The Only Nazi Hitler Feared

0:02 These two soldiers are on an important mission.

0:07 Above them, the roar of the plane fades.

0:10 Below them lies their homeland, occupied by the Nazis.

0:15 And somewhere down there is their target.

0:18 Reinhard Hydrickch, the butcher of Prague,

0:23 one of the key architects of the Holocaust.

0:26 Hitler calls him the man with the iron heart.

0:29 He's responsible for more than a million and a half deaths

0:34 and he doesn't have the faintest idea they're coming for him.

0:44 Confirmed.

0:44 Warning.

0:45 This video includes descriptions of suicide

0:47 and mass murder committed under the Nazi regime.

0:50 Our coverage is largely based on these two books.

0:55 This is a photo of Reinhard Hydrich and his wife Lena.

0:59 It was taken in May 1942 at the Volenstein

1:02 Pal in Prague where they attended a concert.

1:05 Reinhard Hydrich loves music.

1:08 He's the son of a singer and composer.

1:11 But despite showing musical talent as a child,

1:13 he chose a very different path for himself.

1:16 After graduating from school, he joined the Reichkes Marina, the German Navy.

1:22 Hydrickch is tall, blonde, and athletic.

1:25 He looks like he walked straight out of a Nazi propaganda poster.

1:29 But this picture perfect facade is deceptive.

1:33 He speaks with a strangely thin, high-pitched voice.

1:36 He's said to have been haunted by deep insecurity and self-hatred.

1:41 In school and also in the Navy, people mock him.

1:44 Rumors spread that he has Jewish roots.

1:47 They call him Blonde Moses.

1:50 in a Germany turning toward Nazism.

1:52 It's a nickname he despises.

1:57 In December 1930, he meets Lena von Oen at a dance in Keel.

2:02 After just four dates, they get engaged.

2:05 It's said that he was drawn to her Nordic looks,

2:08 maybe hoping they'd silence those rumors about him having Jewish ancestry.

2:14 But then, scandal strikes the newly engaged couple.

2:17 Hydrickch is brought before a naval court of honor.

2:20 A former girlfriend accuses him of breaking a promise to marry her.

2:24 He's discharged from the Navy, a humiliating fall from grace.

2:29 But unfortunately, it's not the end of his career.

2:33 A few months later, a family friend introduces him to Heinrich Himmler.

2:38 Heddrich joins the Nazi party and the SS.

2:42 And from there, his rise is meteoric.

2:46 In just a few years,

2:47 Hydrickch becomes one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany.

2:51 He's made chief of the Reich Security main office, the SS and police agency.

2:57 In 1938, he orchestrates Crystal Knocked, the night of broken glass.

3:03 Across Germany, synagogues burn, Jewish businesses are ransacked,

3:08 and thousands of people are arrested, beaten, or killed.

3:13 In July 1941, Hydrickch is tasked with planning what

3:17 the Nazis call the final solution to the Jewish question,

3:21 the blueprint for the systematic mass murder of Europe's Jews.

3:26 Hydrich is the boss of Adolf Ikeman,

3:29 another key Holocaust architect we covered in this video.

3:34 A few months later, in autumn 1941, Hydrickch receives a significant promotion.

3:40 He's sent to Prague as deputy Reich protector of Bohemia and Moravia.

3:45 Nazi Germany occupied the Czech lands in 1939

3:49 and the Reich protector Constantine Vonroth governs the territory.

3:54 But Von Neurroth is considered too lax.

3:57 So Hydrickch becomes the de facto governor.

4:00 He definitely isn't too lax.

4:03 Hitler has sent the man with the iron heart.

4:06 Hydrickch orders mass arrests, executions, and deportations.

4:11 Thousands of checks are sent to concentration camps.

4:14 His reign of terror earns him a title that history will never forget.

4:19 The butcher of Prague.

4:21 To the outside world, it appears Hydrickch has crushed the Czech resistance.

4:26 But in the shadows, a plan to assassinate him is in motion.

