History UsefulNotes / ReinhardHeydrich

* ''ComicBook/Block109'' - A French AlternateHistory comic book in which he is alive after June 1942 due to history being altered following the assassination of Hitler in 1941. He becomes Reichsführer-SS after the death of Himmler in 1947 and by 1953 the SS finds itself in an InterserviceRivalry with Hochmeister Zytek's New Teutonic Order for supremacy over Nazi Germany while the war against the USSR becomes more and more hopeless.

Popular culture tends to consider him as the poster boy "Aryan" as envisioned by Nazi ideals, due to him being blond, [[LargeAndInCharge tall]] and [[IcyBlueEyes blue-eyed]] (one of the only Nazi leaders to combine all these traits, actually), in addition to being [[WickedCultured cultured]] (he was a fencer on the Olympic level and a skilled musician) and ruthless. He is also a frequent character in AlternateHistory fiction works, in which he often outlives his real life counterpart due to GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel or an extensive DayOfTheJackboot, if not outright [[{{Ghostapo}} supernatural reasons]].

** ''Atentát'', 1965 - Czechoslovak movie. Portrayed by Siegfried Loyda.

In his youth, Heydrich was known to be athletic, and especially enjoyed swimming and fencing, [[WickedCultured as well as classic music, ballroom dancing, and playing the violin]]. He was also notably shy, and was held in at least some degree of contempt by his peers, who where known to mock him behind his back for his lanky build, his slight tendency towards being cross-eyed, and, not least, his [[VocalDissonance notably high-pitched voice]] and rather unusual laugh which was described as sounding like "braying", which earned him the not very flattering nickname "Die Ziege" (the Goat). Heydrich was so ashamed of these traits that he for his entire life refused to hold public speeches, fearing that his voice would reduce him to a laughingstock. His youth was also marked by bullying due to his family being devout Catholics living in a predominantly Protestant city, something was probably also at least partially the root of recurring rumors that suggested that the Heydrich family had some Jewish ancestry, something that resulted in yet another rather unflattering nickname for the young Reinhard: "Moses Handel".

** ''Film/HangmenAlsoDie'', 1943 - American movie. The first fiction movie to feature him, filmed only a couple of months after his death, and [[InNameOnly very loosely based on the events]]. Heydrich was played by exiled anti-Nazi German actor Hans Heinrich von Twardowski.

After being dismissed from the German Navy,[[note]]He was charged with "conduct unbecoming to an officer and gentleman" for breaking an engagement with a woman he had known for six months before--by ''inviting her to his upcoming wedding''. Even more baffling, the spurned girl's [[PapaWolf father]] was a personal friend of Heydrich's boss, Erich Raeder, and predictably did not take this insult to her lying down.[[/note]] he joined the Nazi party in 1931 (his wife Lina, née von Osten, was already a member and encouraged him) and became the head of the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD, ''Security Service''), the intelligence gathering service of the SS within the party, which became a StateSec once Nazis took power in January 1933. He went on to head the ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (RSHA, Reich Main Security Office), which merged the SD with the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ([=SiPo=], Security Police) and was deemed to [[FinalSolution solve the problem]] of the "enemies of the Reich". To reach that goal, Heydrich supervised the creation and actions of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' ("deployment groups") death squads in Eastern Europe, which ended up massacring over 1 million people in the wake of the [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Wehrmacht]] on the Eastern front during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the majority of them being Jews.

After being dismissed from the German Navy,[[note]]He was charged with "conduct unbecoming to an officer and gentleman" for breaking an engagement with a woman he had known for six months before.[[/note]] he joined the Nazi party in 1931 (his wife Lina, née von Osten, was already a member and encouraged him) and became the head of the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD, ''Security Service''), the intelligence gathering service of the SS within the party, which became a StateSec once Nazis took power in January 1933. He went on to head the ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (RSHA, Reich Main Security Office), which merged the SD with the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ([=SiPo=], Security Police) and was deemed to [[FinalSolution solve the problem]] of the "enemies of the Reich". To reach that goal, Heydrich supervised the creation and actions of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' ("deployment groups") death squads in Eastern Europe, which ended up massacring over 1 million people in the wake of the [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Wehrmacht]] on the Eastern front during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the majority of them being Jews.

