Friday, 8 April, marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Jozef Gabčík. Gabčík was a member of the foreign-based Czechoslovak resistance army during the Second World War. He served in Poland, France and Great Britain. He is most famous, however, for his role as the commander of the group of Czechoslovak paratroopers who carried out the assassination of Nazi Germany's third man, Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. The German revenge consisted of mass arrests, executions, murders and the burning down of the villages of Ležáky and Lidice, since the locals had provided help to members of the resistance. The Orthodox Cathedral of St. Cyril and Methodius in Prague became the last refuge for the paratroopers, where after long fight against the oppressors, Gabčík and the others committed suicide in their hopeless situation on 18 June 1942. In Poluvsie, a village in the district of Žilina, his family house still stands with a memorial.
Source: RSI
