Name: Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich

State: Germany

Field of activity: Warlord

Greatest achievement: During World War II, he served as an SS Gruppenfuehrer.

Studying the history of the Third Reich, you can get acquainted with many interesting personalities who worked for the good Nazi Germany. They considered the policy of the NSDAP the only correct one, and Hitler was the real born leader of the nation. They gave orders and carried them out as duty and heart commanded (even if from a moral point of view it was wrong and even cruel). They just did their job as they saw fit.

Some names have remained in the history of mankind, inextricably linked with the Third Reich (it’s even scary to pronounce them aloud), and some have been lost in the annals of history. They are remembered only by historians and researchers of this period. Literally everyone has heard the name of Hitler - still, the leader of Germany did so much in his time that he earned posthumous fame as the main villain of the 20th century. But the name of Reinhard Heydrich is not so well known. We will try to lift the veil of secrecy and tell more about this person, whom the Fuhrer himself at the first meeting called "a very talented, but extremely dangerous person."

early years

Some higher ranks The Third Reich was destined to become military and close to the Fuhrer. Reinhard Heydrich, on the contrary, came from a family very far from the military field. His father, Bruno Heydrich, was a musician who wrote music and performed in opera. Mother, Elisabeth Heydrich (née Kratz) was the daughter of the director of the Dresden Conservatory. The mother's family was quite rich. The father tried to break into high society, but could not. Their son, Reinhardt (later Heydrich himself would change the style of writing the name without the last letter) was born on March 7, 1904 in Halle, Saxony.

From a young age, Reinhard became interested in politics, but his father saw him as the successor of his work - a great composer, opera singer. He gave his son to the violin class so that the heir would learn to play this wonderful instrument (looking ahead, let's say that in the SS, where Heydrich worked, he had the nickname "Violinist").

As a teenager, Reinhard joined the nationalist organization Georg Ludwig Rudolf Merker. It was semi-military, semi-civilian, but the ideas were the most nationalist. Reinhard himself recalled how his parents read books about racial purity. This thought sunk deep into the young man's soul.

Heydrich was a very active young man - he was fond of sports, cultivating leadership qualities and the ability to compete. His favorite sports were fencing and equestrian sports - here he became one of the best. He constantly wanted to be in the thick of all political events - he was looking for more radical organizations where he could join and manage the affairs of the state. He was also distinguished by an extraordinary intelligence and insight, which subsequently played a fatal role for many thousands of people.

He was also distinguished by an unusual appearance - tall, narrow face, nose with a hump, giving him the appearance of an eagle. hallmark was unnaturally tall for a man, rather even more like a woman.

Career in the Third Reich

The 1920s became a difficult and difficult test for Germany - an economic crisis broke out, there was no work, no money either (only the upper class had them). Gradually, the music school of Father Heydrich fell into decay and went bankrupt. Money became scarce. Reinhard had to think hard about what profession to master. A musician is not a profitable business, despite his undoubted talent in playing the violin. Chemist?

Not bad, but also will not bring dividends, although it was his dream. What was left? Of course, a military career. And both on land and at sea. And young Heydrich entered the Navy. At first he studied at the naval school in Kiel, then was sent to naval intelligence. A great start for a musician's son. However, the joy of the service was overshadowed by one circumstance - rumors. As you know, they spread quickly, and it is not at all easy to forget or ignore them, and it is even more difficult to prove the opposite. Even in the era of his youth, Father Heydrich was accused of having Jewish blood, although this was almost impossible to prove. The same thing awaited his son - relations with colleagues in the Navy did not develop very well - just for the same reason. But Reinhard is used to standing up for himself and not giving offense. Moreover, there were pentathlon skills and excellent fencing.

How not to bypass the topic of sorority? Heydrich was no exception - he had a reputation as a womanizer and ladies' man. At one time, he dated as many as two ladies at once, which was contrary to the code of honor in the Navy. One of them later became his wife - a young village girl Lina von Osten. They married in December 1931 - shortly before Heydrich's meteoric rise in the fascist career ladder.

Even before the wedding, Reinhard became interested in the politics of the NSDAP party - the ideas seemed familiar and correct. He joined the party in June, and some time later was already a member of the SS, which at that time was led by Himmler. Already having experience in reconnaissance in the navy, Heydrich expressed several ideas for streamlining the work of the SS, which seemed acceptable. He instructed Reinhard to create a security service that collected various compromising evidence on top political officials.

Such a valuable shot could not go unnoticed by Hitler himself, and already at the end of 1931 (as a wedding gift) Reinhard was transferred to SS Obersturmbannführer. And his career took off like an eagle. After all, this was exactly what Heydrich could and wanted to do - espionage, blackmail, terror.

He managed to show himself at the highest level during the conflict between Hitler and the leader of the SA stormtroopers Rem. When the former became Reich Chancellor, Rem expected that there would be enough posts and extended powers for him and his subordinates. After all, in fact, it was they who helped Hitler come to power. But that did not happen.

Rem began to think over a new revolution, already the overthrow of Hitler himself. And then Reinhard stepped onto the stage. He quickly collected compromising evidence on Rem, putting him in unfavorable light. Rehm was killed by SS officers during the "Night of the Long Knives", and Heydrich received another promotion - the rank of Gruppenführer.

When it began, Heydrich did not stand aside - he flew to air operations against France, the USSR as an attack pilot. However, the pilot's career continued until 1941, when his plane was shot down over the territory of the Soviet Union. Then they barely managed to save him from the enemy battlefield. After this incident, Himmler issued a no-fly order for Heydrich. He returned to office work.

It is impossible to ignore the Jewish question, which for the most part belongs to Reinhard. Remembering the rumors and your possible Jewish origin, he made every effort to ensure that the Jews were destroyed, not only in Germany, but also in the allied countries, as well as in the occupied territories. owes his "birth" to him. At first, it was planned simply to strengthen measures for the forced emigration of Jews (in other words, so that they themselves would leave because of the unbearable living conditions in the country). Also, special reservations were created like the Indians, where only Jews were settled. They were called ghettos. This idea also belonged to Reinhard. Soon Hitler sent a note to his subordinates that the Jewish question should be resolved as soon as possible. Reidrich proposed to send the nation to forced labor with such an exhausting schedule that people would simply die themselves. And those who survived were shot.

last years of life

Of course, such a powerful man as Heydrich had many enemies who wanted death. And an assassination attempt British intelligence reached the target. On May 27, 1942, in Prague, Reinhard was driving through the city in open car to your residence. Two agents recruited by the British - Jan Kubis and Joseph Gabchik - ran up to the car. One started firing from a machine gun, the second threw a bomb, but missed. It exploded nearby, fragments damaged Heydrich's spleen. He was rushed to the hospital, where the damaged organ was removed. There were rumors about Reinhard's amendment, but a day later he died.

