Who Was This Reinhard Heydrich?
Heinrich Himmler (Left side) and Reinhard Heydrich (Right side) – Photo taken from shorturl.at/jnoG2
The Second World War was, up until that point, the greatest war ever in the history of mankind. Technology progression, changes in the working culture, and a decline of the global economy in the 1930s may or may not be the reason for social conflicts. The most famous conflicts was the Jewish persecution or more infamously called, the Holocaust, approximately six million Jews were killed (Landau, R.S., 1992). The Holocaust was part of the final solution to the “Jewish question”, suggested and perpetrated by Nazi officials, among them was, Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and Adolf Eichmann. Today, we’re going to look particularly at Reinhard Heydrich, especially his history, how he came to be one of the holocaust perpetrators, his role in the holocaust, and his eventual assassination. Before that, however, to familiarize ourselves with the conditions and events happening during the 30s to mid-40s, it’s important that we understand the historical background of the Second World War.
Victim of the Holocaust – Photo taken from shorturl.at/iwC34
The Second World War had officially began when Hitler invaded Poland from the west on September 1st, 1939. After two days had passed, France and Britain had officially declared war against Germany. World War II had involved almost all the world’s countries. During the Second World War there were two blocks who participated, there were the Axis and the Allied. The Axis consisted of three countries which were Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan. While the Allied, consisted of Poland, the United Kingdom, and France, followed by their dependent states. World War II started because of several reasons, those reasons are The Treaty of Versailles, the German desire for revenge after their lost in the First World War, economic downturns from the great depression in the 1930s, Nazi ideology, and the rise of antisemitism (which is well documented in Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf, from his perspective at least). Because of those reasons, Jewish people had been exterminated by Adolf Hitler without any mercy.
The Holocaust was executed by one of the Nazi party members who also led the SS (Schutzstaffel) named Heinrich Himmler. Reinhard Heydrich worked for Heinrich Himmler as a Chief Lieutenant in the SS and was tasked to gather intelligence to eliminate all hostiles that stood in the way of the Führer (Adolf Hitler). Himmler believes that Reinhard is the right choice to lead the SS division because of his excellent understanding of intelligence. Reinhard Heydrich himself was called “the man with the iron heart” by Adolf Hitler because of his successful work of executing the majority of the Jews.
Reinhard Heydrich, also known as “The man with the iron heart” – Photo taken from https://cdn.britannica.com/20/133420-050-340F0FD8/Reinhard-Heydrich.jpg
Born in Halle, on March 7th, 1904, Reinhard, through his wife Lina von Osten, met Heinrich Himmler after he got discharged from the Navy. This was evidently because he cheated off an unknown woman a few months before he marries Lina, whom her father may have had connections to the German navy. After he got assigned as someone who’ll lead the SS, he played an important role on organizing the Holocaust. Because of his mischievous and cruel work, rose an opposition group that intended to stop and kill him. That operation was called ‘Operation Anthropoid’. The operation was executed by Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, and their target was Reinhard Heydrich. The operation was originally commissioned by the Three Kings (a Czech anti-Nazi resistance group with their leaders, Josef Mašín, Václav Morávek, and Josef Balabán.) all of which was captured and killed by the SS Einsatzgruppen.
Later, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš successfully killed Reinhard by an ambush that they had planned. Reinhard was supposed to meet the Führer in Berlin because he was to be placed in German Occupied France. Reinhard and his driver Klein had to pass a hairpin road bend in Suburb Prague where Jozef and Jan had planned their ambush. When their car slowed past the road bend, Jozef, from the front aimed his STEN machine gun at them, prompting the car to stop. Jozef pulled the trigger but the gun failed. Reinhard saw this as an opportunity to shoot Jozef instead of running away. Unbeknownst to Reinhard and Klein, Jan closed in from the back throwing a converted anti-tank mine near the rear wheel of the car, destroying the right rear fender and mortally wounding him. Reinhard was seriously injured during the ambush. He made it back to a hospital, and was treated by Hitler’s personal doctor, but didn’t make it eventually. He fell into a coma on June 3rd, 1942, and the next day, he died of sepsis.
Jozef Gabčík (Left side) and Jan Kubiš (Right side) – Photo taken from 1200 × 630
The Second World War was a cruel and inhumane war, many people died from it. Innocent people including women and children were executed because of a simple fact, that their race as a Jew. The atrocities done by the Nazi Regime should be considered as history, a dark time in human history. As all history, we shouldn’t forget this wrongdoing. To forget and take the struggles Jewish people had to go through as granted, is the same as leaving the door for history to repeat itself. Instead, we should study and learn from our mistakes. Take lesson from these events as to establish a society in our time, and hopefully in the future for our children, that these evil acts won’t happen anymore.
Editor: Handiko Wijaya & Nadia Salsabila