TracesOfWar needs your help! Every euro, pound or dollar you contribute greatly supports the continuation of this website. Go to stiwot.nl and donate!

Heydrich, Reinhard Tristan Eugen

Date of birth:
March 7th, 1904 (Halle an der Saale/Saxony, German Empire)
Date of death:
June 4th, 1942 (Prague, Czechoslowakia)
Buried on:
Invalidenfriedhof
Plot: A. 
Service number:
SS-Nr.: 10.120 // NSDAP-Nr.: 544.916
Nationality:
German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

Biography

Reinhard Heydrich was the first head of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt). In this position he was in command of the secret police (Gestapo), the intelligence service (Sicherheitsdienst) and the criminal police (Kriminalpolizei). The highest rank he earned was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei.

Heydrich played a very important role in the preparation of the Final Solution, the extermination of the European Jews. Heydrich was the leader of the Einsatzgruppen, the special groups who killed the Jews in the Soviet Union. He organised the Wannsee-Conference where he informed senior Nazis and senior Governmental administrators about the Final Solution. After his death the extermination of the Jews in the Generalgouvernement in Poland was named after him.

From 1939 to 1941 Heydrich was also fighter pilot at the Luftwaffe, the German air force. When he crashed with his airplane during operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, his superior, Heinrich Himmler, didn’t allow him to fly any more.

In September 1941 Heydrich was appointed Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. On 27 Mai 1942 he was victim of an assault by Czech agents in Prague. He died of his wounds at the hospital on the morning of 4 June .

Do you have more information about this person? Inform us!

Deutsches Reiterabzeichen in Silber
DRL Sportabzeichen in Silber
Rank:
SS-Brigadeführer (Major General)
Awarded on:
December 24th, 1933
SS-Ehrenring
Rank:
SS-Brigadeführer (Major General)
Awarded on:
February 1934
Ehrenwinkel der Alten Kämpfer
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
December 16th, 1935
Julleuchter der SS
Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS
Goldenes SA-Sportabzeichen
Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes, 1.Stufe
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
1936
Deutsches Olympia Ehrenzeichen Erster Klasse
Awarded on:
1936
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
April 20th, 1937
Ordine della Corona d'Italia - Cavaliere Commendatore
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
July 29th, 1937
Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro - Commendatore
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
October 19th, 1937
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
October 18th, 1938
Ordine della Corona d'Italia - Cavaliere della Croce Grande
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
October 18th, 1938
Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro - Grand'Ufficiale
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
October 18th, 1938
Order of St. Sava 1st Class
Awarded on:
1938
Ordine Militare di Savoia - Cavaliere di Gran Croce
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
January 30th, 1939
Goldenes Ehrenzeichen der NSDAP
Awarded on:
1939
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938
Awarded on:
1939
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 mit Spange
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
1939
Medaille zur Erinnerung an die Heimkehr des Memellandes
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
1939
Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
1939
Danziger Kreuz I.Klasse
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
1939
SS-Dienstauszeichnung 3.Stufe (8 Jahre)
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1940
Polizei Dienstauszeichnung 3. Stufe
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1940
Polizei Dienstauszeichnung 2. Stufe
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1940
1.Stufe vom Ehrenzeichen für Deutsche Volkspflege
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1940
Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP 10 Jahre
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1940
Flugzeugführerabzeichen
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1940
Pilota Militare
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
May 1940
Voor gevechtsvluchten aan het westfront.
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
January 20th, 1941
Orden Imperial del Yugo y las Flechas Gran Cruz
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
July 1941
Frontflugspange für Jäger in Bronze
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
July 1941
For 60 combat missions.
Frontflugspange für Jäger in Silber
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
July 1941
For combat flights on the eastern front.
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
Awarded on:
September 23rd, 1941
Ordinul Coroana Romaniei Mare Cruce
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1941

Personally presented by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring
Gemeinsames Flugzeugfuhrer-Beobachter Abzeichen mit Brillianten
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obergruppenführer / General der Polizei (Lieutenant-General)
Awarded on:
June 9th, 1942

Posthumously awarded by Adolf Hitler
Ehrenzeichen des 9. November 1923 (Blutorden)
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obergruppenführer / General der Polizei (Lieutenant-General)
Unit:
Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren, Chef des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes
Awarded on:
June 9th, 1942
Hitler during Heydrich's memorial service: "I have only a few words to say of the deceased. He was one of the best National Socialists, one of the strongest defenders of the concept of a German Reich, one of the greatest adversaries of all enemies of the Reich. As Führer of the Party and as Führer of the German Reich, I give you, my dear comrade Reinhard Heydrich, the second German after Party Comrade Todt, the highest decoration which I have to give: The Supreme Class of the German Order."

2nd Award
Awarded posthumous
Deutscher Orden des Großdeutschen Reiches
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obergruppenführer / General der Polizei (Lieutenant-General)
Awarded on:
June 9th, 1942

Posthumously awarded by Adolf Hitler
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Gold
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
June 9th, 1942

Posthumously awarded by Adolf Hitler
Kriegsverdienstkreuz 1.Klasse mit Schwertern

Sources

  • Photo 1: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-054-16 / Hoffmann, Heinrich / CC-BY-SA (CC Attribution Share Alike 3.0)
  • - Dederichs, M.R., Heydrich – het gezicht van het kwaad, Fontaine Uitgevers, ’s Gravenland, 2007
    - Lumsden R., Medals and Decorations of Hitler's Germany, Airlife, Shrewsbury, 2001
    - Thies A., 25. Auktion, Auktionshaus Andreas Thies, Sammlungsgegenstände des 20. Jahrhunderts , Russische Orden und Ehrenzeichen, Militaria, Historische Sammlungsgegenstände, Orden und Ehrenzeichen, 10. Dezember 2004
    - Tixier, T., Allgemeine SS - Polizei - Waffen-SS Volume 3 (2019)
    - BOLETIN OFICIAL DEL ESTADO