His death meant the beginning of the end for the Czech population. Neither Hitler nor Himmler wanted to forgive the nation for the death of their comrade. All over Prague there were arrests of people who were somehow involved in the assassination attempt. No officer of the Third Reich was awarded such "honours". Only the all-powerful SS Gruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich.

Today, Reinhard Heydrich is called none other than the chief executioner of the Third Reich. It was Heydrich who made a huge contribution not only to the policy of extermination of the Jews, he personally fought against internal enemies fascist regime. However successful career SS-Obergruppenführer proved to be short-lived. In the summer of 1942, an assassination attempt was made on him in Prague.

Who is Reinhard Heydrich?

In the 1920s, Reinhard Heydrich served in the Navy. It cannot be said that Heydrich's career was unsuccessful. Moreover, in order to reach high positions, he was ready for almost anything. However, the future SS still made one mistake: he entered into a relationship with two women at the same time. The fact of misbehavior was revealed, and Heydrich was dismissed. However, he did not lose his head and after a couple of months he joined the National Socialist Party and the SS.

Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler contributed to Heydrich's career advancement. Heydrich managed to interest Himmler with his proposals for the creation of an intelligence system. Since then, Reinhard began to search for and eliminate Hitler's enemies, among whom were very high-ranking Germans. Heindrich was also one of the main "masterminds" of the Holocaust.

Death after assassination

2 years after the German troops occupied Czechoslovakia, Reinhard Heydrich took over as Imperial Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. There Heydrich continued his work. He identified unreliable elements, closed synagogues, opened a concentration camp. At the same time, he tried to "cajole" the Czechs working in military factories good food, wage increases and all sorts of entertainment. Therefore, Heydrich was not particularly afraid of anything. Even on the day of the assassination attempt, he was driving around the suburbs of Prague in an open car. He was accompanied only by the driver.

About half past ten in the morning of 1942, a passer-by took out a machine gun from his bosom and pointed it at Heydrich. However, the weapon misfired. The Obergruppenführer, of course, noticed his would-be assassin and ordered the driver to slow down. Heydrich also took out a pistol and took aim, but his weapon did not work either. At this time, the second participant in the assassination threw a grenade towards the car. But it exploded next to the car. Heydrich received a fractured rib and wounded spleen. Both accomplices managed to escape. And Reinhard Heydrich, despite the ease of his injuries, died on June 4, presumably from sepsis.

Operation Anthropoid and its aftermath

The liquidators of one of the main executioners of the Third Reich were Czech paratroopers Josef Gabchik and Jan Kubis. The operation itself code name"Anthropoid" prepared National Committee for the liberation of Czechoslovakia and British intelligence services. After the perpetrators of the assassination attempt managed to escape, the Germans immediately rushed in their wake. The retribution was terrible. So in the history of the Czech Republic forever remained a tragedy, which was the result of a furious search for Gabchik and Kubiš. The Nazis received information that some of the organizers of the murder of Heydrich may be in the village of Lidice. As a result, all its adult residents were destroyed, and their houses were burned.

Meanwhile, Josef Gabchik and Jan Kubis, together with their comrades, were hiding in the Prague Cathedral of Cyril and Methodius. There they were found by the Germans. Realizing that there was no way out, the paratroopers decided to commit suicide. Only Jan Kubis, who was seriously wounded, did not have time to do this. He died a little later from loss of blood.

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"Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (German: Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich; March 7, 1904, Halle, Saxony, German Empire- June 4, 1942, Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Third Reich) - state and political figure Nazi Germany, head of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security (1939-1942), Deputy (acting) Imperial Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (1941-1942). SS Obergruppenführer and police general (since 1941).
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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.
March 7, 1904 Reinhard Heydrich was born in the city of Halle an der Saale.

From an early age, Reinhard was interested in politics. His parents read the works of the racial theorist Houston Chamberlain on "race struggles." When the First World War began, Heydrich was 10 years old. At the end of the war, Heydrich had the opportunity to observe demonstrations and street skirmishes in Halle.
In the summer of 1904, the Heydrich family moved into the four-story building of the conservatory in Halle, where his father, as director, was supposed to live.

In 1919, at the age of 15, Heydrich, still a schoolboy, began to get involved in politics and joined the Georg Ludwig Rudolf Merker Freikorps, a paramilitary nationalist organization. Heydrich begins to actively engage in sports, cultivating the spirit of competition.
On October 6, 1904, Reinhard Heydrich was baptized at the Catholic Church of St. Francis and Elisabeth in Halle

In 1918-1919 he was a member of the National Association of Pan-German Youth - the "German National Youth League" in Halle. This organization seemed too moderate to Reinhard, and in 1920 he joined the German people's union defense and offensive” (German: Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund). In the same year, eager to participate more actively in the political life that was raging around, Heydrich became a liaison officer in the Lucius division, which was part of the volunteer detachments in Halle, where he became interested in the ideas of youth militaristic pro-patriotic movements. In 1921 he created a new association - the "German People's Youth Detachment"
1908 The photo shows four-year-old Reinhard Heydrich with his brothers and sisters in Halle near the house where the Bruno Heydrich Conservatory was located

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

March 30, 1922 Heydrich entered the naval school in Kiel. The navy, with its rigid code of honor, seemed to the young Heydrich the elite of the nation. In 1926, after graduating from college and receiving the rank of lieutenant, Heydrich was sent to serve in the intelligence of the fleet. His career began to be promoted by the future leader of the Abwehr and the future Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, at that time a senior officer on the cruiser Berlin. The relations of the Canaris family with Heydrich were very close - for example, Heydrich often played in a string quartet with Canaris's wife
Fencing school in Halle. Here Reinhard Heydrich studied fencing

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. During his service in the Navy, Heydrich was even more actively involved in sports, in particular pentathlon.
Admiral Felix Count von Lackner, who awakened in Reinhard Heydrich an interest in navigation

Heydrich's reputation for red tape spread. In December 1930, at one of the balls, Heydrich met his future wife, the village teacher Lina von Osten, whom he married in December of the following year. According to another, more romantic version, Reinhard and a friend were boating and saw a boat capsized nearby with two girls. Of course, young people heroically came to the rescue. One of the rescued girls was Lina von Osten
March 1922. Reinhard Heydrich is accepted into the Navy as a midshipman.

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 broke this connection by mailing an announcement of his engagement to Lina cut out of a newspaper. The girl's father turned 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 was considered at the court of honor, which for some reason was headed by Raeder himself. At a meeting of the court of honor, Raeder noted that the daughter of "such a person" is more worthy of a "village simpleton", Heydrich replied with a request not to interfere in his choice. In April 1931, Admiral Raeder fired Heydrich for "misbehavior."
April 1, 1924 Reinhard Heydrich, ensign entered the Naval Academy, where he remained until March 1925

In June 1931, Reinhard Heydrich joined the NSDAP, receiving party card No. 544 916, and the SS (ticket No. 10 120). Together with the militants from the SA, Heydrich took part in the battles with the 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 met Himmler and expressed his proposals to him on the creation of an SS intelligence service; Himmler liked them, and he instructed Heydrich to create a security service that became known as the SD. The main task of the SD at first was to collect compromising materials on people occupying a prominent position in society, as well as to conduct information campaigns to discredit political opponents.
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.
1924 Reinhard Heydrich midshipman.

