Schuber to Speak on Operation Anthropoid

William "Pat" Shuber

Our next lecture will be on Tuesday, June 23 at 7 p.m. at the Millburn Library. William "Pat" Schuber will speak about "Operation Anthropoid - The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich." Mr. Schuber is a lawyer and teaches history at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is also a Civil War historian and has visited every one of the Civil War battle sites.

Operation Anthropoid was the assassination of top Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich, the Chief of Reich Main Security Office, the "Protector of Bohemia and Moravia" and the chief planner of the Final Solution. He was involved in most of Hitler's intrigues and a valued political ally, advisor and friend of the dictator. Due to his abilities and power he was feared by almost all the Nazi generals. Heydrich was nicknamed The Butcher of Prague, the Blond Beast or the Hangman.

The exiled government of Czechoslovakia under President Edvard Benes was under pressure from British intelligence, as there had been very little visible resistance in the Czech lands since the German occupation began in 1939. Resistance was brutally destroyed by Heydrich. The decision to assassinate Heydrich was designed to give inspiration to the Czech people and show the world that the Czechs were allies. Heydrich was one of the most important men in Nazi Germany and his death would be a huge loss and a profound psychological victory.

 The carefully planned effort to kill Heydrich has been thoroughly researched by Pat Schuber, who has visited the site of the assassination and read extensively about the event. His lecture will include many slides, including images of the completely destroyed village of Lidice, which was leveled to the ground on personal orders from Hitler in retaliation for the assassination.