Life with a war criminal. Full biography

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (born March 7, 1904 - death June 4, 1942) - Head of the Imperial Security Main Office (1939-1942), Deputy Imperial Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (1941-1942). SS-Obergruppenführer and police general (since 1941)

After Himmler introduced the 26-year-old Heydrich to Adolf Hitler, when they were alone, he said thoughtfully:

“He is a very capable, but also a very dangerous man.

Strange, isn't it? And this despite the fact that in the appearance of the young SS man there was absolutely nothing villainous. Compared to the same bestial Rem, Heydrich looked like a living angel. It is noteworthy that one of the nicknames of Heydrich, which, of course, his colleagues gave him behind his back, was precisely the word "angel", however, with the addition of the epithet "fallen".

Death of Reinhard Heydrich

Everyone knew that Heydrich was a brave man. The last time he proved this was when he flew as a fighter pilot over the coasts of Norway, shooting down 7 British aircraft in the process. And this was done by one of the most powerful people of the Reich! In Prague, the fearless Heydrich constantly traveled along the same route in an open Mercedes without an escort. In the car, besides him, as a rule, there was only his personal experienced driver Willy. But on the tragic morning of June 27, another man was driving his car - Oberscharführer Klein.

The assassination took place at a slow turn. The way to Heydrich's car was blocked by a running man. An experienced Willy would have immediately noticed the danger and would have sunk his foot into the gas pedal. But Klein is driving. He braked, despite Heydrich's cry: "Press full." The pedestrian threw off his raincoat and pointed the muzzle of the machine gun at the Mercedes, pulled the trigger, but the machine jammed. But then a second person runs up and throws a grenade under the car. The blast shattered windows in nearby houses.

The criminals began to run away, but a chase was organized for them. Who took part in it? The unwounded Oberscharführer Klein runs after the first, but does not run for long - soon he will be lying on the sidewalk with two bullets in his chest. For the second, the one who threw the grenade, the wounded Reinhard Heydrich himself ran with a heavy "parabellum" at the ready. He shoots on the move and falls exhausted, having managed to wound his killer in the back.

“Report to the City,” the lying protector wheezes to the first of those who dared to approach him. These were the last words of Reinhard Heydrich, who was then only 38 years old. About a week later, on July 4, 1942, Heydrich died in one of the Prague hospitals, several operations performed did not help him - he died of blood poisoning, never regaining consciousness.

Revenge for this crime was not long in coming. In search of the killers, the Germans flooded Czechoslovakia with blood and, with the help of a Czech traitor, got to the killers.

The traditional Russian transliteration of Heydrich's name is Reinhard Tristan Eigen Heydrich. A more phonetically correct spelling is Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heidrich. Now the most common intermediate options are Reinhard Heydrich and Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was given the name Reinhardt (Reinhardt), in 1932 he changed the spelling to Reinhard (Reinhard).

Childhood and youth

Reinhard Heydrich's mother Elisabeth, nee Krantz, came from a wealthy family: her father ran the royal conservatory in Dresden. Reinhard's father, Bruno Heydrich, was an opera singer and composer. Bruno Heydrich's operas were staged in theaters in Cologne and Leipzig. In 1899, he founded a music school in Halle for middle-class children, but he never entered the city's high society. For the townspeople, he remained a stranger, which was facilitated by rumors about his Jewish origin.

From an early age, Reinhard was brought up in the spirit of nationalism. His parents had read the works of the racial theorist Houston Chamberlain on "race struggles". When the First World War began, Heydrich was 10 years old. The defeat of Kaiser Germany and the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II were perceived in the family as a great grief.

In 1919, at the age of 15, Heydrich, still a schoolboy, begins to get involved in politics and joins the Georg Ludwig Rudolf Merker volunteer corps, a paramilitary nationalist organization. According to contemporaries, his character at that time became more and more closed. [source?] Heydrich begins to actively engage in sports, cultivating the spirit of competition.

Navy service

The economic crisis that hit post-war Germany put Father Heydrich's music school on the verge of ruin. A musical career now did not promise any success, although Reinhard Heydrich played the violin well. Also financially unpromising seemed to Heydrich and the career of a chemist, which he dreamed of.

March 30, 1922 Heydrich enters the naval school in Kiel. The navy, with its rigid code of honor, seemed to the young Heydrich the elite of the nation. This confidence was further reinforced by the family's frequent visitor, Count Felix von Luckner. The future head of the Abwehr and the future admiral Wilhelm Canaris, at that time a senior officer on the cruiser Berlin, begins to contribute to his career. The relations of the Canaris family with Heydrich were very close - for example, Heydrich often played in a string quartet with Canaris's wife.

However, Heydrich's relationship with his colleagues was not particularly good. Like his father in his time, he was hampered by rumors that he had Jewish ancestors. While serving in the Navy, Heydrich was even more actively involved in sports, in particular pentathlon, fencing and horseback riding.

Behind Heydrich, a reputation for red tape spreads. In December 1930, at one of the balls, Heydrich met his future wife, Lina von Osten, a village teacher, and married her in January of the following year. According to another, more romantic version, Reinhard and a friend were riding a boat and saw a boat with two girls capsized nearby. Of course, young people heroically came to the rescue. One of the rescued girls was Lina von Osten.

Earlier, Heydrich developed an affair with another woman, the daughter of the head of the naval shipyard in Kiel (according to other sources, the daughter of the owner of the largest metallurgical holding IG Fabernim). Heydrich breaks this connection by sending an announcement of his engagement to Lina, cut out from a newspaper, by mail. The girl's father turns to the head of the Navy, Admiral Erich Raeder, with a request to influence Heydrich. According to the code of honor of the Navy, Heydrich committed a grave offense, having two novels at the same time. The behavior of the young lieutenant is considered at the court of honor, which for some reason is headed by Raeder himself. At a meeting of the court of honor, Raeder notes that the daughter of "such a person" is more worthy of a "village simpleton", but Heydrich replied with a request not to interfere in his choice. In April 1931, Admiral Raeder fired Heydrich for "misconduct."

Admission to SS

In June 1931, Reinhard Heydrich joined the NSDAP, receiving party card No. 544 916, and the SS (ticket No. 10 120). Together with militants from the SA, Heydrich takes part in battles with socialists and communists.

At the same time, Heinrich Himmler began to streamline the activities of the SS. To better coordinate the actions of the SS, as well as to spy on political opponents and participate in military actions, the SS needed a trained intelligence service. Through his friend Karl von Eberstein, Heydrich meets Himmler and expresses his proposals to him on the creation of an SS intelligence service; Himmler liked them, and he instructed Heydrich to take over the creation of the SD.

The main task of SD in the first couple was the collection of compromising materials on people occupying a prominent position in society, as well as conducting information campaigns to discredit political opponents. A favorite accusation against opponents was the attribution of homosexual relationships to them.

Soon Heydrich became an important person for the Nazi Party, and his career quickly went up the hill. In December 1931 he was promoted to SS Obersturmbannführer and in July 1932 to SS Standartenführer.

At the same time, Heydrich changed the spelling of his name from Reinhardt to Reinhard.

Political struggle 1933-1934

The appointment of Adolf Hitler in 1933 to the post of Reich Chancellor meant for the SA and SS the coming to power and the beginning of the crackdown on the opposition. Officials who held their posts under the Weimar Republic were largely replaced by people from the SA and SS.

Meanwhile, the SA attack aircraft, under the leadership of Ernst Röhm, caused Hitler more and more anxiety. The officers and rank and file of the SA, which largely ensured Hitler's rise to power, were unhappy with the fact that, in their opinion, the SA received insufficient authority. The situation was aggravated by the presence of two wings within the National Socialist Party - one that was more inclined towards national politics (Adolf Hitler) and the other, who believed that the party should first of all implement the socialist program (Gregor Strasser). Among the stormtroopers, there was more and more talk about the need for a second, truly socialist, revolution. At this time, it was Heydrich's SD that collected incriminating material on Ryoma and his closest associates. The materials collected by Heydrich pointed to an imminent putsch being prepared in the bowels of the SA. After the SS forces during the so-called "Night of the Long Knives" SA were defeated, and Röhm himself was killed, on June 30, 1934, Heydrich received the rank of SS Gruppenfuehrer.

As part of the hardware struggle between the two power departments - the SS and the Wehrmacht - Heydrich's SD took a serious part in the removal from power of the commander-in-chief of the ground forces, Colonel-General Werner von Fritsch and Defense Minister Werner von Blomberg.

Serious friction also existed between Heydrich's SD and military intelligence, the Abwehr, which was led by Heydrich's former patron Wilhelm Canaris. In public, both leaders remained friendly, and even met every morning for a walk. However, behind the scenes, each tried to take the other out of the game: Heydrich gave orders to carry out secret searches in the offices of Canaris, and he diligently searched for evidence of Heydrich's Jewish origin.

At the head of the internal security agencies

In 1936, Himmler became chief of the German police, and Heydrich became chief of the "sipo" ("security police" - Sicherheitspolizei, Sipo), a hybrid of criminal and political police. With the help of this instrument of violence, Heydrich was given the opportunity to crack down on both the enemies of the regime and his personal enemies. Security police agents also conducted surveillance of Jews, communists, liberals, and religious minorities.

In 1939, the SD, the zipo and the Gestapo (German: Geheime Staatspolizei, Gestapo) were placed under the control of the newly created RSHA - the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA, headed by Heydrich. RSHA has become a powerful organization for collecting and analyzing information, as well as suppressing opposition.

The Second World War

It was Heydrich who developed a plan to stage a border incident, called the Gleiwitz incident. The purpose of the staging was to show that Germany's attack on Poland is only Germany's response to acts of violence against German residents committed by the Polish side. In August 1939, SS men dressed in Polish uniform attacked a German radio transmitter in the town of Gleiwitz. The corpses of the "Poles" were presented to the world media. In fact, the deceased prisoners of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp acted as the killed Poles. On September 1, 1939, German troops attacked Poland and World War II began. During the occupation of Poland, the SS Einsatzgruppen, subordinate to Heydrich, destroyed the Polish intelligentsia, communists and Jews.

