Hello everyone,

this article will not be directly related to tanks, but to history itself. In the past, I translated an article called “Inconvenient Heroes – Part I” by Václav Vlk sr., dispelling the myth of massive Czech collaboration with the nazis in WW2. Today, I am going to continue with second part.

Inconvenient Heroes by Václav Vlk Sr. – Part II

In order to explain our own history and to get rid of layers of propaganda lies, we will use the documents, created by the “other side” – the nazis. Let’s start with a quote from a letter, written by R.Heydrich to Martin Bormann on 18.5.1942, shortly before his assassination, where he openly stated the pillars of his policy: “The main idea is to strenghten the German influence (in the Protektorat) as much as possible without further interruptions, which means to practically take away any authonomy, to take way the Czech national identity itself from the people, to take away their leadership, to divide the people and to support everything that is German…” (1)

Newly published materials consist of the so-called Pannwitz report, or (in its full name) “Closing report of IV.Department of SD about the current status of Heydrich assassination investigation” from 21.7.1942, intended for the main SD office in Berlin for the Chief of SD, Müller (2). It is historically confirmed that Hitler himself knew about the contents of this report and thus it is clear that this report was not biased or lenient in Czech favor. Thus, it is an important document, showing the real state of things in the investigation.

Nazi – and later communist – propaganda created a lot of myths about the behavior of Czechs during the occupation, but the reality was different, as shown by the German document, named above. A “Special Committee” was created by the commander of Gestapo in Prague, SS-Standartenführer JUDr. Hans Ullrich Geschke on K.H.Frank’s orders. Here, it’s worth noting that the Gestapo interrogators, working for the committee, were not “dumb brutal thugs”, as they are sometimes depicted in movies. For the beating and torture during interrogations, Gestapo “invited” young SS members (aged up to 20 years) – these were the main direct torturers (dispelling the myth that some young SS members were just “innocent kids pressed by circumstances”, as some people like to point out).

Geschke himself was an educated and experienced lawyer and a very active nazi. For example, he personally arrested the former prime minister Alois Eliáš and he personally wrote the prosecution letter, based on which Eliáš was executed. Geschke was also partially responsible for the nazi destruction of village of Ležáky (and the murder of its inhabitants) and he personally also “sentenced” in a secret hearing 294 alleged “helpers” of the Czechoslovak commandos, who assassinated Heydrich to death. He was promoted “for merits” in October 1941 to the rank of SS-Standartenführer (an equivalent of a colonel). At the end of the war, he disappeared and was never found.

The Committee worked under direct supervision of a comissar (and from June 1942 he held a rank of senior criminal investigator) SS-Hauptsturmführer Heinz Pannwitz (who also commanded the GII department of Gestapo Prague). He was an interesting character – an illegitimate son of a high German official and a poor girl, he originally was a metalworker – when he lost his job, he used the “vacation” to finish his high school studies, followed by 1,5 years of theology studies, from where he went to work for the police and later for Gestapo. He personally, along with K.H.Frank, commanded the forces attacking the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague, where the commandos were hiding after the assassination. He was the first, along with other Gestapo officers, to breach the church, but not out of bravery from his side – he used the local priest as a human shield. This operation was also assisted by Geschke and by SS Gruppenführer Carl von Treunfeld. Later on, Pannwitz’ task was to root out the Soviet spy group “Rote Kapelle”. His final fate is unknown – some reports state that he was arrested by NKVD and transported to Moscow, where he was held for 10 years. After his return to Germany, he allegedly lived well there, becoming an agent of the West-German secret service from August 1956. In Germany, he was never investigated, prosecuted or sentenced for his wartime crimes, committed against the people of the Protektorat, despite the fact that the authorities knew full well who this man was (so much for the “exemplary” way Western Germany “dealt with nazism” and “punished nazis”, unlike us and our “communist criminals”). On the other hand, in East Germany, the chief of Gestapo in Kolín (Czech city) Paul Feustel was sentenced and executed by hanging for his murders of Czech citizens and Major Fritz Gottspfennig, the regional commander of death squads was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes.

