Reinhard Heydrich

From Metapedia

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (March 7, 1904 – June 4, 1942) was an SS-Obergruppenführer, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (including the Gestapo, SD and Kripo police agencies) and Reichsprotektor (Reich Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia. Adolf Hitler considered him a possible successor. Heydrich was chairing the 1942 Wannsee conference, which finalized plans for the removal of all European Jews. Heydrich was wounded in an assassination attempt in Prague on 27 May 1942 and died over a week later from complications arising from his injuries.

[edit] Early Life

Heydrich was born in Halle an der Saale to composer Richard Bruno Heydrich and his wife Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Kranz; Heydrich held a life-long passion for the violin. His two forenames were patriotic musical references: "Reinhard" from an opera of his father's, in a portion called "Reinhard's Crime". His first middle name, 'Tristan' stems from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. His third name probably derives from military hero Prince Eugene of Savoy, Eugen in German (the German cruiser Prinz Eugen was also named for Eugene of Savoy as was the 7th Division of the Waffen-SS).

He was too young to have fought in World War I but joined the quasi-military Freikorps after the war.

[edit] NSDAP and the SS

In 1931, Himmler began to set up a counter-intelligence division of the SS. Acting on a friend's advice, he interviewed Heydrich, and, it is alleged, after a twenty minute test whereby Heydrich had to outline plans for the new division, Himmler hired him on the spot. In doing so Himmler also effectively recruited Heydrich into the Party. He would later receive a Totenkopf ring from Himmler, for his service.

At this time, he was relatively insignificant within the NSDAP intelligence apparatus. He and his staff spent their time building up a card-file system on all people who were considered a threat to the Party, often including party officials themselves.

In July 1932, Heydrich became the head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), an intelligence organization wholly committed to the defence of National Socialism. He built it by recruiting agents from unusual sources, some of whom were not really committed NSDAP supporters, just people Heydrich found talented or useful, from whom reports could be compiled on various aspects of life in Germany. The organization benefitted from close cooperation with the Gestapo, which Heydrich also gained control of in 1936, as part of a combined security police force. Later, the SD and the Gestapo were united under the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) under Heydrich.

[edit] Assassination in Prague

On September 27, 1941 Heydrich was appointed acting Reichsprotektor in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (part of former Czechoslovakia incorporated into the Reich by an act of aggression on March 15, 1939). He replaced Konstantin von Neurath whom Hitler considered ineffective (but who remained titular protector until 20 August 1943).

While virtual military governor of Bohemia and Moravia, exercising real executive power above the President and Prime Minister of the Protectorate, Heydrich often drove alone in a car with an open roof — a show of confidence in the occupation forces and the effectiveness of his government

He had initially gained some control over Jewish policy, when in November 1938, Göring assigned him as head of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration following the Kristallnacht. On 20 January 1942, Heydrich chaired the Wannsee Conference, at which plans for the deportation of the Jews were discussed. Heydrich was one of the very few prominent leaders to actually serve in combat, as he flew 97 missions in a Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin engine fighter and won two Iron Crosses (first and second class) for his bravery. In fact, Heydrich was actually shot down over Russia but was rescued by German forces.

Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík were Czechoslovak soldiers who had fled the country earlier in 1941. After receiving training from the British they parachuted back into the region that December and on 27 May 1942 ambushed Heydrich while he rode in his open car in the Prague suburb of Kobylisy. As the car slowed to take a hairpin bend in the road, Gabčík drew a concealed British-made Sten sub-machine gun but it failed to fire, so Kubiš threw a bomb near the rear of the car which wounded Heydrich and Kubiš himself. The reason the Sten failed is open to speculation, although the type was prone to jamming and stoppages, due to the design of the single column 32-round magazine and poor quality control among some of the myriad small workshops producing Sten gun magazines. Most of these possessed no prewar experience in the manufacture of firearms parts.

Heydrich appeared not to be injured seriously. He gave chase and tried to return fire but his pistol was not loaded. However, after running some distance, he became weak from shock, and sent his driver Klein off on foot to chase the escaping Gabčík, but he, in the ensuing fire-fight was shot in the leg by Gabčík. Heydrich would be the only leading Nazi figure who would be assassinated by the Allies during the war. Despite Himmler sending his best doctors, Heydrich died in a Prague hospital at the age of 38. The autopsy stated Heydrich's death was the result of septicemia caused by bacteria and toxins from horsehair and upholstery fragments from the car seats and driven into his blood stream by the bomb fragments.

The German retaliation was brutal, a clear warning against any further armed resistance. About 13,000 people were arrested, deported, imprisoned or killed. On 10 June all males over the age of 16 in the village of Lidice, 22 km north-west of Prague, and another village, Ležáky, were murdered, the towns were burned and the ruins levelled.

There is a special memorial to both the assassins and the dead of Lidice and Lezaky in Jephson Gardens, Royal Leamington Spa, UK. This was the town where the Czech forces were stationed during the war, and where their training took place. The memorial fountain is in the form of a parachute, with water running over the centre fold. Planted around the fountain is the special white Lidice Rose, grown in commemoration of the dead. This memorial is believed to be the only place outside of Czechoslovakia where the special rose is grown. The fountain was designed and is maintained by Warwick district council.

Lina Heydrich later stated that she believed Heydrich had expected an early death, saying that she saw his frequent unnecessary risk-taking (such as his recklessness during his stint as a fighter pilot as an attempt to ensure that, should he die, his would be a dramatic death.

Heydrich was buried in Berlin's Invalidenfriedhof, which had the misfortune to be on the border between West and East Berlin. His plot was between those of two famous German war heroes, Oven and Scharnhorst.. In 1945, however, his headstone and grave marker were removed by the Allies, who feared his tomb would become a rallying point for Neo-Nazis. During the time when the Berlin Wall was standing, the grave was part of the so-called "death strip" between the two Berlins and inaccessible to the public.

Heydrich's eventual replacements were Ernst Kaltenbrunner as the chief of RSHA, and Karl Hermann Frank 27 - 28 May 1942 and Kurt Daluege 28 May 1942 - 14 October 1943 as the new acting Reichsprotektors.

After Heydrich's death, his legacy lived on; the first three "trial" labour camps were constructed and put into operation at Treblinka, Sobibór, and Belzec. The project was named Operation Reinhard in Heydrich's honor.