View source for Reinhard Heydrich

{{short description|High-ranking Nazi official (1904–1942)}}
{{redirect|Heydrich|other people with the surname|Heydrich (surname)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Reinhard Heydrich
| birth_name          = Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich
| image               = Reinhard Heydrich (3x4 cropped).jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = Heydrich in 1940
| alt                 = Black-and-white portrait of Heydrich
| office              = [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia#German government|Protector of Bohemia and Moravia]]
| status              = Acting
| appointed           = [[Adolf Hitler]]
| term_start          = 29 September 1941
| term_end            = 4 June 1942
| predecessor         = [[Konstantin von Neurath]]
| successor           = [[Kurt Daluege]] {{small|(acting)}}
| office1              = [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia#German government|Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia]]
|1blankname1          = {{nowrap|Protector}}
|1namedata1           = {{ubl|Konstantin von Neurath}}
| term_start1          = 29 September 1941
| term_end1            = 4 June 1942
| predecessor1         = ''Position established''
| successor1           = Kurt Daluege
| order2              = [[President of Interpol|President of the International Criminal Police Commission]]{{break}}(now known as [[Interpol]])
| term_start2         = 24 August 1940
| term_end2           = 4 June 1942
| 1blankname2         = {{nowrap|Secretary-General}}
| 1namedata2          = Oskar Dressler
| predecessor2        = [[Otto Steinhäusl]]
| successor2          = [[Arthur Nebe]]
| order3              = Director of the [[Reich Security Main Office]]
| term_start3         = 27 September 1939
| term_end3           = 4 June 1942
| appointed3          = [[Heinrich Himmler]]
| predecessor3        = Office established
| successor3          = Heinrich Himmler (acting)
| order4              = Director of the [[Gestapo]]
| term_start4         = 22 April 1934
| term_end4           = 27 September 1939
| appointed4          = Heinrich Himmler
| predecessor4        = [[Rudolf Diels]]
| successor4          = [[Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)|Heinrich Müller]]
| title5              = Additional positions
| suboffice5          = Commander of the ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]''
| subterm5            = 1939–1942
| suboffice6          = Deputy to the {{lang|de|[[Reichsführer-SS]]}}{{sfn|McNab|2009|pp=17,23 & 151}}{{break}}(''de facto'')
| subterm6            = 1936–1942
| suboffice7          = ''[[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]]'' Deputy
| subterm7            = 1936–1942
| suboffice8          = Director of the {{lang|de|[[Sicherheitspolizei]]}}
| subterm8            = 1936–1939
| suboffice9          = Member of the [[Prussian State Council]]
| subterm9            = 1934–1942
| suboffice10          = Director of the {{lang|de|[[Sicherheitsdienst]]}}
| subterm10            = 1931–1942
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1904|3|7}}
| birth_place         = [[Halle (Saale)|Halle an der Saale]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1942|6|4|1904|3|7}}
| death_place         = [[Prague|Prague-Libeň]], [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] (now [[Prague]], Czech Republic)
| death_cause         = [[Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich|Assassination]]
| resting_place       = {{lang|de|italic=no|Invalidenfriedhof}} ([[Invalids' Cemetery]]), Berlin
| party               = [[Nazi Party]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Lina Heydrich|Lina von Osten]]|1931}}
| children            = 4
| parents             = {{indented plainlist |
*[[Richard Bruno Heydrich]] (father)
*Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Krantz (mother)
}}
| relatives           = [[Heinz Heydrich]] (brother)
| education           = [[Mürwik Naval School|Naval Academy Mürwik]]
| signature           = Reinhard Heydrich signatures.svg
<!--Military service-->| nickname            = {{indented plainlist |
*The Hangman{{sfn|Merriam Webster|1996|p=1416}}
*The Butcher of Prague{{sfn|Ramen|2001|p=8}}
*The Blond Beast{{sfn|Ramen|2001|p=8}}
*Himmler's Evil Genius{{sfn|Ramen|2001|p=8}}
*The Man with the Iron Heart{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=92}}
}}
| allegiance          = {{ubl|[[Weimar Republic]]|[[Nazi Germany]]}}
| branch              = {{plainlist |
*{{lang|de|[[Reichsmarine]]}}
*{{lang|de|[[Schutzstaffel]]}}
*{{lang|de|[[Luftwaffe]]}}
}}
| serviceyears        = 1922–1942
| rank                = {{indented plainlist |
*{{lang|de|[[Oberleutnant zur See]]}} ({{lang|de|[[Reichsmarine]]}})
* Major of the Reserve ({{lang|de|[[Luftwaffe]]}})
*SS-{{lang|de|[[Obergruppenführer]] und General der Polizei}}
}}
| commands            = <!---[[Reich Main Security Office]]--->
| battles             = [[World War II]]
| mawards             = See [[#Service record|service record section]]
| footnotes           = 
| module              = 
}}
'''Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|aɪ|d|r|ɪ|k}}, {{IPA|de|ˈʁaɪnhaʁt ˈtʁɪstan ˈʔɔʏɡn̩ ˈhaɪdʁɪç||Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich.ogg}}; 7 March 1904&nbsp;– 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German [[SS]] and police official in [[Nazi Germany]] as well as one of the principal architects of [[the Holocaust]]. He held the rank of SS-{{lang|de|[[Obergruppenführer]] und General der Polizei}}. Many historians regard Heydrich as one of the most sinister figures within the [[Nazi]] regime.{{sfn|Sereny|1996|p=325}}{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=53}}{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=xiii}}  [[Adolf Hitler]] described him as "the man with the iron heart."{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=92}}

Heydrich was chief of the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (including the [[Gestapo]], [[Kriminalpolizei (Nazi Germany)|Kripo]], and [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]]). He was also {{lang|de|Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor}} (Deputy Reich-Protector) of [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia|Bohemia and Moravia]]. He served as president of the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC, now known as [[Interpol]]) and chaired the January 1942 [[Wannsee Conference]] which formalised plans for the "[[Final Solution]] to the [[Jewish question]]"—the deportation and genocide of all Jews in [[German-occupied Europe]].

He was the founding head of the {{lang|de|[[Sicherheitsdienst]]}} (Security Service, SD), an intelligence organisation charged with seeking out and neutralising resistance to the [[Nazi Party]] via arrests, deportations, and murders. He helped organise {{lang|de|[[Kristallnacht]]}}, a series of coordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938. The attacks were carried out by [[Sturmabteilung|SA stormtroopers]] and civilians and presaged the Holocaust. Upon his arrival in [[Prague]], Heydrich sought to eliminate opposition to the Nazi occupation by suppressing [[Culture of the Czech Republic|Czech culture]] and deporting and executing members of the [[Resistance in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia|Czech resistance]]. He was directly responsible for the {{lang|de|[[Einsatzgruppen]]}}, the special task forces that travelled in the wake of the German armies and murdered more than two million people by mass shooting and gassing including 1.3&nbsp;million Jews.

Heydrich was mortally wounded in [[Prague]] on 27 May 1942 as a result of [[Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich|Operation Anthropoid]]. He was ambushed by a team of Czech and Slovak soldiers who had been sent by the [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile]] to kill him; the team was trained by the British [[Special Operations Executive]]. Heydrich died from [[sepsis]] caused by his injuries on 4 June 1942. Nazi intelligence falsely linked the Czech and Slovak soldiers and resistance [[Partisan (military)|partisan]]s to the villages of [[Lidice]] and [[Ležáky]]. [[Lidice massacre|Both villages were razed]]; the men and boys age 14 and above were shot and most of the women and children were deported and murdered in [[Nazi concentration camps]].

==Early life==
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=11}} was born in 1904 in [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle an der Saale]] to composer and opera singer [[Richard Bruno Heydrich]] and his wife, Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Heydrich (née Krantz). His father came from a Protestant family, but converted to Elisabeth's [[Roman Catholic]] faith upon marriage.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=21}} Although he was not of Jewish descent, rumours that Richard Heydrich had Jewish ancestry stemmed from the fact that his stepfather Robert Gustav Süss appeared to have a Jewish-sounding surname.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=13}}

During his youth, Heydrich was an [[altar boy]], attending evening prayers and Mass every week with his mother as part of the Catholic minority in Halle.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=22}} Two of his forenames were musical references: "Reinhard" referred to the hero from his father's opera ''Amen'', and "Tristan" stems from [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]''. Heydrich's third name, "Eugen", was his late maternal grandfather's forename ([[Eugen Krantz]] had been the director of the [[Dresden Royal Conservatory]]).{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=14–18}}

Heydrich's family held social standing and substantial financial means. Music was a part of Heydrich's everyday life; his father founded the Halle Conservatory of Music, Theatre, and Teaching and his mother taught piano there.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=14, 20}} As the oldest son, Reinhard was expected to inherit his father's music conservatory and was trained in music by his father, learning both the piano and violin when he was six years old.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=21}} Heydrich developed a passion for the violin and carried that interest into adulthood; he impressed listeners with his musical talent.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=28}}

