Heydrich

[Exxley]

Well, I have to confess the man is still fascinating me. One of the less well know personality of the Third Reich, and yet, he played a central part in the Final Solution.
I have always wondered if he was really a true Nazi believer or if he was just endlessly ambitious and cunning.

[Nick]

I would guess he was both, i know he was seen as the biggest threat to the allies if he became head of the Abwher, the reprisals after he was assasinated were incredible and i believe this caused the question to be asked "was it worth it" , and its hard to say, the allies needed Canaris to remain the boss of intelligence but Heydrich was increasingly looking as though he would replace him, and God only knows what would have happened if he did, it wouldnt have been nice.

[Kiwiwriter]

Yes, he is one of the most fascinating of the Nazi leaders. His brother Thomas was apparently not a hot Nazi, and burned many family papers, including evidence of the family's Jewish ancestry. There were rumors of that all through the Reich's history, and many people believed Heydrich's anti-Semitism was self-loathing.

Certainly he was cunning, ambitious, and probably sought to replace Himmler at the head of the Gestapo, and probably succeed Hitler.

Evil and intelligence are a deadly combination.

[Gage]

A very cunning and self centred man.
Didn't he oversee the Wannsee conference on the final solution?
I know he was warned not to drive around Prague in an open top car, just shows the arrogance of the man.

Originally Posted by Gage

A very cunning and self centred man.
Didn't he oversee the Wannsee conference on the final solution?
I know he was warned not to drive around Prague in an open top car, just shows the arrogance of the man.

Yes, he called the meeting at Wansee, or in fact it was Eichman that did all the work.

[Kiwiwriter]

The German film "Wannsee Conference" plays Eichmann as a virtual toady to Heydrich (I believe) and the Anglo-American "Conspiracy" has Eichmann as more of a power-holder. I'm not sure which is right.

Either way, Heydrich called the shots.

[polsky78]

mighta,coulda,whudif;hindsight speculation is no different from present time prediction,what might happen,etc."intrepid" (Sir William Stephenson) described Heydrich as having a "first class brain" who,with hitler out of the way, would have proved a far more dangerous foe than hootler,eh pardon me hitler. heydrich might have withdrawn wehrmacht forces from the east, a truce of some kind with russia. consolidating forces in the west ,biding his time while developing nuclear weapons,heavy h2o from norsk hydro,solid propellant for rockets.If der hangman had got his widdle hands on this stuff,,;; sheesh
.Heydrich wears down england with additional luftwaffe forces freed from duty in the east,gets ireland & scotland to neutral or else.Maybe in 47 or 48,heydrich and the democratic fourth reich go after america.This would have been awful. We owe the foresighted brits a huge debt for their early on stubborn resistance