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 reprisals against the opposition. Officials who held their posts under the Weimar Republic were largely replaced by people from the SA and SS.
1929 Reinhard Heydrich as lieutenant

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 within the National Socialist Party of two wings - leaning more towards national policy(Adolf Hitler) and another who believed that the party should first of all carry out 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 compromising material on Ryoma and his closest associates. The materials collected by Heydrich pointed to an imminent putsch being prepared in the depths of the SA. After the SA was defeated by the SS forces during the so-called “Night of the Long Knives”, and Röhm himself was killed, on June 30, 1934, Heydrich received the rank of SS Gruppenführer.
December 26, 1931. The wedding of Reinhard Heydrich and Lina.

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 of the commander-in-chief from power ground forces Colonel General Werner von Fritsch and Defense Minister Werner von Blomberg. A compromising dossier was collected on both military men. Von Blomberg's young wife was a prostitute in the past, a scandal erupted, and Hitler fired him. Fritsch, on false evidence, was accused of a homosexual affair and also removed from his post. At the same time, several dozen more senior military officials were removed or demoted.
Lina and Reinhard Heydrich shortly after their marriage in 1931.

Serious friction also existed between the SD of 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.
SD branch in Munich. Here Reinhard Heydrich was taken on as head of department

In 1934, the SD became part of the secret police (Gestapo). In 1936, Himmler became chief of the German police, and Heydrich became chief of the Security Police ("sipo", German: Sicherheitspolizei, Sipo), which combined the 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 own. personal enemies. Security police agents also conducted surveillance of Jews, communists, liberals, and religious minorities. The staff of the SD included about 3,000 agents, and up to 100,000 people were part-time informants. After the Anschluss, Heydrich, together with Himmler, organized terror in Austria against opponents of the regime, and also created not far from Linz concentration camp Mauthausen.
In 1939, the SD, zipo and Gestapo were transferred to the newly created department of the RSHA - the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA, headed by Heydrich. The RSHA became the most powerful organization for collecting and analyzing information, as well as suppressing the opposition.
In 1933, Reinhard Heydrich in his office at the Wittelsbach Palace in Munich.

It was Heydrich who developed the staging plan border incident known as the Gleiwitz Incident. The purpose of the staging was to show that Germany's attack on Poland was 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 dead prisoners of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp acted as the dead Poles. 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
August 7, 1934. Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich oversee the preparations for the funeral of President Hindenburg

In the early years of World War II, Heydrich was not only organizational work. As an Air Force reserve officer, Heydrich took part in combat missions. German aviation(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, Heydrich was saved only in time by German soldiers, Himmler by personal order forbade him to participate in hostilities
Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich in 1934.

After the occupation of Poland, Heydrich gave the order to create for Jews special areas of a compact settlement in large cities, ghettos, where Jews from the countryside, as well as from Germany itself, were to be resettled, and also to form "Jewish councils" dealing with Jewish affairs from the local Jewish population ( German Judenräte). In this way, Heydrich managed to force the Jews themselves to participate in the policy of their own destruction. In December 1939, Heydrich appointed Eichmann head of the RSHA's special unit for Jewish affairs, and then, with his help, carried out mass deportations Jews from Germany and Austria to Polish ghettos.
Reinhard Heydrich welcomes leaders in Nuremberg. 1935

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. His tenure was accompanied by rivalry between the bodies loyal to the protector, special services and party structures, caused by the overlapping competence of different branches of government. This, as well as Neurath's lack of toughness in suppressing Czech resistance, led to his actual removal from office. The secret services, with the participation of Heydrich, prepared a report on the Czech resistance to Hitler criticizing Neurath
June 18, 1936. Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick delivers a speech on the occasion of the appointment of Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler as Chief of the German Police. Right Reinhard Heydrich

At the end of September 1941, A. Hitler summoned Konstantin von Neurath, Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and announced that he had decided to appoint Heydrich as his deputy. Von Neurath did not agree with this decision and announced his resignation from this post. Then Hitler sent von Neurath on "indefinite leave." His duties were transferred to Heydrich as "Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia" (German "Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor von Böhmen und Mähren").
July 2, 1936. Commemoration of the memory of the German king Henry I Ptitselov (876-936), revered as the founder of the empire and a fighter against the Slavs

Thus, Heydrich became the de facto imperial protector (von Neurath never returned to his duties), retaining the position of head of the RSHA Main Directorate. On September 27, 1941, Heydrich took up residence in Hradcany. Heydrich arranged his country residence, to which he moved his family, in the so-called “Lower Palace”, which he inherited after the resignation of K. von Neurath, in the town of Panenské Břežany, 15 km north of Prague, confiscated from the sugar merchant of Jewish origin Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer
Reinhard Heydrich (left in civilian clothes) during Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin.

January 2, 1937 Heydrich at the birthday party of Hermann Göring

January 29, 1937. On family holiday Lieutenant Colonel Richard Praschnow, Lina Heydrich, Brigadier Karl Wolf, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.

Reinhard Heydrich with his wife Lina and son Klaus.

A week after the appointment, Heydrich initiated a process against the Czech Prime Minister Alois Elias, who was suspected of having links with the resistance. The process under the chairmanship of Otto Tirac took place in four hours, Elias was sentenced to death (which was carried out after the death of Heydrich). One of the first actions after the appointment of Heydrich was the order to close all synagogues in the protectorate, and in November 1941, on his orders, the Theresienstadt concentration camp was created, intended to contain Czech Jews before being sent to death camps. At the same time, Heydrich began to carry out measures to appease the population: he reorganized the social security system, increased wages and food standards for workers.
September 1937. Reinhard Heydrich and his wife Lina during a visit to Germany by Benito Mussolini

Heydrich had many of the stereotypically Nordic qualities: tall, lean, blond with an icy calm. Contrary to this image, Heydrich had a very high voice, for which he received the nickname "goat" from his friends. This is probably why few records of his speeches have survived. Heydrich was a keen sportsman and gifted musician.
Reinhard Heydrich at his desk in 1937

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.
January 9, 1938. Reinhard Heydrich in the Imperial Hall of the Landwehr casino after the fencing competition

From his youth, Heydrich was accompanied by rumors about Jewish origin, and this information was subsequently used by his political enemies to fight him. One argument was that Heydrich's father, Bruno Heydrich, appeared in the 1916 Riemann Encyclopedia of Music as "Bruno Heydrich, real name Suess".
February 23, 1938. Reinhard Heydrich congratulates Scherer on his victory

In 1932, one of the leaders of the NSDAP, Gregor Strasser, ordered the party genealogist Achim Gerke to investigate information about a possible admixture of Jewish blood. Gercke came to the conclusion that the information in the Riemann Musical Encyclopedia was erroneous, and the second husband of Heydrich's grandmother had the surname Suess (Bruno Heydrich was born from his first marriage). After the war, the hypothesis of the Jewish origin of Heydrich was the subject of serious scientific research.
March 12, 1938. Reinhard Heydrich with Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler after the Anschluss of Austria at the entrance to the Metropol Hotel in Vienna

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 side until 1738, and on the maternal side - until 1688 and did not find among his ancestors Jews
July 2, 1938. Laying a wreath at the tomb of the German King Henry I the Fowler (876-936) in the crypt of Quedlinburg Cathedral.

