Kobylisy shooting range — from military training to remembrance

Before it became an execution site

1890–before the occupation

Built for infantry training, the range also served civilian shooting organizations.

A military shooting range was built outside what was then Prague in 1890. It extended for 1,100 metres. Five sectors had separate targets and protective earthworks; soldiers trained here in rifle use.

The grounds were not exclusively for training. Concerts and officers’ social activities also took place here in the early twentieth century. After the First World War, Sokol and other civilian organizations used it alongside the army.

A Nazi execution site

1941–1945

Under occupation, the northern part of the grounds became a place of execution.

The first documented executions here took place on 30 September 1941. The condemned waited in a former stable before being led to an area enclosed by high earthworks.

After the 1942 attack on Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazis murdered hundreds here. Victims included writer Vladislav Vančura and Protectorate prime minister Alois Eliáš. The executions struck people from many parts of Czech society.

The violence extended beyond 1942. Four gendarmes involved in resistance were executed here in 1943. As late as 7 May 1945, SS members shot three Kobylisy residents outside the entrance.

Lives connected with Resslova Street

4–5 September 1942

The victims included members of the Orthodox Church that sheltered the parachutists.

Jindra’s study dates the executions of Bishop Gorazd, priest Václav Čikl and Jan Sonnevend at Kobylisy to 4 September 1942. The Prague 2 encyclopaedia gives 5 September for Čikl; the discrepancy remains unresolved. According to Jindra, chaplain Vladimír Petřek died here the following day.

Their story leads back to the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Resslova Street, where Czechoslovak parachutists hid. Gorazd learned of the refuge on 11 June. After the church was taken, he accepted responsibility for sheltering the men.

Remembrance alongside continued use

1945–approximately 1968

Commemoration of the victims overlapped with postwar use of the grounds.

After liberation, a wooden cross with a crown of thorns marked the execution site. At the same time, the Czechoslovak army took over the range and resumed training for several years.

By the 1950s the range no longer met technical requirements and was used only occasionally. Prague 8’s account says Army Film subsequently used it until approximately mid-1968. This is not a precise date for the last shooting practice.

From shooting range to memorial

1974–1978 and remembrance of the victims

The surviving part of the grounds became a commemorative space.

The site was landscaped in 1974–1975 and the Memorial to Anti-Fascist Resistance unveiled in May 1975. Architects Luděk Todl and Josef Polák designed it; the memorial includes a mosaic by Martin Sladký.

Memorial plaques record victims’ names, ages and execution details. Today’s memorial occupies only part of the once extensive range. It has been a national cultural monument since 1978.