In the early years of World War II, Heydrich was not only involved in organizational work. As an Air Force reserve officer, Heydrich took part in German combat missions (first as a gunner-radio operator on a bomber, then as an attack aircraft pilot) during campaigns against France, Norway and the USSR. This corresponded to Heydrich's ideas about the ideal SS officer, who not only sits at his desk, but also participates in hostilities. After Heydrich's plane was shot down east of the Berezina River in 1941, and Heydrich was saved only in time by German soldiers who arrived in time, Himmler personally forbade him to participate in hostilities.

Participation in the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question"

Heydrich was one of the main architects of the Holocaust and the implementers of the idea of ​​the genocide of Jews in Germany and the occupied countries.

According to the ideology of the Nazis, the Jews were the embodiment of the image of the enemy. Jews, along with the Slavs (including Russians), Negroes, etc., were declared "subhuman" (Untermenschen), and, consequently, beings unworthy of life. The only acceptable form of existence of a subhuman, according to the ideology of German Nazism, is existence as a slave.

Even before the war, Heydrich collected information about Jewish organizations, and the SD carried out thorough surveillance of them. Initially, according to the plans of Heydrich, which corresponded to the ideas of the top of the Reich, the Jews were supposed to be deported en masse from the country. In 1938, Heydrich sent his subordinate Adolf Eichmann to Vienna to create there, on the model of the "Reichszentrale für jüdische Auswanderung" already existing in Berlin, the "Central Bureau for Jewish Eviction" (German: Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung).

After the occupation of Poland, Heydrich gave the order to create special areas for the Jews of a compact settlement, a ghetto, and also to form "Jewish councils" (German: Judenräte) dealing with Jewish affairs from the local Jewish population. In this way, Heydrich managed to force the Jews themselves to participate in the policy of their own destruction. With the help of Eichmann, Heydrich carried out mass deportations of Jews from Germany and Austria to the Polish ghettos. Nevertheless, for Heydrich, the ghettos were only a stage, a way station on the way to the final goal - the complete destruction of the Jewish population of Europe.

During the occupation of the countries of Eastern Europe and a significant territory of the Soviet Union, a huge number of Jews and Slavs, racially inferior peoples to be destroyed, fell into the hands of the German administration. However, the special firing squads created to carry out the policy of terror and national extermination could no longer cope with the tasks of destroying such a huge number of people. In July 1941, Heydrich received an assignment from Hermann Goering, in which he authorized him to carry out any preparations aimed at achieving the "General Solution to the Jewish Question" (German: Gesamtlösung der Judenfrage). Heydrich quickly realized that in order to implement this plan, he needed to coordinate the work of a huge number of ministries and departments. To do this, on January 20, 1942, the so-called Wannsee Conference was convened in the suburbs of Berlin on Lake Wannsee, the purpose of which was to develop a plan for the extermination of Jews on a European scale.

As part of his project, Heydrich proposed "... forced labor under conditions of gender separation. [source?] Able-bodied Jews must build roads, and, no doubt, most of them will die from natural causes during this work." Survivors were to be subjected to "special treatment" (German: Sonderbehandlung). In Heydrich's understanding, this meant the killing of Jews by hunger and disease.

Thus, it was Heydrich who formulated the foundations of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" (German: Endlösung der Judenfrage). It is still unclear whether the name of the operation to exterminate Polish Jews "Operation Reinhardt" (German: Aktion Reinhardt) is derived from the name of Heydrich or from the surname of State Secretary Fritz Reinhardt.

Most of the decisions of the Wannsee Conference began to be implemented after the death of Heydrich.

Imperial Protector of Bohemia and Moravia

After German troops occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, changing the government there, the position of imperial protector was created for the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, which came under the German protectorate, who took up residence in the Prague district of Hradcany. Initially, the former German Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath was appointed to this position. According to Heydrich, who also wanted to get this position, Neurath did not show the cruelty required in the post. Heydrich collected dirt on Neurath, in particular, evidence of Neurath's frequent departures from his workplace without good reason. At the end of September 1941, A. Hitler summoned the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, K. von Neurath, and announced that he had decided to appoint R. Heydrich as his deputy. K. von Neurath did not agree with this decision and announced his resignation from this post. Then A. Hitler sent K. von Neurath on "indefinite leave." And R. Heydrich began to fulfill his duties as "Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor von Böhmen und Mähren", which can be translated both as "Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia", and as "Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia"

Thus, Heydrich became the actual imperial protector (K. von Neurath never returned to his duties), retaining the position of head of the RSHA. On September 27, 1941, Heydrich took up residence in Hradcany. Heydrich himself arranged his country residence, where he moved his family, in the so-called. "Lower Palace" in the town of Panenské Břežany, 15 km north of Prague, confiscated from the Jewish sugar merchant Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer (German).

assassination attempt

In 1938, during the occupation of Czechoslovakia by German troops, some of the ministers of the Czechoslovak government managed to escape to Great Britain, where they formed the so-called "government in exile". The government was headed by the former president of the country, Edward Benes, but the British ruling circles did not have much interest in his work. To improve its image in the eyes of the British, the government in exile began to support the resistance movement in the territories occupied by the Germans. The purpose of this work was to prove to the British that the government in exile was capable of organizing large-scale guerrilla activity against the Germans. At the same time, the organization of resistance on the territory of Czechoslovakia belonged to the "competence" of Great Britain, which also could not organize it. Then it was decided by the assassination of Heydrich to cause retaliatory punitive measures from the German government against the local population, which would push them to intensify resistance.

At the end of 1941, a plan was ripened for a grandiose operation - the assassination of the imperial protector. The operation was codenamed "Anthropoid". On the morning of December 29, 1941 at 2:24 a.m., agents Josef Gabchik and Jan Kubis, trained by the British, landed from a British bomber into the territory of the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. British agents managed to get to Prague and establish contact with representatives of the Czech underground, after which for several months they collected information about Heydrich's habits, his daily routine, security system, etc.

Unlike many NSDAP functionaries, Heydrich paid very little attention to his security. This was facilitated by his conviction that a strong guard would damage his image as a leader capable of destroying any manifestations of resistance in the country (and thus protect himself from attack). Demonstrating his ability to restore iron order in the region, Heydrich went to work every day without security, in a personal open car. Heydrich’s lack of fear for his safety was objectively explained by the fact that with his coming to the leadership of the Protectorate, the economy of Bohemia and Moravia began to grow, the salaries of workers and employees were raised, and measures were taken to improve their social and property situation. Under these conditions, Heydrich obviously did not have to worry about his safety.

For the attack on Heydrich, a narrow sharp turn in the Prague suburb of Liben was chosen. Here "Mercedes-Benz" Heydrich had to slow down sharply; there were no police stations nearby. On the morning of May 27, 1942, Gabczyk and Kubiš were waiting for Heydrich's car at the turn. In briefcases, they held Stan folding submachine guns and hand grenades. A third agent, Josef Walczyk, took up position on high ground to signal Heydrich's approach with a pocket mirror. Heydrich, who usually showed up on time, was late. At 10:32, when the agents had already decided to leave their positions, fearing being discovered, Valchik gave a signal. When Heydrich's car slowed down at the turn, Gabchik pulled out a submachine gun and tried to shoot at Heydrich from the shortest distance, but the cartridge jammed. Heydrich, apparently assuming that he was dealing with a lone terrorist, ordered the driver Klein (that day, replacing Heydrich's permanent driver) to stop the car and pulled out his service pistol. increase speed.) Then Kubiš threw a grenade at the car without hitting the car. The grenade exploded behind the right rear wheel. Heydrich and Klein jumped out of the car and began to shoot back. Klein was wounded in the leg and unable to move, and Heydrich, badly wounded by grenade fragments, fell on the hood of the car. After they were found by the Czech police and taken to the hospital. (According to another version, Heydrich began chasing the attackers, and Kubisch, running away, threw back a grenade, which wounded Heydrich).

An x-ray examination revealed a fractured rib and shrapnel wounds to the spleen in Heydrich. After the operation, he felt better for a while. However, inflammation soon began, caused by an infectious infection of the blood. Heydrich fell into a coma and died on June 4, 1942. After a two-day farewell to the body in Prague, the coffin was taken to Berlin. On June 9, the most magnificent and solemn funeral was held that has ever been held in the Reich. The entire top of the country participated in the burial ceremony. Adolf Hitler himself held a farewell speech, calling Heydrich "a man with an iron heart."

Punitive measures were not long in coming - by order of Hitler, the village of Lidice was completely slaughtered, and a wave of repression swept through the entire Protectorate, which led to the intensification of the partisan movement in Czechoslovakia.

Hitler posthumously awarded Heydrich the "German Order", a rare award reserved for senior party functionaries (most of the decorations were also posthumous).

On the first anniversary of Heydrich's death, a bust of him was erected at the site of the assassination attempt. The bust was destroyed by the Soviet troops who liberated Prague.

There is a legend according to which, shortly before his death, Heydrich, feeling himself the sovereign master of the Czech Republic, put on himself the crown of St. Wenceslas stored in Prague Castle, and became a victim of a curse that falls on the head of everyone who owns the crown of the Czech Republic not by right. [source?]

The leadership of the RSHA after the death of Heydrich was initially taken over personally by Himmler, but on January 30, 1943 he handed it over to Ernst Kaltenbrunner. The post of Imperial Protector of Bohemia and Moravia was given to SS Oberstgruppenführer, Police Colonel General Kurt Dalyuge.

