Cross on Dáblický háj © Ricky Yates
On the afternoon of Holy Saturday, I was one of five members of the St. Clement’s congregation, who went on a mini pilgrimage. We met at Ládví metro station in the north-eastern Prague suburbs, and from there took the bus further out to Dáblice from where we began our pilgrimage walk.
Dáblice is a village which now adjoins the Prague conurbation. We climbed from the village centre, up onto Dáblický háj, a beautiful area of heathland and woods. At the top of the hill is an observatory and adjacent to it on a rocky outcrop, a cross.
From this point, there are wonderful views out across the northern Bohemian countryside.
The view from Dáblický háj © Ricky Yates
There followed a very pleasant walk through the woods along the top of the ridge before our path took us down to the main road that runs along the southern edge of the heath. Across the main road, lay the goal of our pilgrimage – a memorial to those who resisted fascism.
The memorial is situated on the northern extremity of what was once a military shooting range, created back in 1890. During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, the whole area was isolated and surrounded by barbed wire fencing.
After the assassination attempt on 27th May 1942, by Czechoslovak parachutists, on Reinhard Heydrich, the acting Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, 463 men and 76 women were executed here within 33 days, including outstanding scientists, artists, politicians, soldiers, and four representatives of the Czech Orthodox Church who had provided asylum to the Czechoslovak parachutists in the Orthodox St`s Cyril & Methodius Cathedral. In total, it is believed that over 750 people were executed here during the years of Nazi occupation.
When we arrived at the memorial, we discovered that it is officially closed from March – September 2015, whilst work is carried, with the benefit of an EU grant, to renovate the site. Fortunately, it was fairly easy to get around the metal barrier across the entrance and being a holiday weekend, nobody was working there. It will obviously look nicer when the landscaping work is completed.
The first victims © Ricky Yates
The names of the first people executed here, starting just three days after the Heydrich assassination attempt.
The victims © Ricky Yates
Quite clearly a new concrete wall has recently been created as part of the renovation work, to which the plaques with the names of all those executed, have been reattached.
Inscription © Ricky Yates
In translation, the inscription reads: ‘Stop for a while …… our blood entered this soil but we have arisen again’.
Cross with crown of thorns © Ricky Yates
A new cross with a crown of thorns has been erected, quite appropriate for our Holy Saturday visit.
A lovely walk with a very poignant destination, Ricky. Such cruel reprisals.
Indeed Perpetua! Most of those executed by the Nazis had little or nothing to do with the assassination of Heydrich. It was just sheer vindictiveness.
May their memory be eternal!
Indeed Stephen!
Hi Ricky,
A powerful reminder to us all that the Crucifixion was not confined to one time or place but has been repeated without end across the globe. The fact that all of us humans are capable of evil deeds; regardless of race, religion, nationality, political beliefs, social class, etc. is too often overlooked. It is so easy to blame ‘them’, ‘those others’ and thereby absolve ourselves of any ability to crucify our fellow men and women. Thank you for this post.
Thank you, Sean, for your most thoughtful & articulate comment. I completely agree with the sentiments you express.
The parachutists were actually Czechoslovakian, not Czech as your article states. In fact one of the main two parachutists, Josef Gabcik, was from the Zilina area of what is now Slovakia. Perhaps a little reading up on the history about it before writing about it might have been beneficial? Furthermore, as Heydrich did die, albeit some days later, from injuries he sustained in the assassination “attempt”, I think we could say that it wasn’t an attempt, it was actually a success. Whether killing Heydrich was the right or wrong thing to do, is no easy question and has pros and cons on both side of the argument.
Thank you for rightly pointing out my error of nationality, Matthew, which has now been corrected in the text. If you follow the link in my text, it will lead you to an earlier post entitled ‘A Memorial to Czechoslovak heroes of the Second World War’ showing that I do know my history. Likewise, in that earlier post, there is a link to BBC News report which explains that Heydrich did eventually die some eight days after the attempted assassination, from ‘septicaemia from the shrapnel, or possibly fragments of upholstery’. So yes, the ‘attempt’ did eventually become a ‘success’. Finally, I concur entirely with what you say in your last sentence.
[…] since the Easter weekend, the weather has been much improved. It was pleasantly fine for our mini-pilgrimage on Holy Saturday and positively warm when I went walking to further explore Ceský […]