Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (* March 7th, 1904 in Halle an der Saale) is an SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Police.
His father Bruno was a composer, Leader of his own conservatory, and Richard Wagner Fan and wanted to turn young Reinhard into a Singer, which failed however because of his high-pitched voice, for which he also was bullied. Furthermore, the Family had to deal with rumors since 1916 that they were partly Jewish, although this was baseless. Even decades later, Heydrich's enemies in the NSDAP tried to revive and use these rumors.
On March 30th, 1922 he joined the Reichsmarine. There, he met Wilhelm Canaris in 1923. In 1926, he got his Officer's patent. But in 1931, he was charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman", which shook him up so much he cried for days locked up in his room. Since then, he and admiral Erich Raeder who fired him are arch-enemies. Soon after, influenced by his wife, he joined the NSDAP and SS. There, he built up the secret service Sicherheitsdienst and became the right Hand of Heinrich Himmler, to the point that Hermann Göring joked "Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich" (Himmler's brain is named Heydrich).
The Nazi rule[]
After the Nazis took power, he became the de-facto Leader of the Police in Bavaria, in 1936 head of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo), in 1939 SD and SiPo became part of the new Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) under him. At this time, he gave the Gestapo leadership to Heinrich Müller.
In 1937, he received Informations that Soviet General Tukhachevsky had planned to topple Stalin, and gave the Soviet secret service NKVD forged material, in the Hope to indirectly decimate the Soviet Officers' corps. This would happen then indeed - however, the Nazis didn't know that the Information had been deliberately planted by paranoid Stalin, since he had wanted the "purge" from the very beginning.
Heydrich was also involved in the "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934, the Reichspogromnacht, and the false flag operation around the radio station Gleiwitz.
During the World War[]
In World War II, he participated as a fighter pilot during the invasion of Poland and in combat missions over Norway, Northern Germany and Holland. He flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7.
After the conquest of Poland, Heydrich gave the order to make Ghettos for the Jews and to impose so-called Judenräte ("Jewish councils") there, which had to collaborate with the Nazis. With Adolf Eichmann's Help, he organised Deportations of Jews from the whole Reich, Austria and Poland into the Ghettos. As early as in this time, the Einsatzgruppen started their Mass shootings. In the "Intelligenzaktion", ten thousands of members of the Polish Elite (Officers, Priests, Academics) were shot.
Heydrichs considers Jews, the Christian churches (especially the Catholics), Freemasons and gypsies and even „Asoziale“ his enemies. Adolf Nazi calls him "der Mann mit dem eisernen Herz" (the man with the iron heart).
Private life[]
In December 1930, he met his later wife, 19-year-old Lina Mathilde von Osten (* 1911). Two Weeks later, she became his secret fiancee. She's from an extreme rightist Family: Her Brother Hans has been an SA member since 1928, she was „überzeugte Nationalsozialistin und glühende Antisemitin“ (convinced nazi and rabid antisemite) even before meeting Heydrich. On December 26th, 1931 they married. In 1936, he left the Catholic church and declared himself "Gottgläubig", as his wife had done the year before. They have three Kids so far: Klaus (* June 17th, 1933), Heider (* December 23rd, 1934), and Silke (* April 9th, 1939).
He plays the violin and piano, and is an eager athlete - Sailing, Swimming, Fencing, Riding, Flying.
Admiral Wilhelm Canaris is his Neighbor in Berlin, and they meet every Morning for a ride together. The Friendship is just superficial nowadays - Heydrich has bugged Canaris' office. The latter is too smart however to give himself away.