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (March 7, 1904 - June 4, 1942) was one of the key figures of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. Most infamously, he was one of the main architects of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Many historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite, the one most closely resembling the Nazi Aryan ideal of being tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, athletic, intelligent, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick power hungry, utterly ruthless and merciless]]. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler described him as "the Man with the Iron Heart", while his enemies and victims referred to him as "The Hangman", "The Butcher of Prague" and "The Blonde Beast", among other self-explanatory monikers.

For his immediate superior, see UsefulNotes/HeinrichHimmler.

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (March 7, 1904 - June 4, 1942) was one of the key figures of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. Most infamously, he was one of the main architects of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Many historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite, the one most closely resembling the Nazi Aryan ideal of being tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, athletic, intelligent, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick power hungry, and utterly ruthless and merciless]]. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler described him as "the Man with the Iron Heart", while his enemies and victims referred to him as "The Hangman", "The Butcher of Prague" and "The Blonde Beast", among other self-explanatory monikers.

He became probably the most famous target of assassination during World War II (next to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler naturally, although all of the attempts on the latter were unsuccessful). Two Czechoslovak soldiers in exile, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, were trained in Great Britain and targeted Heydrich in Prague with the help of local resistance operatives on 27 May 1942, in an operation known as Anthropoid, which aimed at "shaking up" the Czech [[LaResistance resistance]] against Nazi Germany. Heydrich didn't directly die in the attack,[[note]]Gabčík's Sten submachine gun jammed at the worst moment and Kubiš threw a grenade at Heydrich's staff car; Heydrich was caught in the blast and both assassins fled after a brief firefight with Heydrich and his driver[[/note]] but succumbed to his wounds becoming infected afterwards, and resigning himself to death, during a bedside visit by Himmler, he supposedly recited a line from one of his father's operas; [[LastWords "The world is just a barrel-organ which the Lord God turns Himself. We all have to dance to the tune which is already on the drum."]] He slipped into a coma he never woke up from the next day, dying in hospital on 4 June 1942.[[note]] Despite his personal fury at Heydrich for carelessly travelling in an open-topped car, making him an easier target, for propaganda purposes, Hitler had Heydrich given a state funeral.[[/note]] The commando squad was hunted down and all of its members ended up dead,[[note]]After one of their own betrayed them for amnesty as well as the bounty being offered, the commandos responsible for the attack on Heydrich retreated into the crypts of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague, where they were either killed or committed suicide when the Nazis stormed the church[[/note]] and a horrific wave of reprisals claimed the lives of at least 5,000 people,[[note]]Hitler initially wanted to execute 10,000 Czechs at random in retaliation, and was only persuaded not to when his advisers insisted such a swathe of executions would be too detrimental to Czechoslavkia's ability to supply the German war effort.[[/note]] including the population of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky, which were razed to the ground.[[note]]This was actually the intended outcome, designed to horrify the Czech populace into opposing Nazi rule; many of the local resistance members who helped the assassins had no idea of their actual mission and were actually aghast when they learnt their intent to kill Heydrich, as they knew full well the type of vengeance the Nazis would seek.[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Conspiracy|2001}}'', 2001 - TV movie about the Wannsee Conference. Portrayed by Creator/KennethBranagh.

* ''Interpol'', 1965 - TV series, episode "Geld, Geld, Geld". Portrayed by Anton Diffring.

* ''Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil'', 1985 - TV movie. Portrayed by David Warner, [[RoleReprise once again]].

* ''ComicBook/Block109'' - A French alternate history comic book in which he is alive after June 1942 due to history being altered following the assassination of Hitler in 1941. He becomes Reichsführer-SS after the death of Himmler in 1947 and by 1953 the SS finds itself in an InterserviceRivalry with Hochmeister Zytek's New Teutonic Order for supremacy over Nazi Germany while the war against the USSR becomes more and more hopeless.

He projected the next step in industrialized murder -- the deportation and gassing of millions in specifically designed camps in UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} -- and presented it to his peers at the Wannsee Conference on 20 January 1942. He was also a major in the Luftwaffe, flying nearly 100 combat missions until 22 July 1941, when his plane was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire. Heydrich made an emergency landing behind enemy lines, evaded a Soviet patrol and contacted a forward German patrol. After this, Hitler personally ordered Heydrich to return to Berlin to resume his SS duties. He became acting ''Reichsprotektor'' of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia (basically the governor of the ''de facto'' occupation of what is today UsefulNotes/TheCzechRepublic) in September 1941. Upon his arrival in Prague, Heydrich sought to eliminate opposition by suppressing Czech cultural elites and deporting and executing members of the Czech resistance, while making sure the local population remained productive for the German war effort.

