The competition for the Operation Anthropoid monument was won by a pair of sculptors

Prague - The competition for the design of the monument to Operation Anthropoid has been won by artists David Moješčík and Michal Šmeral. This was reported by Jitka Vanýsková from the Brno University of Technology, whose Faculty of Fine Arts both winners graduated from. The monument, which will commemorate the assassination of the acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, should be unveiled in May next year.
    The competition was announced by Prague 8 this spring. A professional jury, which included city representatives and historians, selected from 20 proposals. According to spokesperson Helena Šmídová, the verdict of the commission should still be confirmed by councilors this week.
    The winning design of the monument consists of a ten-meter high base with a triangular cross-section, on top of which stands a trio of Czechoslovak paratroopers in English uniforms. Their feet slightly protrude over the edge of the base. The monumental column will be made of a steel welded structure covered by a thick steel plate. The trio of figures will be cast in bronze.
    "The figures are in the posture of suicides, as if over an abyss, mutually overlapping. There are three of them because, although only two paratroopers were members of the Anthropoid group, three paratroopers were directly involved in the final action," the authors explained their intention.
    The monument will stand practically at the same place where the assassination took place. The corner where, on May 27, 1942, paratroopers Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík attacked the car carrying Heydrich, however, no longer exists. The monument will be located where the then Kirchmayer Street turned into V Holešovičkách Street.
    There has never been any official monument at the site of the assassination, although authorities had considered its construction for a long time. Earlier, however, folk memorials appeared in Libeň that were meant to draw attention to the assassination. According to the Prague 8 city hall, however, they were undignified.
    The Czechoslovak paratroopers of the Anthropoid operation, who were sent from London to assist the domestic resistance and tasked with preparing the assassination, entered the territory of the Protectorate in December 1941. The assassination of Heydrich, who was sent to Prague to break the domestic anti-Nazi resistance and was preparing plans for the annihilation of the Czech nation, was carried out six months later.
    Immediately after the assassination, martial law was declared, mass executions began, and Nazi terror peaked with the extermination of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. The paratroopers hid for over three weeks. Ultimately, one of them – Karel Čurda – betrayed them. Based on his information, the German police managed to track down the paratroopers in the crypt of the Church of St. Cyril and Methodius.
    None of the paratroopers survived the fight with the Germans. In the crypt fell Adolf Opálka, Gabčík, Kubiš, Josef Valčík, Josef Bublík, Jan Hrubý, and Jaroslav Švarc. The Germans also executed Bishop Gorazd for providing shelter to the paratroopers.