HFOTD: 9 June 1942

On this day in 1942, a contingent of SS entered the town of Lidice. The executed all men of the town, as well as about 50 women. The rest of the women were transported to concentration camps and most of the children were sent to German families so they could be "Germanized". What was this town's crime? Directly, nothing. However, the Germans had intercepted a suspicious letter that was addressed to the Horak family in Lidice after Heydrich's death. In the end, they were really only retaliating against this small town because of Heydrich's death.

For more information click here.

HFOTD: 27 May 1942

On this day in 1942, notorious Nazi, Reinhard Heydrich is assassinated in Prague. Seeing as he was one of those that helped plan and execute the Holocaust and was the leader of the Gestapo, the exiled Czechoslovakian government wanted him dead. The two would-be assassins were trained by British forces and were waiting for Heydrich in Prague when his open-top car passed by. Though he was mortally wounded, he would not die until June 2nd, and not from the wounds he sustained in the assassin, but from infection from conflicting ideas of his medical team.

For information on Heydrich click here, for the CIA report click here, or for a book on the assassination click here.