Editing Prague (section)

====Second World War====
[[File:Prague liberation 1945 konev.jpg|thumb|The Red Army [[Prague offensive|enters]] Prague in May 1945]]
{{further|German occupation of Czechoslovakia}}
[[Hitler]] ordered the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] to enter Prague on 15 March 1939, and from Prague Castle proclaimed [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia|Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate]]. For most of its history, Prague had been a multi-ethnic city<ref name=TOT1>{{cite web |url=http://www.atlas-europa.de/t04/bevoelkerung/europ_staedte/pdf/BevStaedte-Tabelle_dt.pdf |title=Einwohnerzahl europäischer Städte |quote=Prag insgesamt 1940 928.000 |language=de |access-date=6 July 2018 |archive-date=17 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517074618/http://www.atlas-europa.de/t04/bevoelkerung/europ_staedte/pdf/BevStaedte-Tabelle_dt.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> with important Czech, German and (mostly native German-speaking) Jewish populations.<ref name=JEW1>{{cite web |url=http://www.jüdische-gemeinden.de/index.php/gemeinden/p-r/1593-prag |title=Aus der Geschichte jüdischer Gemeinden |quote=1937/38 ca. 45.000 |language=de |access-date=21 April 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331004340/https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/p-r/1593-prag |url-status=live}}</ref> From 1939, when the country was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]], Hitler took over Prague Castle. During the [[Second World War]], most Jews were [[Holocaust|deported and killed]] by the Germans. In 1942, Prague was witness to the assassination of one of the most powerful men in [[Nazi Germany]]—[[Reinhard Heydrich]]—during [[Operation Anthropoid]], accomplished by Czechoslovak national heroes [[Jozef Gabčík]] and [[Jan Kubiš]]. Hitler ordered bloody reprisals.<ref>Bryant, Chad (2007). ''Prague in Black: Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p.&nbsp;167ff. {{isbn|978-0674024519}}</ref>

In February 1945, [[1945 Bombing of Prague|Prague suffered several bombing raids]] by the [[United States Army Air Forces|US Army Air Forces]]. 701 people were killed, more than 1,000 people were injured and some buildings, factories and historic landmarks ([[Emmaus Monastery]], [[Faust House (Prague)|Faust House]], [[Vinohrady Synagogue]]) were destroyed.<ref name="Bombing">{{cite web |url=http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/40592-looking-back-at-the-bombing-of-prague.html |title=Looking Back at the Bombing of Prague |website=[[The Prague Post]] |date=14 February 1945 |access-date=4 December 2011 |archive-date=14 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114154013/http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/40592-looking-back-at-the-bombing-of-prague.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Many historic structures in Prague, however, escaped the destruction of the war and the damage was small compared to the total destruction of many other cities in that time. According to American pilots, it was the result of a navigational mistake. In March, a deliberate raid targeted military factories in Prague, killing about 370 people.<ref>{{cite web |title=The bombing of Prague from a new perspective |date=13 December 2011 |url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/the-bombing-of-prague-from-a-new-perspective |publisher=Radio Prague |access-date=10 June 2018 |archive-date=20 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220172922/http://radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/the-bombing-of-prague-from-a-new-perspective |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 5 May 1945, two days before Germany capitulated, an [[Prague uprising|uprising]] against Germany occurred. Several thousand Czechs were killed in four days of bloody street fighting, with many atrocities committed by both sides. Fought concurrently with the Prague uprising, the [[Prague offensive]] significantly helped the [[liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945|liberation of Czechoslovakia]].  At daybreak on 9 May, the {{nowrap|[[3rd Shock Army]]}} of the [[Red Army]] took the capital city almost unopposed. The majority (about 50,000 people) of the German population of Prague either fled or were [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] by the [[Beneš decrees]] in the aftermath of the war.