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Biography of Reinhard HeydrichName: Reinhard HeydrichBirth Date: March 7, 1904 Death Date: June 4, 1942 Place of Birth: Halle, Germany Nationality: German Gender: Male Occupations: secret police chief Reinhard Heydrich Known as 'The Hangman" and "The Blond Beast," Reinhard Heydrich (1904-1942) was the chief lieutenant of the German secret police during the Nazi regime. He organized mass executions in occupied countries during the early years of World War II.Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was born March 7, 1904, into a Catholic family in the German city of Halle. The second of three children, his father Bruno was a singer and minor composer, and his mother Elizabeth came from a well-to-do musical family. The Heydrichs intended Reinhard to have a musical career, and taught him to play the violin, a skill he retained for the rest of his life. The family's ambitions to be accepted in the high society of Halle, were thwarted by rumors about the ancestry of Heydrich's father. Hatred of Jews was common in Germany at that time, and it was rumored that Bruno Heydrich was the son of a Jew. …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…including Czech agents, resistance fighters, and 3,500 Jews. They also massacred the entire male population of the Czech village of Lidice, and deported all the women and children to the concentration camps, where most of them died. A few children, who looked like Germans, were taken to Nazi orphanages. After removing or killing all the people of Lidice, Nazis bombed and destroyed all the buildings in the village, leveled the ground, planted grain on the exposed soil, and removed the village's name from all German maps.Despite Heydrich's death, his "final solution" plans were not forgotten. Other Nazis stepped in to continue his campaign against the Jews. This murderous campaign was not stopped until the Germans were defeated by Allied forces. Further Reading MacDonald, Callum, The Killing of SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, Free Press, 1989.The New Encyclopedia Brittanica, Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1997.The History Place, www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-heydrich.htm (February 3, 2000). |