His father was a [[Pan-Germanism|German nationalist]] with loyalties to the [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser]], who instilled patriotic ideas in his three children but was not affiliated with any political party until after [[World War I]].{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=28}} The household was strict. Heydrich, initially a frail and sickly youth, was encouraged by his parents to exercise to build up his strength.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=22}} He engaged his younger brother, [[Heinz Heydrich|Heinz]], in mock [[fencing]] duels. He excelled in his schoolwork at the secular "Reformgymnasium", especially in the sciences.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=24, 33}} A talented athlete, he became an expert swimmer and fencer. He was shy, insecure, and was frequently bullied for his high-pitched voice and rumoured Jewish ancestry.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|pp=23, 28}} These rumours increased after his maternal uncle Hans Krantz married a Hungarian Jew named Iza Jarmy.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=26}} His family maintained cordial relations with the Jewish community; many Jewish students attended the Halle Conservatory, and its cellar was rented out to a Jewish salesman. Heydrich was friends with Abraham Lichtenstein, son of the [[cantor]].{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=27}}

In 1918, World War I ended with Germany's defeat. In late February 1919, civil unrest—including strikes and clashes between communist and anti-communist groups—took place in Heydrich's home town of Halle. Under Defense Minister [[Gustav Noske]]'s directives, paramilitary [[Freikorps]] units recaptured Halle.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=28–29}} Heydrich, then 15 years old, joined the Freikorps Maercker's Volunteer Rifles. This was largely symbolic, as Heydrich was too young for military service. There is no evidence that he participated in the fighting, and when the skirmishes ended, he was part of the force assigned to protect private property.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=29–30}} Heydrich began to form positive opinions about the [[Völkisch movement|''Völkisch'' movement]] and [[anti-communism]], as well as a distaste for the [[Treaty of Versailles]] and the positioning of the German-Polish border.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=31–32}} Heydrich stated he joined the ''[[Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund]]'' (National German Protection and Shelter League), an [[antisemitic]] organisation.{{sfn|Waite|1969|pp=206–207}} However, there is very little documentation of this, beyond a single postcard he received.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=30–31}}

As a result of the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles as well as Germany's large war debt, [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation]] spread across Germany and many lost their life savings. Halle was not spared. By 1921, few townspeople there could afford a music education at Bruno Heydrich's conservatory. This led to a financial crisis for the Heydrich family.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=32–33}}

==Naval career==
[[File:Reinhard Heydrich (1922).jpg|thumb|left|Heydrich as a [[Reichsmarine]] cadet in 1922]]
In 1922, Heydrich joined the German Navy (''[[Reichsmarine]]''), taking advantage of the security, structure, and pension it offered. He became a naval cadet at [[Kiel]], Germany's primary naval base. Many of Heydrich's fellow cadets falsely regarded him as Jewish. To counteract these rumours, Heydrich told people he had joined several [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] and nationalist organisations, such as the ''[[Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund|Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund]]''. On 1 April 1924 he was promoted to senior midshipman (''Oberfähnrich zur See'') and sent to officer training at the [[Naval Academy Mürwik]]. In 1926 he advanced to the rank of ensign (''[[Leutnant zur See]]'') and was assigned as a signals officer on the battleship [[SMS Schleswig-Holstein|SMS ''Schleswig-Holstein'']], the flagship of Germany's North Sea Fleet. With the promotion came greater recognition. He received good evaluations from his superiors and had few problems with other crewmen. He was promoted on 1 July 1928 to the rank of first lieutenant.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=34–38}}

Heydrich became notorious for his numerous affairs. In December 1930 he attended a rowing-club ball and met [[Lina Heydrich|Lina von Osten]]. They became romantically involved and soon got engaged. Lina was already a Nazi Party follower and antisemite; she had attended her first rally in 1929.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=39–41}} Early in 1931 Heydrich was charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" for a [[breach of promise]], having been engaged to marry another woman he had known for six months before the Lina von Osten engagement.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=43–44}} Admiral [[Erich Raeder]] dismissed Heydrich from the navy in April. He received severance pay of 200 ''[[Reichsmarks]]'' ({{Inflation|DE|200|1931|fmt=eq|cursign=€}}) a month for the next two years.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=44–45}} Heydrich married Lina in December 1931.{{sfn|Calic|1985|p=51}}

==Career in the SS==
On 30 May 1931, Heydrich's discharge from the navy became legally binding,{{sfn|Padfield|1990|p=110}} and either the following day{{sfn|Padfield|1990|p=110}} or on 1 June he joined the Nazi Party in [[Hamburg]].{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=48}}{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=45}} Six weeks later, on 14 July, he joined the SS.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=53}} His party number was 544,916 and his SS number was 10,120.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=12}} Those who joined the party after Hitler's [[Machtergreifung|seizure of power]] in January 1933 faced suspicions from the ''[[Alter Kämpfer|Alte Kämpfer]]'' (Old Fighters; the earliest party members) that they had joined for reasons of career advancement rather than a true commitment to [[Nazism|Nazi ideology]]. Heydrich's date of enlistment in 1931 was early enough to quell suspicion that he had joined only to further his career, but was not early enough for him to be considered an Old Fighter.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=48}}

In 1931, [[Heinrich Himmler]] began setting up a [[counterintelligence]] division of the SS. Acting on the advice of his associate [[Karl von Eberstein]], who was Lina's friend and already close to Heydrich, Himmler agreed to interview Heydrich, but cancelled their appointment at the last minute.{{sfn|Williams|2001|pp=29–30}}{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=47}} Lina ignored this message, packed Heydrich's suitcase, and sent him to [[Munich]]. Eberstein met Heydrich at the railway station and took him to see Himmler.{{sfn|Williams|2001|pp=29–30}} Himmler asked Heydrich to convey his ideas for developing an SS intelligence service. Himmler was so impressed that he hired Heydrich immediately.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=51–52}}{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=125}}

Although the starting monthly salary of 180 ''Reichsmarks'' ({{Inflation|DE|180|1931|fmt=eq|cursign=€}}) was low, Heydrich decided to take the job because Lina's family supported the Nazi movement, and the quasi-military and revolutionary nature of the post appealed to him.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=52}} At first he had to share an office and typewriter with a colleague, but by 1932 Heydrich was earning 290 ''Reichsmarks'' a month ({{Inflation|DE|290|1932|fmt=eq|cursign=€}}), a salary he described as "comfortable".{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=55, 58}} As his power and influence grew throughout the 1930s, his wealth grew commensurately; in 1935 he received a base salary of 8,400 ''Reichsmarks'' ({{Inflation|DE|8400|1935|fmt=eq|cursign=€}}) and an allowance of 12,000 ''Reichsmarks'' ({{Inflation|DE|12000|1935|fmt=eq|cursign=€}}) and by 1938 his income increased to 17,371 ''Reichsmarks'' ({{Inflation|DE|17371|1938|fmt=eq|cursign=€}}), annually.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=110, 111}} Heydrich later received a ''[[Totenkopfring]]'' from Himmler for his SS service.<ref name="National Archives"/>

On 1 August 1931, Heydrich began his job as chief of the new 'Ic Service' (intelligence service).{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=125}} He set up office at the [[Brown House, Munich, Germany|Brown House]], the Nazi Party headquarters in [[Munich]]. By October he had created a network of spies and informers for intelligence-gathering purposes and to obtain information to be used as [[blackmail]] to further political aims.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=56–57}} Information on thousands of people was recorded on index cards and stored at the Brown House.{{sfn|Calic|1985|p=72}} To mark the occasion of Heydrich's December wedding, Himmler promoted him to the rank of SS-''[[Sturmbannführer]]'' (major).{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=58}}

In 1932, rumours were spread by Heydrich's enemies of his alleged Jewish ancestry.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=61}} [[Wilhelm Canaris]] said he had obtained copies of documents proving Heydrich's Jewish ancestry.{{sfn|Craig|2005|p=184}} Nazi [[Gauleiter]] [[Rudolf Jordan (politician)|Rudolf Jordan]] claimed Heydrich was not a pure [[Aryan race|Aryan]].{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=61}} Himmler reportedly said that Heydrich was "an unhappy man, completely divided against himself, as often happened with those of mixed race".{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=276}} Within the Nazi organisation such innuendo could be damning, even for the head of the Reich's counterintelligence service. [[Gregor Strasser]] passed the allegations on to the Nazi Party's racial expert, [[Achim Gercke]], who investigated Heydrich's genealogy.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=61}} Gercke reported that Heydrich was "...&nbsp;of German origin and free from any coloured and Jewish blood".{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=38}} He insisted that the rumours were baseless. Even so, Heydrich privately engaged SD member Ernst Hoffmann to further investigate and dispel the rumours.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=61}}

===Gestapo and SD===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R97512, Berlin, Geheimes Staatspolizeihauptamt.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Gestapo]] headquarters on [[Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse]] in Berlin, 1933]]
In mid-1932, Himmler appointed Heydrich chief of the renamed security service—the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD).{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=125}} Heydrich's counterintelligence service grew into an effective machine of terror and intimidation. With Hitler striving for absolute power in Germany, Himmler and Heydrich wished to control the political police forces of all 17 German states. They began with [[Bavaria]]. In 1933, Heydrich gathered some of his men from the SD and together they stormed police headquarters in Munich and took over the organisation using intimidation tactics. Himmler became the Munich police chief and Heydrich became the commander of Department IV, the [[Bavarian Political Police|political police]].{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=149}}

