The Král apartment — the route to Prague and a return for Škoda

False papers and a safe base

30 December 1941 and the following weeks

The Králs received the pair and helped with identity documents.

Kubiš and Gabčík used an agreed password at the apartment. Police inspector Václav Král received them and helped secure false identity cards and employment record books.

The municipal account records that the family hid them both in the apartment and at a cottage by Radobyčice mill. Plzeň was therefore more than a brief stop after landing: it was a safe base to which the parachutists returned.

Král continued by seeking a Prague address. With colleague Jan Bejbl, he linked the parachutists to postal employee Václav Růta, whose Žižkov apartment became their first documented Prague stop.

A meeting before CANONBURY

April 1942

The apartment hosted discussions on helping a British raid on the Škoda works.

In April 1942, ANTHROPOID and OUT DISTANCE members met in the Král apartment to prepare support for a British air raid on the Škoda works.

The household was more than an initial contact point: several months later, it provided space for two parachute teams to prepare an operation together.

Arrest and Mauthausen

17 June–24 October 1942

After Čurda’s testimony, the Gestapo arrested the whole family.

The Gestapo arrested Václav Král, his wife Pavla and daughter Helena in the apartment on 17 June. All three were murdered in Mauthausen on 24 October alongside other people connected with the parachutists.