Heydrich's grave is located in Berlin's Invalides Cemetery (German: Invalidenfriedhof) approximately in the center of zone "A". It was planned to erect a huge magnificent monument on it, but because of the war this was not carried out.

Operation Retaliation

The assassination attempt on Heydrich made the deepest impression on the leadership of the Reich. The investigative measures were poorly organized at first, so Heydrich's killers managed to lie low. However, subsequently the Nazis launched a campaign of mass terror against the Czech population. It was announced that anyone who knew the whereabouts of the killers of the protector and who did not give them up would be shot with the whole family. In Prague, mass searches were carried out, during which other members of the Resistance, Jews, communists and other persecuted categories of citizens hiding in houses and apartments were identified. Although the vast majority of these people had nothing to do with the assassination attempt on Heydrich, many of them were shot.

The village of Lidice was destroyed. Its entire male population over 16 years old was destroyed, 172 women were sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, the children were taken to the Central Office for Settlers of the city of Litzmannstadt (German: Umwandererzentralstelle Litzmannstadt), where traces of most of them are lost. The alleged connection between the assassination attempt and the population of the village was cited as the reason for this operation. In total, as part of operations of retribution for the death of Heydrich, about 5,000 Czechs were killed.

The place where the British agents were hiding (the crypt of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius of the Czech Orthodox Church in Prague) was betrayed by a traitor named Karel Churda (Czech Karel Čurda). After many hours of fighting with the SS, the agents were forced to shoot themselves. The priest and members of the church clergy who harbored Heydrich's killers were arrested. Gorazd, the Orthodox Bishop of Prague, who was in Berlin at that time and did not know anything about these events, arrived in the Czech Republic and declared that he was ready to share the punishment that his subordinates would suffer. He was shot on September 4, 1942. Together with him, the priests of the cathedral, Vaclav Chikl and Vladimir Petrshik, as well as the headman of the temple, Jan Sonnevend, were executed. The Czech Orthodox Church was banned, its property was confiscated, churches were closed, the clergy were arrested and imprisoned. After the liberation of the Czech Republic in May 1945, the Czech Orthodox Church was restored, and on September 28 of the same year, its executed clergy were posthumously awarded the In memoriam cross. Squares and streets in Prague, Olomouc, Brno and other cities are named after Saint Gorazd. In 1987, the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church canonized Bishop Gorazd as a saint.

Heydrich's personality

Heidrich had many of the stereotypically Nordic qualities: tall, lean, blond with an icy calm. In contrast to this image, Heydrich had a very high voice, for which he received the nickname "goat" from his friends. This is probably why there are few records of his speeches. Heydrich was a keen sportsman and gifted musician.

He was able to become a good assistant for his boss Himmler (Heydrich held senior positions in the SD from the age of 29, and headed the RSHA at the age of 35). For example, he did almost all the work of integrating the political police into the party apparatus. A joke is attributed to Hermann Goering: it. HHHH, Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich, "X. H. H. H. - Himmler's brain is called Heydrich. Himmler soon after the death of Heydrich confiscated all the documents from his personal safe.

From his youth, Heydrich was accompanied by rumors that he was of Jewish origin, and this information was subsequently used by his political enemies to fight him. In 1932, one of the leaders of the NSDAP, Gregor Strasser, ordered Gauleiter Halle Rudolf Jordan to investigate this information. At first, the information was in favor of rumors: Heydrich's father, Bruno Heydrich, appeared in the Riemann Musical Encyclopedia for 1916 as "Bruno Heydrich, real name Süss" and Süss was a very popular Jewish surname. Further investigation showed that the information about the name Suess is unfounded, which means that Heydrich does not have Jewish roots on his father's side. Also, rumors about the Jewish origin of Heydrich's mother were not confirmed.

Heydrich's personal file, including his family tree, was under the personal control of Martin Bormann and was preserved intact. However, the family tree reflects only one generation on the maternal side, it also lacks data on Heydrich's grandmother on the maternal side, although this information was required even for obtaining the rank of private SS.

However, the "excavations" of the past elite of the Third Reich (in relation to Heydrich, Himmler, Hitler) in terms of "Jewish roots" were generally widespread in the 30s among less successful NSDAP colleagues. Such "archeology" has been and remains a favorite topic of modern near-historical journalism.

At the same time, the hypothesis of the Jewish origin of Heydrich was the subject of serious scientific research. The Israeli historian Shlomo Aronson, while working on his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Heydrich and the period of the formation of the Gestapo and SD” (published in 1966), built Heydrich’s family tree on the paternal line until 1738, and on the maternal line until 1688 and did not find among his Jewish ancestors.

From his marriage to Lina von Osten, Heydrich had four children: sons Klaus and Haider, daughters Silke (Silke) and Martha (Martha was born on July 23, 1942, almost two months after her father's death). Lina, who inherited a castle in the Czech Republic after her husband, tried to play an independent political role and developed plans in the 1940s for the creation of a National Socialist land-cultivating commune (Himmler's own idea), which, however, did not meet Himmler's support. In the 1970s, she wrote an interesting memoir, published under the title "Life with a War Criminal", which contains important information about her husband's relationship with Himmler and Canaris.

Heydrich in fiction and film

The murder of Heydrich became the subject of a feature film a year after the event: it was the American film Hangmen Also Die (eng. Hangmen Also Die, 1943, in the role of Heydrich Hans Heinrich von Twardowski), directed and written by German anti-fascists - Fritz Lang and Bertolt Brecht. Two more feature films about the Prague assassination attempt were released: the Czechoslovak "Assassination" (Atentát, 1964, in the role of Heydrich Siegfried Loyd, East Germany) and the American "Operation Daybreak" (Operation Daybreak, 1975, in the role of Heydrich Anton Diffring, Germany) - based on the book by Alan Burgess (Eng. Alan Burgess) "Seven at Dawn" (Eng. Seven Men At Daybreak). The assassination attempt on Heydrich was also captured in the film Sokolovo (1974) by the Czechoslovak director Otakar Vavra, the second film in the trilogy about Czechoslovakia during the war years. The role of Heydrich was performed by the actor from the GDR, Hanno Hasse. It was also performed by actors Don Costello, John Carradine, David Warner and others.

Heydrich plays a key role in Philip Kerr's trilogy "Berlin Noir".

American science fiction writer Philip Dick wrote the alternative historical novel The Man in the High Castle. The novel is set in the 1960s in the victorious Third Reich; Heydrich seeks to assume the post of Reich Chancellor after the death of Hitler and his immediate successor Bormann.

The most famous Soviet film about Nazi Germany, Seventeen Moments of Spring, takes place after the death of Heydrich, but documentary footage of his funeral is inserted into the film. Stirlitz recalls this event, after which RSHA was headed by Kaltenbrunner.

The book Seventeen Moments of Spring, on which the film was based, highlights some aspects of Heydrich's origins (see above) and his relationship with Schellenberg. Apparently, they are taken from the memoirs of Schellenberg, who wrote them after the war.

• German Order (posthumously)
• Order of the Blood (posthumous)
• Wound Badge in Gold (posthumous)
• Iron Cross 1st Class
• Iron Cross II Class
• Front pilot's buckle for a day fighter pilot in silver
• Front pilot's buckle for a day fighter pilot in bronze
• Pilot and observer badge
• Honorary gold badge of the NSDAP
• Medal commemorating March 13, 1938
• Medal commemorating October 1, 1938
• Buckle "Prague Castle"
• Medal to commemorate the return of Memel
• Danzig Cross 1st Class
• Danzig Cross II class
• German badge of honor for the construction of a defensive rampart
• Badge of honor for social work, 1st class
• German honorary Olympic badge 1st class
• SA sports badge in gold
• State sports badge in silver
• German cavalry badge in silver
• Imperial Athletic Union Patch for Sporting Achievement
• NSDAP Lifetime Achievement Award in Bronze
• Police Lifetime Achievement Award in Silver
• Honorary Sword of the RFSS

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich(German Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ; March 7, Halle, Saxony, German Empire - June 4, Prague,) - German statesman and politician, head of the Imperial Security Main Directorate (-), deputy imperial protector of Bohemia and Moravia (-). Police Obergruppenführer (1941). He had an NSDAP party card number 544916, and a ticket

Name

However, Heydrich's relationship with his colleagues was not particularly good. Like his father in his time, he was hampered by rumors that he had Jewish ancestors. While serving in the Navy, Heydrich was even more actively involved in sports, in particular pentathlon, fencing and horseback riding.

A reputation for red tape spreads behind Heydrich. In December 1930, at one of the balls, Heydrich met his future wife, Lina von Osten, a village teacher, and married her in January of the following year. According to another, more romantic version, Reinhard and a friend were riding a boat and saw a boat with two girls capsized nearby. Of course, young people heroically came to the rescue. One of the rescued girls was Lina von Osten.

Earlier, Heydrich developed an affair with another woman, the daughter of the head of the naval shipyard in Kiel (according to other sources, the daughter of the owner of the largest metallurgical holding IG Fabernim). Heydrich breaks this connection by sending an announcement of his engagement to Lina, cut out from a newspaper, by mail. The girl's father turns to the head of the Navy, Admiral Erich Raeder, with a request to influence Heydrich. According to the code of honor of the Navy, Heydrich committed a grave offense, having two novels at the same time. The behavior of the young lieutenant is considered at the court of honor, which for some reason is headed by Raeder himself. At a meeting of the court of honor, Raeder notes that the daughter of "such a person" is more worthy of a "village simpleton", but Heydrich replied with a request not to interfere in his choice. In April, Admiral Raeder dismisses Heydrich for "misconduct".

Admission to SS

In June 1931, Reinhard Heydrich joined the NSDAP, having received party card No. 544 916, and in SA Heydrich took part in battles with socialists and communists.

