Czech resistance to Nazi occupation Czech resistance to German Nazi occupation or Jewish resistance to German Nazi occupation during World War II is a scarcely documented subject , by and large a result of little formal resistance and an effective German policy that deterred acts of resistance or annihilated organizations of resistance . In the early days of the war , the Czech population participated in boycott s of public transport and some mass protest demonstrations took place . Consolidation of resistance groups : ÚVOD . The Czech resistance network that existed during the early years of the Second World War operated under the leadership of Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš , who together with the head of Czechoslovak military intelligence , František Moravec , coordinated resistance activity while in exile in London . In the context of German persecution , the major resistance groups consolidated under the Central Leadership of Home Resistance ( " Ústřední vedení odboje domácího " , ÚVOD ) . It served as the principal clandestine intermediary between Beneš and the Protectorate , which was in existence through 1941 . Its long - term purpose was to serve as a shadow government until Czechoslovakia ’ s liberation from Nazi occupation . The three major resistance groups that consolidated under ÚVOD were the Political Centre ( " Politické ústředí " , PÚ ) , the Committee of the Petition “ We Remain Faithful ” ( " Petiční výbor Věrni zůstaneme " , PVVZ ) , and the Nation ’ s Defence ( " Obrana národa " , ON ) . These groups were all democratic in nature , as opposed to the fourth official resistance group , the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( KSČ ) . Most of their members were former officers of the disbanded Czechoslovak Army . In 1941 , ÚVOD endorsed the political platform designed by the leftist group PVVZ , titled “ For Freedom : Into a New Czechoslovak Republic ” . In it , ÚVOD professed allegiance to the democratic ideals of past - Czechoslovak president Tomáš Masaryk , called for the establishment of a republic with socialist features , and urged all those in exile to stay in step with the socialist advances at home . In addition to serving as the means of communication between London and Prague , the ÚVOD was also responsible for the transmission of intelligence and military reports . It did so primarily through the use of a secret radio station , which could reach the Czech population . However , the ÚVOD was known to transmit inaccurate reports , whether false intelligence data or military updates . Sometimes this was intentional . Beneš often urged the ÚVOD to relay falsely optimistic reports of the military situation to improve morale or motivate more widespread resistance . While the ÚVOD served a principal aid to Beneš , it did sometimes depart from his policies . During the summer of 1941 , the ÚVOD rejected Beneš ’ proposals for partial expulsion of the Sudeten Germans after the conclusion of the war and instead demanded their complete expulsion . The ÚVOD succeeded in changing Beneš ’ official stance on this issue . ÚVOD and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( KSČ ) . The ÚVOD ’ s relationship with the KSČ was an important aspect of its daily functions , as Soviet - Czech relations became a central part of their resistance efforts . The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 marked a turning point in Soviet - Czechoslovak relations . Before the invasion , “ the main Communist objective was to stop the imperialist war ” and was often sympathetic to the German workers of the Reich . After the invasion , the Resistance began to rely on communist support both within Czechoslovakia and from Moscow . In a broadcast from London on 24 June 1941 via the ÚVOD , Beneš informed his country that “ the relationship between our two states thus returned to the pre - Munich situation and the old friendship . ” While the KSČ was not an official part of the ÚVOD and kept its organisational independence , it called for unity of action with all anti - Fascist groups . Leaders of the KSČ ingratiated themselves with the ÚVOD by helping to maintain Soviet - Czechoslovak relations . Beneš often used these KSČ leaders to arrange meetings in Moscow to expand the Soviet - Czechoslovak partnership . There is some evidence that the ÚVOD may have warned the Russians about the German invasion in April 1941 . In March 1941 , Beneš received intelligence regarding a German build - up of troops on the Soviet Union ' s borders . According to his memoirs , he immediately passed on that information to the Americans , British and Soviet Union . The KSČ ’ s fate was also closely linked with the ÚVOD ’ s . It too suffered annihilation after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich , unable to rebound until 1944 . The Czech resistance and the Heydrich assassination . The most famous and heroic act of Czech resistance was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich on 27 May 1942 by Czechoslovak soldiers Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík . In many ways , the ÚVOD ’ s demise was forecast with Heydrich ’ s appointment as the " Reichsprotektor " of Bohemia and Moravia in the fall of 1941 . By the end of September , Heydrich had organised the arrest of nearly all members of the ÚVOD and successfully cut off all links between the ÚVOD and London . The Nazi reaction to Heydrich ' s assassination is often credited with the annihilation of an effective Czech underground movement after 1942 . The Nazis exacted revenge , razing to the ground the two villages of Lidice and Ležáky . In October 1942 , 1 , 331 people were sentenced to death by German courts in the Protectorate , one thousand Jews were sent directly from Prague to Mauthausen concentration camp , and an additional 252 people were sent to Mauthausen for involvement with the assassination plot . Finally , in the wake of the Nazi revenge , the last remaining members of the ÚVOD were arrested .