He became probably the most famous target of assassination during World War II (next to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler naturally, although all of the attempts on the latter were unsuccessful). Two Czechoslovak soldiers in exile, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, were trained in Great Britain and targeted Heydrich in Prague with the help of local resistance operatives on 27 May 1942, in an operation known as Anthropoid, which aimed at "shaking up" the Czech [[LaResistance resistance]] against Nazi Germany. Heydrich didn't directly die in the attack,[[note]]Gabčík's Sten submachine gun jammed at the worst moment and Kubiš threw a grenade at Heydrich's staff car; Heydrich was caught in the blast and both assassins fled after a brief firefight with Heydrich and his driver[[/note]] but succumbed to his wounds becoming infected afterwards, and resigning himself to death, during a bedside visit by Himmler, he supposedly recited a line from one of his father's operas; [[LastWords "The world is just a barrel-organ which the Lord God turns Himself. We all have to dance to the tune which is already on the drum."]] He slipped into a coma he never woke up from the next day, dying in hospital on 4 June 1942.[[[[note]] Despite his personal fury at Heydrich for carelessly travelling in an open-topped car, making him an easier target, for propaganda purposes, Hitler had Heydrich given a state funeral.[[/note]] The commando squad was hunted down and all of its members ended up dead,[[note]]After one of their own betrayed them for amnesty as well as the bounty being offered, the commandos responsible for the attack on Heydrich retreated into the crypts of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague, where they were either killed or committed suicide when the Nazis stormed the church[[/note]] and a horrific wave of reprisals claimed the lives of at least 5,000 people,[[note]]Hitler initially wanted to execute 10,000 Czechs at random in retaliation, and was only persuaded not to when his advisers insisted such a swathe of executions would be too detrimental to Czechoslavkia's ability to supply the German war effort.[[/note]] including the population of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky, which were razed to the ground.[[note]]This was actually the intended outcome, designed to horrify the Czech populace into opposing Nazi rule; many of the local resistance members who helped the assassins had no idea of their actual mission and were actually aghast when they learnt their intent to kill Heydrich, as they knew full well the type of vengeance the Nazis would seek.[[/note]]

He became probably the most famous target of assassination during World War II (next to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler naturally, although all of the attempts on the latter were unsuccessful). Two Czechoslovak soldiers in exile, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, were trained in Great Britain and targeted Heydrich in Prague with the help of local resistance operatives on 27 May 1942, in an operation known as Anthropoid, which aimed at "shaking up" the Czech [[LaResistance resistance]] against Nazi Germany. Heydrich didn't directly die in the attack,[[note]]Gabčík's Sten submachine gun jammed at the worst moment and Kubiš threw a grenade at Heydrich's staff car; Heydrich was caught in the blast and both assassins fled after a brief firefight with Heydrich and his driver[[/note]] but succumbed to an infection of his wounds and died in hospital on 4 June 1942.[[note]] Despite his personal fury at Heydrich for carelessly travelling in an open-topped car, making him an easier target, for propaganda purposes, Hitler had Heydrich given a state funeral.[[/note]] The commando squad was hunted down and all of its members ended up dead,[[note]]After one of their own betrayed them for amnesty as well as the bounty being offered, the commandos responsible for the attack on Heydrich retreated into the crypts of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague, where they were either killed or committed suicide when the Nazis stormed the church[[/note]] and a horrific wave of reprisals claimed the lives of at least 5,000 people,[[note]]Hitler initially wanted to execute 10,000 Czechs at random in retaliation, and was only persuaded not to when his advisers insisted such a swathe of executions would be too detrimental to Czechoslavkia's ability to supply the German war effort.[[/note]] including the population of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky, which were razed to the ground.[[note]]This was actually the intended outcome, designed to horrify the Czech populace into opposing Nazi rule; many of the local resistance members who helped the assassins had no idea of their actual mission and were actually aghast when they learnt their intent to kill Heydrich, as they knew full well the type of vengeance the Nazis would seek.[[/note]]

'''Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich''' (March 7, 1904 - June 4, 1942) was one of the key figures of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. Most infamously, he was one of the main architects of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Many historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite, the one most closely resembling the Nazi Aryan ideal of being tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, athletic, intelligent, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick power hungry, and utterly ruthless and merciless]]. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler described him as "the Man with the Iron Heart", while his enemies and victims referred to him as "The Hangman", "The Butcher of Prague" and "The Blonde Beast", among other self-explanatory monikers.