August 20, 1938. The delegation congratulates the Fuhrer on his birthday. From left to right, General Dalyuge, SS General Karl Wolf, Reinhard Heydrich, August Hessmeier and Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler

January 30, 1939 Holiday at the Interior Ministry in Berlin. At the table, Reinhard Heydrich, Kurt Daluege, secretary, Mrs. Frick, Heinrich Himmler and others

Franz Josef Huber, Arthur Nebe, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller. 1939

March 15, 1939. Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and Karl Wolf in the courtyard of Prague Castle

Reinhard Heydrich describes the organization of the Imperial Security Office during the visit of a Spanish police delegation

April 9, 1939 Birthday of the daughter of Reinhard Heydrich Silk.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich on their way to the Imperial Chancellery.

September 1939. Polish company. Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler receives a progress report from Reinhard Heydrich

During the war, Reinhard Heydrich flew as a fighter pilot and was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class.

November 1940. The funeral of the Italian police chief Senator Boccini in Rome. In the photo Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler

Reinhard Heydrich with his family. 1941

1941 Visit of Gauleiter Karl Hanke. Welcome to Prague Castle.

September 28, 1941. Reinhard Heydrich during the solemn raising of the national flag in the courtyard of the Prague Castle.

October 29, 1941. Karl Hermann Frank, Heinrich Himmler, Karl Wolf and Reinhard Heydrich at Prague Castle

In December 1941, a meeting of the Association of Southeast Europe was held in Prague in the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle.

20 April 1942 Protectorate President Dr. Emil Hacha shows Reinhard Heydrich a fully equipped ambulance train for the Führer's birthday

September 27, 1941. SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich on his inauguration day in Prague

Reinhard Heydrich examines the crown of St. Wenceslas in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral

Opening of the Imperial School of Police and Security Services in Prague. Reinhard Heydrich speaks to Bruno Strechenbach

Reinhard Heydrich and Karl Hermann Frank meet with a delegation of Czech farmers

Reinhard Heydrich and Minister of Education Moravec at a meeting in Prague

May 26, 1942. The last lifetime picture of Heydrich. musical evening at the Wallenstein Palace.

The assassination attempt on Heydrich was planned by the Czechoslovak "government in exile" of Edvard Benes with the participation of the British Office special operations. By killing Heydrich, it was planned to simultaneously raise the prestige of the Resistance and provoke punitive actions by the Germans, which, in turn, would push the local population to actively resist the invaders. The direct executors of the operation, called "Anthropoid", were agents Josef Gabchik and Jan Kubis, trained by the British.
May 27, 1942. Mercedes Reinhard Heydrich.

The delivery of Gabczyk and Kubiš took place on the night of December 28-29, 1941. An RAF Handley Page Halifax took off from Sussex Airfield at 22:00 and dropped Gabczyk and Kubiš at 02:12. Due to a navigational error, the saboteurs were landed not near Pilsen, as planned, but in the suburbs of Prague, Negvizdy. Then two more groups of Czech saboteurs were dropped, three and two people, respectively. Gabczyk and Kubiš were equipped with Colt revolvers, Mills hand grenades, bombs different types and fake documents. The saboteurs hid the equipment and, following the instructions received before the flight, reached Pilsen, where they stayed in predetermined apartments with Resistance members Vaclav Kralj and Vaclav Stelik. In the future, they established contacts with many other active members of the underground.
Joseph Gabchik

The assassination attempt took place on the morning of May 27, 1942, at a turn in the Prague suburb of Liben on the way from Heydrich's country residence Jungfern Breschan to the center of Prague. When Heydrich was in an open-top car (except for the SS Obergruppenführer himself, there was only a driver in it - Heydrich preferred to drive without security at all) at 10:32 a turn was passing, Gabchik pulled out a STEN submachine gun and tried to shoot at Heydrich point-blank, but the cartridge jammed. Heydrich ordered the driver to stop the car and pulled out his service pistol.
Mercedes Reinhard Heydrich. after the assassination attempt on May 27, 1942

At that moment, Kubiš threw a bomb, but missed, so that the bomb exploded behind the right rear wheel of the car.
Jan Kubis

Heydrich, who received a fractured rib and a shrapnel wound to the spleen, which was hit by metal parts of the upholstery of the car and a piece of uniform, got out of the car, but immediately fell next to him. He was taken to the Bulovka hospital in a truck, which was stopped by a Czech policeman who happened to be at the scene of the assassination attempt.
Crime scene with damaged car.

Around noon, Heydrich was operated on. The surgeon removed the damaged spleen. On May 27, Himmler's personal physician, Karl Gebhardt, arrived at the hospital. He prescribed the patient large doses of morphine. On the morning of June 3, Heydrich's condition improved, but by noon he fell into a coma and died the next day. The cause of death was given as infection of the internal organs, weakened due to the removal of the spleen.
Until the late evening of June 5, 1942, the coffin with the body of Reinhard Heydrich was in the guarded room of the Bulovka hospital.

Immediately after the death of Heydrich, Himmler received a huge number of telegrams of condolences, both from the leading ranks of the Reich and military leaders from the Soviet-German front, and from representatives of the satellite countries (including Italian and Bulgarian policemen) and even from Ukrainian nationalists .
On the night of June 5-6, 1942, the coffin was transported on a carriage from the Bulovka Hospital to Prague Castle.

Flags at half mast in Prague after the death of Reinhard Heydrich

After a two-day farewell to the body in Prague, the coffin was taken to Berlin.
On June 7, 1942, from the very early morning, tens of thousands of Germans and Czechs came to the courtyard of the Prague Castle to say goodbye to the deceased

June 7, 1942. The removal of the coffin from the Prague Castle

June 7, 1942. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, family members and leading officials

June 7, 1942. Heinrich Himmler with his two sons at the coffin in the courtyard of Prague Castle

June 7, 1942. Funeral procession marches through Prague to the railway station

June 7, 1942. With railway station Prague, the coffin with the deceased was loaded onto a special train to Berlin. The next day, June 8, 1942, the train arrived at the Berlin station at 12.00 o'clock.

