Dovolená s Heydrichem
On Holiday with Heydrich

Summary/Abstract: This article is a discussion of ‘Operation Recreation: The Legacy of Reinhard Heydrich’ (Erholungsaktion – Vermächtnis Reinhard Heydrich), in which tens of thousands of workers in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1943 and 1944 were given an opportunity to use their vacation for a paid week’s stay in convalescent homes, spas, and similar institutions in attractive places throughout the Protectorate. The operation was named after Acting Reich-Protector Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942), who ostentatiously emphasized his interest in ensuring good social conditions for the Czech working classes, and, shortly before his death in consequence of an assassination attempt, he initiated the first such convalescent stays. The author puts the topic into the context of the development of the tradeunion movement after the establishment of the Protectorate and, before that, of efforts at health care for young people during the first Czechoslovak Republic. And he explains how only the newly established National Trade-union Headquarters (Národní odborová ústředna zaměstnanecká – NOÚZ), as the united trade-union organization in the Protectorate, was able to obtain enough fi nances to run such a demanding operation. The author then describes the organization of the whole operation, its ceremonial launching, and the course it took. He emphasizes that even though the importance of the operation was mostly as propaganda, it achieved this aim chiefly by showing the holidaymakers enjoying the arts, sports, tourism, and social events, while it kept the ideology in the background; the indoctrination aspect was somewhat intensifi ed in 1944. The author devotes considerable attention to the reactions to Operation Recreation from the ranks of those who participated in it. Although the utterly positive response it met with was doubtless because of its having been managed and supervised by the authorities, one must admit that this could also be a reflection of the genuine impressions of simple people who had for the first time in their lives met with such concentrated care, which had been presented as a reward for their honest work.

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