The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The SS 'Butcher of Prague'
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Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.086092
EAN: 9780306808609
ISBN: 0306808609
Label: Da Capo Press
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 264
Publication Date: 1998-08-21
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Studio: Da Capo Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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If anyone warranted assassination during World War II, the man to know was Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942)—chief of the security police, rabid anti-Semite, architect of the Final Solution, ruthless overlord of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, and Hitler's most likely successor. In 1941, at the height of the Nazi's seeming invincibility, the Czech government-in-exile launched a desperate operation to kill Heydrich. From the assassins' training in England to their Thermopylae-like last stand in the flooded crypt of a Prague church, and the Nazi's savage reprisals (including the obliteration of two villages), The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich brilliantly recounts one of World War II's most daring and tragic missions.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Poster Boy for National Socialism
Comment: Callum Macdonald is a historian at the University of Warwick in England. This 248 page biography of Reinhard Heydrich tells of his early life and the actions that determined his career first as a Naval officer then as one of the high-ranking Nazi officials. Imperial Germany was an aristocracy where class prejudice prevented recognition of those who acquired material prerequisites (p.6). There was bias against the Heydrich family for the wrong reasons. A charge of "breach of promise" caused Reinhard's discharge from the Navy (p.15). He found a new career in Himmler's SS (p.16). The SS investigated people in the Nazi party and their enemies (p.17). Reinhard was picked to organize the Security Division (p.18). His skills, talent, and ambition made his career (p.20). Reinhard hated the old imperial Germany: officer corps, bureaucracy, and churches (p.21).
After Hitler was given power the SS sought to control the police, especially the political police. Each province (or state) controlled its police force (p.23). When the Enabling Act gave total power to Hitler the takeover of state governments began (p.24). The unrestrained administrative terror began, leaders of political parties and trade unions, and Jews, were put into the new detention camp at Dachau (p.25). The next victim was the SA; the German officer corps wanted them eliminated. Himmler's SS purged their rivals (p.27). The mission of the SS was the internal defense of Germany, a never-ending task (p.28). Reinhard considered Catholics as a danger (p.30). He planned to destroy the Church from within (p.31). Reinhard had a "bad reputation" among prostitutes (p.44).
Chapter 3 provides an important history of Czecho-Slovakia during the late 1930s. After Munich the Czech military intelligence bureau fled to England with their secrets (Chapter 4). Their information was important to Britain and the Soviet Union. The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union meant the repudiation of the Munich pact and hope for an independent Czecho-Slovakia (Chapter 5). But there would have to be resistance and sabotage by the Czechs to aid the war effort. Political intrigue put Reinhard in charge of Bohemia-Moravia (Chapter 6). Repression followed against the resistance (p.113). Rations were increased (p.114). But Reinhard had one weakness: he avoided the usual security escort (p.117). This made him an accessible target (p.118).
Heydrich organized the economy to improve war production (pp.132-133). Propaganda aimed to control thinking (p.135). Chapter 7 tells of the return of the parachutists to Czechoslovakia. The preparations and the discussions on the politics are in Chapter 8. It was almost like luck that the team was given an opportunity on May 27, 1942. The wounds of Heydrich proved fatal (Chapter 9). Reprisals were taken, the village of Lidice was razed and its population destroyed (p.187). Then an amnesty and a reward resulted in a letter that named the two men (p.189). No parachutist was taken alive (p.195). More reprisals followed, over 5,000 victims (p.199). Heydrich's death was the only good news in Europe for the Allies. Britain repudiated the Munich agreement and recognized the Benes government (p.200). Sudeten Germans would be later expelled (p.201). The Nazi leaders would face future retribution (p.203). The murder of over 50,000 Czechs halted resistance until 1944 (p.205). Their relative isolation was different from France and the countries nearer England.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fine book on the the Heydrich Affair
Comment: The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich by Callum MacDonald is the best account in English of the assassination of Heydrich that I'm aware of. It presents background on Heydrich's life before he became the "Reichsprotector" of Bohemia and Moravia in late 1941. It continues with fine chapters on the development of the Czech plans to assassinate Heydrich, the assassination, and the German reprisals. For me, it communicates very well the harsh drama of these events.
One matter I would like to understand better is the apparent lack of an escape plan on the part of the two parachutists who carried out the assassination. A chapter in Prague in Danger by Peter Demetz, to be published in early 2008, may provide new information on this matter.
The comment of a Czech friend may be a suitable ending to this brief review: "The question as to whether the assassination was justified, given the brutal German reprisals, may never be settled. What remains is the courage of the parachutists and those who helped them, and the murderous folly of men."
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Summary: Assassination of Heydrich
Comment: Very detailed and thorough with a good overview of the events leading to the assassination. Too repetitious of the political motivations of Benes, et al in London. Terminology is confusing for the reader new to this material, but helpful index in the back to all the abbreviations. Overall very interesting read. To those traveling to Prague the church crypt is open to the public for a small fee with small museum and self-guided tour, complete with machine gun bullet holes on outside of church.
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Summary: The killing of a monster.
Comment: If there was ever a face of evil, then it had to be Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Hitler. Hitler once said about Heydrich that he had a heart of iron. Reinhard was sadistic and was the architect of the Final Solution. This was no man with a humane touch, he was in short a monster. The Czech government in exile and the British sent this man to where he belonged at a terrible cost.
The book details the plot to kill Heydrich. Surprisely, the murder and details took up perhaps three to four chapters, with the rest of the book dealing with internal Czech politics and how the government balanced between the English and Soviets. There was some good information on the wartime policies of Bohemia and Moravia (Czech Republic) and the government in exile under Benes in England.
The world was a better place without Heydrich. A short biography is included in the writing, and it shows Heydrich in all his bloody lust. His own killing was because he had so much contempt for the Czechs. He and his driver were the only ones on the road, and the killers had a big target, especially when Heydrich told the driver to stop when he saw the guerillas. This was truly an evil man.
The book is a nice read. It details the bio of Reinhard, plus the detail of plot and murder, and finally the end of those who killed Heydrich. A good book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Assassination of Heydrich recounted in detail
Comment: Reinhard Heydrich was a horrible Nazi. Tall. Blonde. Amoral.A killer whose convening of the Wannssee Conference in early 1942 began the implementation of the plan to destroy European Jewry;
the Butcher Boy of Czechoslovakia who ruled from a castle in
Prague. This repulsive human being was assassinated in May,
1942 by daring Czech patriots who attacked his car with a bomb
and a sten gun!
Reprisals following Heydrich's death were horrific leading
to mass arrests and the wiping off the map of the village of
Lidice.
The brave men who plotted the murder of Heydrich were martyrs to Czech freedom whose names as sons of liberty should never be forgotten.
The late author Macdonald examines how the assassination was planned among Czech exiles in London; the politcal and strategic repercussions of the assassination and the fate of the families of those responsible for the assassination are reported.
The book would make a marvelous thriller espionage motion picture with its picture of parachutists landing in occupied
Czech,; daring escapes; the final showdown to the death in a large Prague church and the daring daytime attack on Hedyrich's
car.
In the unholy pantheon of Nazi monsters the name of Heydrich is today little known among the general public. This chief lt. to Himmler is however emblematic of the Nordic evil incarnate of fascism.
This book will prove interesting to the World War II buff and
the general reader interested in the period. Good!
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