Soon Heydrich became an important person for the Nazi Party, and his career quickly went up the hill. In December 1931 he was promoted to Obersturmbannführer 1932 - SS Standartenführer.

At the same time, Heydrich changed the spelling of his name from Reinhardt to Reinhard.

Political struggle 1933-1934

Serious friction also existed between Heydrich and military intelligence - the Abwehr, which was led by Heydrich's former patron Wilhelm Canaris. In public, both leaders remained friendly, and even met every morning for a walk. However, behind the scenes, each tried to take the other out of the game: Heydrich gave orders to carry out secret searches in the offices of Canaris, and he diligently searched for evidence of Heydrich's Jewish origin.

At the head of the internal security agencies

In the early years of World War II, Heydrich was not only involved in organizational work. As an Air Force reserve officer, Heydrich took part in German combat sorties (first as a gunner-radio operator on a bomber, then as an attack aircraft pilot) during campaigns against France, Norway and the USSR. This corresponded to Heydrich's ideas about the ideal officer. In 1941, Heydrich's plane was shot down east of the Berezina River, and Heydrich was saved only in time by German soldiers who arrived in time, Himmler personally ordered him to forbid him to participate in hostilities.

Military ranks

• Schutze (Private): July 14
• SS-Sturmführer (Lieutenant): 10 August
• SS Hauptsturmführer (Captain): December 1

Participation in the "final solution of the Jewish question"

Heydrich was one of the main architects of the Holocaust and the implementers of the idea of ​​the genocide of Jews in Germany and the occupied countries.

Heydrich's personality

Heydrich had many of the stereotypically Nordic qualities: tall, lean, blond with an icy calm. In contrast to this image, Heydrich had a very high voice, for which he received the nickname "goat" from his friends. This is probably why there are few records of his speeches. Heydrich was a keen sportsman and gifted musician.

He was able to become a good assistant for his boss Himmler (Heydrich held leadership positions at the age of 29, and headed the RSHA at the age of 35). For example, he did almost all the work of integrating the political police into the party apparatus. A joke is attributed to Hermann Goering: it. HHHH, Himmlers Hirn heist Heydrich , "X. H. H. H. - Himmler's brain is called Heydrich. Himmler soon after the death of Heydrich confiscated all the documents from his personal safe.

From his youth, Heydrich was accompanied by rumors that he was of Jewish origin, and this information was subsequently used by his political enemies to fight him. In one of the leaders of the NSDAP, Gregor Strasser ordered Gauleiter Halle Rudolf Jordan to investigate this information. At first, the information was in favor of the rumors: Heydrich's father, Bruno Heydrich, appeared in the Riemann Musical Encyclopedia for 1999 as "Bruno Heydrich, real name Süss", and Süss was a very popular Jewish surname. Further investigation showed that the information about the name Suess is unfounded, which means that Heydrich does not have Jewish roots on his father's side. Also, rumors about the Jewish origin of Heydrich's mother were not confirmed.

Heydrich's personal file, including his family tree, was under the personal control of Martin Bormann and was preserved intact. However, the family tree reflects only one generation on the maternal side, it also lacks data on Heydrich's grandmother on the maternal side, although this information was required even for obtaining the rank of private SS.

However, the "excavations" of the past elite of the Third Reich (in relation to Heydrich, Himmler, Hitler) in terms of "Jewish roots" were generally widespread in the 30s among less successful NSDAP colleagues. Such "archeology" has been and remains a favorite topic of modern near-historical journalism.

At the same time, the hypothesis of the Jewish origin of Heydrich was the subject of serious scientific research. Israeli historian Shlomo Aronson, while working on his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Heydrich and the period of the formation of the Gestapo and” (published in

Reinhard Tristan Heydrich (Heydrich) (1904-1942) - a sentimental musician, a romantic sailor, a cunning and cruel chief of the Imperial Security Main Office (RSHA), an excellent swordsman, a collector of women, an exemplary father, a graceful horseman and a fearless fighter pilot - all this is one a person whose name is Reinhard Heydrich.

Heydrich was, without a doubt, one of the most notorious figures of the Third Reich, whose outstanding intelligence was recognized by everyone, even by his enemies. Everything in his thoughts was subordinated to the capture and targeted use of power.

Childhood, youth and youth

Reinhard Heydrich was born on March 7, 1904 in Halle an der Saale (Saxony) in the family of the director of the conservatory, the former opera singer Bruno Heydrich. His mother is a former actress. In the family, he was the second son and received the name Reinhard Tristan - in honor of the hero of the opera "Tristan and Isolde", had two brothers.

At school, little Reinhard was distinguished by stubbornness and the desire to somehow stand out from the rest of the students. So, once during a school break, he climbed onto the roof of a three-story building and, in front of everyone, walked along its edge (in case of a fall, he was threatened with imminent death). Having gone to Switzerland as an exchange of schoolchildren, he climbed onto the roof of a hotel building at night and hung out a German flag with a swat.

At school, as, indeed, in life in general, he had no friends, since he preferred to be alone.

In the senior classes, Heydrich was called "Izya" (a Jewish name), since for some reason the townspeople unfairly considered his father, Bruno, a Jew. Oil was added to the fire by the fact that his mother, after the death of her husband, remarried a certain Suess (the surname is clearly Jewish), who, again, was not a Jew. Already when Heydrich reaches power, he will be accused of Jewish roots, but these accusations will be groundless.

True, there was a legend told by one of the SS men, if Heydrich, having gone through a lot, staggered into the bath and saw his reflection in the mirror. Drawing his pistol, he fired twice, shouting, “Finally I got you, rascal!”

At school, Reinhard showed outstanding musical abilities, and he learned to play the violin virtuoso.

His youth was spent in post-war Republican Geriania. After graduating from the gymnasium at the age of sixteen, pursued by post-war poverty and inflation, Reinhard entered the volunteer corps (freikorps) of Merker. Returning home, he already knew what he would become - an officer. Heydrich chose the sea service, believing that it would be able to satisfy his craving for adventure and ensure a comfortable existence.

In 1922, he ended up in Kiel, where he put on the uniform of a naval cadet. On board the training cruiser "Berlin", commanded by his future rival, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Heydrich was distinguished by high mathematical and navigational abilities.

Ambitiousness and the desire to be the first in everything led to the fact that he began to engage in fencing, soon turning into a fencer, for whom even masters of sports were not competitors. Subsequently, he also took up equestrian sports, in which he also came to the forefront.

By the age of 24-25, his appearance met Aryan standards: blond (“blond beast”), tall, narrow oblong face, very high forehead and blue eyes (albeit small and Mongoloid type, with a kind of bestial squint), athletic build . A certain angularity to his figure, however, was given by too wide feminine hips.

His service was successful: in 1926 he received the rank of lieutenant, in 1928 - chief lieutenant, as he was read by a promising officer. After completing the course, he was appointed liaison officer on the flagship Schleswig-Holstein.

However, he did not enjoy love and respect among his colleagues. The sailors simply hated him for his arrogance.

It seemed to Heydrich that his career was already secured. But there was one "but". By that time, he has become a pathological collector of women, having connections with prostitutes, girls from ordinary families, and even from high strata of society. On this he got burned.

One evening in 1930, with one of his comrades, he went for a walk in the sea in a kayak. Soon they saw an overturned boat and two drowning girls. The guys, of course, jumped into the water and saved them.

One of the girls turned out to be Lina von Osten, the daughter of a school teacher from the island of Fehmarn. Acquaintance with her turned into a relationship that ended in an engagement in December of the same year.

And just then one of his old acquaintances appeared, who presented her demands to him. When conversations yielded nothing, her father found an opportunity to turn to the commander of the fleet, Admiral Raeder. The command recommended that Heydrich break with Lina and marry a girl who was expecting a child from him. Since Reinhard refused, the matter was referred to the officer's court of honor.

With his arrogant behavior, attempts to shift all the blame on the complaining girl and the statement that he himself knows best what an officer should do, Heydrich set the court against himself. For "misconduct and violation of the officer's code", Admiral Raeder fired him without delay.

The career of a career officer and a naval career were over for Heydrich. From the heights of the ultra-conservative fleet, he was thrown to the very bottom - an army of six million unemployed.

Career in the SS

Left without a livelihood, Heydrich thought about serving in the merchant navy. However, his wife Lina, who was crazy about the Fuhrer, believed that Reinhard should find his calling in National Socialism, and invited him to join the SS. And one of Heydrich's childhood comrades helped him by introducing him to Heinrich Himmler.

He was just looking for a person for the planned security service (SD). Explaining his intention, Himmler invited Reinhard to put in writing his thoughts on the structure of the SD. The Reichsführer SS liked Heydrich's proposals.

In addition, he was impressed by the fact that the young officer was “thrown overboard by the reactionary admiralty for his sympathy for the National Socialists” - this is how Heydrich explained his departure from the fleet, and according to Heydrich, Himmler perceived his position as a liaison officer in general as intelligence.

A few days later, having arrived in Munich and received the rank of SS Sturmführer (which corresponded to an army lieutenant), Heydrich set to work. After that, he walked up the career ladder easily and quickly, jumping over the steps:

1931 - Hauptsturmführer (Captain)

1932 - Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel)

1933 - Oberführer (Colonel)

1938 - Gruppenfuehrer (Major General)

1941 - Obergruppenführer (lieutenant general)

Yes, this is not surprising, since Himmler encouraged all his undertakings, feeling that the case led to him a "born counterintelligence officer" with a sound mind, who knew all the threads and understood which of them should be pulled.

He was like a wild beast, constantly on guard, feeling danger and being suspicious of everything and everyone. Possessing some kind of sixth sense, multiplied by an outstanding intellect, Heydrich was able to unravel the most subtle moves of his opponents.

