Gruppenführer K.H. Frank, the representative of the military power at the Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia, and many other leading personalities of the Party, State and military.

 

ANTONÍN BOŘEK DOHALSKÝ CAN STILL SEE the crowd of blind girls. When it the Gestapo came to the institution, they were turning their heads at the sound of low shoes. A Gestapo official spoke to him, and the air carried his sentence to the other end of the room. Now, he’s sitting in the Petschek Palace, finally left alone for a moment. He’s trying to carve a flower on the table with his nail, but then he stops. A drop of blood from his torn lip. A rose or a poppy. In the meantime, Emil Hácha is walking down the hall of the Czernin Palace with his condolence for the deceased. He doesn’t know whether he feels worse or relieved after Heydrich’s death. He looks out of the window and he can see his driver polishing the car headlights. As if he was expecting darkness. Adolf Opálka is leaving Božena Kropáčová, going along Clausewitz Street to the Powder Bridge. He stops at the corner, looking at the red sign with the commander’s name. Then he shrugs and walks on. Every now and then, he kicks a pebble. One of them is so shiny he picks it up. The continuation of politics by other means. Composer Hans Krása is standing in front of a wall plastered with the Prague Police Headquarters decree, thinking he didn’t want to go to Wenceslas Square nobody can enter now anyway. He’d like to stay at home. Meanwhile, Emil Hácha came to Kurt Daluege’s office. He feels like he was in the belly of a whale. He asks for some water, and when he gets it from the adjutant, he spatters his pants. The martial law of the mind. Outside the window, there is June and fear.

 

The first contingent of workers is coming to Spa Luhačovice to recuperate today.

 

As part of the recreational programme for workers, inspired by the Acting Reich Protector, these days, Spa Luhačovice will accommodate the first contingent of workers who need recovery. In the first week of June 2 to 8, 232 working men and 21 working women from many different companies, representing various industries, will be accommodated in Luhačovice. The physical and mental recuperation of the working class vacationers is properly cared for by an effective library, a sufficient number of magazines and daily newspapers, billiards, ping-pong tables, a shooting range, sports facilities, a swimming pool, etc. The recreational programme is a telling proof of the new social policy, actively advocating the well-being of workers.

 

Translated from the Czech by Sylva Ficová