In 1933, Hitler became [[Chancellor of Germany (German Reich)|Chancellor of Germany]], and through a series of decrees{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=196–200}} became Germany's ''[[Führer|Führer und Reichskanzler]]'' (leader and chancellor).{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=226–227}} The first [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]]s, which were originally intended to house political opponents, were established in early 1933. By year's end there were over fifty camps.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=271}}

[[Hermann Göring]] founded the [[Gestapo]] in 1933 as a [[Prussia]]n police force. When Göring transferred full authority over the Gestapo to Himmler in April 1934, it immediately became an instrument of terror under the SS's purview.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=270–271}} Himmler named Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=61}} Also in April, Göring made Heydrich an advisor to the Prussian government with an appointment to the [[Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)|Prussian State Council]].{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2015|p=121}} On 9 June 1934, [[Rudolf Hess]] declared the SD the official Nazi intelligence service.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=165}}

===Crushing the SA===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 152-50-10, Reinhard Heydrich.jpg|thumb|left|SS-''Brigadeführer'' Heydrich, head of the Bavarian police and [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]], in Munich, 1934]]
Beginning in April 1934, and at Hitler's request, Heydrich and Himmler began building a dossier on ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA) leader [[Ernst Röhm]] in an effort to remove him as a rival for party leadership. At this point, the SS was still part of the SA, the early Nazi paramilitary organisation which now numbered over three million men.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=306–307}} At Hitler's direction, Heydrich, Himmler, Göring, and [[Viktor Lutze]] drew up lists of those who should be killed, starting with seven top SA officials and including many more. On 30 June 1934 the SS and Gestapo acted in coordinated mass arrests that continued for two days. Röhm was shot without trial, along with the leadership of the SA.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=309–312}} The purge became known as the [[Night of the Long Knives]]. Up to 200 people were killed in the action. Lutze was appointed SA's new head and it was converted into a sports and training organisation.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=313}}

With the SA out of the way, Heydrich began building the Gestapo into an instrument of fear. He improved his index-card system, creating categories of offenders with colour-coded cards.{{sfn|Flaherty|2004|pp=56, 68}} The Gestapo had the authority to arrest citizens on the suspicion that they might commit a crime, and the definition of a crime was at their discretion. The Gestapo Law, passed in 1936, gave police the right to act extra-legally. This led to the sweeping use of ''[[Protective custody#Other usages|Schutzhaft]]''—"protective custody", a [[euphemism]] for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings.{{sfn|McNab|2009|p=156}} The courts were not allowed to investigate or interfere. The Gestapo was considered to be acting legally as long as it was carrying out the leadership's will. People were arrested arbitrarily, sent to concentration camps, or killed.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=271}}

At the [[1936 German parliamentary election and referendum|March 1936 parliamentary election]], Heydrich was elected as a deputy to the ''[[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]]'' from electoral constituency 22 [[Düsseldorf East (electoral district)|Düsseldorf East]]. He was reelected at the [[1938 German parliamentary election and referendum|April 1938 election]] and held this seat until his death.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2015|p=124}} 

Himmler began developing the notion of a [[religious aspects of Nazism#Himmler and the SS|Germanic religion]] and wanted SS members to leave the church. In early 1936, Heydrich left the [[Catholic Church]] in favour of the ''[[Gottgläubig]]'' movement.{{sfn|Steigmann-Gall|2003|p=219}} His wife, Lina, had already done so the year before. Heydrich not only felt he could no longer be a member, but came to consider the church's political power and influence a danger to the state.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=66}}

===Consolidating the police forces===
[[File:Pruchtnow and Himmler.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Heydrich and other SS officers with their wives in 1937]]
On 17 June 1936, all police forces throughout Germany were united, following Hitler's appointment of Himmler as Chief of German Police. With this appointment by Hitler, Himmler and his ''de facto'' deputy, Heydrich, became two of the most powerful men in the internal administration of Germany.{{sfn|Reitlinger|1989|p=90}} Himmler immediately reorganised the police into two groups: the ''[[Ordnungspolizei]]'' (Order Police; Orpo), consisting of both the national uniformed police and the municipal police; and the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' (Security Police; SiPo), consisting of the ''Geheime Staatspolizei'' (Secret State Police; Gestapo) and ''Kriminalpolizei'' (Criminal Police; [[Kripo]]).{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=77}} At that point, Heydrich was head of the SiPo and SD. [[Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)|Heinrich Müller]] was the Gestapo's operations chief.{{sfn|Weale|2010|pp=132, 135}} Under the direction of ''Reichsminister'' Hans Frank, Heydrich published a strategy for the destruction of enemies of the German State.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heydrich |first=Reinhard |date=1936 |title=Die Bekaempfung der Staatsfeinde |journal=Deutsche Rechtswissenschaft |pages=97}}</ref>

Heydrich was assigned to help organise the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in Berlin. The games were used to promote the [[Nazi propaganda|propaganda aims]] of the Nazi regime. Goodwill ambassadors were sent to countries that were considering a boycott. Anti-Jewish violence was forbidden for the duration, and news stands were required to stop displaying copies of ''[[Der Stürmer]]''.{{sfn|Calic|1985|p=157}}{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=358–359}} For his part in the games' success, Heydrich was awarded the ''Deutsches Olympiaehrenzeichen'' or German [[Olympic Games Decoration]] (First Class).<ref name="National Archives"/>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-5243, Wien, Arthur Seyß-Inquart, Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|[[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]], [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Heinrich Himmler]], and Heydrich in [[Vienna]], March 1938]]

In January 1937, Heydrich directed the SD to secretly begin collecting and analysing public opinion and report back its findings.{{sfn|Kitchen|1995|p=40}} He then had the Gestapo carry out house searches, arrests, and interrogations, thus in effect exercising control over public opinion.{{sfn|Delarue|2008|p=85}} In February 1938 when the Austrian Chancellor [[Kurt Schuschnigg]] resisted Hitler's proposed merger with Germany, Heydrich intensified the pressure on [[Austria]] by organising Nazi demonstrations and distributing propaganda in Vienna emphasising the common Germanic blood of the two countries.{{sfn|Blandford|2001|pp=135–137}} In the ''[[Anschluss]]'' on 12 March, Hitler declared the unification of Austria with Nazi Germany.{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=655}}

In mid-1939, Heydrich created the [[Stiftung Nordhav]] Foundation to obtain real estate for the SS and Security Police to use as guest houses and vacation spots.{{sfn|Lehrer|2000|p=55}} The [[Wannsee Conference|Wannsee Villa]], which Stiftung Nordhav acquired in November 1940,{{sfn|Lehrer|2000|pp=61–62}} was the site of the [[Wannsee Conference]] (20 January 1942). Heydrich was the lead speaker. At Wannsee, senior Nazi officials formalised plans to deport and exterminate all Jews in German-occupied territory and those countries not yet conquered.{{sfn|Goldhagen|1996|p=158}} This action was to be coordinated among the representatives from the Nazi state agencies present at the meeting.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=696}}

On 27 September 1939, the SD and SiPo—made up of the Gestapo and the Criminal Police, or Kripo—were folded into the new [[Reich Security Main Office]] or ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (RSHA), which was placed under Heydrich's control.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|pp=469–470}} The title of ''Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD'' (Chief of Security Police and SD) or CSSD was conferred on Heydrich on 1 October.{{sfn|Headland|1992|p=22}} Heydrich became the president of the International Criminal Police Commission (later known as [[Interpol]]) on 24 August 1940,{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=83}} and its headquarters were transferred to Berlin. He was promoted to SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]] und General der Polizei'' on 24 September 1941.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=12}}

===Red Army purges===
In 1936, Heydrich learned that a top-ranking Soviet officer was plotting to overthrow [[Joseph Stalin]]. Sensing an opportunity to strike a blow at both the Soviet Army and [[Admiral Canaris]] of Germany's [[Abwehr]], Heydrich decided that the Soviet officer should be "unmasked".{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=85}} He discussed the matter with Himmler and both in turn brought it to Hitler's attention. Hitler approved Heydrich's plan to act immediately. But the "information" Heydrich had received was actually misinformation planted by Stalin himself in an attempt to legitimise his planned purges of the [[Red Army]]'s high command. Stalin ordered one of his best [[NKVD]] agents, General [[Nikolai Skoblin]], to pass Heydrich false information suggesting that Marshal [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]] and other Soviet generals were plotting against Stalin.{{sfn|Blandford|2001|p=112}}

Heydrich's SD forged documents and letters implicating Tukhachevsky and other Red Army commanders. The material was delivered to the NKVD.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=85}} The [[Great Purge]] of the Red Army followed on Stalin's orders. While Heydrich believed they had deluded Stalin into executing or dismissing 35,000 of his officer corps, the importance of Heydrich's part is a matter of conjecture.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=88}} Soviet military prosecutors did not use SD forged documents against the generals in their secret trial; they instead relied on false confessions extorted or beaten out of the defendants.{{sfn|Conquest|2008|pp=200–202}}

