Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (7 March 1904-4 June 1942)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:24 pm
Found this on Youtube...
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (7 March 1904 -- 4 June 1942) was an SS-Obergruppenführer, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (including the Gestapo, SD and Kripo Nazi police agencies) and Reichsprotektor (Reich Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia. Adolf Hitler considered him a possible successor. When the Nazis moved the headquarters of Interpol to Berlin he was chosen as the President of that international law enforcement agency. Heydrich chaired the 1942 Wannsee conference, which finalized plans for the extermination of all European Jews in what is now referred to as the Holocaust. Heydrich was wounded in an assassination attempt in Prague on 27 May 1942 and died over a week later from complications arising from his injuries.Early lifeHalle an der Saale to composer Richard Bruno Heydrich and his wife Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Kranz; Heydrich held a life-long passion for the violin. His two forenames were patriotic musical references: "Reinhard" from Amen, an opera written by his father, in a portion called "Reinhard's Crime". His first middle name, 'Tristan' stems from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. His third name probably derives from military hero Prince Eugene of Savoy, Eugen in German (the German cruiser Prinz Eugen was also named for Eugene of Savoy, as was the 7th Division of the Waffen-SS).
As a young boy, Heydrich was teased for his high pitched voice and his devout Catholicism in a mostly Protestant town.
Although shy, Heydrich excelled physically and grew handsome and fit, excelling in fencing and swimming. Too young to have fought in World War I, he joined the quasi-military Freikorps after the war.
In 1922, Heydrich joined the navy, but he was dismissed in 1931 (Bullock 1962). The dismissal never has been satisfactorily explained.
Heydrich's own version was that he had intercourse with, then refused to marry, a woman whose important industrialist father was a major naval contractor, and friend of Erich Raeder, the commander-in-chief of the German Navy. The woman revealed her difficulties to her father, who took the matter to Raeder. Admiral Raeder summoned Heydrich to his office where he and the aggrieved father demanded that Heydrich marry the girl, only to be told that he already was engaged to Lina von Osten, and considered himself bound by his "honour as a naval officer" to not dissolve the engagement. At this, the appalled Raeder is supposed to have summarily cashiered Heydrich. The tale is apparently false. Intensive post-war efforts by journalists failed to identify the woman, though Heydrich's version would have her as socially prominent. Raeder himself scoffed at that tale, while refusing to disclose his reasons for sacking Heydrich.
Another version was that the girl in question was upset at Heydrich's engagement to Lina von Osten because she was under the belief that he would marry her. She complained to her father who went to Raeder. During the court of inquiry summoned by Raeder, Heydrich's contemptuous answers did not help his case and though he was exonerated, the officers demanded that he be cashiered for "conduct unbecoming a naval officer".
This leaves the question as to why Heydrich would have concocted a tale which clearly discredited him, and why would Lina Heydrich and others also maintain that Heydrich was contemptuous of the Nazis before his dismissal from the navy, which others of his acquaintance at the time categorically deny. One theory was submitted by Edouard Calic, namely that Heydrich was discharged once it emerged that he had been spying on the navy in the service of the Nazis. While Heydrich's political convictions and fascination with espionage would make this feasible and would explain why SS chief Heinrich Himmler appointed him to head the SD immediately following his discharge, direct evidence is lacking.
Regards
Jonny
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (7 March 1904 -- 4 June 1942) was an SS-Obergruppenführer, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (including the Gestapo, SD and Kripo Nazi police agencies) and Reichsprotektor (Reich Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia. Adolf Hitler considered him a possible successor. When the Nazis moved the headquarters of Interpol to Berlin he was chosen as the President of that international law enforcement agency. Heydrich chaired the 1942 Wannsee conference, which finalized plans for the extermination of all European Jews in what is now referred to as the Holocaust. Heydrich was wounded in an assassination attempt in Prague on 27 May 1942 and died over a week later from complications arising from his injuries.Early lifeHalle an der Saale to composer Richard Bruno Heydrich and his wife Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Kranz; Heydrich held a life-long passion for the violin. His two forenames were patriotic musical references: "Reinhard" from Amen, an opera written by his father, in a portion called "Reinhard's Crime". His first middle name, 'Tristan' stems from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. His third name probably derives from military hero Prince Eugene of Savoy, Eugen in German (the German cruiser Prinz Eugen was also named for Eugene of Savoy, as was the 7th Division of the Waffen-SS).
As a young boy, Heydrich was teased for his high pitched voice and his devout Catholicism in a mostly Protestant town.
Although shy, Heydrich excelled physically and grew handsome and fit, excelling in fencing and swimming. Too young to have fought in World War I, he joined the quasi-military Freikorps after the war.
In 1922, Heydrich joined the navy, but he was dismissed in 1931 (Bullock 1962). The dismissal never has been satisfactorily explained.
Heydrich's own version was that he had intercourse with, then refused to marry, a woman whose important industrialist father was a major naval contractor, and friend of Erich Raeder, the commander-in-chief of the German Navy. The woman revealed her difficulties to her father, who took the matter to Raeder. Admiral Raeder summoned Heydrich to his office where he and the aggrieved father demanded that Heydrich marry the girl, only to be told that he already was engaged to Lina von Osten, and considered himself bound by his "honour as a naval officer" to not dissolve the engagement. At this, the appalled Raeder is supposed to have summarily cashiered Heydrich. The tale is apparently false. Intensive post-war efforts by journalists failed to identify the woman, though Heydrich's version would have her as socially prominent. Raeder himself scoffed at that tale, while refusing to disclose his reasons for sacking Heydrich.
Another version was that the girl in question was upset at Heydrich's engagement to Lina von Osten because she was under the belief that he would marry her. She complained to her father who went to Raeder. During the court of inquiry summoned by Raeder, Heydrich's contemptuous answers did not help his case and though he was exonerated, the officers demanded that he be cashiered for "conduct unbecoming a naval officer".
This leaves the question as to why Heydrich would have concocted a tale which clearly discredited him, and why would Lina Heydrich and others also maintain that Heydrich was contemptuous of the Nazis before his dismissal from the navy, which others of his acquaintance at the time categorically deny. One theory was submitted by Edouard Calic, namely that Heydrich was discharged once it emerged that he had been spying on the navy in the service of the Nazis. While Heydrich's political convictions and fascination with espionage would make this feasible and would explain why SS chief Heinrich Himmler appointed him to head the SD immediately following his discharge, direct evidence is lacking.
Regards
Jonny