The funeral took place on June 9th. The entire top of the country participated in the burial ceremony. farewell speech held by Adolf Hitler himself, calling Heydrich "a man with iron heart».
June 9, 1942. The Fuhrer says goodbye to the body of the late Reinhard Heydrich

June 9, 1942. The Fuhrer speaks words of consolation to the sons of Reinhard Heydrich

Himmler later called Heydrich "a radiant great man" and emphasized that he "made a sacrificial contribution to the struggle for freedom" of the German people, "felt the worldview of Adolf Hitler with the depths of his heart and blood, understood it and carried it out." The London Times quipped that one of the the most dangerous people The Third Reich had a "gangster's funeral". Hitler posthumously awarded Heydrich the "German Order", a rare award reserved for senior party functionaries (most awards of this order were also posthumous). The Ahnenerbe Society issued a mourning booklet in memory of Heydrich.
June 9, 1942. The Fuhrer posthumously awarded Heydrich the "German Order"

After the death of Heydrich, Himmler personally took over the leadership of the RSHA, 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.
June 9, 1942. The coffin with the body of Heydrich in the courtyard of the new Reich Chancellery after the official ceremony

Guard of honor on the Wilhelmstrasse in front of the New Imperial Chancellery.

The coffin with the body of the deceased is loaded on a gun carriage

June 9, 1942. Funeral procession in the courtyard of the new Reich Chancellery after the official ceremony

June 9, 1942. A funeral procession led by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler marches through Berlin.

Heydrich's grave is located in the Berlin cemetery of the Invalides (German: Invalidenfriedhof), approximately in the center of zone "A". After the end of the war, the tombstone was destroyed so that the grave would not become a place of worship for neo-Nazis, and now the exact place of burial is unknown.
June 9, 1942. Cemetery of the Invalids. Funeral guard on both sides of the grave.

June 9, 1942. Cemetery of the Invalids. Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler throws flowers on the coffin.

June 9, 1942. Cemetery of the Invalids. Heinrich Himmler saluting the deceased

June 9, 1942. Cemetery of the Invalids. Flower-studded coffin of Reinhard Heydrich.

Model of the Tomb of Heydrich. The tomb was supposed to become a monument in honor of those who fell for Germany

On the first anniversary of Heydrich's death, his bust was erected at the site of the assassination attempt, which was destroyed by the liberators of Prague. Soviet troops. On May 27, 2009, a monument to the heroes of the Resistance who executed Heydrich was unveiled at the site of the assassination attempt in Prague.
Bust of Reinhard Heydrich was erected at the murder scene in Prague

From his marriage to Lina von Osten, Heydrich had four children: sons Klaus and Haider, daughters 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, which, however, did not meet with the support of Himmler, who was the author of this idea. 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.
Lina Heydrich as a representative of the Imperial Department at the solemn ceremony of awarding Reinhard Heydrich the title of honorary citizen of Brno. September 21, 1942

Lina Heydrich in 1943 with her children, Klaus Haider, Silke and Martha

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(All material taken from

After breakfast, the SS Obergruppenführer stretched and stood up. He read the newspapers before breakfast. They were delivered from Prague in the morning. Went to the window. A big dark Mercedes was already parked in front of the front entrance of the castle. An SS Oberscharführer was busy next to the car. Johannes Klein . Today he replaced the regular driver.

Sports spirit

Klein straightened the mascot, blew the invisible specks of dust from the emblem, and once again rubbed the flannel over the radiator lining shining in the sun. The day was expected to be warm and sunny. Therefore, the chief expressed a desire to go by convertible.

Heydrich has three company cars. But this one is a favorite. And the newest. Sports cabriolet - “Mercedes-Benz 320” - W142 body. Miracle, not a machine. Not that the most luxurious of the line of "Mercedes". But she had a sporty spirit. And Heydrich loved speed. Convertible, weighing under two tons, easily accelerated to 130 kilometers per hour. The engine is a 78-horsepower straight-six. The Mercedes was made to special order eight months ago - one of 18 cars of this brand that left the factory gates in Sindelfingen in 1941. Cost 9,900 Reichsmarks. For a man of such magnitude as Heydrich, this is a very modest acquisition. His party comrades rolled around the German capital in Mercedes and Maybachs worth under 40 thousand ... But for the imperial protector of Bohemia and Moravia - moderation in everything - life credo. A staunch socialist...

clogged upin convulsions

Klein started the engine to warm up and check before the upcoming departure. He always did this - he doesn't need surprises. The car started up easily, but then the speed dropped and the engine began to troit. Blue smoke billowed from the exhaust pipe. Klein pressed harder on the gas. The motor was in convulsions...

Pah you! - Klein cursed.- The candles are flooded again!

He sinned on the distributor. But there is no time to deal with the ignition. I wish I could change the spark plugs before I leave...

“What is there again with Klein? - Heydrich looked out the window and grimaced in displeasure.“It’s already the beginning of the tenth…”

Jungfern Brechan Castle was surrounded by ancient trees. There was still dew on the grass. The spring sun was warm.

Heydrich descended the stairs. Klein drew himself to attention and, wiping his oily hands with a rag, reported that another fifteen minutes were needed.

Goose cackling came from the village. The rooster crowed in unison.

Well, they just staged a concert here ... - Heydrich grinned.

He recalled how the night before, on May 26, together with his wife Lina, he opened a music festival in Prague, which should become traditional. At a concert in the Wallenstein Palace, the works of his father, the composer, were performed Bruno Heydrich .

Documentationfor Hitler

The Mercedes is ready to go. The clock above the castle balustrade struck ten. Usually at this time he is already on his way. Or even in Prague Castle.

Heydrich sits next to the driver. The car moves smoothly.

The sentry at the gate takes "on guard". A sharp turn to the left - and they leave on the road.

Beyond the grove were fields.

Klein is silent and carefully watches the road. Heydrich also has no desire to talk. He opens the briefcase and sorts through the documents.

We're late.

Klein nods.

Tree trunks merge into a gray stripe, foliage - into green. The speedometer needle jumped near the eighty mark.

The clock is fifteen past ten.

Already indistinguishable road signs flicker.

Heydrich looks at the sky with pleasure. Mentally, he is already in flight.

Probably going here for the last time. The Fuehrer hinted that he intended to send him to another place, perhaps to France. Well, he will put things in order there. Today, everything will be known for sure ...

Terrorist in a raincoat

The Mercedes drove into Prague.

Klein knows this road to the smallest detail. A little more - and she will turn sharply to the right. You have to slow down before turning...

They overtook the tram, a car looms ahead, and nowhere else, no one and nothing. Only a guy is standing under a tree, scratching himself and casting sunbeams with a small mirror. Here is the turn.

The driver notices men on the sidewalk on the right. One of them suddenly steps onto the pavement and begins to cross the road.

Damn you - Klein hits the brakes and puts pressure on the horn, Couldn't you have figured it out before?

The man opens his coat. Something flashed in his hands. Weapon!

