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
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 .
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Deutsches Reiterabzeichen in Silber
- Rank:
- SS-Brigadeführer (Major General)
- Awarded on:
- December 24th, 1933
- Rank:
- SS-Brigadeführer (Major General)
- Awarded on:
- February 1934
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- December 16th, 1935
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- 1936
- Awarded on:
- 1936
Ordine della Corona d'Italia - Cavaliere Commendatore
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- April 20th, 1937
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- July 29th, 1937
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- October 19th, 1937
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- October 18th, 1938
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- October 18th, 1938
Order of St. Sava 1st Class
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- October 18th, 1938
- Awarded on:
- 1938
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- January 30th, 1939
- Awarded on:
- 1939
- Awarded on:
- 1939
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- 1939
- 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
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- 1939
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- 1940
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- 1940
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- 1940
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- 1940
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- 1940
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- 1940
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- May 1940
Orden Imperial del Yugo y las Flechas Gran Cruz
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- January 20th, 1941
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- July 1941
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- July 1941
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- July 1941
Ordinul Coroana Romaniei Mare Cruce
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General)
- Awarded on:
- September 23rd, 1941
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- 1941
Personally presented by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring
Kyuokujitsu sho, 1st Class
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Obergruppenführer / General der Polizei (Lieutenant-General)
- Awarded on:
- June 9th, 1942
Posthumously awarded by Adolf Hitler
- 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
2nd Award
Awarded posthumous
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Obergruppenführer / General der Polizei (Lieutenant-General)
- Awarded on:
- June 9th, 1942
Posthumously awarded by Adolf Hitler
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
Photo
Background stories
The War Illustrated
- 06-'42: Our Diary of the War
- 12-'45: Now It Can Be Told! - How 'Hangman' Heydrich Met His End
- 09-'46: The Truth About Lidice
Themes
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