One of the most feared and notorious Nazis to have risen to power during Hitler’s Third
Reich was Reinhard Heydrich.
Heydrich was deemed by Heinrich Himmler as the idea Nazi, and the perfect aryan.
Infact Hitler even regarded Heydrich as, ‘the man with the iron heart,’ such was the brutality
displayed by the man who was regarded as one of the architects of the Holocaust.
Heydrich became the Chief of the Reich Security Main office overseeing the Gestapo, SD and
Kripo and became the Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.
When he arrived in Prague, he instilled a reign of terror in which he tried to eliminate
all opposition to the Nazi occupation.
The crimes of Heydrich were endless, however in May 1942 he was mortally wounded following
an assassination attempt by members of the Czech resistance trained by British Special
Operations Executive.
The bomb and machine gun attack did not kill Heydrich immediately, however on the 4th June
1942 he passed away.
He was given a colossal funeral in which Hitler personally attended, along with other high
ranking Nazis.
When he was buried, it was alleged it was done in secret, however in December 2019 a
newspaper story came out that stated Heydrich’s burial location and grave had been dug up,
and that his grave had been disturbed.
But what is the story behind this?
Join us today as we look at, ‘The Attempted Grave Robbing Of Reinhard Heydrich.’
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Reinhard Heydrich joined the Nazi party on the 1st June 1931, and six weeks later joined
the SS.
He managed to secure an interview with Heinrich Himmler and at this the two discussed their
plans for creating an SS intelligence service, but Himmler was so impressed that Heydrich
was given a job straight away.
Through clever manipulations and a close relationship with Himmler, Heydrich rose through many positions
and became the chief of the SD the counterintelligence service that carried out missions with great
intimidation and terror.
He also became the Chief of the Gestapo in April 1934, and he was involved also in the
Night of the Long Knives and crushing the SA with the SS, in the purge.
Himmler continued with the SD to plot against the enemies of the Nazi state, and along with
the gestapo had many people transported the concentration camps.
Both he and Himmler shared the view that both of the enemies of the Nazi state should be
dealt with brutally.
This included Jews, communists and those intellectuals who held values the Nazis deemed offensive.
Heydrich is considered by some as the architect of the Holocaust, as Hermann Gorin authorised
Heydrich in January 1939 to develop plans for the final solution, or the solution to
the Jewish question.
Under the cover of military advancements, Heydrich created the Einsatzgruppen, a group
of soldiers who would murder on a large scale civilians or those deemed enemies of the Nazis,
but they were killed following Wehrmacht advancements.
Heydrich oversaw these, and these death squads shot and executed millions.
Heydrich also invited different officials to attend the Wannsee Conference and he was
the lead speaker with support from Adolf eichmann.
Here this is where the final solution was decided upon, with Heydrich presenting the
plans for the final solution.
Inside of Bohemia and Moravia, Heydrich was tasked with putting down the resistance and
getting the Czech lands productive for the German War effort.
His work overseeing the area saw dozens executed in public to deter the rest of the population
from resisting or rising up against the Nazi occupiers.
He also ordered the deportations of thousands to ghettos and then onto concentration camps.
The pacification of the Czechs heydrich believed was a great success, to the point where he
regularly travelled around Prague in his open top car, and he also disregarded personal
security a number of times.
However the plan to assassinate him had already been formulated, and two assassins chosen
for the job, Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik had already been trained for the job by British
SOE.
On the 27th May 1942, Heydrich was due to meet with Hitler in Berlin.
It was believed that he was going to be transferred to France to deal with the French resistance
like he had the Czechs, but to get to the airport he passed a junction where the assassins
were based.
As Heydrich’s car approached a hairpin bend, Gabcik aimed his sten machine gun at Heydrich’s
car which jammed, and then Kubis threw an anti tank mine at Heydrich’s car.
It landed against a back wheel and exploded with metal fragments wounding Heydrich.
He suffered serious injuries, and was hospitalised.
He underwent surgery, and it looked as if he was recovering.
Himmler went to visit him, and Heydrich understood his fate and said, ‘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.’
The day after Himmler visited, Heydrich fell into a coma and never regained consciousness
dying of sepsis on the 4th June.
Heydrich’s death caused a huge degree of shock inside of Nazi Germany.
He was regarded as an ideal aryan, and it was seen as a large dent in the Nazi regime.
A huge funeral was held in Prague 3 days after his death, and then his coffin was placed
aboard on a train which set off for Berlin where a huge Nazi ceremony would take place.
This occured on the 9th June 1942 inside the Reich Chancellery.
It was attended by the major players inside of the Nazi Party, and Himmler gave the eulogy
to a man he regarded as a great friend.