Klein grips the steering wheel convulsively. Eh, why didn't they tell him what to do? A fraction of a second passes. The terrorist raises his machine gun.

Heydrich clearly sees that the barrel is directed exactly at him. Assassination attempt!

Smells like lilac. Klein opened his mouth like an idiot. Ten hours thirty-one minutes, maybe thirty-two. But what does time matter if you're being shot straight at the chest.

Joseph Gabchik presses down.

SecretBeneš plan

The secret operation to eliminate the protector of Bohemia and Moravia, SS Obergruppenführer Heydrich, was finally planned in October 1940. At this time, the Czechoslovak government Edvard Benes was in London - negotiated with the heads of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. Beneš wanted to annul Munich Agreement 1939, after which Czechoslovakia ceased to exist as a state.

But how to raise the prestige of your exile government? Moreover, the population did not openly oppose the Germans. Where partisan detachments? What about the underground? One name, not resistance...

And Heydrich, as luck would have it, began to pursue the wrong policy in the protectorate. He hosted delegations of farmers and factory workers. He raised the norms of bread and meat to the level of norms in the pre-war Reich. He raised the wages of workers, introduced rest houses and sanatoriums for them. In a word, a socialist...

For the bourgeois government of Benes, this was tantamount to spitting in the face. In general, they decided to kill Heydrich. And to coincide with the action on October 8 - Independence Day of Czechoslovakia. However, in the ranks of the “home” Czech resistance, the plan was met with hostility. It is clear that the death of such a prominent Nazi will set off a wave of repression throughout the country.

But Benes was only on hand ...

Shot down three planes

So who is he, this “socialist Heydrich”?

Hope and support of the Czech workers, - spoke about him the chief of the Prague police Karl Frank .

AT Soviet tradition caricature was the method of depicting a fascist. The fascist was vile, stupid, cowardly and unscrupulous. In Soviet cinema, there was only once an attempt to create the image of Heydrich - in the film of the Brezhnev era “Soldiers of Freedom”. But human features the flat character was completely absent and it turned out to be unconvincing.

So, Reinhard Tristan Heydrich. In 1942 he turned 38 years old. As they say, a true Aryan, merciless to the enemies of the Reich, with a Nordic character and a Nordic appearance. He even got a nickname - “blonde beast”. An excellent athlete - a fencer, swimmer, shooter, received training as a military pilot and personally shot down three enemy aircraft. Born in the city of Halle near Leipzig, in a family of musicians. His father is an opera singer, composer, founder and director of the conservatory, and his mother is a pianist. There were also children's classes in that conservatory. Gifted children of poor parents could study for free.

In the 1920s, Heydrich served in the German Navy. His career was promoted by the future head of the Abwehr and the future admiral Wilhelm Canaris , at that time - a senior officer on the cruiser "Berlin". The relations of the Canaris family with Heydrich were very close. A young promising officer often played in a string quartet with Canaris's wife - he was an excellent violinist.

Violinist and Jews

One day, Heydrich and a friend were relaxing on the lake and saw a boat with two girls capsized nearby. Of course, young people heroically came to their aid. One of the saved was Lina von Osten , later became his wife. Earlier, Heydrich met with another fraulein - the daughter of the owner of the largest metallurgical holding IG Fabernim. The loving officer broke off this connection by mailing an announcement cut from a newspaper announcing his engagement to Lina. The father of the deceived girl turned to the head of the Navy - Admiral Erich Raeder , with a request to influence Don Juan. 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 was considered at the court of honor, which for some reason was headed by the head of the Navy himself. The admiral remarked that “... the daughter of such a person is worthier than a simple village girl ...” But the young officer asked not to interfere in his personal life.

In April 1931, Admiral Raeder fired Lieutenant Heydrich for "misconduct." And demoted to the ranks.

With grief, the violinist joined the NSDAP. And literally in four years he made a stunning career (only in the Third Reich is this possible!) - Became Lieutenant General of Police.

In 1941, the "socialist" Heydrich developed a plan for the "final solution of the Jewish question", the essence of which was the destruction of 11 million Jews.

Scoutand monkey

The operation to eliminate Heydrich was called "Anthropoid" (translated from Greek - anthropoid ape). It was developed by a Czechoslovakian intelligence officer Frantisek Moravec . In 1941, he was already working with might and main for the British Ministry of Defense ...

Moravec personally engaged in the transfer of saboteurs to the territory of the protectorate. By the way, he also came up with the name of the operation. And Benes approved. Whom the personnel intelligence officer considered the “humanoid ape” was left behind the scenes. Historians believe that he did not see much difference between the Nazi Heydrich and “his” Benes. Like all other members of the Anthropoid, the knight of the cloak and dagger worked for money.

Moravec selected two strong guys - Josef Gabczyk and Karel Svoboda , who completed a training course near Manchester. During a training jump from a balloon, Svoboda suffered a head injury. It was replaced with Yana Kubisha . The timing of the operation has been pushed back. Then the Gestapo arrested the previously abandoned radio operator Frantisek Pavelcu (he was executed in a Berlin prison in 1943). Deadlines pushed back...

Late on the evening of December 28, 1941, the RAF Halifax aircraft with Gabchik and Kubis on board headed for Czechoslovakia. A Polish pilot was at the helm. Having flown a good hundred kilometers farther than necessary, in the darkness he mistook Prague for Pilsen. Paratroopers landed in the suburbs of Prague. The saboteurs nearly fell into the clutches of the police. Then two more groups of Czech militants were dropped and they began to prepare.

Truth serum

Week after week the conspirators studied Heydrich's route, his habits. They scrupulously explored the streets of Prague - they calculated where it would be better to commit a terrorist attack.

"Mercedes" Heydrich immediately after the assassination attempt. The streets are cordoned off by police, investigators are collecting material evidence

But the details are interesting here. As they say, the devil is in the details.

And some aspects of this case raise downright huge questions.

Chief among them: why did they go to work like that? Could you get there, for example, by car, leaving it on a nearby street with the engine running? Or on a motorcycle, hiding it in the alley. On a moped, at worst. But they came on foot. Rather, two on foot, two on bicycles. That is, in case of unforeseen circumstances, they would not have been able to leave the scene of the assassination very quickly. And, therefore, there is a great opportunity to fall into the hands of the Gestapo. And in the Gestapo, anyone will speak. With their rich arsenal of all sorts of gizmos like dental tools and ampoules of truth serum. And the fate of the entire Czechoslovak underground would immediately be in mortal danger. Why consciously take such a risk? Even the partisans, together with the legendary intelligence officer Zibert-Kuznetsov, went to work in a Mercedes.

Looking ahead, we can say that it was the “withdrawal” that was the weakest point in the entire operation. Although not only a departure ...