4:33 While Hydrickch makes himself comfortable

4:35 with his family in his castle near Prague,

4:37 hundreds of kilometers away, two soldiers are training to kill him.

4:42 The Czech government is in exile.

4:44 Its leaders are in London.

4:46 Czech military intelligence is cooperating

4:48 with the British special operations executive.

4:51 Together, they plan a top secret mission to assassinate Hydrickch.

4:56 Operation Anthropoid.

4:59 Enter Yan Kubish and Ysef Gabchuk.

5:03 Meeting in Poland in 1939, they eventually join the French Foreign Legion,

5:08 the only way to fight back.

5:10 In the ranks of the Legion, they become good friends.

5:13 After the fall of France, Czech forces are moved to Britain.

5:17 In the autumn of 1941, Gabchuk is chosen for Operation Anthropoid.

5:23 When his partner suffers an injury during training,

5:25 Gabchuk insists that Kubish be the one to replace him.

5:29 Both men are proud soldiers who had watched

5:31 their homeland fall to the Nazis without a fight.

5:35 Now they're determined to strike back, no matter what the cost.

5:39 Together, they prepare for one of the most dangerous missions of the war,

5:44 to strike at the heart of the Nazi regime.

5:48 3D scenes like these are made by humans.

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6:43 In the early hours of December 29, 1941,

6:47 a British Halifax bomber drops its deadly cargo, Gabchic and Kubish.

6:54 But heavy snow blinds the crew, making navigation nearly impossible.

6:58 So they accidentally drop Gabchic and Kubish at the wrong location.

7:04 Instead of landing east of Pilson, they end up east of Prague.

7:08 As they approach the ground,

7:10 Gabchek misjudges the height and injures his left foot.

7:14 Now they have no idea where they are.

7:16 It's night and it's cold.

7:19 The two soldiers bury their parachutes in the snow and take

7:22 shelter in the abandoned tunnels of an old stone quarry.

7:26 Their landing hasn't gone unnoticed.

7:29 During the night, a local gamekeeper heard the plane,

7:32 climbed onto the roof of his house, and saw two parachutes heading toward him.

7:37 The next morning, he finds the buried parachutes

7:39 and follows a trail of footprints in the snow.

7:42 It doesn't take him long to find Gabchick and Kubish and confront them.

7:47 The young men pretend to be surveyors,

7:50 but their cover story quickly falls apart, and they reluctantly admit the truth.

7:55 Luckily, the gamekeeper wants to help them.

7:58 They're stunned to find out they've landed 20 m from Prague,

8:02 far from their contacts.

8:03 Cabshik is injured and the mission already looks doomed.

8:07 But then fate intervenes.

8:10 A local miller who also heard the plane that night tracks them down.

8:15 He's a member of Soal, a banned Czech nationalist group and offers

8:19 to connect them with the underground network in Prague.

8:22 It violates the strictest rules of their mission.

8:25 No contact with the local resistance until their mission is over.

8:29 But they're desperate.

8:31 They have no choice but to accept help.

8:33 Over the next few months, they're sheltered by a network of brave families,

8:38 ordinary people risking everything to feed and hide them.

8:43 Reinhard Hydrickch is busy organizing the infamous Vonz Conference,

8:48 a meeting called to streamline the mass murder of Jews.

8:53 He doesn't realize that all the while two men are observing him,

8:57 learning his habits, noting every route and ritual.

9:01 They even have inside help from people working in his castle.

9:04 They sketch out several ideas for how to take him out.

9:08 An attack at his castle or his estate isn't an option.

9:11 The SS guards them too closely.

9:14 But they see another opening.

9:15 Hydrickch always travels without guards, accompanied only by his chauffeur.

9:20 It's the one time he's exposed.

9:23 So, they decide to strike while he's on the road.

9:26 They consider stretching a wire across the street to force his car to slow down,

9:30 but time is running out.

9:32 They hear rumors that Hydrickch might leave Prague soon.

