Reinhard Heydrich Assassins Reward Broadside

Authors

Object ID

2019.2.354

Object Name

Broadside

Date

5-27-1942

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

Broadside titled “BEKANNTMACHUNG” at top of left side and “VYHLASKA” at top of right side, left half of broadside in German, right side of broadside in Czech, dated May 27, 1942.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

SS Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich, the Reichsprotektor in Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia), head of the Reich Security Main Office, Chairman of the infamous Wannsee Conference (which devised plans for implementation of the Final Solution), and the man responsible for the Einsatzgruppen had been wounded in an assassination attempt by British-trained Czech soldiers on May 27, 1942 and died one week later on June 4 - from his wounds.

This rare broadside of “Bekanntmachung,” issued by Karl Hermann Frank just hours after the assassination attempt on Heydrich’s life, offers a reward of 10,000 kronen leading to the capture of the perpetrators. A state of civil emergency is declared with a curfew, along with the closure of restaurants, theaters, amusement parks, and public transportation. Anyone violating the curfew, aiding the perpetrators, or failing to notify the authorities of the identity or whereabouts of the perpetrators is to be shot along with their entire family.

Hitler ordered brutal reprisals following Heydrich’s death. Karl Hermann Frank carried out these reprisals against the entire village of Lidice, which was razed to the ground, its male residents executed, and its women and children deported to Ravensbruck where most were murdered. A similar massacre occurred in the village of Lezaky.

The assassins, Jan Kubis and Josef Valcik, evaded capture by committing suicide in a cathedral in Prague where they had been hiding. Text in both German and Czech.

Dimensions

18 x 24"

Keywords

Reinhard Heydrich, Assassination, Reward, Karl Hermann Frank

Subcollection

Bullets, Ghettos

Recommended Citation

"Reinhard Heydrich Assassins Reward Broadside" (1942). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.354.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1675