===Night-and-Fog decree===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R98683, Reinhard Heydrich b.jpg|thumb|upright|Heydrich in 1940]]
By late 1940, German armies had invaded most of Western Europe. The following year, Heydrich's SD was given responsibility for carrying out the ''[[Nacht und Nebel]]'' (Night-and-Fog) decree.{{sfn|Bracher|1970|p=418}} According to the decree, "persons endangering German security" were to be arrested in a maximally discreet way: "under the cover of night and fog". People disappeared without a trace with no one told of their whereabouts or fate.{{sfn|Snyder|1994|p=242}} For each prisoner, the SD had to fill in a questionnaire that listed personal information, country of origin, and the details of their crimes against the Reich. This questionnaire was placed in an envelope inscribed with a seal reading "Nacht und Nebel" and submitted to the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). In the [[SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt|WVHA]] "Central Inmate File", as in many camp files, these prisoners would be given a special "covert prisoner" code, as opposed to the code for POW, Felon, Jew, [[Romani people|Gypsy]], etc.{{efn|name=coding}} The decree remained in effect after Heydrich's death. The exact number of people who vanished under it has never been positively established, but it is estimated to be 7,000.<ref name="ushmm Night And Fog Decree"/>

===Anti-Polish policies===
Heydrich created the "Zentralstelle IIP Polen" unit of the Gestapo to coordinate the [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|ethnic cleansing of Poles]] in "[[Operation Tannenberg]]" and the ''[[Intelligenzaktion]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.sierpien1980.pl/download/10/15909/biuletyn8-967-68.pdf |title=Kolebka (Cradle) |publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance]] |journal=IPN Bulletin No. 8–9 (67–68), 152 Pages |location=Warsaw |date=September 2006 |access-date=8 November 2015 |author=Piotr Semków, [[IPN Gdańsk]] |at=42–50 (44–51/152 in PDF) |via=direct download: 3.44 MB |issn=1641-9561 |archive-date=17 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917203328/http://www.sierpien1980.pl/download/10/15909/biuletyn8-967-68.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> two codenames for extermination actions directed at the [[Polish people]] during the German occupation of Poland.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levene |first1=Mark |title=Annihilation: Volume II: The European Rimlands 1939–1953 |date=2013 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0191505553 |page=28}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pakulski |first1=Jan |title=Violence and the state |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1784996543}}</ref> Among the 100,000 people murdered in the ''Intelligenzaktion'' operations in 1939–1940, approximately 61,000 were members of the Polish intelligentsia: scholars, clergy, former officers, and others, whom the Germans identified as political targets in the ''[[Special Prosecution Book-Poland]]'', compiled before the war began in September 1939.<ref>Dr. Jan Moor-Jankowski, [http://www.pacwashmetrodiv.org/events/holoc04/moor-jankowski.htm  Holocaust of Non-Jewish Poles During WWII.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516004415/http://www.pacwashmetrodiv.org/events/holoc04/moor-jankowski.htm |date=16 May 2016 }} Polish American Congress, Washington.</ref>

===Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia===
{{further|Resistance in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-039-26, Reinhard Heydrich im Prager Schloß crop.jpg|thumb|upright=1.02|Heydrich (''left'') with [[Karl Hermann Frank]] at [[Prague Castle]] in 1941]]
On 27 September 1941, Heydrich was appointed Deputy Reich Protector of the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] (the part of [[Czechoslovakia]] incorporated into the Reich on 15 March 1939) and assumed control of the territory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Czech State Gets Gestapo Master; Heydrich, Chief Lieutenant of Himmler, Succeeds Von Neurath as Protector|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/28/archives/czech-state-gets-gestapo-master-heydrich-chief-lieutenant-of.html|agency=AP|work=The New York Times|date=28 September 1941|access-date=1 October 2024}}</ref> The Reich Protector, [[Konstantin von Neurath]], remained the territory's titular head, but was sent on "leave" because Hitler, Himmler, and Heydrich felt his "soft approach" to the [[Czechs]] had promoted anti-German sentiment and encouraged anti-German resistance via strikes and sabotage.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=82}} Upon his appointment, Heydrich told his aides: "We will Germanize the Czech vermin."{{sfn|Horvitz|Catherwood|2006|p=200}}

Heydrich came to [[Prague]] to enforce policy, fight resistance to the Nazi regime, and keep up production quotas of Czech motors and arms that were "extremely important to the German war effort".{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=82}} He viewed the area as a bulwark of [[German nationalism|Germandom]] and condemned the Czech resistance's "stabs in the back". To realise his goals, Heydrich demanded racial classification of those who could and could not be [[Germanized]]. He explained, "Making this Czech garbage into Germans must give way to methods based on racist thought."{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=140}}

Heydrich started his rule by terrorising the population: he proclaimed [[martial law]], and 142 people were executed within five days of his arrival in Prague.<ref name="1.heydrichiada">{{cite web |last1=Šír |first1=Vojtěch |title=První stanné právo v protektorátu |url=https://www.fronta.cz/dotaz/prvni-stanne-pravo-v-protektoratu |website=Fronta.cz |access-date=24 June 2018 |language=cs |date=3 April 2011|trans-title=The First Martial Law in Protectorate }}</ref> Their names appeared on posters throughout the occupied country.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=143}} Most of them were the members of the resistance that had previously been captured and were awaiting trial.

According to Heydrich's estimate, between 4,000 and 5,000 people were arrested{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=143}} and between 400 and 500 were executed by February 1942.<ref name="1.heydrichiada" />{{efn|name=deathcamp}} Those who were not executed were sent to [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp]], where only four per cent of Czech prisoners survived the war.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=143}} Czech prime minister [[Alois Eliáš]] was among those arrested the first day. He was [[People's Court (Germany)|put on trial]] in Berlin and sentenced to death, but was kept alive as a hostage. He was later executed in retaliation for Heydrich's assassination.<ref name="vets">{{cite web |last1=Jedlička |first1=František |title=armádní generál in memoriam Alois Eliáš |url=https://www.vets.cz/vpm/alois-elias-355/ |website=vets.cz |publisher=Spolek pro vojenská pietní místa, o.s. |access-date=24 June 2018 |language=cs}}</ref><ref name="vlada">{{cite web |title=Ing. Alois Eliáš |url=https://www.vlada.cz/cz/clenove-vlady/historie-minulych-vlad/prehled-vlad-cr/1939-1945-protektorat-cechy-a-morava/rudolf-beran/alois-elias-45302/ |website=vlada.cz |publisher=[[Government of Czech Republic|Vláda České republiky]] |access-date=24 June 2018 |language=cs}}</ref><ref name="lidovky">{{cite news |last1=Zídek |first1=Petr |title=Pohnuté Osudy: Alois Eliáš. Generál v srdci nepřítele s cenou tří divizí |url=https://www.lidovky.cz/alois-elias-general-s-cenou-tri-divizi-dxk-/lide.aspx?c=A150802_205022_lide_ELE |access-date=24 June 2018 |work=Lidovky.cz |date=16 August 2015 |language=cs}}</ref>

In March 1942, further sweeps against Czech cultural and patriotic organisations, the military, and the intelligentsia resulted in the practical paralysis of the London-based Czech resistance. Almost all avenues by which Czechs could express the Czech culture in public were closed.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=140}} Although small disorganised cells of [[Resistance in German-occupied Czechoslovakia#Consolidation of resistance groups: ÚVOD|Central Leadership of Home Resistance (Ústřední vedení odboje domácího, ÚVOD)]] survived, only the communist resistance was able to function in a coordinated manner (although it also suffered arrests).{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=143}} The terror also served to paralyse resistance in society, with public and widespread reprisals by the Nazis against any action resisting German rule.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=143}} Heydrich's brutal policies during that time quickly earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Prague".{{sfn|Paces|2009|p=167}} The reprisals are referred to by Czechs as the ''Heydrichiáda''.{{sfn|Roberts|2005|p=56}}

As Deputy Reich Protector of [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]], Heydrich applied [[carrot-and-stick]] methods.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=100}} Labor was reorganised on the basis of the [[German Labour Front]]. Heydrich used equipment confiscated from the Czech gymnastics organisation [[Sokol (sport organization)|Sokol]] to organise events for workers.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=144}} Food rations and free shoes were distributed, pensions were increased, and (for a time) free Saturdays were introduced. [[Unemployment insurance]] was established for the first time.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=100}} The [[black market]] was suppressed. Those associated with it or the resistance movement were tortured or executed. Heydrich labelled them "economic criminals" and "enemies of the people", which helped gain him support. Conditions in Prague and the rest of the Czech lands were relatively peaceful under Heydrich, and industrial output increased.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=100}} Still, those measures could not hide shortages and increasing inflation; reports of growing discontent multiplied.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=144}}

Despite public displays of goodwill towards the populace, privately Heydrich was very clear about his eventual goal: "This entire area will one day be definitely German, and the Czechs have nothing to expect here." Eventually up to two-thirds of the populace were to be either [[Generalplan Ost|removed to regions of Russia]] or exterminated after Nazi Germany won the war. Bohemia and Moravia faced annexation directly into the German Reich.{{sfn|Garrett|1996|p=60}}