It is worth noting that the Pannwitz report is stored in Bundesarchiv Berlin (main German archive). It was discovered first by Czech historian Jaroslav Čvančara and will be published in Czech (3). It is very important not to mistake this report with earlier literature (S.Breton) or with Pannwitz’ memoirs from 1959 – in fact, these archive documents prove that the memoirs were intentionally distorted in writer’s favour, a thing very common with memoirs (not only for nazis).

The Assassination

Generally speaking, whenever the assassination of Heydrich operation is mentioned, the subject is usually just the assassination itself, as if the paratrooper units Antropoid, Silver A and Silver B did not have other tasks as well. The Germans were keeping the other part of the operation secret (and so did communits after them). The other task of these groups was to help the bombers navigate towards the Škoda factories in Pilsen, one of the most important wartime weapons manufacturers. Pannwitz states on this matter:

“On 17.4.1942, the assassins left for Pilsen, because that’s where the bombing of the Škoda plants was supposed to be organized, after the operation was ordered by Bartoš (Motyčka), based on his regular radio communication with London. The assassins lived (along with other agents) in Pilsen in a house of seamstress by the name of Aloisie Hrdličková, born on 18.2.1891 in Milevsko, living in Pilsen, Klatovská street 76 and in a house of landlord Věra Kučerová, born on 15.6.1923, in Resslova street 4, Pilsen.”

(this confirms that the people, participating in these operations – definitely punishable by death – were no “James Bond” trained agents, but regular people)

“The operation on 26.4.1942 went exactly as planned. The agents, tasked with the operation, set two barns on fire – one in front of the Škoda plant and the second behind it – the fires were supposed to help the bombers to navigate. The bomber crews thus were correctly informed and saw the fires, but they released their bombs early, 6km in front of the target. The gasoline to set the barns on fire was obtained by police inspector Král from Pilsen with one accomplice … Gabčík, one of the assassins, was recalled a day before the operation to Prague for a different task. This was allegedly done in order not to lose both assassins in case the group was threatened.”

In any case, the air raid history on Škoda factories is buried under layers of legends, especially the last one – in fact, there were 12 raids in total. The last one was the one from 25.4.1945, the one before it happened on 20.12.1944. It is important to realize that at that point, the nazis were controlling only a strip of land ranging from Norway, Denmark, a part of Germany, the Protektorat, Austria and a small part of northern Italy, Slovenia and a part of Croatia – they were out of resources. The only relatively intact resources were the Czechoslovak weapon plants and the gasoline rafinery in Litvínov. That’s why the Allies attacked them, even though one of the reasons could be strategic – for them not to fall intact into Soviet hands after the war.

When it comes to the Heydrich assassination, both the paratroopers (dropped in 1941) and the resistance members were of decisive importance. Especially important was the role of the Sokol organization members. Another aspect that is not widely known is the very important role of the resistance people, who forged fake ID’s for the fugitives – paratroopers, concentration camp runaways, people trying to escape abroad etc.

Pannwitz explains this in his report:

“During the special Gestapo committee investigation, it was proven that the amount of people directly or indirectly helping the assassins was so large that the report does not include the names of all their helpers and allies, because that would require the discovery of illegal organizations, that will run for several months to come. This is made even worse by the fact that the fugitives are helped by even those Czechs, who until now could not be connected in any way to the assassination and the assassin helpers. However, now, months after the deed, these Czechs are pulled into the circle of people connected to the assassination when the illegal organizations and those, who helped the fugitives are being discovered.”

Pannwitz adds:

“The assassins lived temporarily with many Czech families, mostly of Sokol members”

(SS: Sokol was a Czech organization, roughly equal of the American “Scouts”, with emphasis on healthy lifestyle)

He also complaints in his report:

“In first 14 days after the assassination, the amount of witness reports by Czech citizens was very low.”

And so, the German Gestapo member states that after the assassination, even after great rewards were promised to those, who would “rat out” the assassins, after entire families executed and after the Lidice massacre, many Czechs were still helping the resistance, refusing to collaborate with nazis, even though the punishment for that was the death of theirs and their entire family. And so the pieces of information by the nazis themselves deny the favorite cliché of nazi lovers, communists and Russians of the Czech collaboration with the nazis.

