Ethics and Literature in Prague AIAD

Department of English and Philosophy (DEP) faculty led cadets from various departments to study and focus on ethical questions posed by momentous events that occurred in Prague during WWII, specifically the assassination of high ranking Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich by Czech and Slovak resistance fighters and the retaliatory murder of thousands of civilians with no ties to the resistance. In Prague, cadets on the Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) retraced the path of Heydrich's car and visited the monument marking the ambush site. They later visited the crypt which now acts as both a monument and a museum to remember the partisan fighters who assassinated Heydrich. After the ensuing manhunt, the two partisans that killed Heydrich joined with five other resistance members and concealed themselves in a cathedral to avoid capture. After weeks of concealment in a dark crypt, the men were betrayed. The partisans resisted a nine-hour long siege against 750 Nazis but saved the last bullets for themselves. The group also visited the site of the Lidice massacre. The Czechs revere this part of their history and remember the partisans as heroes. These events are foundational to the Czech national identity. During the AIAD, the group walked amongst the history and contemplated the permissibility of the various actions that constitute this saga.