Václav Morávek (8 August 1904 – 21 March 1942) was a Czechoslovak Brigadier General and national hero, one of the best known personalities of the Czech antinazi rezistance and a member of the famous resistance group called the '' Three Kings''. He is also the protagonist in the Czech TV series '' Three Kings'', inspired by his group. He was a pistol shooting champion of the Czechoslovak Army (his personal motto during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

is widely known: "''I believe in God and in my pistols''"), and commanded an

Artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

with the rank of Staff Captain during the

first Czechoslovak Republic The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechosl ...

Demobilised Demobilization or demobilisation (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or becaus ...

after the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, he worked as a clerk at the Labour Office in Kolín. In summer 1939, he participated in the founding of the Obrana národa (Defense of the Nation), a resistance group made up of former Czechoslovak soldiers. Morávek was (together with Josef Mašín and Josef Balabán) a member of a group whose main tasks were keeping in contact with Paul Thümmel (considered to be the most important Czechoslovak agent within the Nazi apparatus, his codename was A-54), maintaining radio connections with the London-based

Czechoslovak Government-in-exile The Czechoslovak government-in-exile, sometimes styled officially as the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia (; ), was an informal title conferred upon the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee (; ), initially by Government of the Unit ...

and

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

. The trio was later nicknamed ''Three Kings'' (in Czech ''Tři králové''). Morávek was known for his foolhardy nature and daring actions. Among the most famous are his repeated personal colportage of illegal press to the Prague

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

office and his deliberate face-to-face meeting with Oskar Fleischer (who at that time headed a special Gestapo team that was hunting the ''Three Kings''), which Morávek subsequently described in a detailed letter sent to Fleischer's superior. Once, when returning from

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

with explosives in his luggage, he was checked by a German policeman at Prague railway station - when asked, Morávek cold-bloodedly responded that "''what may look like some explosives to you, are in fact ordinary sonds for centrifuges''" and was let to go.KAŠPAR Lukáš: ''Václav Morávek'' article in Reflex magazine 46/2005
/ref> The most visible sabotage operations carried out by the ''Three Kings'' were two bomb attacks in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

: one in January 1941 against the Ministry of Air Travel and police headquarters; and second, in the Berlin-Anhalt rail station next month, intended to kill

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

(whose train was unexpectedly delayed). In April and May 1941 respectively, Balabán and Mašín were arrested, but Morávek eluded capture for another ten months. He died in a gunfight with agents of the

while he tried to help his colleague Václav Řehák, whom the Gestapo had arrested shortly beforehand. On 8 May 2005, he was posthumously promoted to brigadier general.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moravek, Vaclav 1904 births 1942 deaths People from Kolín Czechoslovak soldiers Czechoslovak military personnel killed in World War II Czech Protestants Czech resistance members Czech generals Failed assassins of Heinrich Himmler Recipients of the Milan Rastislav Stefanik Order Recipients of the Order of the White Lion