Briefcase with hay

The terrorists were supplied with weapons and bombs in Britain. The submachine gun of the English "Sten" system - a thing in such a case - is not the most reliable. And capricious. Shooting misfires are not uncommon. If the store is fully equipped, then the last 32nd round very often wedges. Did our saboteurs know about this? Moreover, before the operation itself, the barrel had to be assembled - the dismantled "Sten" lay at the bottom of the briefcase. And the top was covered with hay. For what reasons Gabchik did this, it is difficult to say. Like, so that the weapon is not found, if the patrol suddenly stops. So imagine the picture: at eight in the morning the Germans stop a well-dressed young man. Open your portfolio! Opens. And then what? Books? Notebooks? Documentation? A birch broom with soap and a towel? No. In a leather briefcase - hay. All in all, an interesting plan...

The man with the bombs, also known as Jan Kubiš, had to insure the first one with hay and a briefcase. There were nine bombs in all. We decided to take two with us. They were made by some craftsman in England. Cylindrical shape. Black color. It's about the size of a large can of stew. What was inside - no one knows. But, as experience has shown, this contraption did not possess great destructive power. So, cracker ... From an ordinary lemon grenade, it would be much more sense.

sun bunny

But all this was later ... In the meantime - on the hands of 10 o'clock in the morning. Kobylis area. Crossroads of Vyhovatelna. Here Heydrich's car had to make a very sharp turn to the right in order to drive to the Castle along the shortest path.

The conspirators have long since taken their original positions. Kubish and Gabchik - on the one hand. Across the road - Valchik . From there, he should have seen Heydrich's Mercedes approaching. And give a signal with a mirror - let it go sunbeam. The plan is weird. Smells like cheap vaudeville. What if the sun went behind a cloud? Or the view would be blocked by a large van, a tram.

There was also a fourth terrorist - Adolf Opalka . But he was far away. And just watched the developments. But at the decisive moment, if everything did not go according to plan, he was instructed to intervene.

At 10:30 a.m., Valchik signaled that a Mercedes was approaching. And that's right, no escort cars chock-full of guards. And the police with flashing lights did not rush ahead. There was not even an escort of motorcyclists who would ensure the unimpeded passage of the first person of the protectorate. It's simply unimaginable these days.

Under the cloak thrown over his arm, Gabchik gathered his “Sten” by touch.

Here is Heydrich's car pulling up to the crossroads. At the same time, tram route No. 3 approached the stop located there.

True Aryan

Gabchik presses down. More and more. Instead of shots - only dry clicks. “Sten” refused at the most inopportune moment. That's the damned hay! The weapon jammed, most likely due to some debris that got into the shutter mechanism. Or maybe because of the notorious 32nd cartridge ...

In general, at this moment, according to the law of the genre, Gabchik would have to grab a pistol from his belt and empty the entire clip into his enemy. If the gun had misfired, then the militant simply had to rush at Heydrich, strangle and cut his throat.

Here, in fact, this is where the whole heroism of the events of May 27 ends and turns into an absurd tragic farce. Because something strange happens next. Our pro (six months in an English special school) throws a jammed weapon on the ground, like some deserter on Eastern Front, and takes off running.

The people in the Mercedes quickly came to their senses. Heydrich and Klein drew their pistols. They, as if hypnotized, did not take their eyes off the fleeing unfortunate terrorist. Okay, there Heydrich, a true Aryan and a wonderful athlete! But the security chauffeur Klein? He violated all instructions that ordered him to take off and give full throttle. But precious seconds are lost - as if from under the ground, a second terrorist has grown up near the car.

The Shardbombs

According to the plan, Jan Kubis was only supposed to insure a friend if something went wrong. And then pick up the documents from the portfolio of the executed Heydrich.

Kubis swung and threw the bomb. He marked it so that it fell into the interior of the car exactly at the feet of Heydrich. But either the hand trembled, or something else ...

In general, the bomb flew the wrong way. It ricocheted, bounced off and rolled under the rear right wheel. Ran there. Only one fragment flew through the side wall of the Mercedes and the back of the seat. They, and with chips from this seat, Heydrich was wounded. The remaining fragments mangled the lower part of the body, smashed the footboard to smithereens and tore the tire. Side windows cracked. The driver Klein was also hooked.

Butcher and "Walter"

For some reason, Heydrich and Klein did not pay attention to the bomber. As if spellbound, they continued to look at the fleeing Gabchik.

What could follow next? Option one. The Obergruppenführer orders the driver: “Go to the hospital! I injured!" - the car, though with a punctured wheel, is still on the move. Option two. The SS man hides far away until help arrives. But Heydrich is not one of those who will hide from enemies. He is a hero!

Despite being wounded, the protector of Bohemia and Moravia gets out of the car and tries to pursue the terrorist. Following him, he unloads a clip of "Walter". But then the forces leave Heydrich ...

Klein continues the pursuit. Although he is wounded by a bomb explosion, he catches up. The bugger runs away. Along the way, he drops into a butcher's shop of a certain Brauner. But Brauner is one of those Czechs who sympathizes with the regime. Therefore, he runs out into the street shouting and shows Klein where the terrorist is hiding. A shootout ensues. Gabchik manages to wound an SS man in the leg (leaving him disabled). Then he slips out of the store and takes off running. Klein holds out his "Walter" to the butcher, demands to continue the chase. But the specialist in clippings and black pudding is in no hurry to shed his blood. It's one thing to empathize with the authorities, it's another thing to expose yourself to bullets. In general, Gabchik manages to escape. As they say, in an unknown direction.

ladies bike

Jan Kubiš was also hurt by his own bomb. Dissected by shrapnel, covered in blood, the terrorist ran to the bicycle left (for some reason) on the opposite side streets.

But what about tram passengers? Random bystanders? Drivers of passing cars?

Well, judge for yourself what law-abiding, hard-working and civilized Czechs should have done? Seeing how the main German in Prague, their leader and benefactor, so to speak, is in a helpless state. And the terrorist who wounded him is running away, clearly trying to get away from a well-deserved retribution?

That's right, one group rushes to catch him. Kubich, realizing that there are only enemies around him, begins to indiscriminately shoot from a pistol in all directions, clearing his way to the bike.

Another group of conscious Czechs rushed to the aid of the bleeding SS Obergruppenführer. The bright blonde pani arrived first Maria Navarrova . She provided Heydrich with the necessary assistance, and then stopped a passing Tatra van belonging to the Golan company in order to take the SS man to the hospital.

A women's bicycle abandoned by the terrorists, which jammed the Sten, a leather briefcase, a raincoat and a pool of blood remained at the scene of the incident ... Well, a Mercedes blown up by a bomb.

Blood poisoning

The question arises: where were the rest of the saboteurs? Where did the man with the mirror Josef Walczyk go? And superman Adolf Opalka, who was sitting there somewhere and watching what was happening. He could easily take advantage of the sloppiness of the guards, quietly approach and finish off the wounded fascist.

Now it is difficult to say for sure, but, most likely, the fact that Heydrich was overshadowed by ordinary Czechs had a strong influence on the psyche of the fearless saboteurs ...

