on his visit to
Prague Castle after the establishment of the German
protectorate The population of the protectorate was mobilized for labor that would aid the German war effort, and special offices were organized to supervise the management of industries important to that effort. The Germans drafted Czechs to work in coal mines, in the iron and steel industry, and in armaments production. Consumer-goods production, much diminished, was largely directed toward supplying the German armed forces. The protectorate's population was subjected to
rationing. The
Czech crown was devalued to the
Reichsmark at the rate of 10 crowns to 1
Reichsmark, though the actual rate should have been 6 crowns for 1
Reichsmark, a policy that allowed the Germans to buy everything on the cheap in the protectorate. Inflation was a major problem throughout the existence of the protectorate, which was made worse by the refusal of the German authorities to raise wages to keep up with inflation, making the era a period of decreasing living standards as the crowns bought less and less. Even members of the
volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) living in the protectorate complained their living standards had been higher under Czechoslovakia, which was quite a surprise to most of them, who expected their living standards to rise under German rule. German rule was moderate by Nazi standards during the first months of the occupation. The Czech government and political system, reorganized by Hácha, continued in formal existence. The
Gestapo directed its activities mainly against Czech politicians and the
intelligentsia. In 1940, in a secret plan on
Germanization of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, it was declared that those considered to be racially Mongoloid and the Czech intelligentsia were not to be Germanized, and that about half of the Czech population were suitable for Germanization.
Generalplan Ost assumed that around 50% of Czechs would be fit for Germanization. The Czech intellectual elite were to be removed from Czech territories and from Europe completely. The authors of Generalplan Ost believed it would be best if they emigrated overseas, as even in
Siberia, they were considered a threat to German rule. Just like
Jews,
Poles,
Serbs, and several other nations, Czechs were considered to be
Untermenschen by the
Nazi state. The Czechs however, were not subjected to a similar degree of random and organized acts of brutality that their Polish counterparts experienced. This is attributed to the view within the Nazi hierarchy that a large swath of the populace was "capable of
Aryanization", such capacity for Aryanization was supported by the position that part of the Czech population had German ancestry. There is also the fact that a relatively restrained policy in Czech lands was partly driven by the need to keep the population nourished and complacent so that it can carry out the vital work of arms production in the factories. By 1939, the country was already serving as a major hub of military production for Germany, manufacturing aircraft, tanks, artillery, and other armaments. The Czechs demonstrated against the occupation on 28 October 1939, the 21st anniversary of Czechoslovak independence. The death on 15 November 1939 of a medical student,
Jan Opletal, who had been wounded in the October violence, precipitated widespread student demonstrations, and the Germans retaliated. Politicians were arrested
en masse, as were an estimated 1,800 students and teachers. On 17 November, all universities and colleges in the protectorate were closed, nine student leaders were executed, and 1,200 were sent to the
Sachsenhausen concentration camp within Nazi Germany; further arrests and executions of Czech students and professors took place later during the occupation. , who improved radio receivers to listen to foreign broadcasts, 1944 During
World War II, Hitler decided that Neurath was not treating the Czechs harshly enough and adopted a more radical policy in the protectorate. On 29 September 1941, Hitler appointed SS hardliner
Reinhard Heydrich as Deputy
Reichsprotektor (
Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor). At the same time, he relieved Neurath of his day-to-day duties. For all intents and purposes, Heydrich replaced Neurath as
Reichsprotektor. Under Heydrich's authority Prime Minister
Alois Eliáš was arrested (and later executed), the Czech government was reorganized, and all Czech cultural organizations were closed. The
Gestapo arrested and murdered people. The deportation of Jews to
concentration camps was organized, and the fortress town of
Terezín was made into a
ghetto way-station for Jewish families. On 4 June 1942, Heydrich died after being wounded by Czechoslovak Commandos in
Operation Anthropoid. Directives issued by Heydrich's successor, SS-
Oberstgruppenführer Kurt Daluege, and martial law brought forth mass arrests, executions and the obliteration of the villages of
Lidice and
Ležáky. In 1943 the German war-effort was accelerated. Under the authority of
Karl Hermann Frank, German minister of state for Bohemia and Moravia, within the protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quietly until the final months preceding the end of the war, when thousands became involved in the
resistance movement. For the Czechs of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia,
German occupation represented a period of
oppression. The number of Czech victims of political persecution and murders in concentration camps totalled between 36,000 and 55,000. After Heydrich assumed control of the Protectorate, he instituted martial law and stepped up arrests and executions of
resistance fighters. Heydrich allegedly referred to Czechs as "laughing beasts", reflecting Czech subversion and Nazi racial beliefs about the inferiority of Czechs. and prime minister
Jaroslav Krejčí at the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia held at Klessheim Castle. 15 March 1944 The
Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia (118,000 according to the 1930 census) was virtually annihilated, with over 75,000 murdered. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; 8,000 survived at the
Terezín concentration camp, which was used for
propaganda purposes as a showpiece. ==Politics==