Heydrich was in his youth known to be athletic, and especially enjoyed swimming and fencing, [[WickedCultured as well as ballroom dancing and the violin]]. He was also notably shy, and was held in at least some degree of contempt by his peers, who where known to mock him behind his back for his lanky build, his slight tendency towards being cross-eyed, and, not least, his [[VocalDissonance notably high-pitched voice]] and rather unusual laugh which was described as sounding like "braying", which earned him the not very flattering nickname "Die Ziege" (the Goat). Heydrich was so ashamed of these traits that he for his entire life refused to hold public speeches, fearing that his voice would reduce him to a laughingstock. His youth was also marked by recurring rumors that suggested that he had some Jewish ancestry, something that resulted in yet another rather unflattering nickname: "Moses Handel".

** ''Film/OperationDaybreak'', 1975 - Czechoslovak-American movie. Portrayed by Anton Diffring, who [[RoleReprise reprised the role]] after the 1965 series ''Interpol''.

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (March 7, 1904 - June 4, 1942) was one of the key figures of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. Most infamously, he was one of the main architects of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Many historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite, the one most closely resembling the Nazi Aryan ideal of being tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, athletic, intelligent, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick power hungry, and utterly ruthless and merciless]]. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler described him as "the Man with the Iron Heart", while his enemies and victims referred to him as "The Hangman", "The Butcher of Prague" and "The Blonde Beast", among other self-explanatory monikers.

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (March 7, 1904 – June 4, 1942) was one of the key figures of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. Most infamously, he was one of the main architects of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Many historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite, the one most closely resembling the Nazi Aryan ideal of being tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, athletic, intelligent, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick power hungry, and utterly ruthless and merciless]]. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler described him as "the Man with the Iron Heart", while his enemies and victims referred to him as "The Hangman", "The Butcher of Prague" and "The Blonde Beast", among other self-explanatory monikers.

After being dismissed from the German Navy,[[note]]He was charged with "conduct unbecoming to an officer and gentleman" for breaking an engagement with a woman he had known for six months before.[[/note]] he joined the Nazi party in 1931 (his wife Lina, née von Osten, was already a member and encouraged him) and became the head of the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD, ''Security Service''), the intelligence gathering service of the SS within the party, which became a StateSec once Nazis took power in January 1933. He went on to head the ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (RSHA, Reich Main Security Office), which merged the SD with the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ([=SiPo=], Security Police) and was deemed to [[FinalSolution solve the problem]] of the "enemies of the Reich". To reach that goal, Heydrich supervised the creation and actions of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' ("deployment groups") death squads in Eastern Europe, which ended up massacring over 1 million people in the wake of the [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Wehrmacht]] on the Eastern front during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the majority of them being Jews.

He projected the next step in industrialized murder -- the deportation and gassing of millions in specifically designed camps in UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} -- and presented it to his peers at the Wannsee Conference on 20 January 1942. He was also a major in the Luftwaffe, flying nearly 100 combat missions until 22 July 1941, when his plane was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire. Heydrich made an emergency landing behind enemy lines, evaded a Soviet patrol and contacted a forward German patrol. After this, Hitler personally ordered Heydrich to return to Berlin to resume his SS duties. He became acting ''Reichsprotektor'' of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia (basically the governor of the ''de facto'' occupation of what is today UsefulNotes/TheCzechRepublic) in September 1941. Upon his arrival in Prague, Heydrich sought to eliminate opposition by suppressing Czech cultural elites and deporting and executing members of the Czech resistance, while making sure the local population remained productive for the German war effort.