Heydrich took part in the development of the symbols of the SS, and then proposed a plan according to which the SS, with the advent of the Nazis to power, was to establish control over the entire police system of the state, as a result of which they would gain real power. He also had the idea to transform the SS into the elite of the Third Reich, to carry out the progressive development of the SS and turn the SS into a "state within a state."

It was Heydrich who revealed to Himmler the possibilities that the position of Reichsfuehrer SS contained. Yes, in fact, Heydrich raised Himmler to the pinnacle of power, making him what he became. He knew how to present his thoughts to Himmer in a form that was supposed to make Himmler believe that it was he, the Reichsfuehrer SS, who was the creator of these ideas.

From the very beginning of their cooperation, Heydrich began to bear the idea of ​​pushing this inconspicuous, timid and shy person with a mediocre intellect to the very top, so that later, after waiting for an opportune moment, to push him and take his place. Heydrich was always annoyed by Himmler's constant crackling chatter, as his delusional racist and other fantasies excited the SS apparatus.

Tipsy, Reinhard repeatedly told his wife: "Look at Himmler's face, his nose - a typical Jewish, real Jewish soldering iron."

Heydrich built his reports to the chief masterfully, first giving a brief description of the person or the issue under consideration, then giving arguments in terms of their ascending significance, after which he made a conclusion and made a proposal that was difficult to get away from. In fact, Heydrich manipulated Himmr like a puppet.

Heydrich began his activities in the SD with the development of not only a plan for the secret service, but also for the secret police. Himmler immediately agreed to his proposal. Whereas up to now the police had intervened only when a real danger arose and limited themselves to detaining state criminals on fresh tracks, then according to Heydrich's plan, the political police had to grope for the enemies of the state even before they themselves realized their opposition, not to mention the manifestations real resistance.

The activities of the police, thus, became unlimited and extended to all spheres of the life of the nation.

The culmination of Heydrich's activities was the creation in September 1939 of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security (RSHA), at the head of which he himself stood up.

Heydrich's moves

Heydrich took part in many events that took place in the Third Reich. Let's consider just a few of them.

1) The Night of the Long Knives

In 1934, the head of the SA stormtroopers, Ernst Röhm, quarreled with almost all the power groups of the regime: the Reichwehr, Himmler, Goering, the party. In the event of its liquidation, many would get rid of a dangerous competitor and would breathe easier.

This is where Heydrich got involved. To overcome Hitler's indecision (Rem was his old friend), he began to collect and prepare materials that were supposed to prove the anti-state essence of Rem's plans. Heydrich did not disdain the fabrication of documents, one of his tricks was the distribution of fabricated orders from Rem, and outright lies.

At the same time, he came up with the idea of ​​simultaneously eliminating all opponents of the regime and his own enemies. These lists were subsequently received by all the executors of the operation, even Goering himself. The operation went like clockwork thanks to Heydrich's clear script, in which Himmler, Goering and the SS detachments played their parts perfectly. As a result, Heydrich killed several birds with one stone.

The day of July 30, 1934 left a deep mark on the history of the Third Reich. The action accelerated the formation of the sole power of Hitler and founded the Göring-Himmler axis, which determined the position in the party hierarchy until the outbreak of World War II.

2) Work in SD

In early 1935, Heydrich reorganized the SD, dividing it into two parts, while inviting a whole group of young intellectuals into his structure. The first was to become an instrument for uniting the bureaucracy with the SS. The second was to become "an intelligence organization - an organ of sensations and feelings on the body of the people, seeing and hearing everything that happens with the enemy in all areas of life."

Heydrich gave the intelligence SD an unlimited field of action, declaring that it should turn into a kind of "Intelligence Service".

From now on, each head of the provincial SD institutions had to have several trusted persons in all localities and a network of informers who were not supposed to know that they were working for the SD. It was recommended to involve in the number of trustees "people with general knowledge and able to think logically and in a businesslike way."

From individual information, memos were compiled for Himmler and Hitler, which, unlike propaganda materials, did not embellish the state of affairs, but gave an objective assessment of reality and drew conclusions about phenomena that needed to be corrected.

An institution called "Kitty's Salon" was also organized, where foreign guests were invited. For their amusement, there was a ladies' company there - in the expectation that they would become more accommodating and blurt out some useful information and secrets. For this good cause, the SD rented a large house in a fashionable part of Berlin, rebuilt in such a way that microphones and eavesdropping equipment were installed everywhere.

From the major European cities, ladies of the demi-monde were summoned, who spoke languages ​​and possessed “other knowledge”. Some ladies from the upper strata of Nazi society were also ready to serve their fatherland. Thanks to this salon, Heydrich obtained a lot of valuable information and even recruited people useful to him. Among those who fell for his bait was, in particular, the Italian Foreign Minister Ciano.

3) Scam with Tukhachevsky

At the end of 1936, Heydrich received information that Tukhachevsky intended to take power into his own hands with the help of the army and get rid of Stalin. And he considered it expedient to use this chance to weaken the Soviet system.

Today it is already difficult to say with complete certainty whether this information was true. In any case, Heydrich made it even more truthful. In April 1937, in a secret Gestapo laboratory for making fakes, letters were prepared that allegedly exchanged Tukhachevsky with German generals.

They just talked about the support that Tukhachevsky requested from the Wehrmacht during the planned putsch against Stalin. To create a kind of authenticity, the letters were marked by German generals.

In early May, a voluminous dossier was presented to Hitler for review. Hitler liked the prepared materials and he agreed to hand them over to the Soviet secret service.

Soon Tukhachevsky, along with his entourage, were arrested. The trial took only one day. The verdict was discussed for only five minutes and read - the death penalty. Insignia and awards were torn off the accused right in the courtroom, and twelve hours later they were shot. This process was considered a signal for a large-scale purge of Red Army officers, as a result of which it lost many capable people.

Heydrich was proud of the results of his work and until his death he was convinced of the importance of what he had done.

4) Assassination attempt on Hitler

On November 8, 1939, an explosion occurred in the huge basement of a pub in Munich. And it happened thirteen minutes after Hitler left there. The evidence found showed that the assassination attempt was being prepared for a long time, and the perpetrator used an infernal machine weighing no more than 10 kg. Why was the leadership of the Munich police unable to detect the bomb in advance and prevent the explosion? The answer is simple.

The author of the assassination attempt, Elser, did not even know that he was playing a role in a play written by Heydrich. Yes, Elser did plan to rid his people of Hitler. However, during the preparations, he was noticed by one of the Gestapo officers. This became known to Heydrich. He also knew from SD reports that the German people were gradually losing faith in their Fuhrer.

Therefore, Heydrich came up with an ingenious combination to improve the morale of the people and restore their faith in Hitler's abilities. So, Heydrich decided to use Elser's gift and ordered to make sure that he was not interfered with, and that Hitler left the site of the upcoming explosion in time. The fact that the explosion would take the lives of quite a few honored members of the party did not play any role for Heydrich.

He was not even particularly worried that the bomb could explode ahead of schedule, or that the Fuhrer could be delayed, as a result of which he would be killed. Whoever succeeded Hitler, Heydrich was quite sure that his own power would only grow.

The explosion killed six "old fighters" and a waiter, sixteen were seriously injured. Heydrich turned everything around so that the German people believed in the Fuhrer's miraculous salvation from the intrigues of the hated English, hated these "Tommies" even more fiercely and did not lose faith in their leader.

5) Counterfeit Currency Scam

At the end of 1939, British aircraft began to drop fake food and manufactured goods cards over German cities in order to disrupt the supply of these goods to the population of the Reich. As a response, Heydrich came up with the idea of ​​undermining the British economy by scattering counterfeit pounds sterling over its territory.

Although the task was not easy, already in 1940 the task of issuing high-quality fakes was completed, and in the same year Heydrich decided to use the currency for his own financing, since the RSHA received insignificant amounts of money from the Ministry of Finance, especially in foreign currency.

Despite the death of Heydrich in 1942, the machine he launched gained momentum, and by 1943 counterfeit banknotes of such high quality were made that they were accepted by all banks in the world. The Bank of England alone was able to spot the fakes.

A total of £250 million worth of fakes were made. At the beginning of 1945, the production of high-quality American dollars was started, but their volume was small due to the imminent end of the war. In the first days of May 1945, the manufactured unsold banknotes, equipment and printed circuit boards were destroyed.

6) Secret files

Heydrich did not put friendship and comradeship in anything, he did not honor the corporate spirit either, considering only the presence of secrets as a reliable link. He believed that knowledge of the hidden worldly weaknesses and other shortcomings in the leaders of the Reich would help him establish power over the environment and allow him to exercise control over political problems.

Many leaders of the Reich knew that Heydrich collected compromising materials, including on them. Because of this, he was hated and feared, since no one knew exactly what he knew about them specifically.

The most important thing for Heydrich was always to know more about everything than the rest, and more fully about each individual than anyone else knew about him. Even Hitler was no exception.

Heydrich was the first researcher of the Fuhrer, who tried to find any, the smallest details of his past. Knew Heydrich thoroughly and the personal life of the Fuhrer. For example, he understood the subtleties of the diagnoses that doctors made to Hitler.

In addition to these events, Heydrich played a leading role in the annexation of Czechoslovakia, the Anschluss of Austria, the outbreak of war against Poland (Operation Venlo) and, of course, in the final solution of the Jewish question.

Heydrich's last task

The next task that Heydrich set for himself was to take the chair of the imperial minister of the interior. Having received Hitler's promise, he nevertheless wanted to show his administrative abilities in solving public problems by taking up the post of Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.

And he presented Hitler with a memorandum in which he stated his thoughts that it was difficult for the Reich Protector Baron von Neurat to fulfill his duties alone, and he needed a vacation. The Fuhrer easily agreed with him.

In September 1941, Heydrich was appointed deputy imperial protector in Bohemia and Moravia, where he became virtually the sole master of the situation. On the day of his arrival in Prague, Heydrich declared a state of emergency on the territory of the protectorate, followed by a wave of terror.