9:35 The pressure mounts and they need to move quickly.

9:40 May 26, 1942.

9:43 In a magnificent concert hall,

9:45 Hydrickch and his wife enjoy compositions by his father, Bruno.

9:50 Not far away, two men finish their final checks.

9:54 Tomorrow, they'll attempt to kill the butcher of Prague.

9:57 Gabchic is armed with a British Sten gun.

10:00 Kubish holds the explosives.

10:02 They pack two briefcases.

10:04 One contains the disassembled Sten gun, while the other holds two bombs.

10:08 To an observer, the briefcases look ordinary.

10:12 The weapons are hidden beneath layers of fresh grass.

10:15 It's the perfect cover.

10:17 With wartime food shortages, many locals keep rabbits,

10:20 so carrying grass for feed is a common sight.

10:24 The next morning, Reinhard Hydrick's day begins peacefully.

10:28 It's a fresh spring morning.

10:30 He finishes breakfast and plays with his three children.

10:33 His wife is pregnant with a fourth.

10:36 At around 10:00, he leaves the safety of his castle with his chauffeur.

10:42 On a narrow street in the Leebane

10:44 district on the outskirts of Prague, Kabic waits.

10:48 Kubish is positioned here just a few meters away.

10:52 Both have stood here for over an hour, tense, silent, ready.

10:58 Then finally, Hydrick's Mercedes-Benz pulls up.

11:03 Not yet.

11:05 Not yet.

11:07 Now Gabchic steps forward, throws off his raincoat,

11:11 raises the sten, and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens.

11:17 Months of training for this one moment, and the gun jams.

11:22 Maybe grass clogged the mechanism.

11:24 The Sten had a reputation for jamming easily.

11:27 Or maybe it's just bad luck.

11:29 We'll never know.

11:30 Idrich thinks there's only one attacker,

11:33 so he yells at his driver to stop and draws his pistol.

11:36 Kubish ceizes the moment, but he misjudges his throw.

11:45 Hydrich survives.

11:47 Kubish scramles onto his bicycle and disappears down the street.

11:51 Gabic is chased by Hydrickch's driver and flees into a nearby butcher shop.

11:55 When the driver bursts in, Gabchic finally makes the stem work,

11:59 shooting him in the leg and escaping.

12:03 Both assassins get away, but there's no sense of triumph.

12:07 The mission failed.

12:08 They haven't eliminated their target.

12:11 But Hydrickch is critically wounded by the explosion.

12:14 He's rushed to Balobsa Hospital in a passing delivery truck.

12:17 And on June 4, 1942, 8 days after the attack,

12:22 Reinhardt Hydrickch subsumes to his wounds.

12:27 Immediately after the assassination,

12:29 the Gestapo launches a massive manhunt for the attackers,

12:33 but they have no real leads.

12:35 Frustrated, the regime demands blood to avenge

12:38 the death of the deputy right protector.

12:40 The Nazis choose the village of Leita,

12:43 which has 503 residents, for their revenge.

12:47 They suspect some within the village support the attackers,

12:50 but there's no real evidence of this.

13:08 On June 10, 1942, a few hours after midnight, Nazi troops raid the village.

13:15 They shoot 173 men on the spot.

13:18 The women are sent to Ravensbrook concentration camp.

13:21 Children under a year old and those selected

13:24 for re-education through placement in German families remain alive.

13:29 All other children are killed at the Chelno extermination camp in Poland.

13:34 Of the village's former 503 inhabitants,

13:37 only 143 women and 17 children survived the war.

13:42 After murdering or deporting the villagers,

13:45 the Nazis destroy the entire village, the homes, the church, even the cemetery.

13:51 They film the entire process.

13:53 By 1943, only this empty field remains.

13:58 For the Nazis, the destruction of the town is symbolic of their power.

14:02 Usually, they would try to hide their war crimes,

14:05 but this time, their brutality is on full display.