The Czech workforce was exploited as Nazi-conscripted labour.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=144}} More than 100,000 workers were removed from "unsuitable" jobs and conscripted by the [[Ministry of Labour]]. By December 1941, Czechs could be called to work anywhere within the Reich. Between April and November 1942, 79,000 Czech workers were taken in this manner for work within Nazi Germany. Also, in February 1942, the work day was increased from eight to twelve hours.{{sfn|MacDonald|1989|p=133}}

Heydrich was, for all intents and purposes, military dictator of Bohemia and Moravia. His changes to the government's structure left President [[Emil Hácha]] and his cabinet virtually powerless. He often drove alone in a car with an open roof{{snd}}a show of his confidence in the occupation forces and in his government's effectiveness.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=141}}

By 3 October 1941, Czechoslovak [[military intelligence]] in London had made the decision to kill Heydrich.<ref>{{cite web |title=Plán atentátu (anniversary) |url=https://www.fronta.cz/kalendar/plan-atentatu |website=Fronta.cz |access-date=24 June 2018|language=cs}}</ref><ref name="Stehlík">{{cite journal |last1=Stehlík |first1=Eduard |title=SOE a příprava atentátu na Reinharda Heydricha |journal=Paměť a Dějiny |date=2012 |volume=2 |page=4 |trans-title=SOE and the preparation of Reinhard Heydrich's assassination |url=https://www.ustrcr.cz/data/pdf/pamet-dejiny/pad1202/003-015.pdf |publisher=[[Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes|ÚSTR]] |language=cs}}</ref>

==Role in the Holocaust==
{{multiple image
| direction = horizontal
| image1    = Kristallnacht rh telegram pg4.png
| width1    = 160
| caption1  = 1938 telegram giving orders during [[Kristallnacht]], signed by Heydrich
| image2    = Carta Göring.JPG
| width2    = 155
| caption2  = July 1941 letter from [[Hermann Göring|Göring]] to Heydrich concerning the [[Final Solution]] of the [[Jewish question]]
}}

Historians regard Heydrich as the most fearsome member of the Nazi elite.{{sfn|Sereny|1996|p=325}}{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=53}}{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=xiii}} Hitler called him "the man with the iron heart".{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=92}} [[William L. Shirer]] described Heydrich as a "long-nosed and icy-eyed individual of a diabolical cast" and a "genius of the Final Solution."{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=991}} He was one of the main architects of [[the Holocaust]] during the early war years, answering to and taking orders from only Hitler, Göring, and Himmler in all matters pertaining to the deportation, imprisonment, and extermination of Jews.

Heydrich was one of the organisers of ''[[Kristallnacht]]'', a [[pogrom]] against Jews throughout Germany on the night of 9–10 November 1938. Heydrich sent a [[Telegraphy|telegram]] that night to various SD and Gestapo offices, helping to coordinate the pogrom with the SS, SD, Gestapo, uniformed police (Orpo), SA, Nazi party officials, and even the fire departments. In the telegram, Heydrich granted permission for arson and destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues, and ordered the confiscation of all "archival material" from Jewish community centres and synagogues. The telegram ordered that "as many Jews{{snd}}particularly affluent Jews{{snd}}are to be arrested in all districts as can be accommodated in existing detention facilities&nbsp;... Immediately after the arrests have been carried out, the appropriate concentration camps should be contacted to place the Jews into camps as quickly as possible."<ref name="ushmm Glass"/>{{sfn|Calic|1985|p=192}} Twenty thousand Jews were sent to concentration camps in the days immediately following;{{sfn|Calic|1985|p=193}} historians consider ''Kristallnacht'' the beginning of the Holocaust.<ref name="Hutchinson Encyclopedia"/>

When Hitler asked for a [[casus belli|pretext]] for the [[invasion of Poland]] in 1939, Himmler, Heydrich, and Heinrich Müller masterminded a [[false flag]] plan code-named [[Operation Himmler]]. It involved a fake attack on the German radio station at [[Gliwice|Gleiwitz]] on 31 August 1939. Heydrich masterminded the plan and toured the site, which was about {{convert|4|mi|km|0|spell=in}} from the Polish border. Wearing Polish uniforms, 150 German troops carried out several attacks along the border. Hitler used the ruse as an excuse to launch his invasion.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=518–520}}{{sfn|Calic|1985|pp=194–200}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B01718, Ausstellung "Planung und Aufbau im Osten".jpg|thumb|left|[[Rudolf Hess]], Himmler, [[Philipp Bouhler]], [[Fritz Todt]], and Heydrich listening to [[Konrad Meyer]] at a ''[[Generalplan Ost]]'' exhibition, 20 March 1941]]
On Himmler's instructions, Heydrich formed the ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' (task forces) to travel in the wake of the German armies at the start of World War II.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=425}} On 21 September 1939, Heydrich sent out a teleprinter message on the "Jewish question in the occupied territory" to the chiefs of all ''Einsatzgruppen'' with instructions to round up Jewish people for placement into ghettos, called for the formation of [[Judenrat|Judenräte]] (Jewish councils), ordered a census, and promoted [[Aryanization (Nazism)|Aryanization]] plans for Jewish-owned businesses and farms, among other measures.{{efn|name=telegram}} The ''Einsatzgruppen'' units followed the army into Poland to implement the plans. Later, in the Soviet Union, they were charged with rounding up and murdering Jews via firing squad and gas vans.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=958–963}} Historian [[Raul Hilberg]] estimates that between 1941 and 1945 the ''Einsatzgruppen'' and related auxiliary troops murdered more than two million people, including 1.3&nbsp;million Jews.{{sfn|Rhodes|2002|p=257}} Heydrich ensured the safety of certain athletes, such as Paul Sommer, a Jewish German champion fencer he knew from his pre-SS days, and the Polish Olympic fencing team that competed at the [[1936 Summer Olympics]].{{sfn|Donnelley|2012|p=48}}

{{quote box|width=20em| quote =...&nbsp;the planned total measures are to be kept strictly secret&nbsp;... the first prerequisite for the final aim ("Endziel") is the concentration of the Jews from the countryside into the larger cities. |author=Heydrich |source=September 1939{{efn|name=telegram}}}}
{{quote box|width=20em| quote = By order of the Reichsführer-SS, residency without possession of an identification card is punishable by death. |author=Heydrich |source=November 1939<ref name="Götz, Roth et al. 2004"/>}}

On 29 November 1939, Heydrich issued a cable about the "Evacuation of New Eastern Provinces", detailing the deportation of people by railway to concentration camps, and giving guidance surrounding the December 1939 census, which would be the basis on which those deportations were performed.<ref name="Götz, Roth et al. 2004"/> In May 1941 Heydrich drew up regulations with [[Quartermaster general]] [[Eduard Wagner]] for the upcoming [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of the Soviet Union]], which ensured that the ''Einsatzgruppen'' and army would co-operate in murdering Soviet Jews.{{sfn|Hillgruber|1989|pp=94–96}}

On 10 October 1941, Heydrich was the senior officer at a "Final Solution" meeting of the RSHA{{efn|name=Hilberg description}} in Prague that discussed deporting 50,000 Jews from the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] to ghettos in [[Minsk Ghetto|Minsk]] and [[Riga ghetto|Riga]]. Given his position, Heydrich was instrumental in carrying out these plans since his Gestapo was ready to organise deportations in the West and his ''Einsatzgruppen'' were already conducting extensive killing operations in the East.{{sfn|Hilberg|1985|p=164}} The officers attending also discussed taking 5,000 Jews from Prague "in the next few weeks" and handing them over to the ''Einsatzgruppen'' commanders [[Arthur Nebe]] and [[Otto Rasch]]. Establishing ghettos in the Protectorate was also planned, resulting in the construction of the [[Theresienstadt Ghetto]],<ref name="ghwk room7-2 a"/> where 33,000 people would eventually die. Tens of thousands more passed through the camp before being sent East to be murdered.<ref name="ushmm Theresienstadt"/> In 1941 Himmler named Heydrich as "responsible for implementing" the forced movement of 60,000 Jews from Germany and [[Czechoslovakia]] to the [[Łódź Ghetto|Łódź (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto]] in Poland.<ref name="ghwk room7-2 b"/>

Earlier on 31 July 1941, Hermann Göring gave written authorisation to Heydrich to ensure the co-operation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of a "final solution to the Jewish question" in territories under German control.{{sfn|Browning|2004|p=315}} On 20 January 1942, Heydrich chaired a meeting, now called the [[Wannsee Conference]], to discuss the implementation of the plan.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=696–697}}<ref name="holocaust-history Wannsee"/>

==Death==
{{Main|Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-039-44, Heydrich-Attentat.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Mercedes-Benz W142|Mercedes-Benz 320 Convertible B]] in which Heydrich was mortally wounded]]
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| image1            = Operace Anthropoid - Jozef Gabčík.jpg
| width1            = 115
| caption1          = [[Jozef Gabčík]], {{circa}} 1942
| image2            = Operace Anthropoid - Jan Kubiš.jpg
| width2            = 148
| caption2          = [[Jan Kubiš]], {{circa}} 1942
| header            = Czechoslovak [[Special Operations Executive|SOE]] agents who killed Heydrich
| header_align      = center
}}

