Adolf Opálka

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Adolf Opálka

Adolf Opálka (born January 4, 1915 in Rešice ; † June 18, 1942 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovak soldier and member of the Czech anti-Nazi sabotage operation Out Distance during World War II , as well as a member of Operation Anthropoid , which successfully carried out an assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich committed.

Life

Opálka was born into a middle-class family in Rešice near Dukovany . He was the illegitimate son of the miller Viktor Jarolím (1889–1942) and Anežka Opálková. After his mother's death in 1923, Opálka lived with his aunt Marie Opálková (1882–1942). He studied between 1932 and 1936 and shortly after graduating he joined the Czechoslovak Army . He served in the 43rd Infantry Regiment in Brno . Shortly after joining, he studied at the military academy in Hranice . He then joined the 2nd Mountain Regiment in Ružomberok as a lieutenant .

The Munich Agreement ended his military career and he left his home country Czechoslovakia with his cousin František Pospíšil via Poland and France to North Africa, where he joined the Légion étrangère .

After the outbreak of World War II and the occupation of Czechoslovakia , Opálka returned to France and joined a Czechoslovak army in Agde .

In the summer of 1941 he volunteered for covert operations behind the enemy line. He was trained for this in Scotland and became the leader of the group code-named " Out Distance ".

Out Distance

Opálka ( code name "Adolf Král"), Ivan Kolařík ("Jan Krátký") and Karel Čurda ("Karel Vrbas") secretly jumped into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on March 28, 1942 to carry out a covert operation. However, due to a navigation error, they landed in the wrong place and Opálka injured his leg. This led to the group breaking up. Opálka contacted Captain Alfréd Bartoš and later joined Operation Anthropoid in Prague .

Operation Anthropoid

Exterior of St. Cyril and Methodius Church in Prague

The Operation Anthropoid pursued the goal of Reinhard Heydrich, the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia to kill. After the mission was successful, ( Josef Bublík , Jozef Gabčík , Jan Hrubý , Jan Kubiš , Josef Valčík , and Jaroslav Švarc ) were persecuted to the Church of St. Cyril and Methodius . At 4:15 p.m. on May 27, 1942, the church was surrounded by 800 soldiers from the German Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS , and a seven-hour battle followed. Everyone involved in the operation died, Opálka killed himself.

literature

  • Martin Reichl: Cesty osudu. Svět křídel, Cheb 2004. ISBN 80-86808-04-1 .
  • Jaroslav Láník et al .: Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945. Praha: Ministerstvo obrany ČR-AVIS, 2005. ISBN 80-7278-233-9 , S 213, online (archived) at: vojenskaakademiehranice.ic.cz / ...
  • Boris Čelovský: Germanization and Genocide. Hitler's endless solution to the Czech question. German documents 1933–1945. Brno and Dresden 2005, p. 335.
  • Lucyna Darowska: Resistance and Biography - The resistance practice of the Prague journalist Milena Jesenská against National Socialism. Edition Politik, Volume 4, Transcript - Verlag for Communication, Culture and Social Practice, Bielefeld 2014, p. 456.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nadporučík Adolf Opálka. Retrieved November 29, 2015 (Czech).
  2. ↑ a b PARASUTISTE. In: lib.cas.cz. Retrieved November 29, 2015 (Czech).
  3. ↑ a b Sedm statečných z Resslovy ulice. Archived from the original on January 16, 2005 ; Retrieved November 29, 2015 (Czech).
  4. ↑ a b c Miroslava Menšíková, Jiří Mikulka: Adolf Opálka at Brno Encyclopedia. (No longer available online.) Brno Encyclopedia, December 18, 2008, archived from the original on January 25, 2007 ; Retrieved March 29, 2008 (Czech). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.encyklopedie.brna.cz
  5. ^ Lewis M. White : On All Fronts: Czechoslovaks in World War II . East European Monographs , ISBN 0-88033-456-8 (English).
  6. ↑ Vladimír Marek: Atentát z hlediska vyššího principu. (No longer available online.) September 1, 2002, archived from the original on February 10, 2008 ; Retrieved March 28, 2008 (Czech).
  7. ↑ Sedm statečných z Resslovy ulice. Ministerstvo obrany České republiky, archived from the original on February 23, 2008 ; Retrieved March 29, 2008 (Czech).
  8. ↑ JB Hutak: With Blood and with Iron: The Lidice Story . Robert Hale, S. 133 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Opálka, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak soldier
DATE OF BIRTH January 4, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Rešice
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1942
Place of death Prague