Heinz Heydrich

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Heinz Siegfried Heydrich (born September 29, 1905 in Halle (Saale) ; † November 19, 1944 in Riesenburg , East Prussia ) was a German SS-Obersturmführer and younger brother of the later Obergruppenführer , head of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and Deputy Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia , Reinhard Heydrich .

Life

Heinz Heydrich was the second son of the composer and opera singer Bruno Heydrich and Elisabeth Krantz. His siblings were Reinhard Heydrich and Maria Heydrich. He had been married to the German-Italian Gertrud Werther since 1931 and had five children with her. His eldest son, Peter Thomas Heydrich (1931–2003), was a well-known political cabaret artist , chansonnier and actor .

Heinz Heydrich worked as a journalist in Berlin and became a member of the NSDAP ( membership number 2,673,285) and SS (SS number 36,225).

Second World War

From June 1942 Heinz Heydrich was a member of the anti-tank propaganda unit 697 in the Second World War on the Eastern Front as an employee for the propaganda magazine bazooka used. According to the historian Robert Gerwarth, it is certain that in 1943/44 he prevented the deportation of Jews he knew personally in at least two cases by obtaining forged exit visas . Among those rescued was the Jewish wife of the actor Karl John .

On November 19, 1944, Heydrich shot himself in Riesenburg, East Prussia. The motives for the suicide remain unclear. According to the autobiographical memories of his son Peter Thomas Heydrich , his father, including his mother's story, changed in June 1942 after the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich . Before the state funeral he had received a large package with documents from his brother, after reading them he appeared increasingly absent and petrified. His son Peter Thomas suspects that with these documents he “ learned in full about the systematic extermination of the Jews, that is, the so-called final solution ”.

According to Mario R. Dederichs, Heydrich shot himself because he was of the opinion that searches by the public prosecutor's office of the bazooka in November 1944 had revealed corresponding indications of his illegal support actions, so that with his suicide he had protected his family from being stalked by the Gestapo want. According to Gerwarth, an impending court case against him for theft and corruption could also have played a role in the suicide .

Heydrich's grave is in the Riesenburg military cemetery .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Shlomo Aronson : Reinhard Heydrich and the early history of the Gestapo and SD, 1971 Online
  2. ↑ Mario R. Dederichs: Heydrich: the face of evil , p. 53; On-line
  3. ↑ List of seniority of the NSDAP Schutzstaffel. As of December 1, 1936, p. 160. (JPG; 1.2 MB) In: http://www.dws-xip.pl/reich/biografie/1936/1936.html . Retrieved January 13, 2020 .
  4. ^ Robert Gerwarth: Reinhard Heydrich . Munich 2011, p. 349 f . ; see. also Axel Huber: Escape to Sweden 1942 - Who knows the events? In: one day (with a letter from his supervisor at the time, Kurt Joachim Fischer )
  5. ↑ Mario R. Dederichs: Heydrich. The face of evil . Piper, Munich 2005, pp. 219f.
  6. ↑ Hans-Georg Wiedemann. Peter Thomas Heydrich's memories of his uncle Reinhard Heydrich. Unpublished manuscript , 2002, p. 12; Quoted from Mario R. Dederichs: Heydrich. The face of evil . Piper, Munich 2005, p. 219; the son's memoirs have been in print since 2006 (see bibliography), but could not yet be read for this article.
  7. ↑ Mario R. Dederichs: Heydrich. The face of evil . Piper, Munich 2005, p. 220.
  8. ^ Robert Gerwarth: Reinhard Heydrich . Munich 2011, p. 350 .
personal data
SURNAME Heydrich, Heinz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heydrich, Heinz Siegfried (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SS-Obersturmführer
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1944
Place of death Riesenburg , East Prussia