Political Persecution and Crackdown on Resistance

In March and September 1939, arrests took place, targeting exponents of interwar public life. Following Reinhard Heydrich's accession to the office of Protector, martial law was declared on September 28, 1941, and mass arrests and executions of persons suspected of resistance activities ensued. The assassination of Heydrich on May 27, 1942, was followed by extensive repression, including the annihilation of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. In the last months of the war, violence against the civilian population was committed as part of anti-partisan operations. In the region of Těšín, which was incorporated into the Reich Province of Upper Silesia, the Nazis used public executions by hanging to intimidate the population.