In just two or three weeks, Czech resistance was almost completely eliminated. Having fulfilled the first part of his plan, Heydrich ended the terror and canceled the courts, presenting himself as a new benefactor protector. He announced the end of political persecution, began to woo the Czech workers and peasants, inciting them against the bourgeois intelligentsia, in whom he saw the core of resistance, and abolished a number of restrictions.

Heydrich raised the fat norm for 2 million Czech workers, allocated 200,000 pairs of shoes for people employed in the military industry, increased the ration of cigarettes and food, requisitioned hotels and boarding houses in resorts and reorganized them into holiday homes for Czech workers, reorganized the social security system, raised wages, which could already be used to buy something, achieved public recognition of workers and peasants, and eliminated the black market.

The Czech Republic was inaccessible to British aviation, so a number of military factories from Germany were transferred there. The local industry also worked at full speed. As a result, at the end of 1941, the Wehrmacht received from here a third of tanks, a fourth of trucks and 40% of small arms. The Czechs obediently worked for Germany to the very end.

Agricultural production in the Czech Republic was not lower than in the Reich. The labor productivity of industrial workers was not inferior to that of German workers. (If they rebelled, it happened when the German troops began to withdraw from Bohemia and Moravia.)

In general, as you can see, Heydrich pursued a very smart and cunning policy, instructing the Czech government to carry out unpopular decisions, while leaving the popular ones for himself. The appearance of reconciliation of the Czechs with German domination was created, which simply shocked Eduard Benes, who headed the Czech government in exile in London.

The graveyard calm in the protectorate and the passivity of the population had a negative effect on the positions of the émigré government in negotiations with the allies, and its influence in Czechoslovakia itself was falling. The British also needed a big spectacular action like air as an apology to the Russians for not opening a second front.

It was decided to eliminate Heydrich, who pursued a successful flexible occupation policy in the protectorate. Both the British and the Czechs in exile knew perfectly well that in response the Germans would flood the whole country with blood, and in the process, thousands of innocent Czechs would die. But for these people their political interests were more important.

Death of Heydrich

Everyone knew that Heydrich was a brave man. The last time he proved this was when he flew as a fighter pilot over the coasts of Norway, while shooting down 7 British aircraft. And this was done by one of the most powerful people in the Reich! In Prague, the fearless Heydrich always traveled along the same route in an open Mercedes without an escort.

In the car, besides him, there was usually only his personal experienced driver Willy. But on the tragic morning of June 27, another man was driving Heydrich's car - Oberscharführer Klein.

The assassination took place at a slow turn. The path of Heydrich's car was blocked by a running man. An experienced Willy would have immediately noticed the danger and would have sunk his foot into the gas pedal. But Klein is driving. He slows down, despite Heydrich's cry: "Press full." The pedestrian throws off his raincoat and points the muzzle of the machine gun at the car, pulls the trigger, but the machine gun jammed.

But then a second person runs up and throws a grenade under the Mercedes. The explosion shatters windows in nearby houses. The criminals start to run away, but they are chased. Who is participating in it? The unwounded Oberscharführer Klein runs after the first, but does not run long - soon he will be lying on the sidewalk with two bullets in his chest. Behind the second, the one who threw the grenade, the wounded Reinhard Heydrich himself runs with a heavy "parabellum" at the ready, shoots on the move and falls exhausted, having managed to wound his killer in the back.

“Report to the City,” the lying protector croaks to the first of those who dared to approach him. These were the last words of Reinhard Heydrich, who was then only 38 years old. About a week later, on July 4, 1942, Heydrich died in one of the Prague hospitals, several operations did not help him - he died of blood poisoning, never regaining consciousness.

Revenge for this vile crime was not long in coming. In search of the killers, the Germans flooded Czechoslovakia with blood and, with the help of a Czech traitor, got to the killers.

Finishing touches

Heydrich did not recognize any ethical values, had a cold intellect and a cold soul, was prudent and ambitious, having the spectacular appearance of a fallen angel.

Not a state, but power - his personal power was his god. He did not bother himself with moral values. Truth and virtue meant nothing to him. He considered them as a tool for acquiring even greater power. Everything that served this cause was right and good.

Politics, too, was for him nothing more than a step on the path to power. He considered it stupid to think about the legitimacy of this or that action and did not even ask such questions.

His entire service in the SS was a continuous chain of murders. In the struggle for power, he destroyed people whom he disliked, rivals who were in opposition to him, and those whom he did not trust.

Human life was of no value in his eyes. His actions were dictated by the most precise calculation, which was not influenced by spiritual impulses or remorse. No wonder Hitler called Heydrich "a man with an iron heart."

His deeds were committed not in the name of a great cause, but in personal interests. The Empire was of little interest to him, in it he needed only power. What was Heydrich's main goal? He did not talk about this even with the people closest to him. Only drunk, he once mentioned that he aspired to become an outstanding personality in the Third Reich, well, he succeeded.

He also expressed at one time the idea of ​​the need to separate the posts of the Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the Fuhrer should be given a representative role as the president of the country. The chancellor was supposed to be a person who had real power. It was in this post that Heydrich intended to work hard. And he, no doubt, would have succeeded if he had lived a couple more years.

Heydrich was not a fruitless dreamer, but went systematically from one task to another, carefully developing them. He considered the position of Minister of the Interior to be the most important step towards the post of chancellor, when uniting the security police and the general police under his control.

Heydrich did not have unconditional faith in Hitler. He could well imagine Germany without Hitler, but not without himself. A number of his employees were of the opinion that if Heydrich were alive, he could well be among the conspirators against the Fuhrer. Back in 1941, he expressed the opinion that the SS would be among the first to neutralize Hitler if he began to do stupid things.

List of Reinhard Heydrich awards:

German Order (posthumously)
Order of the Blood (posthumous)
Wound Badge in Gold (posthumous)
Iron Cross 1st Class
Iron Cross II Class
Front pilot's buckle for a day fighter pilot in silver
Front pilot's buckle for a day fighter pilot in bronze
Pilot and observer badge
Honorary gold badge of the NSDAP
Medal commemorating March 13, 1938
Medal commemorating October 1, 1938
Buckle "Prague Castle"
Medal to commemorate the return of Memel
Danzig Cross 1st Class
Danzig Cross II class
German badge of honor for the construction of a defensive rampart
Badge of honor for social work, 1st class
German honorary Olympic badge 1st class
SA sports badge in gold
State sports badge in silver
German cavalry badge in silver
Imperial Athletic Union Patch for Sporting Achievement
NSDAP Lifetime Achievement Award in Bronze
Police Lifetime Achievement Award in Silver
Honorary Sword of the RFSS
SS Death's Head Ring

28.09.2007 14:48

A sentimental musician, a romantic sailor, a cunning and cruel chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), an excellent swordsman, a collector of women, an exemplary father, a graceful horseman and a fearless fighter pilot - all this is one person whose name is Reinhard Heydrich . Heydrich was, without a doubt, one of the most notorious figures of the Third Reich, whose outstanding intelligence was recognized by everyone, even by his enemies. Everything in his thoughts was subordinated to the capture and targeted use of power.

Childhood, youth and youth

Reinhard Heydrich was born on March 7, 1904 in Halle an der Saale (Saxony) in the family of the director of the conservatory, the former opera singer Bruno Heydrich. His mother is a former actress. In the family, he was the second son and received the name Reinhard Tristan - in honor of the hero of the opera "Tristan and Isolde", had two brothers.

At school, little Reinhard was distinguished by stubbornness and the desire to somehow stand out from the rest of the students. So, once during a school break, he climbed onto the roof of a three-story building and, in front of everyone, walked along its edge (in case of a fall, he was threatened with imminent death). Having gone to Switzerland as an exchange of schoolchildren, he climbed onto the roof of a hotel building at night and hung out a German flag with a swat.

At school, as, indeed, in life in general, he had no friends, since he preferred to be alone.

In the senior classes, Heydrich was called "Izya" (a Jewish name), since for some reason the townspeople unfairly considered his father, Bruno, a Jew. Oil was added to the fire by the fact that his mother, after the death of her husbandshe remarried a certain Suess (the surname is clearly Jewish), who, again, was not a Jew. Already when Heydrich reaches power, he will be accused of Jewish roots, but these accusations will be groundless. True, there was a legend told by one of the SS men, if Heydrich, having gone through a lot, staggered into the bath and saw his reflection in the mirror. Drawing his pistol, he fired twice, shouting: I finally got you, scoundrel!"

At school, Reinhard showed outstanding musical abilities, and he learned to play the violin virtuoso.

His youth was spent in post-war Republican Geriania. After graduating from the gymnasium at the age of sixteen, pursued by post-war poverty and inflation, Reinhard entered the volunteer corps (freikorps) of Merker. Returning home, he already knew who he would become - an officer. Heydrich chose the sea service, believing that it would be able to satisfy his craving for adventure and ensure a comfortable existence.

In 1922, he ended up in Kiel, where he put on the uniform of a naval cadet. On board the training cruiser "Berlin", commanded by his future rival, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Heydrich was distinguished by high mathematical and navigational abilities.

Ambitiousness and the desire to be the first in everything led to the fact that he began to engage in fencing, soon turning into a fencer, for whom even masters of sports were not competitors. Subsequently, he also took up equestrian sports, in which he also came to the forefront.

By the age of 24-25, his appearance met Aryan standards: blond (“blond beast”), tall, narrow oblong face, very high forehead and blue eyes (albeit small and Mongoloid type, with a kind of bestial squint), athletic build . A certain angularity to his figure, however, was given by too wide feminine hips.

His service was successful: in 1926 he received the rank of lieutenant, in 1928 - chief lieutenant, as he was read by a promising officer. After completing the course, he was appointed liaison officer on the flagship "Schleswig-Holstein".