Panwitz describes the situation further:

“…it was certain that the assassins were often changing their living place, implying they had to have friends amongst many families. During the general investigation, it was especially taken into account that a Czech person might in this case tell her observations to Gestapo. The especially high reward for information (2 million Reichsmark, one by Protektorat, the other by the Reich)…. was unique and the punishment for harboring fugitives was death… but these did not fulfill their purpose during the investigation. That’s why all the other measures were aimed at the majority of Czech citizens to make them talk one way or another.”

The German authorities were practically desperate. Pannwitz talks about that as such:

“In order to identify the items, secured at the assassination site, all the people living in the Protektorate (Germans, Czechs and foreigners) were asked whether they know them or not using the widely distributed item depictions. This happened in the form of queries, where every person had to specifically confirm their positive or negative answer via a signature.”

Furthermore:

“Since as a result of this “pro-resistance” Czech attitude the number of the citizen reports and witness accounts in the 14 days after the assassination was especially low, it was decided to publish that anyone, who would report anything they did not until now within 48 hours would gain prosecution immunity. The immunity concerned even those people, who would report something even though he would normally be prosecuted for harboring people without reporting them to police. This immunity offer was issued as a Reichsprotektor directive and later it was prolonged on his behalf to 4 days. This immunity offer was issued on 14.6.1942 and was valid until 18.6.1942 (so called “last chance”)”

The unprecedented nazi terror, published daily in the news and broadcasted via radio and in the streets, where large posters with the names of the executed were shown, had its effect. It was especially terrible that entire families were executed, including grandparents and descendants, often 15 year or so old kids. A false information was also intentionally spread by the Gestapo as “rumors” that in case the assassins are not found, every tenth Czech will be shot.

At that point, it was also decided to execute 10 thousand Czechs. First 100 were ordered to be shot by Hitler personally on 27.5.1942, others came later (after K.H.Frank’s plea, the order was eventually rescinded). The only escape from execution was “cooperation” – on 29.5.1942, the nazis had an article printed in the news, stating that every passive Czech is considered to be an enemy and that’s how they will be treated. The names of roughly 1800 executed Czechs were broadcasted incessantly and printed in the news every day between 27.5. and 3.7.1942.

Cowed by the unprecedented levels of terror and brutality, the amount of reports increased drastically, but once again, it was counterproductive for the nazis. Pannwitz writes:

“The result of this was that now, based on both the fear of the ultimatum and the offer of prosecution immunity, a part of the population, even though capable of providing only minimal answers to questions asked, rushed the German police stations in panic. The rush was so great that it overwhelmed the central Gestapo station in Prague. Within 48 hours, 650 persons made their reports, more than half of them however reported things that were completely impossible to evaluate. This is in contrast to the 309 total reports by Czech citizens from last 19 days.”

It is possible that this part of the Pannwitz report (these events) are the reason for the nazi/communist fairytale about massive Czech collaboration with the nazis. It is interesting that apart from high nazi officials, gestapo officers and K.H.Frank’s Sudetendeutschen co-workers, noone really knew about the report.

Collective Guilt

To close this article, let’s have a look at some of the facts, related to the anti-Czech propaganda, blaming the Czechs for the “shameful application of collective guilt” when moving the Germans out after the war. On 27.5.1941, a document was issued by K.H.Frank, putting the entire Protektorat basically under martial law. It was the worst application of collective guilt in Czech lands ever since 17th century. It was stated in the edict, that anyone not even helping, but also just knowing about anything related to the assassination of R.Heydrich, who fails to reports so, will be shot with his or her entire family.

Ever heard of any other country issuing edicts that (for example) German soldiers, Waffen SS members or NSDAP members will be shot with their entire families?

Sources:

(1) Češi pod německým protektorátem – D.Brandes
(2) Atentát na Heydricha a II. stanné právo na území tzv. protektorátu Čechy a Morava 27. 5. 1942 – 3. 7. 1942 – V.Šustek
(3) 520 dokumentů k heydrichiádě – V.Šustek, Documenta Pragensia monographia 26

Also, another Pannwitz report from 25.9.1942