Historical Figure
Reinhard Heydrich
1904–1942
German high-ranking Nazi official (1904–1942)
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Biography
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was a high-ranking SS and police official in Nazi Germany as well as one of the principal architects of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei. Many historians regard Heydrich as one of the most sinister figures within the Nazi regime. Adolf Hitler described him as "the man with the iron heart."
In Their Own Words (4)
So far you have been treated as an officer and a gentleman, but don't think that this will go on if you don't behave better than you have done. You have two hours left in which to confess everything. If you don't, I shall hand you over to the Gestapo, who are used to dealing with such gangsters and criminals — you won't enjoy their methods a bit.
To Captain Sigismund Payne Best, as quoted in The Venlo Incident (1950) by Sigismund Payne Best, p. 41 , 1950
We will Germanize the Czech vermin.
To his aides after his appointment as the Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia on 27 September 1941 , 1941
It is natural that people do not want to be involved with us too much. There is no problem down to the smallest egotistical longing which the Gestapo cannot solve. Regarded in this way we are, if a joke is permitted, looked upon as a cross between a general maid and the dustbin of the Reich.
To his officers on German Police Day (February, 1941), as quoted in Gestapo : Instrument of Tyranny (1956) by Edward Crankshaw, p. 103 , 1956
To take the place of emigration, and with the prior approval of the Führer, the evacuation of the Jews to the East has become another possible solution. Although both courses of action emigration and evacuation, must, of course, be considered as nothing more than... temporary expedients, they do help to provide practical experience which should be of great importance in view of the coming Endlösung (Final Solution) of the Jewish question.
Speech at the Wannsee Conference, Berlin, (20 January 1942), as quoted in Why Did the Heavens Not Darken : The "Final Solution (1990) by A. J. Mayer, p. 304 , 1990
Timeline
The story of Reinhard Heydrich, told in moments.
Dishonorably discharged from the German Navy for breaking an engagement promise. Months later, at his wife Lina's suggestion, he joins the SS. Heinrich Himmler interviews him and asks him to sketch an intelligence service on paper. Heydrich does it in 20 minutes. He's hired on the spot.
Named head of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA), unifying the Gestapo, criminal police, and SD intelligence service under his control. He's 35 and commands the Nazi state's entire security apparatus. Hitler calls him "the man with the iron heart."
Receives written authorization from Hermann Goring to prepare "a complete solution of the Jewish question." The one-paragraph letter gives him authority over all occupied territories. He begins planning what the Nazis will call the Final Solution.
Chairs the Wannsee Conference in a lakeside villa outside Berlin. Fifteen senior officials discuss the logistics of murdering 11 million European Jews. The meeting lasts 90 minutes. Cognac is served.
Attacked by Czech and Slovak paratroopers in Prague during Operation Anthropoid. Jan Kubis throws a modified anti-tank grenade at his open-top Mercedes. Shrapnel lodges in his spleen. He chases his attackers on foot before collapsing.
Dies of septicemia from his wounds. He's 38. In reprisal, the SS destroys the Czech village of Lidice. Every male over 15 is shot. Women are sent to Ravensbruck. Children are gassed or given to German families. The village is leveled.
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