However, he did not enjoy love and respect among his colleagues. The sailors simply hated him for his arrogance.

It seemed to Heydrich that his career was already secured. But there was one "but". By that time, he has become a pathological collector of women, having connections with prostitutes, girls from ordinary families, and even from high strata of society. On this he got burned.

One evening in 1930, with one of his comrades, he went for a walk in the sea in a kayak. Soon they saw an overturned boat and two drowning girls. The guys, of course, jumped into the water and saved them.

One of the girls turned out to be Lina von Osten, the daughter of a school teacher from the island of Fehmarn. Acquaintance with her turned into a relationship that ended in an engagement in December of the same year.

And just then one of his old acquaintances appeared, who presented her demands to him. When conversations yielded nothing, her father found an opportunity to turn to the commander of the fleet, Admiral Raeder. The command recommended that Heydrich break with Lina and marry a girl who was expecting a child from him. Since Reinhard refused, the matter was referred to the officer's court of honor.

With his arrogant behavior, attempts to shift all the blame on the complaining girl and the statement that he himself knows best what an officer should do, Heydrich set the court against himself. For "misconduct and violation of the officer's code," Admiral Raeder dismissed him without delay.

The career of a career officer and a naval career were over for Heydrich. From the heights of the ultra-conservative fleet, he was thrown to the very bottom - the six millionth army of the unemployed.

Career in the SS

Left without a livelihood, Heydrich thought about serving in the merchant navy. However, his wife Lina, who was crazy about the Fuhrer, believed that Reinhard should find his calling in National Socialism, and invited him to join the SS. And one of Heydrich's childhood comrades helped him by introducing him to Heinrich Himmler.

He was just looking for a person for the planned security service (SD). Explaining his intention, Himmler invited Reinhard to put in writing his thoughts on the structure of the SD. The Reichsführer SS liked Heydrich's proposals. In addition, he was impressed by the fact that the young officer was "thrown overboard by the reactionary admiralty for his sympathy for the National Socialists" - this is how Heydrich explained his departure from the fleet, and according to Heydrich, Himmler perceived his position as a liaison officer in general as intelligence.

A few days later, having arrived in Munich and received the rank of SS Sturmführer (which corresponded to an army lieutenant), Heydrich set to work. After that, he walked up the career ladder easily and quickly, jumping over the steps:

1931 - Hauptsturmführer (Captain)

1932 - Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel)

1933 - Oberführer (Colonel)

1938 - Gruppenfuehrer (Major General)

1941 - Obergruppenführer (lieutenant general)

Yes, this is not surprising, since Himmler encouraged all his undertakings, feeling that the case led to him a "born counterintelligence officer" with a sound mind, who knew all the threads and understood which of them should be pulled.

He was like a wild beast, constantly on guard, feeling danger and being suspicious of everything and everyone. Possessing some kind of sixth sense, multiplied by an outstanding intellect, Heydrich was able to unravel the most subtle moves of his opponents.

Heydrich took part in the development of the symbols of the SS, and then proposed a plan according to which the SS, with the advent of the Nazis to power, was to establish control over the entire police system of the state, as a result of which they would gain real power. He also had the idea to transform the SS into the elite of the Third Reich, to carry out the progressive development of the SS and turn the SS into a "state within a state."

It was Heydrich who revealed to Himmler the possibilities that the position of Reichsfuehrer SS contained. Yes, in fact, Heydrich raised Himmler to the pinnacle of power, making him what he became. He knew how to present his thoughts to Himmer in a form that was supposed to make Himmler believe that it was he, the Reichsfuehrer SS, who was the creator of these ideas. From the very beginning of their cooperation, Heydrich began to bear the idea of ​​pushing this inconspicuous, timid and shy person with a mediocre intellect to the very top, so that later, after waiting for an opportune moment, to push him and take his place. Heydrich was always annoyed by Himmler's constant crackling chatter, as his delusional racist and other fantasies excited the SS apparatus. Tipsy, Reinhard repeatedly told his wife, " Look at Himmler's face, his nose - a typical Jewish, real Jewish soldering iron".

Heydrich built his reports to the chief masterfully, first giving a brief description of the person or the issue under consideration, then giving arguments in terms of their ascending significance, after which he made a conclusion and made a proposal that was difficult to get away from. In fact, Heydrich manipulated Himmr like a puppet.

Heydrich began his activities in the SD with the development of not only a plan for the secret service, but also for the secret police. Himmler immediately agreed to his proposal. Whereas up to now the police had intervened only when a real danger arose and limited themselves to detaining state criminals on fresh tracks, then according to Heydrich's plan, the political police had to grope for the enemies of the state even before they themselves realized their opposition, not to mention the manifestations real resistance. The activities of the police, thus, became unlimited and extended to all spheres of the life of the nation.

The culmination of Heydrich's activities was the creation in September 1939 of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security (RSHA), at the head of which he himself stood up.

Heydrich's moves

Heydrich took part in many events that took place in the Third Reich. Let's consider just a few of them.

1) The Night of the Long Knives

In 1934, the head of the SA stormtroopers, Ernst Röhm, quarreled with almost all the power groups of the regime: the Reichwehr, Himmler, Goering, the party. In the event of its liquidation, many would get rid of a dangerous competitor and would breathe easier.

This is where Heydrich got involved. To overcome Hitler's indecision (Rem was his old friend), he began to collect and prepare materials that were supposed to prove the anti-state essence of Rem's plans. Heydrich did not disdain the fabrication of documents, one of his tricks was the distribution of fabricated orders from Rem, and outright lies. At the same time, he came up with the idea of ​​simultaneously eliminating all opponents of the regime and his own enemies. These lists were subsequently received by all the executors of the operation, even Goering himself. The operation went like clockwork thanks to Heydrich's clear script, in which Himmler, Goering and the SS detachments played their parts perfectly. As a result, Heydrich killed several birds with one stone.

The day of July 30, 1934 left a deep mark on the history of the Third Reich. The action accelerated the formation of the sole power of Hitler and founded the Göring-Himmler axis, which determined the position in the party hierarchy until the outbreak of World War II.

2) Work in SD

In early 1935, Heydrich reorganized the SD, dividing it into two parts, while inviting a whole group of young intellectuals into his structure. The first was to become an instrument for uniting the bureaucracy with the SS. The second was to become intelligence organization - an organ of sensations and feelings on the body of the people, seeing and hearing everything that happens with the enemy in all areas of life". Intelligence SD Heydrich gave an unlimited field of action, saying that it should turn into a kind of "Intelligence Service".

From now on, each head of the provincial SD institutions had to have several trusted persons in all localities and a network of informers who were not supposed to know that they were working for the SD. It was recommended to involve in the number of proxies " people who have general knowledge and are able to think logically and in a businesslike way".

From individual information, memos were compiled for Himmler and Hitler, which, unlike propaganda materials, did not embellish the state of affairs, but gave an objective assessment of reality and drew conclusions about phenomena that needed to be corrected.

An institution called "Kitty's Salon" was also organized, where foreign guests were invited. For their amusement, there was a ladies' company there - in the expectation that they would become more accommodating and blurt out some useful information and secrets. For this good cause, the SD rented a large house in a fashionable part of Berlin, rebuilt in such a way that microphones and eavesdropping equipment were installed everywhere. From the major European cities, ladies of the demi-monde were summoned, who spoke languages ​​and possessed "other knowledge." Some ladies from the upper strata of Nazi society were also ready to serve their fatherland. Thanks to this salon, Heydrich obtained a lot of valuable information and even recruited people useful to him. Among those who fell for his bait was, in particular, the Italian Foreign Minister Ciano.

3) Scam with Tukhachevsky

At the end of 1936, Heydrich received information that Tukhachevsky intended to take power into his own hands with the help of the army and get rid of Stalin. And he considered it expedient to use this chance to weaken the Soviet system.

Today it is already difficult to say with complete certainty whether this information was true. In any case, Heydrich made it even more truthful. In April 1937, in a secret Gestapo laboratory for making fakes, letters were prepared that allegedly exchanged Tukhachevsky with German generals. They just talked about the support that Tukhachevsky requested from the Wehrmacht during the planned putsch against Stalin. To create a kind of authenticity, the letters were marked by German generals.

In early May, a voluminous dossier was presented to Hitler for review. Hitler liked the prepared materials and he agreed to hand them over to the Soviet secret service.

Soon Tukhachevsky, along with his entourage, were arrested. The trial took only one day. The verdict was discussed for only five minutes and read - the death penalty. Insignia and awards were torn from the accused right in the courtroom, and twelve hours later they were shot. This process was considered a signal for a large-scale purge of Red Army officers, as a result of which it lost many capable people.

Heydrich was proud of the results of his work and until his death he was convinced of the importance of what he had done.

4) Assassination attempt on Hitler

On November 8, 1939, an explosion occurred in the huge basement of a pub in Munich. And it happened thirteen minutes after Hitler left there. The evidence found showed that the assassination attempt was being prepared for a long time, and the perpetrator used an infernal machine weighing no more than 10 kg. Why was the leadership of the Munich police unable to detect the bomb in advance and prevent the explosion? The answer is simple.

The author of the assassination attempt, Elser, did not even know that he was playing a role in a play written by Heydrich. Yes, Elser did indeed plan to rid his people of Hitler. However, during the preparations, he was noticed by one of the Gestapo officers. This became known to Heydrich. He also knew from SD reports that the German people were gradually losing faith in their Fuhrer. Therefore, Heydrich came up with an ingenious combination to improve the morale of the people and restore their faith in Hitler's abilities. So, Heydrich decided to use Elser's gift and ordered to make sure that he was not interfered with, and that Hitler left the site of the upcoming explosion in time. The fact that the explosion would take the lives of quite a few honored members of the party did not play any role for Heydrich. He was not even particularly worried that the bomb could explode ahead of schedule, or that the Fuhrer could be delayed, as a result of which he would be killed. Whoever succeeded Hitler, Heydrich was quite sure that his own power would only grow.

