72 Anniversary of Operation Kutschera

Biuletyn Informacyjny dated 24th February 1944 ( Source )

Today we commemorate the 72nd Anniversary of Operation Kutschera – one of the most important actions of assassinations of Nazi Officials by the Polish Resistance that end up with success.

What is Operation Kutschera?

Operation Kutschera was the code name for the successful assassination of Franz Kutschera who was selected for SS and Reich’s Police Chief in German-occupied Warsaw in September 1943. Almost immediately after his arrival to Warsaw Kutschera started to implement darndest terror measures directed against civilians. During his tenure the amount of violent round-ups highly increased. Citizens captured during daily round-ups conducted by Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were send to Pawiak and then to concentration camps or shot in the streets of Warsaw. The lists of people shot in reprisal for disobedience were published daily. All these activities were aimed at breaking the resistance among Polish people. From 16 October 1934 to 16 February 1944, 1763 people were shot in 35 public executions. Together with victims of unofficial executions that took place in Warsaw Ghetto almost 5 thousand people were murdered on Kutschera’s orders. In November 1943 Kutschera was sentenced to death by a Special Court of the Polish Underground State. He was executed on 1 February 1944 by Polish Resistance fighters of the Home Army’s anti-Gestapo unit Agat. This was a part of the larger action – Operation Heads. After funeral that took place on 4 February 1944 Kutschera’s body was moved to Berlin. During the ceremony extraordinary measures of safety were taken. Streets were closed for Poles and the whole route of the funeral cortege was surrounded with police forces. In an aftermath the city of Warsaw was to pay 100 million zloty to Germans as retribution. From 10 to 15 February around 450 hostages were killed. Many of them were shot in one of the last public executions before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising.

In 1959 Jerzy Passendorfer a Polish film director, specialising in films about the German occupation of Poland during World War II made a movie Zamach, the main subject  was the assassination of Kutschera.