In London, the [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile]] resolved to kill Heydrich. [[Jan Kubiš]] and [[Jozef Gabčík]] headed the team chosen for the mission, trained by the British [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE). On 28 December 1941 they parachuted into the Protectorate, where they lived in hiding, preparing for the mission.{{sfn|Calic|1985|p=254}}

On 27 May 1942, Heydrich planned to meet Hitler in Berlin. German documents suggest that Hitler intended to transfer him to [[Nazi occupied France|German-occupied France]] where the [[French Resistance]] was gaining ground.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=175}} To get from his home to the airport, Heydrich would have to pass a section where the [[Dresden]]-Prague road merges with a road to the Troja Bridge. The junction in the Prague suburb of [[Libeň]] was well suited for the attack because motorists have to slow for a hairpin bend. As Heydrich's car slowed, Gabčík took aim with a [[Sten]] [[submachine gun]], but it jammed and failed to fire. Heydrich ordered his driver, Klein, to halt and attempted to confront Gabčík rather than speed away. Kubiš, who had not been spotted by Heydrich or Klein, threw a converted [[anti-tank mine]] at the car as it stopped. It landed against the rear wheel. The explosion ripped through the right rear fender and wounded Heydrich with metal fragments and fibres from the upholstery causing serious damage to his left side: he suffered major injuries to his [[thoracic diaphragm|diaphragm]], [[spleen]], and one lung, as well as a broken rib. Kubiš received a minor shrapnel wound to his face.{{sfn|Williams|2003|pp=145–147}}{{sfn|MacDonald|1998|pp=205, 207}} After Kubiš fled, Heydrich ordered Klein to chase Gabčík on foot, but Gabčík escaped after he shot and wounded Klein.{{sfn|Williams|2003|pp=147, 155}}{{sfn|MacDonald|1998|pp=206, 207}}

A Czech woman went to Heydrich's aid and flagged down a delivery van. He was placed on his stomach in the back of the van and taken to the emergency room at [[Bulovka Hospital]].{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=155}} A [[splenectomy]] was performed and the chest wound, left lung, and diaphragm were all [[debridement|debrided]].{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=155}} Himmler ordered [[Karl Gebhardt]] to fly to Prague to assume care. Despite a fever, Heydrich's recovery appeared to progress well. Hitler's personal doctor [[Theodor Morell]] suggested the use of the new antibacterial drug [[sulfonamide (medicine)|sulfonamide]], but Gebhardt thought that Heydrich would recover and declined the suggestion.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=165}} Heydrich reconciled himself to his fate on 2 June, during a visit by Himmler, by reciting a quotation from one of his father's operas:

<poem lang="de" style="float:left;">Ja, die Welt ist nur ein Leierkasten,
den unser Herrgott selber dreht.
Jeder muß nach dem Liede tanzen,
das gerade auf der Walze steht.<ref>{{cite web |title=Das Spiel ist aus – Arthur Nebe |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/das-spiel-ist-aus-arthur-nebe-a-c93ff157-0002-0001-0000-000044446464 |website=Der Spiegel |date=June 1950 |access-date=29 June 2023}}</ref></poem>
<poem style="margin-left:2em; float:left;">Yes, the world is just a barrel-organ
which the Lord God turns Himself.
We all have to dance to the tune
which is already on the drum.{{sfn|Lehrer|2000|p=86}}</poem>{{Clear|left}}

On 3 June, Heydrich fell into a coma; he died the following day. An autopsy concluded that he died of [[sepsis]].{{sfn|Höhne|2000|p=495}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Steven |authorlink=Steven Johnson (author) |title=Extra Life |publisher=[[Riverhead Books]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-525-53885-1 |edition=1st |pages=150 |language=en}}</ref> Professors R. J. Defalque and A. J. Wright of the [[University of Alabama at Birmingham]] suggest that [[pulmonary embolism]] and/or [[brain ischemia]] may have been decisive factors.{{sfn|Defalque|Wright|2009|p=6}}{{efn|G. M. Weisz of the [[University of New South Wales]] and W. R. Albury of the [[University of New England (Australia)]] have argued that the failure to administer [[Sulfonamide (medicine)|thiazole sulfonamides]], through negligence or otherwise, may have precipitated his death.{{sfn|Weisz|Albury|2014|pp=212–216}} }} He was 38 years old.

===Funeral===
[[File:Heydrich funeral.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Second funeral ceremony, 9 June 1942]]

After an elaborate funeral held in Prague on 7 June 1942, Heydrich's coffin was placed on a train to Berlin where a second ceremony was held in the new [[Reich Chancellery]] on 9 June. Himmler gave the eulogy.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|pp=148–150}} Hitler attended and placed Heydrich's decorations—including the highest grade of the [[German Order (distinction)|German Order]], the [[Blood Order]] Medal, the [[Wound Badge]] in Gold, and the [[War Merit Cross]] 1st Class with Swords—on his funeral pillow.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=223}} Although Heydrich's death was employed for pro-Reich propaganda, Hitler privately blamed Heydrich for his own death through carelessness:

{{blockquote|Since it is opportunity which makes not only the thief but also the assassin, such heroic gestures as driving in an open, unarmoured vehicle or walking about the streets unguarded are just damned stupidity, which serves the [[Fatherland]] not one whit. That a man as irreplaceable as Heydrich should expose himself to unnecessary danger, I can only condemn as stupid and idiotic.{{sfn|MacDonald|1989|p=182}}}}
[[File:GraveReinhardHeydrich-InvalidenfriedhofBerlin RomanDeckert15042023-01 b.jpg|thumb|Heydrich's anonymous grave]]
Heydrich was interred in Berlin's [[Invalidenfriedhof]], a military cemetery.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=107}} The exact burial spot is no longer public knowledge—a temporary wooden marker that disappeared when the Red Army overran the city in 1945 was never replaced, so that Heydrich's grave could not become a rallying point for [[Neo-Nazism|Neo-Nazis]].{{sfn|Lehrer|2000|p=87}} Nevertheless, on 16 December 2019, the BBC reported that Heydrich's unmarked grave had been opened by unknown persons, without anything being taken.{{sfn|BBC|2019}} A photograph of Heydrich's burial shows the wreaths and mourners to be in section A, which abuts the north wall of the Invalidenfriedhof and Scharnhorststraße, at the front of the cemetery.{{sfn|Lehrer|2000|p=87}} A recent biography of Heydrich also places the grave in Section A.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=176}} Hitler planned for Heydrich to have a monumental tomb (designed by sculptor [[Arno Breker]] and architect [[Wilhelm Kreis]]) but, due to Germany's declining fortunes, it was never built.{{sfn|Lehrer|2000|p=87}}

Heydrich's widow, Lina, won the right to a pension following a series of court cases against the [[West German]] government in 1956 and 1959. She was declared entitled to a substantial pension as her husband was a German general killed in action. The government had previously declined to pay due to Heydrich's role in the Holocaust.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=291}} The couple had four children: Klaus, born in 1933, killed in a traffic accident in 1943; Heider, born in 1934; Silke, born in 1939; and Marte, born shortly after her father's death in 1942.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=77, 83, 113, 289}} Lina wrote a memoir, ''Leben mit einem Kriegsverbrecher'' (''Living With a War Criminal''), which was published in 1976.{{sfn|Browder|2004|p=260}} She remarried once and died in 1985.{{sfn|Lehrer|2000|p=58}}

===Aftermath===
{{Main|Lidice massacre}}

Heydrich's assailants hid in safe houses and eventually took refuge in [[Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral]], an Orthodox church in Prague. After a traitor in the Czech resistance betrayed their location,{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=152}} the church was surrounded by 800 members of the SS and Gestapo. Several Czechs were killed, and the remainder hid in the church's crypt. The Germans attempted to flush the men out with gunfire and tear gas, and by flooding the crypt. Eventually an entrance was made using explosives. Rather than surrender, the soldiers killed themselves. Supporters of the assassins who were killed in the wake of these events included the church's leader, [[Gorazd (Pavlík)|Bishop Gorazd]], who is now revered as a martyr of the Orthodox Church.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|pp=153–155}}

[[File:CyrilMethodious.JPG|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Bullet-scarred window to the crypt of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral]] in Prague, where Kubiš and his compatriots were cornered]]

Infuriated by Heydrich's death, Hitler ordered the arrest and execution of 10,000 randomly selected Czechs. But after consultations with [[Karl Hermann Frank]], he altered his response. The Czech lands were an important industrial zone for the German military, and indiscriminate killing could reduce the region's productivity.{{sfn|Craig|2005|p=189}} Hitler ordered a quick investigation. Intelligence falsely linked the assassins to the villages of [[Lidice]] and [[Ležáky]]. A Gestapo report stated that Lidice, {{convert|22|km}} north-west of Prague, was suspected as the assailants' hiding place because several Czech army officers, then in England, had come from there; additionally, the Gestapo had found a resistance radio transmitter in Ležáky.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|pp=151–152}} On 9 June, after discussions with Himmler and [[Karl Hermann Frank]], Hitler ordered [[Lidice massacre|brutal reprisals]].{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=280}} On 9 June, in the village of [[Lidice]] 172 boys and men between age 14 and 84 were shot. Thereafter, all adults in [[Ležáky]] were murdered on 24 June.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=281, 285}}

