Prague: the occupation begins
Story period: March 1939
Location: Prague, Czech lands
German forces occupied Prague on 15 March 1939. A protectorate over Bohemia and Moravia placed the Czech lands under German rule. The occupation followed the loss of the borderlands after Munich and opened the period in which the resistance story of Anthropoid would unfold.
After Munich, another German advance
15 March 1939
The concessions of 1938 had not ended expansion.
After the Munich settlement, Czechoslovakia had already lost its borderlands. German troops entered Prague on 15 March 1939. The remaining Czech lands now faced occupation rather than simply another transfer of peripheral territory.
A protectorate was established over Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia had a separate state arrangement. These were different political structures, even though both developments belonged to the break-up of Czechoslovakia.
From the beginning of occupation to resistance
1939–1945
The city’s wartime story continues beyond this one episode.
The United States recognized neither the protectorate nor the Slovak state. Diplomatic non-recognition did not reverse the new situation on the ground.
The Anthropoid overview follows a later resistance operation and its helpers. Prague in May 1945 continues to the uprising and the occupation’s end.
The marker represents the city as a whole. It does not pinpoint the arrival of a particular unit or an exact site where the protectorate was proclaimed.
Explore further
- Prague: the occupation ends
The uprising and Soviet arrival mark the end of the occupation begun in 1939.