Reinhard Heydrich

Along with Himmler and Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich was an integral piece of the Nazi regime. He was regarded as one of main architects of the “Final Solution.” Following the events of Kristallnacht, Heydrich was in contact with the Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) to ensure that “immediately after the arrests have been carried out, the appropriate concentration camps should be contacted to place the Jews into camps as quickly as possible.” (Calic, 157) Heydrich had complete faith in Himmler and based on his instructions, he formed the Einsatzgruppen. Under Heydrich’s direction, the Einsatzgruppen was responsible for rounding up Jewish people to place them into ghettos. (Longerich, 425)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich

Following the creation of Einsatzgruppen, in November of 1939, “Heydrich issued a cable about the “Evacuation of New Eastern Provinces,” detailing the deportation of people by railway to concentration camps. (Aly, 5) In addition to the concentration camps, Heydrich was an important member in the “Madagascar Plan.” This was a proposed plan to deport all European Jews to the island of Madagascar but was shelved as the extermination program had already been initiated. (Browning, 127)

Perhaps the most important meeting for Heydrich was the Wannsee Conference during January 20, 1942. It was here Heydrich presented plans to carry out a “Final Solution” for all European Jews. He was authorized by Hermann Goring , a leader of the Nazi party, to ensure “the co-operation of administrative leaders of various government departments.” (Browning, 315) Unlike his comrades, Heydrich was injured during an assassination attempt and died shortly after in the hospital. He would not live to see the “Final Solution” take effect, however due to his demise, Hitler ordered brutal reprisals for the town of Lidice. It was suspected that the assailants were hiding there following the assassination. (Dederichs, 151)

In this video, Heydrich gives a short acceptance speech for a hospital train. The train was a gift to Hitler from the Czech President. Heydrich can be seen inspecting the train in the video.