All but four of the women from Lidice were deported immediately to [[Ravensbrück]] concentration camp (four were pregnant{{snd}}they were subjected to [[forced abortion]]s at the same hospital where Heydrich had died and the women were then sent to the concentration camp). Some children were chosen for [[Germanization]], and 81 were murdered in [[Nazi gas van|gas van]]s at the [[Chełmno extermination camp]]. Both towns were burned and Lidice's ruins were levelled.{{sfn|Calic|1985|p=253}}{{sfn|Frucht|2005|p=236}} Overall, at least 1,300&nbsp;Czechs, including 200 women, were killed in reprisal for Heydrich's assassination.{{sfn|Kershaw|2000|p=519}}{{sfn|Burian|Knížek|Rajlich|Stehlík|2002}}{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=714}}

Heydrich's replacements were [[Ernst Kaltenbrunner]] as the chief of [[RSHA]],{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=107}} and [[Karl Hermann Frank]] (27–28 May 1942) and [[Kurt Daluege]] (28 May 1942{{snd}}14 October 1943) as the new Deputy Protector. After Heydrich's death, implementation of the policies formalised at the Wannsee conference he chaired was accelerated. The first three true [[death camps]], designed for mass murder with no [[legal process]] or pretext, were built and operated at [[Treblinka extermination camp|Treblinka]], [[Sobibor extermination camp|Sobibór]], and [[Belzec extermination camp|Bełżec]]. The project was named [[Operation Reinhard]] after Heydrich.{{sfn|Arad|1987|p=13}}

==Service record==
Heydrich's time in the SS was a mixture of rapid promotions, reserve commissions in the regular armed forces, and front-line combat service. During his 11 years with the SS Heydrich "rose from the ranks" and was appointed to every rank from private to full general. He was also a [[Major (Germany)|major]] in the [[Luftwaffe]], flying nearly 100 combat missions until 22 July 1941, when his plane was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire. After this, Hitler personally ordered Heydrich to return to Berlin to resume his SS duties.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=174, 196–97}} His service record also gives him credit as a Navy Reserve Lieutenant, but in 1931 he was dismissed for conduct unbecoming an officer with [[Reduction in rank|loss of rank]], and during World War II he had no contact with the Navy Reserve.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011a|pp=64–65}}<ref name="Krojc">{{cite web |last=Kříž |first=Jiří  |title=Propuštění R. Heydricha z námořnictva |url=https://www.fronta.cz/dotaz/propusteni-heydricha-z-namornictva |website=Fronta.cz |access-date=17 June 2018 |language=cs |date=15 May 2007}}</ref>

Heydrich began training as a pilot in 1935, and undertook fighter pilot training at the flight school at [[Werneuchen]] in 1939. Himmler initially forbade Heydrich from flying combat missions, but later relented, allowing him to join ''[[Jagdgeschwader 77]]'' "Herz As" (Ace of Hearts) in Norway, where he was stationed from 15 April 1940 during [[Operation Weserübung]]. He returned to Berlin on 14 May after his plane crashed at [[Stavanger]] the previous day.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=174}}{{sfn|Semerdjiev|2019}} While in Norway, Heydrich also organised the arrests of political opponents and arranged for a contingent of 200 SiPo and SD men to be stationed in several major cities.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=175}}

On 20 July 1941, without seeking authorisation from Himmler, Heydrich rejoined ''Jagdgeschwader 77'' during [[Operation Barbarossa]], arriving at [[Yampil, Vinnytsia Oblast]] in a borrowed [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Bf 109]]. His aircraft was hit by Soviet flak in action near the [[Dniester]] on 22 July, and he had to land the plane in enemy territory. He avoided capture and returned to Berlin after being rescued by a patrol.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|pp=196–197}} It was his final combat mission.{{sfn|Semerdjiev|2019}}

Heydrich received a number of Nazi and military awards. These included the [[German Order (decoration)|German Order]],{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=279}} [[Blood Order]],{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|pp=148–150}} [[Golden Party Badge]], [[Aviator Badge#Germany|Luftwaffe Pilot's Badge]], bronze and silver [[Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe]] for combat missions, and the [[Iron Cross]] First and Second Classes.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=174}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[Dramatic portrayals of Reinhard Heydrich]]
* [[Glossary of Nazi Germany]]
* [[List of Nazi Party leaders and officials]]
* [[Lists of political office-holders in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]]
* [[Register of SS leaders in general's rank#List of SS-Obergruppenführer|List of SS-Obergruppenführer]]

==Informational notes==
{{notelist
| refs =
{{efn
| name = coding
| For the coding of prisoners, see ''[[IBM and the Holocaust]]'' by Edwin Black, pp 355 and 362. Black references the "Administration of German Concentration Camps", 9 July 1945, PRO FO 371/46979 (Public Record Office, London), as well as "Decoding Key for Concentration Camp Card Index Files", n.d. NARG242/338 T-1021 Roll 5, JAG (National Archives, College Park); and in the last source Frame 99 is mentioned.
}}
{{efn
| name = telegram
| The telegram is evidence number PS-3363 from the Oswald Pohl case at the Nuremberg Trials. A translation of the text is available at yadvashem.org.
}}
{{efn
| name = Hilberg description
| This description of the meeting was employed by Holocaust historian [[Raul Hilberg]] in ''[[The Destruction of the European Jews]]''. {{harvnb|Hilberg|1985|p=164}}.
}}
{{efn
| name = deathcamp
| According to Czech historians, during the first martial law period (from 28 September 1941 until 20 January 1942), 486 people were executed. In addition, many of the 2,242 people sent to Mauthausen died before the end of the period, some within days or weeks of their arrival. {{harvnb|Šír|2011}}.
}}
}}

==Citations==
{{reflist
| colwidth = 20em
| refs =

<ref name="National Archives">
Reinhard Heydrich at the SS [[service record]] collection, United States National Archives. College Park, Maryland
</ref>

<ref name="ushmm Night And Fog Decree">
{{cite web
 |title       = Night and Fog Decree
 |publisher   = United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
 |url         = http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007465
 |access-date  = 27 January 2012
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120509193355/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007465
 |archive-date = 9 May 2012
|df          = dmy-all
}}
</ref>

<ref name="ushmm Glass">
{{cite web
 |title       = Document: Page 3
 |publisher   = United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
 |url         = http://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-features/special-focus/kristallnacht/historical-overview/role-of-the-police/document-page-3
 |access-date  = 18 September 2014
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160704093600/https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-features/special-focus/kristallnacht/historical-overview/role-of-the-police/document-page-3
 |archive-date = 4 July 2016
|df          = dmy-all
}}
</ref>

<ref name="Hutchinson Encyclopedia">
{{cite encyclopedia
|encyclopedia= The [[Hutchinson Encyclopedia]]
|title= Kristallnacht
|edition= 18
|year= 1998
|publisher= Helicon
|location= Oxford
|isbn= 978-1-85833-951-1
|page=1199
}}
</ref>

<ref name="Götz, Roth et al. 2004">
{{cite book
|last1= Aly
|first1= Götz
|author-link1= Götz Aly
|last2= Roth
|first2= Karl Heinz
|last3= Black
|first3= Edwin
|author-link3= Edwin Black
|last4= Oksiloff
|first4= Assenka
|year= 2004
|title= The Nazi Census: Identification and Control in the Third Reich
|publisher= Temple University Press
|location= Philadelphia
|isbn= 978-1-59213-199-0
|page= 5
}}
</ref>

<ref name="ghwk room7-2 a">
{{cite web
|title= The Path to the Mass Murder of European Jews, part 2. Notes from the meeting on the solution of Jewish Questions held on 10.10.1941 in Prague
|publisher= Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz&nbsp;– Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte
|url= http://www.ghwk.de/2006-neu/room7-2.htm
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090221045253/http://www.ghwk.de/2006-neu/room7-2.htm
|archive-date= 21 February 2009
|access-date= 18 September 2014
}}
</ref>

<ref name="ushmm Theresienstadt">
{{cite web
|title= Theresienstadt
|publisher= United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
|url= http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005424
|access-date= 18 September 2014
}}
</ref>

<ref name="ghwk room7-2 b">
{{cite web
|title= The Path to the Mass Murder of European Jews, part 2: Letter of 18 September 1941 from Himmler to Reichsstatthalter Greiser
|publisher= Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz&nbsp;– Gedenk&nbsp;– und Bildungsstätte
|url= http://www.ghwk.de/2006-neu/room7-2.htm
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090221045253/http://www.ghwk.de/2006-neu/room7-2.htm
|archive-date= 21 February 2009
|access-date= 18 September 2014
}}
</ref>

<ref name="holocaust-history Wannsee">
{{cite web
|title= The Wannsee Conference
|publisher= Holocaust-history.org
|date= 4 February 2004
|url= http://phdn.org/archives/holocaust-history.org/short-essays/wannsee.shtml
|access-date= 12 September 2017
}}
</ref>

