Czech Hell

Czech Hell was an episode of vigilante justice during the Prague Offensive and the Prague Uprising, World War II in May 1945. It involved the imprisonment and summary execution of unarmed soldiers and officers of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian).

Background

The provisional government of Czechoslovakia was proclaimed in Košice on 5 April 1945. The Communist Party seized a third of the national government, including the ministers of the Interior and Defence. Revengeful attitudes countenanced by the communists led to massive vigilante justice against former personnel of the German armed forces after the German capitulation. The government, which should have restrained the rioters, used them in its own interests.

The surrendered German troops included thousands of officers and soldiers of the Estonian Division initially based around Jelenia Góra and Świerzawa. They had been forcefully drafted into the Waffen SS and had received no special training apart from the regular military drill; they had also not committed any war crimes.

Action

The Estonian Division received orders on 7 May to retreat, assemble in Jablonec nad Nisou, move on through Prague in the direction of Plzeň and eventually surrender to the US armed forces. Its headquarters and supply train began to retreat on the same day. Its units began to retreat the day after that. Czech partisans demanded that German units surrendered their arms, which the Estonians did. Subsequently, the partisans chased down and took some of the unarmed men prisoner, tortured and humiliated them. The partisans did not differentiate the nationals of Estonia, who had been illegally conscripted and the German forces. The number of men killed has been estimated as 500−1000, but the actual number is unknown. Soldiers who had been in the custody of Czech partisans were relieved to be handed over to the Red Army.