The explosion killed six "old fighters" and a waiter, sixteen were seriously injured. Heydrich turned everything around so that the German people believed in the Fuhrer's miraculous salvation from the intrigues of the hated English, hated these "Tommies" even more fiercely and did not lose faith in their leader.

5) Counterfeit Currency Scam

At the end of 1939, British aircraft began to drop fake food and manufactured goods cards over German cities in order to disrupt the supply of these goods to the population of the Reich. As a response, Heydrich came up with the idea of ​​undermining the British economy by scattering counterfeit pounds sterling over its territory.

Although the task was not easy, already in 1940 the task of issuing high-quality fakes was completed, and in the same year Heydrich decided to use the currency for his own financing, since the RSHA received insignificant amounts of money from the Ministry of Finance, especially in foreign currency.

Despite the death of Heydrich in 1942, the machine he launched gained momentum, and by 1943 counterfeit banknotes of such high quality were made that they were accepted by all banks in the world. The Bank of England alone was able to spot the fakes. A total of £250 million worth of fakes were made. At the beginning of 1945, the production of high-quality American dollars was started, but their volume was small due to the imminent end of the war. In the first days of May 1945, the manufactured unsold banknotes, equipment and printed circuit boards were destroyed.

6) Secret files

Heydrich did not put friendship and comradeship in anything, he did not honor the corporate spirit either, considering only the presence of secrets as a reliable link. He believed that knowledge of the hidden worldly weaknesses and other shortcomings in the leaders of the Reich would help him establish power over the environment and allow him to exercise control over political problems.

Many leaders of the Reich knew that Heydrich collected compromising materials, including on them. Because of this, he was hated and feared, since no one knew exactly what he knew about them specifically.

The most important thing for Heydrich was always to know more about everything than the rest, and more fully about each individual than anyone else knew about him. Even Hitler was no exception. Heydrich was the first researcher of the Fuhrer, who tried to find any, the smallest details of his past. Knew Heydrich thoroughly and the personal life of the Fuhrer. For example, he understood the subtleties of the diagnoses that doctors made to Hitler.

In addition to these events, Heydrich played a leading role in the annexation of Czechoslovakia, the Anschluss of Austria, and the outbreak of war against Poland (Operation Venlo) and, of course, in the final solution of the Jewish question.

Heydrich's last task

The next task that Heydrich set for himself was to take the chair of the imperial minister of the interior. Having received Hitler's promise, he nevertheless wanted to show his administrative abilities in solving public problems by taking up the post of Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. And he presented Hitler with a memorandum in which he stated his thoughts that it was difficult for the Reich Protector Baron von Neurat to fulfill his duties alone, and he needed a vacation. The Fuhrer easily agreed with him.

In September 1941, Heydrich was appointed deputy imperial protector in Bohemia and Moravia, where he became virtually the sole master of the situation. On the day of his arrival in Prague, Heydrich declared a state of emergency on the territory of the protectorate, followed by a wave of terror. In just two or three weeks, Czech resistance was almost completely eliminated. Having fulfilled the first part of his plan, Heydrich stopped the terror and canceled the courts, presenting himself as a new benefactor protector. He announced the end of political persecution, began to woo the Czech workers and peasants, inciting them against the bourgeois intelligentsia, in whom he saw the core of resistance, and abolished a number of restrictions.

Heydrich raised the fat norm for 2 million Czech workers, allocated 200,000 pairs of shoes for people employed in the military industry, increased the ration of cigarettes and food, requisitioned hotels and boarding houses in resorts and reorganized them into holiday homes for Czech workers, reorganized the social security system, raised the salary, which was already possible buy something, achieved public recognition of the workers and peasants, eliminated the black market.

The Czech Republic was inaccessible to British aviation, so a number of military factories from Germany were transferred there. The local industry also worked at full speed. As a result, at the end of 1941, the Wehrmacht received from here a third of tanks, a fourth of trucks and 40% of small arms. The Czechs obediently worked for Germany to the very end. Agricultural production in the Czech Republic was not lower than in the Reich. The labor productivity of industrial workers was not inferior to that of German workers. (If they rebelled, it happened when the German troops began to withdraw from Bohemia and Moravia.)

In general, as you can see, Heydrich pursued a very smart and cunning policy, instructing the Czech government to carry out unpopular decisions, while leaving the popular ones for himself. The appearance of reconciliation of the Czechs with German domination was created, which simply shocked Eduard Benes, who headed the Czech government in exile in London. The graveyard calm in the protectorate and the passivity of the population had a negative effect on the positions of the émigré government in negotiations with the allies, and its influence in Czechoslovakia itself also fell. The British also needed a big spectacular action like air as an apology to the Russians for not opening a second front. It was decided to eliminate Heydrich, who pursued a successful flexible occupation policy in the protectorate. Both the British and the Czechs in exile knew perfectly well that in response the Germans would flood the whole country with blood, and in the process, thousands of innocent Czechs would die. But for these people their political interests were more important.

Death of Heydrich

Everyone knew that Heydrich was a brave man. The last time he proved this was when he flew as a fighter pilot over the coasts of Norway, while shooting down 7 British aircraft. And this was done by one of the most powerful people in the Reich! In Prague, the fearless Heydrich always traveled along the same route in an open Mercedes without an escort. In the car, besides him, there was usually only his personal experienced driver Willy. But on the tragic morning of June 27, another man was driving Heydrich's car - Oberscharführer Klein.

The assassination took place at a slow turn. The path of Heydrich's car was blocked by a running man. An experienced Willy would have immediately noticed the danger and would have sunk his foot into the gas pedal. But Klein is driving. He slows down despite Heydrich's cry: " Click on full"The pedestrian throws off his raincoat and points the muzzle of the machine gun at the car, pulls the trigger, but the machine jammed. But then a second person runs up and throws a grenade under the Mercedes. The explosion shatters the windows in nearby houses. The criminals start to run away, but they are chased. Who will take part in it? The unwounded Oberscharführer Klein runs after the first, but does not run long - soon he will be lying on the sidewalk with two bullets in his chest. Behind the second, the one who threw the grenade, runs the wounded Reinhard Heydrich himself with a heavy "parabellum" at the ready, shoots on the move and falls exhausted, having managed to wound his killer in the back. " Report to the city", - the lying protector wheezes to the first of those who dared to approach him. These were the last words of Reinhard Heydrich, who was then only 38 years old. About a week later, on July 4, 1942, Heydrich died in one of the Prague hospitals, several operations were performed on him did not help - he died of blood poisoning, never regaining consciousness.

Revenge for this vile crime was not long in coming. In search of the killers, the Germans flooded Czechoslovakia with blood and, with the help of a Czech traitor, got to the killers.

Finishing touches

Heydrich did not recognize any ethical values, had a cold intellect and a cold soul, was prudent and ambitious, having the spectacular appearance of a fallen angel.

Not a state, but power - his personal power was his god. He did not bother himself with moral values. Truth and virtue meant nothing to him. He considered them as a tool for acquiring even greater power. Everything that served this cause was right and good. Politics, too, was for him nothing more than a step on the path to power. He considered it stupid to think about the legitimacy of this or that action and did not even ask such questions.

His entire service in the SS was a continuous chain of murders. In the struggle for power, he destroyed people whom he disliked, rivals who were in opposition to him, and those whom he did not trust. Human life was of no value in his eyes. His actions were dictated by the most precise calculation, which was not influenced by spiritual impulses or remorse. No wonder Hitler called Heydrich "a man with an iron heart."

His deeds were committed not in the name of a great cause, but in personal interests. The Empire was of little interest to him, in it he needed only power. What was Heydrich's main goal? He did not talk about this even with the people closest to him. Only drunk, he once mentioned that he aspired to become an outstanding personality in the Third Reich, well, he succeeded. He also expressed at one time the idea of ​​the need to separate the posts of the Fuhrer and Chancellor, and the Fuhrer should be given a representative role as the president of the country. The chancellor was supposed to be a person who had real power. It was in this post that Heydrich intended to work hard. And he, no doubt, would have succeeded if he had lived a couple more years.

Heydrich was not a fruitless dreamer, but went systematically from one task to another, carefully developing them. He considered the position of Minister of the Interior to be the most important step towards the post of chancellor, when uniting the security police and the general police under his control.

Heydrich did not have unconditional faith in Hitler. He could well imagine Germany without Hitler, but not without himself. A number of his employees were of the opinion that if Heydrich were alive, he could well be among the conspirators against the Fuhrer. Back in 1941, he expressed the opinion that the SS would be among the first to neutralize Hitler if he began to do stupid things.

A good ending to this article would be the list of Reinhard Heydrich's awards:

German Order (posthumously)
Order of the Blood (posthumous)
Wound Badge in Gold (posthumous)
Iron Cross 1st Class
Iron Cross II Class
Front pilot's buckle for a day fighter pilot in silver
Front pilot's buckle for a day fighter pilot in bronze
Pilot and observer badge
Honorary gold badge of the NSDAP
Medal commemorating March 13, 1938
Medal commemorating October 1, 1938
Buckle “Prague Castle”
Medal to commemorate the return of Memel
Danzig Cross 1st Class
Danzig Cross II class
German badge of honor for the construction of a defensive rampart
Badge of honor for social work, 1st class
German honorary Olympic badge 1st class
SA sports badge in gold
State sports badge in silver
German cavalry badge in silver
Imperial Athletic Union Patch for Sporting Achievement
NSDAP Lifetime Achievement Award in Bronze
Police Lifetime Achievement Award in Silver
Honorary Sword of the RFSS
SS Ring “Dead Head”