14:08 The bloodbath turned into propaganda.

14:15 Fore.

14:36 But even after burning Leita to the ground

14:38 and murdering most of its inhabitants, the Nazis aren't done.

14:42 They want to find the men behind the attack.

14:45 So they announce an amnesty.

14:47 Anyone who comes forward with information will be spared.

14:50 And there's a reward.

14:52 A million Reichkes marks.

14:54 One of Gabchic and Kubish's comrades takes the deal.

14:57 His name is Carl Chugda.

15:00 His story is similar to theirs.

15:02 He fled to Poland, joined the French Foreign Legion,

15:05 and trained in Britain for special operations.

15:08 He was also brought to the Protectorate for a mission.

15:12 But on June 16, 1942, he decides to collaborate with the Gestapo in Prague.

15:18 In exchange for a new identity and the cash,

15:21 he gives them the assassins and the names of the families sheltering them.

15:26 One of them is the Moraveets family.

15:28 The Gestapo storms their home.

15:31 The mother takes her own life with poison,

15:34 but her son is taken for interrogation.

15:36 Using truly unspeakable methods, they break him.

15:40 He eventually tells them what his mother once told him.

15:43 If you're ever in serious trouble, go to the church of St.

15:47 Siril and Methodius.

15:50 Inside this Orthodox church, Gabchic and Kubish have found refuge.

15:54 Here, in the damp darkness of the crypt,

15:57 the two assassins and five other paratroopers wait for orders from London.

16:02 They know about Leita.

16:03 They know that hundreds of innocents have already died in the Nazi reprisals.

16:08 Crushed by guilt, they consider committing suicide in a public park.

16:12 They hope that leaving a note

16:13 claiming responsibility might finally stop the killings.

16:17 But before they can make their move, it's too late.

16:20 The Nazis surround the church.

16:23 Then all hell breaks loose.

16:26 Seven men against more than 700 SS and Gustapo troops.

16:31 When the Nazis can't break through their defenses, they flood the crypt.

16:35 Kubish dies from injuries he suffered in the firefight.

16:39 Then one by one, the other paratroopers choose death over capture.

16:44 Some use cyanide, others their last bullets.

16:47 In the end, both of Hdrich's assassins are dead.

16:51 Dozens of resistors, entire families are executed for helping them.

16:56 Among them, Bishop Gast and other members of the Czech Orthodox Church.

17:01 And the Nazis revenge doesn't end there.

17:04 Just days later, they wipe another village, the Jaci, off the map.

17:09 Every adult in the village is executed.

17:12 Most children are deported and killed, and the village is burned to the ground.

17:16 Like Leita, the Jaci simply ceases to exist.

17:23 After the end of World War II, Nazi official Carl Herman Frank,

17:27 [music] who ordered the mass murder in Leisa and Ljaki,

17:30 was convicted and executed.

17:33 Carell Chugda had continued to work with the Gestapo until the end of the war.

17:38 He then attempted to flee but was captured and sentenced to death.

17:42 He was executed in Prague on April 29, 1947.

17:48 Even after her husband's death, Lena Hydrickch remained a prominent figure.

17:52 She didn't return to Germany until 1945.

17:56 After the country's surrender, [music] her husband's property was seized,

17:59 confiscated as the assets of a war criminal.

18:02 She spent the rest of her life defending his legacy,

18:05 repeatedly denying that her late husband was responsible for any war crimes.

18:10 In the 1950s, she won several lawsuits against West Germany,

18:14 securing a substantial [music] widow's pension

18:16 and regaining her luxurious summer home.

18:19 Today, a memorial stands at the site of the ambush in Prague.

18:23 It honors Ysef Gabbik, Yan Kubish,

18:26 and a third figure representing the Czech civilian resistance.

18:31 In the Czech villages of Leita and Ljaki,

18:34 memorials mark the sights of the mass killings.

18:37 These places serve as not just reminders of lives lost,

18:40 but as warnings to never let something like this happen ever again.