Hitler was also there, and he took part in the huge Nazi spectacle and he placed Heydrich’s
medals including the highest grade of the German Order, the wound badge in gold, the
Blood order medal and the War merit cross 1st class with swords on the funeral pillow.
His funeral was used for a huge propaganda effort in a display of Nazi power.
Hitler however in private blamed Heydrich himself for his own death, as mentioned Heydrich
could have been considered careless with his approach.
Hitler said, ‘Since it is opportunity which makes not only the thief but also the assassin,
such heroic gestures as driving in an open unarmored vehicle, or walking about the streets
unguarded are just damned stupidity, which serves the Fatherland not one whit.
That a man as irreplaceable as Heydrich should expose himself to unnecessary danger, I can
only condemn as stupid and idiotic.’
Heydrich’s coffin after the ceremony was transported to the Invalidenfriefhof, or the
Invalids Ceremony.
It is one of the oldest ceremeteries in Berlin and was the traditional resting place for
soldiers of the Prussian Army.
It has a rich history of military burials, and a number of commanders were buried inside
of the gates.
The Red Baron’s body was also buried inside the cemetery once it was transferred from
France.
During the Third Reich and the Nazi regime, a number of senior figures were buried inside
of the cemetery, and Heydrich was buried inside of here too.
It was believed for decades that the exact spot of Heydrich’s burial had bene lost
to history and was not of public knowledge.
Marking his grave was a temporary wooden marker but when the Red Army stormed Berlin during
the final days of the war in Europe, the wooden marker disappeared and went missing.
It was in the shape of the Iron Cross, complete with a swastika and Heydrich’s name and
his date of birth and death.
It was never replaced, to ensure that Heydrich’s grave did not become a meeting place for Neo-Nazis
to venerate Heydrich.
As mentioned it was believed that Heydrich’s grave had been lost to time, and a photograph
of the burial showed that the wreaths that were placed and the mourners that stood there
were in Section A.
This placed the burial near the North wall of the ceremetery, and at the front.
Hitler and commissioned sculptures and architects to create a huge tomb, and an elaborate memorial
but as the Second World War turned against the Germans this never occured.
The cemetery where his body was based became a no mans land during the Cold War, and his
grave along with other high ranking Nazis was dismantled and left.
It’s believed though that Heydrich’s remains were never disinterred during the years.
Following executions of high ranking Nazis that took place at trials such as the Nuremberg
Trials, the bodies were mostly always cremated with the remains of people such as Hermann
Goring then being scattered in rivers.
But Heydrich’s grave remains left and untouched.
However in December 2019, a disturbing news story hit the worlds media.
The supposed lost grave of Heydrich had been opened by grave robbers or by unknown individuals
under the cover of darkness.
An employee who worked at the cemetery discovered that the ground had been broken and the grave
had been prized open inside of the Invalid’s cemetery.
The Berlin police stated that the motive was unclear, but also that no bones had been removed
from the grave, but they did confirm that it was Heydrich’s grave that was broken
into.
This means that for decades people knew that it was there.
Those who disturbed the grave must have had inside knowledge of the grave’s location
and who was buried inside there as the markings identifying key Nazis were removed to prevent
sympathisers turning them into Nazi shrines.
It was said that ‘the grave was dug up in the night between Wednesday and Thursday,’
but there were no immediate suspects as to who could have done it.
It could have been opened by Right wing supporters who wished to search for the remains of him
to either sickeningly venerate the Hangman, or to turn his grave into a shrine.
Graves of Nazis had been broken into before, as Horst Wessel a Nazi paramilitary leader
had his grave broken into in 2000 by left wing activists, who had a habit of defiling
the graves of other Nazis.
Wessel’s skull was allegedly thrown into a river.
The police as mentioned admitted that nothing was taken from Heydrich’s grave, and they
were looking for people in connection with it.
What’s worrying though is the intent that someone may have had inside of the cemetery
that evening.
They could have sickeningly been searching for Heydrich’s remains, and they obviously
knew what they were doing disturbing that specific area of grass in the cemetery.
What stopped them also taking remains, were they disturbed by noise in the cemetery that
prevented them from digging further into the grave.
What is also worrying is the fact that since 2019, very little information has been released
with regards to Heydrich’s alleged grave robber.
There isn’t much out there with regards to developments to the case.
So what occured is the Police confirmed where Heydrich’s grave was, exposing this to the
world with very little reward for their reveal with the perpetrator assumingly still out
there.
The mystery as to who attempted to rob the grave of Reinhard Heydrich today still remains
a mystery, but one which is rather disturbing.
Once again thanks for watching.
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Thanks again for watching.