Hello. I am new to these forums and have been interested in WWII for several years. I'm in the middle of a book about the assasination of Heydrich called "The killing of Reinhard Heydrick: The SS butcher of Prague." Has anyone else read this book? What did you think of it? So far it seems pretty good. Well if anyone has any opinions on this subject, I'd be glad to hear them.
Hi sandman and welcome. have not got round to reading this one yet. But i have heard its a good book.
Welcome to the Forum, sandman! We hope to see you around oftenly and enjoy yourself!!! I have not read it, but it would be very, very nice to do so. Because I like that chapter of the war. I am very curious about Heydrich. I think he was the most intelligent but cruelest of the nazis. I will check the book gladly if I can get it sometime.
Welcome to the forum Sandman! I own and have read it. My personal opinion, too dry. It seems very biased. They try to picture Heydrich as the butcher of Prague when in fact he was creating a model society under Nazism by working with the Czechs. It was the carrot and stick method but it was working. This I believe was the main reason why the British and Czech government in exile wanted him assasinated. They did not want the world to know that Nazism could work. Yes, Heydrich was very intelligent and ambitous. He did not care whether the Czechs were getting what they wanted unless it benefited him. At the time of his assasination, the Czech economy was thriving and the Czech people were enjoying a higher way of living compared to other slavic provinces under Nazi rule. What do you think so far?
Perhaps we can remind ourselves of the world in which these..... intelligent and ambitious men worked. 'At the end of this conference Heydrich, Muller and my humble self settled down comfortably by the fireplace..For the first time I saw Heydrich smoke a cigar...and drink cognac..something I have not seen before.We were sitting together peacefully, not to talk shop, but to relax after the long hours of strain'. 'This conference' was the notorious Wannsee Conference, convened by Heydrich in January 1942 to discuss the deportation and destruction of millions.'My humble self..' is that other ambitious, hardworking bureaucrat - Adolf Eichmann. True, the Czech munitions workers in particular had been 'tamed' - by rewards, and the ever-present threat of terror. In fact, the most persistent proponent of Heydrich's assassination was the leader of the Czech government in exile, Eduard Benes, who felt that his own position with the Western powers and with the Czech communist resistance was declining. Heydrich's assassination was to be presented as a spectacular resistance 'coup'. Maybe a naive notion - certainly tragic in its' outcome. Let's face it, many people in occupied countries, France for instance, fared quite well, in their own little way, under Nazi rule. It's such a pity that Nazism only really seemed to work when underpinned by fear, torture, murder,concentration camps, etc..... and that's why it had to be defeated.
I totally agree with you Martin. Though it may look like I am supporting Heydrich, in reality I am not. I am only presenting facts. I am sure we can credit some good things because of the Nazi's along with the bad. The book is bias and left out a lot on Heydrich. That was all I was trying to say.
No offence taken at all, PzJgr. I have to admit that when we are discussing things on the forum, sometimes I start to overlook what some of these people were really doing. Until I looked into this thread, I'd completely forgotten that Wannsee was Heydrich's conference.... Back to the assassination; there seem to have been quite a few 'sensational' books about Heydrich. 'After The Battle' did an interesting article on this affair and there is a balanced discussion in Callum MacDonald's 'The Killing Of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich' (1989 ). It seems that not all details of this strange affair are known even today.
I agree with you both, Martin and PzJgr. As I had said he was perhaps the ablest of the nazies. He was not a vulgar creep like Fritz Sauckel, Martin Bormann or Julius Streicher. He was a "nice", intelligent, classy person who could be compared with Dr. Speer, only that Heydrich was crueler than Stalin and Hitler together. He ruled Czechoslovakia with hand of steel and certainly, gave the Czechs a good life-level as PzJgr says. We must not talk about the German Czechs, who were German before Czechs. And we all know that the industry of this little country contributed inmensly to Germany's war effort. But yes, the "final solution" took real shape in Heydrich's mind...
It's generally accepted that Heydrich wanted to be Himmler's successor. Heydrich was much, much more capable and intelligent than Himmler so maybe it's just as well he was killed when he was....
This is true. There were many others who were glad that Heydrich was killed. Heydrich kept a dossier on everybody and Himmler made sure he got to the key where these were stored.
There were actually rumours about Heydrich not only succeeding Himmler as head of the SS, but to be the next Führer, after the war and Hitler's death. I cannot thing of an abler man for the job than Reinhardt Heydrich. Can you imagine a victorious Germany and let's say in 1965: "Heil Heydrich!" God! I am trembling... Himmler was not good man. He certainly did the SS the most powerful organisation of nazi Germany and formed an elite within the elite. I admire that of him. But I think Heydrich would have done the job even better. If we compare well brought and classy Reinhartd Heydrich with that creep, criminal bastard named Ernst Kaltenbrunner what do we have? Not all butchers are equal...
I believe they were more than rumours. I have read many a book where Heydrich was wanting to be the next fuhrer. I would not doubt it as ambitous as he was. Himmler I would put in the same loony boat as Goring. His 'vision' of a teutonic society with all of the made up traditions and runes.....just would not fly. Heydrich was a realist and I can see him be a real leader taking advantage of opportunities such as Hitler. Hitler may have used some of the Aryan crap but he did not believe in it.
In the book it is stated several times that Heydrich was the person most likely to succeed Hitler. The assasination itself is the best part of the book IMO. It's amazing that the agents were even able to kill him: One of the agents sten gun jammed and the bomb that the other czech threw did not even make it inside the car. Not to mention that Heydrich ordered his driver to stop when he saw the czech's sten jam. He intended to shoot him with his pistol thinking that he was dealing with a lone gunman. If he hadn't been so foolish as to stop and had just ordered his driver to haul ass out of there he would have gotten out safely. Good thing he stopped, though.
I've also heard it said that Heydrich was in line to follow Hitler. I also seem to recall Hitler saying someting along the lines that if he had a son, he would want him to be like Heydrich. Anyone else heard this.
Yes, fortunately he died. As I said, can you imagine: "Heil Heydrich!" And certainly I preffer this than: "Heil Göring!" or "Heil Himmler!" or even "Heil Goebbels!"...
Hi..I'm new to this site. I have not yet read that one..but did read a biography of him simply titled "Reinhard Heydrich." Quite lengthy but fascinating from cover to cover.
Welcome Sandman. Not read that volume, but remain impressed with the Czechs who killed him, as well as those who endured occupation. A brave people.
Seven men at daybreak, is an excellent account of Heydrichs, assination its by Alan Burgess, the sad thing about this was the nazis action afterwards the czech town of Lidice was razed to the ground in reprisal for the killing.
Heydrich was the archetypical Nazi, in practically every way. If you look up the word "Nazi" in the dictionary his picture might as well be there! It was he and Himmler who masterminded the death camps (Reinhard Heydrich - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). He was even more fanatical and ruthless than Himmler and a true believer. Heydrich's assasination so infuriated Hitler that he ordered 10,000 Czechs murdered at random. In the short term Hitler's cruel methods were effective, since after this bloodbath the British intelligence service (who were of course involved) were so shocked they decided against any more assasinations of a similar nature.