}}

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|isbn= 0-87779-709-9
|ref= {{sfnRef|Merriam Webster|1996}}
|url= https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersc01merr
}}
*{{cite book 
|last1= Miller 
|first1= Michael D. 
|last2= Schulz 
|first2= Andreas 
|title= Leaders of the SS & German Police 
|volume= 2 ''Reichsführer SS – Gruppenführer'' (Hans Haltermann to Walter Kruger) 
|publisher= R. James Bender Publishing 
|year= 2015 
|isbn=978-1-932-97025-8
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Paces
|first= Cynthia
|year= 2009
|title= Prague Panoramas: National Memory and Sacred Space in the Twentieth Century
|publisher= University of Pittsburgh Press
|location= Pittsburgh
|isbn= 978-0-8229-6035-5
}}
*{{cite book
|last = Padfield
|first = Peter
|author-link = Peter Padfield
|year = 1990
|title = Himmler: Reichsführer SS
|publisher = Henry Holt
|location = New York
|isbn = 0-8050-2699-1
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Ramen
|first= Fred
|year= 2001
|title= Reinhard Heydrich: Hangman of the Third Reich
|publisher= Rosen
|location= New York
|isbn= 978-0-8239-3379-2
|url= https://archive.org/details/reinhardheydrich00fred
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Reitlinger
|first= Gerald
|year= 1989
|orig-year= 1956
|title= The SS: Alibi of a Nation 1922–1945
|publisher= Da Capo Press
|location= Boston
|isbn= 978-0-306-80351-2
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Rhodes
|first= Richard
|author-link= Richard Rhodes
|title= Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust
|location= New York
|publisher= Vintage Books
|year= 2002
|isbn= 0-375-70822-7
}}
*{{cite book
| last= Roberts
| first= Andrew Lawrence 
| title= From Good King Wenceslas to the Good Soldier: A Dictionary of Czech Popular Culture
| year= 2005
| publisher= Central European University Press
| isbn= 978-963-7326-26-4
}}
*{{cite web
| last1=Semerdjiev
| first1=Stefan
| title=Reinhard Heydrich: A Devil With Many Faces
| url=https://www.historynet.com/reinhard-heydrich-a-devil-with-many-faces/
| website=Historynet
| access-date=11 March 2022
| date=10 June 2019
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Sereny
|first= Gitta
|author-link= Gitta Sereny
|orig-year= 1995
|year= 1996
|title= Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth
|publisher= Vintage
|location= New York
|isbn= 978-0-679-76812-8
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Shirer
|first= William L.
|author-link= William L. Shirer
|year= 1960
|title= The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
|publisher= Simon & Schuster
|location= New York
|lccn = 60-6729
|title-link= The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Snyder
|first= Louis
|author-link= Louis Leo Snyder
|year= 1994
|orig-year= 1976
|title= Encyclopedia of the Third Reich
|publisher= Da Capo Press
|location = Boston
|isbn= 978-1-56924-917-8
}}
*{{Cite book
 |last=Steigmann-Gall
 |first=Richard
 |title=The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945
 |publisher=Cambridge University Press
 |location=Cambridge
 |date=2003
 |isbn=978-0-521-82371-5
}}
*{{cite book
 |last= Waite
 |first= Robert George Leeson
 |author-link= Robert G. L. Waite
 |year= 1969
 |orig-year= 1952
 |title= Vanguard of Nazism: The Free Corps Movement in Postwar Germany, 1918–1923
 |publisher= W.W. Norton & Co.
 |location= New York
 |isbn= 978-0-393-00181-5
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Weale
|first= Adrian
|author-link= Adrian Weale
|year= 2010
|title= The SS: A New History
|publisher= Little, Brown
|location= London
|isbn= 978-1408703045
}}
*{{ cite journal| title =The Attempt on the Life of Reinhard Heydrich, Architect of the 'Final Solution': A Review of his Treatment and Autopsy
| last1= Weisz| first1=George M.
| last2= Albury | first2 =William R.
| journal = [[Israel Medical Association|IMAJ]]
| volume =16
| date = 4 April 2014
| issue= 4| pages =212–216
| pmid= 24834756| url = https://www.ima.org.il/FilesUploadPublic/IMAJ/0/77/38660.pdf 
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Williams
|first= Max
|year= 2001
|title= Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography, Volume 1 – Road To War
|publisher= Ulric Publishing
|location= Church Stretton
|isbn= 978-0-9537577-5-6
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Williams
|first= Max
|year= 2003
|title= Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography, Volume 2 – Enigma
|publisher= Ulric Publishing
|location= Church Stretton
|isbn= 978-0-9537577-6-3
}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book
|last= Aronson
|first= Shlomo
|year= 1984
|orig-year= 1971
|title= Reinhard Heydrich und die Frühgeschichte von Gestapo und SD
|publisher= Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt
|location= Stuttgart
|isbn= 978-3-421-01569-3
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Fest
|first= Joachim
|author-link= Joachim Fest
|year= 1999
|orig-year= 1970
|title= The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership
|publisher= Da Capo Press
|location= Boston
|isbn= 978-0-306-80915-6
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Graber
|first= G. S.
|year= 1996
|orig-year= 1978
|title= The History of the SS
|publisher= Robert Hale
|location= London
|isbn= 978-0-7090-5880-9
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Graber
|first= G. S.
|year= 1980
|title= The Life and Times of Reinhard Heydrich
|publisher= David McKay
|location= Philadelphia
|isbn= 978-0-679-51181-6
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Heydrich
|first= Lina
|year= 1976
|title= Leben mit einem Kriegsverbrecher
|trans-title= Life with a War Criminal
|publisher= Ludwig Verlag
|location= Pfaffenhofen
|isbn= 978-3-7787-1025-8
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Lemons
|first= Everette
|year= 2005
|title= The Third Reich, A Revolution of Ideological Inhumanity: The Power Of Perception
|publisher= Lulu Press
|isbn= 978-1-4116-1932-6
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Schellenberg
|first= Walter
|author-link= Walter Schellenberg
|year= 2000
|orig-year= 1956
|title= The Labyrinth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg, Hitler's Chief of Counterintelligence
|publisher= Da Capo Press
|location= Boston
|isbn= 978-0-306-80927-9
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Schreiber
|first= Carsten
|year= 2008
|title= Elite im Verborgenen. Ideologie und regionale Herrschaftspraxis des Sicherheitsdienstes der SS und seines Netzwerks am Beispiel Sachsens
|series= Studien zur Zeitgeschichte; Bd. 77
|language= de
|publisher= Oldenbourg
|location= München
|isbn= 978-3-486-58543-8
}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Suppan
|first1=Arnold
|author-link=Arnold Suppan
|title-link=Hitler–Beneš–Tito
|title=Hitler–Beneš–Tito: National Conflicts, World Wars, Genocides, Expulsions, and Divided Remembrance in East-Central and Southeastern Europe, 1848–2018
|date=2019
|publisher=[[Austrian Academy of Sciences Press]]
|location=Vienna
|isbn=978-3-7001-8410-2
|jstor=j.ctvvh867x
|chapter=The Tyranny of Reinhard Heydrich and His Assassination
|pages=443–460
|doi=10.2307/j.ctvvh867x
|s2cid=214097654
}}
*{{cite book
|last= Wiener
|first= Jan G.
|year= 1969
|title= The Assassination of Heydrich
|publisher= Grossman Publishers
|location= New York
|oclc= 247895
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090853/http://www.ghwk.de/wannsee-conference/documents.html?lang=gb Documents concerning the Wannsee Conference], Wannsee House Museum
* {{ReichstagDB|118550640}}
* [http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206366.pdf?WT.mc_id=wiki Reinhard Heydrich] on the [[Yad Vashem]] website
* {{YouTube|o9P17nUoG0Q|Reinhard Heydrich funeral, German newsreel}}
** {{YouTube|o9P17nUoG0Q|Reinhard Heydrich funeral in Prague & Berlin}}, unissued [[British Pathé]] newsreel (muted)
* {{YouTube|qtb1nBtheZM|Reinhard Heydrich speech}}
* {{YouTube|7Dhh21hKrzk|Hitler eulogises Reinhard Heydrich}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Konstantin von Neurath]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lists of political office-holders in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia|Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia]]|years=29 September 1941 – 4 June 1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Kurt Daluege]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Otto Steinhäusl]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Interpol|ICPC]]|years=24 August 1940 – 4 June 1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Arthur Nebe]]}}
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=Director of the [[Reich Security Main Office]]|years=27 September 1939 – 4 June 1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Heinrich Himmler]]<br />{{small|Acting}}}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Rudolf Diels]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Director of the [[Gestapo]]|years=22 April 1934 – 27 September 1939}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)|Heinrich Müller]]}}
{{s-ach}}
{{s-bef
|before=[[Boris Shaposhnikov]]
}}
{{s-ttl
|title=[[Time (magazine)|Cover of Time Magazine]]
|years=23 February 1942
}}
{{s-aft
|after=[[Tomoyuki Yamashita]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{The Holocaust}}
{{Einsatzgruppen}}
{{Heinrich Himmler}}
{{Czechoslovakia in World War II}}
{{Rulers of Bohemia and Moravia}}
{{NSDAP}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heydrich, Reinhard}}
[[Category:Reinhard Heydrich| ]]
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