He became probably the most famous target of assassination during World War II (next to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler naturally, although all of the attempts on the latter were unsuccessful). Two Czechoslovak soldiers in exile, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, were trained in Great Britain and targeted Heydrich in Prague with the help of local resistance operatives on 27 May 1942, in an operation known as Anthropoid, which aimed at "shaking up" the Czech [[LaResistance resistance]] against Nazi Germany. Heydrich didn't directly die in the attack,[[note]]Gabčík's Sten submachine gun jammed at the worst moment and Kubiš threw a grenade at Heydrich's staff car; Heydrich was caught in the blast and both assassins fled after a brief firefight with Heydrich and his driver[[/note]] but succumbed to an infection of his wounds and died in hospital on 4 June 1942.[[note]] Despite his personal fury at Heydrich for carelessly travelling in an open-topped car, making him an easier target, for propaganda purposes, Hitler had Heydrich given a state funeral.[[/note]] The commando squad was hunted down and all of its members ended up dead,[[note]]After one of their own betrayed them for amnesty as well as the bounty being offered, the commandos responsible for the attack on Heydrich retreated into the crypts of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague, where they were either killed or committed suicide when the Nazis stormed the church[[/note]] and a horrific wave of reprisals claimed the lives of at least 5,000 people,[[note]]Hitler initially wanted to execute 10,000 Czechs at random in retaliation, and was only persuaded not to when his advisers insisted such a swathe of executions would be too detrimental to Czechoslavkia's ability to supply the German war effort.[[/note]] including the population of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky, which were razed to the ground.[[note]]This was actually the intended outcome, designed to horrify the Czech populace into opposing Nazi rule; many of the local resistance members who helped the assassins had no idea of their actual mission and were actually aghast when they learnt their intent to kill Heydrich, as they knew full well the type of vengeance the Nazis would seek.[[/note]]

[[AC:Comic Books:]]

* ''ComicBook/Block109'' - A French alternate history comic book in which he is alive after June 1942 due to history being altered following the assassination of Hitler in 1941. He becomes Reichsführer-SS after the death of Himmler in 1947 and by 1953 the SS finds itself in an InterserviceRivalry with Hochmeister Zytek's New Teutonic Order for supremacy over Nazi Germany while the war against the USSR becomes more and more hopeless.

[[AC:Films:]]

** ''Atentát'', 1965 - Czechoslovak movie. Portrayed by Siegfried Loyda.

[[AC:Literature:]]

* ''[=HHhH=]'' - Biographical/historical novel by Laurent Binet about Heydrich's life and Operation Anthropoid. The title is an acronym, it means "Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich" ("Himmler's brain is called Heydrich"), a quip said to have circulated in Germany at the time.

[[AC:Live-Action TV:]]

* ''Heydrich — Final solution'', 2011 - Czech TV series.
* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'', 2015-2016 - Alternate history series based on Creator/PhilipKDick's book. He's still alive in 1962 and [[spoiler:is plotting to overthrow Hitler and [[AdaptationalVillainy is a key advocate for war with Japan]]]]. Portrayed by Creator/RayProscia.

[[AC:Video Games:]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', he survived the attempt on his life in 1942. In the 1960's he leads the German SS, and is one of the contenders for the Führership in the CivilWar after Hitler dies. He's the least likely to win, however, as he lacks any real public support due to the fact that he's under the thumb of Heinrich Himmler, a man considered absolutely insane [[EvenEvilHasStandards even by Nazi standards]]. In the end, Heydrich can only really "win" if the player chooses to play as him, if they do they will find a story of misery, tragedy, and loss, as [[EvilVersusOblivion Heydrich starts fighting back against Himmler]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards once he gains knowledge of the utterly insane scope of his plans]] and [[HeelRealization gradually comes to realize the hollowness of the Nazi ideals]].

* In ''VideoGame/ThousandWeekReich'', he survived the attempt on his life in 1942 and completely pacified Bohemia, before becoming the governor of Gotenland (formerly Crimea) and Germanizing the whole region in 3 years through sheer brutality alone. These successes have inflated his ego and Heydrich believes that he can [[TheStarscream challenge his boss]], Heinrich Himmler and maybe even Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. At the start of the game, he and Himmler have fallen out over which direction the SS should go and Himmler speculates that Reinhard’s ambitions do not stop at serving the Reich. Himmler is proven right once Hitler dies and a CivilWar breaks out, during which Heydrich cuts off all ties to the Fatherland and declares his own Greater Gotische Reich, attempting to conquer the Eastern European Reichskommissariate which have since fallen into Anarchy. This sets off a power struggle between him and Himmler during the civil war, with only one coming out on top and becoming the Fuhrer of Germany should the SS win the CivilWar.

[[AC:Visual Novels:]]

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (March 7, 1904 – June 4, 1942) was one of the key figures of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. Most infamously, he was one of the main architects of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Many historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite, the one most closely resembling the Nazi Aryan ideal of being tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, athletic, intelligent, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick power hungry, and utterly ruthless and merciless]]. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler described him as "the Man with the Iron Heart", while his enemies and victims referred to him as "The Hangman", "The Butcher of Prague" and "The Blonde Beast", amongst other self-explanatory monikers.