"Anthropoid" film tour commemorates Czechoslovak WWII resistance fighters

A private screening and walking tour will commemorate the heroic fighters of operation Anthropoid

Katrina Modrá

Written by Katrina Modrá Published on 27.05.2019 10:41:10 (updated on 27.05.2019) Reading time: 2 minutes

On this day in 1942, Czechoslovak paratroopers Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík carried out a plot to assassinate high-ranking Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich as he drove from his villa in Panenské Břežany to Prague Castle.


Reinhard Heydrich’s car after the 1942 assassination attempt in Prague / Photo: Wikipedia

Heydrich’s subsequent death as a result of his injuries irrevocably shaped the events of WWII and the fate of the Czechoslovak nation, while the story of the heroic resistance fighters, who would later die in a shootout in Prague’s Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral, have captured the public imagination for years.

The events of May 27, 1942, have been immortalized in numerous books and films, recently in the 2016 movie Anthropoid starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan and filmed in Prague.

That film and the Prague locations featured in it are now the focus of a unique tour being offered by Prague’s Naked Tour Guide.

Not just for tourists, local WWII buffs who attend the private screening and walking tour are sure to get their fill of interesting insights on a critical moment in world history, says tour guide Marcus Bradshaw.


The bullet-scarred window of the Church of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Prague / Photo: Wikipedia

“We have the whole [Kino Aero] cinema to ourselves, so it is very immersive. Once the movie is over, we have a Q&A where we discuss the movie, its accuracies, and inaccuracies and separate history from Hollywood. We cover the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the Sudeten Crisis and the Munich Agreement, and give some context to the pressures faced by Beneš’ government-in-exile.”

The tour visits the street where two of the resistance hideouts were located, the memorials, the former Gestapo HQ, the Heydrich Terror Museum, and, finally, the church on Resslova where the resistance fighters died.


Orthodox church of Saints Cyril and Methodius / Photo: Wikipedia

“It is particularly powerful to stand in the church an hour after seeing it on the big screen,” says Bradshaw.

To buy tickets up for the Operation Anthropoid film tour or for more information, visit the Naked Tour Guide website. The next screening will take place on June 7 at 10 am at Kino Aero, followed by the talk and tour.

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