After 10 minutes, the SS Obergruppenführer was taken to the hospital on the same Tatra. The relatively small shrapnel wounds received during the explosion led to blood poisoning. Despite the efforts of doctors, on June 4, 1942, Heydrich died. He was given a magnificent funeral. First in the presence Himmler farewell ceremony took place in Prague. And on June 9, Heydrich saw off the whole of Berlin on his last journey.

In general, the attack took place. The villain-fascist is killed. Heroic action. Almost the only successful attempt on such a significant person of the Third Reich. After all, Heydrich is the second person in the SS hierarchy, and the third in Hitler's entourage. Figure!

But this is far from the end of the story...

“Execute 10,000 Czechs!”

Hitler tore and metal. He gave a grandiose dressing down to the chief of the Prague police, Gruppenführer SS Karl Frank . He ordered to announce a reward of 1 million Reichsmarks to those who help find the terrorists. And as a response, he proposed arresting and executing 10,000 suspicious Czechs. But Frank achieved the abolition of this decision - he was well aware that Benes was just waiting for this. And he did not succumb to provocation. In general, they agreed to confine themselves to “little bloodshed”.

Already on the day of the assassination attempt, May 27, Frank declared a state of emergency. Mass searches were carried out in Prague. Members of the resistance, Jews, communists were found hiding in houses, apartments, attics and basements. In total, 3,188 people were arrested. 1,331 were shot, including 201 women.

On June 3, the Gestapo received information that two Czech pilots who had fled to Britain could be involved in the murder. Their relatives lived in the mining village of Lidice, 30 kilometers from Prague.

On the evening of June 9, the Germans surrounded the village. They rounded up all the men over the age of 16 - there were 172 of them. And in the morning they were shot. 195 women were sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. The children were taken to the Central Office for Immigrants in the city of Litzmannstadt and distributed among German families. The village itself was wiped off the face of the earth. Buildings were burned, blown up and bulldozed. The name Lidice was deleted from the list of settlements.

Two weeks later, the same fate befell the village of Lezhaki, from where paratroopers broadcast.

alcoholized heads

The seven paratroopers who attempted to assassinate Heydrich became victims of betrayal. On June 16, 1942, one of the participants in the resistance, 31-year-old Karel Churda , flattered by the promised reward, he told the Gestapo everything. Passwords, names, addresses...

Arrests and interrogations began. Soon the Germans learned that saboteurs should be looked for on Resslova Street in Prague. They take refuge in the crypt of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

The cathedral was surrounded by SS troops. After several hours of an unequal battle, the terrorists committed suicide. Jan Kubiš later died of his wounds. The Nazis cut off the heads of Kubis and Gabchik, put them in alcohol and presented them for identification. Near these heads, the owners of safe houses, comrades and even girls who met with the underground were interrogated. All of them were subsequently executed.

Protectorate authorities paid generously for any information on this case. 20 million crowns were divided between seven Germans and fifty-three Czechs. Churda, as the main character in the play about the great betrayal, became a very rich man - he received 500,000 Reichsmarks. He was given new documents in the name Carla Yerhota . Former Member resistance took German citizenship and married a German Maria Bauer . Until the end of the war, he worked for the Gestapo, received an apartment in the Vinohrady district of Prague and a salary of 30,000 crowns per month. (this is 1,000 Reichsmarks - like three salaries of a German submariner) . On May 17, 1945, he was arrested and executed two years later in the Pankrac prison in Prague.

Elevator to the scaffold

From his marriage to Lina von Osten, Heydrich had four children. The youngest daughter Martha was born two months after her father's death. Now she runs a family hotel on the island of Femar.

Daughter Silke - a famous fashion model, became the director of the Fashion House.

eldest son Claus died as a child in 1943.

Younger - Hyder . After graduating from a technical institute, he worked as the director of the Dornier aviation company. Now retired.

Lina inherited a castle in the Czech Republic after her husband. In the 1970s she wrote a memoir published under the title Life with a War Criminal.

Heydrich's grave is located at the Berlin Cemetery of the Invalides. After the end of the war, the gravestone was destroyed.

The first surgeon of Prague, Professor Hochlbaum, who operated on Heydrich, after the liberation of Czechoslovakia, was accused of having links with the Nazis. Sentenced to hard labor. In 1945, during the demining of one of the districts of Prague, he was seriously wounded. But not a single doctor agreed to treat him. Hochlbaum had to move to Leipzig, where he soon died.

On May 22, 1946, Heydrich's successor, Karl Frank, was executed in the courtyard of the Pankrác prison in Prague, to the jubilation of a crowd of thousands. Several caring dads lifted the kids on their shoulders so that they could see clearly when the executioner on the scaffold was breaking Frank's neck...

What a terrible irony of fate - the death of the hanged Frank was officially recorded by the forensic doctor Dr. Navarre - the husband of the same Maria Navarrova, who on May 27, 1942 was the first to rush to the aid of the wounded Reinhard Heydrich ...

Find in the barn

Traces of Heydrich's Mercedes were lost after the war. And only in March 2012, an entrepreneur from the suburbs of the Czech city of Hradec Kralove found an old trophy Mercedes-Benz 320 in a barn among all the rubbish. He noticed strange damage to the right rear wheel of the convertible and guessed who could be the previous owner of the car. Historians are almost sure that we are talking about a car famous Nazi. But the forensics have the last word. Although for a long time another car was passed off as Heydrich's Mercedes, which actually belonged to another Nazi - the head of the Small Terezin Fortress Heinrich Jokel . Now it is stored in the funds of the National Technical Museum in Prague. Participated in exhibitions “Operation Anthropoid”. Tellingly, the Mercedes from the museum also had similar dents on the body. Experts believe that the car was damaged back in 1964 at the Barrandov studio during filming famous movie Jiri Sequens "Attempt".

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 certain 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 image 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 volunteer corps(Freikorps) Merker. Returning home, he already knew who he would become - an officer. Heydrich Ibral maritime service, believing that she will 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(True, small and Mongoloid type, with a certain animal 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). Having explained his intention, Himmler suggested that Reinhard set out in writing considerations about the structure of 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 common sense 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 importance, after which he made a conclusion and made a proposal from which it was difficult to get away. 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. Until now, the police have intervened only in the event of a real danger 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 of 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 purpose, the SD removed big 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 full confidence to say that this information was true. In any case, Heydrich made it even more truthful. In April 1937, letters were prepared in the secret Gestapo laboratory for making fakes, which were allegedly exchanged between Tukhachevsky and 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 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 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.

Except listed 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 deciding public problems by taking 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 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 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. Last time he proved this 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. To think about the legitimacy of this or that action, he considered stupid and similar questions didn't even ask.

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 tipsy, he once mentioned that he aspired to become 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. The most important step to the post of Chancellor, he considered the position of Minister of the Interior under the unification of 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 (posthumous)
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”