Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ) ( 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942 ) was a high - ranking German Nazi official during World War II , and one of the main architects of the Holocaust . He was SS - " Obergruppenführer " ( General ) and " General der Polizei " , chief of the Reich Main Security Office ( including the Gestapo and Kripo ) and " Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor " ( Deputy Reich - Protector ) of Bohemia and Moravia ( in what is now known as the Czech Republic ) . Heydrich served as President of Interpol ( the international law enforcement agency ) and chaired the January 1942 Wannsee Conference , which formalised plans for the final solution to the Jewish Question — the deportation and extermination of all Jews in German - occupied territory . Historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite ; Adolf Hitler christened him " the man with the iron heart " . He was the founding head of the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ) , an intelligence organisation charged with seeking out and neutralising resistance to the Nazi Party via arrests , deportations , and killings . He helped organize Kristallnacht , a series of co - ordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9 – 10 November 1938 . The attacks , carried out by SA stormtroopers and civilians , presaged the Holocaust . Upon his arrival in Prague , Heydrich sought to eliminate opposition to the Nazi occupation by suppressing Czech culture and deporting and executing members of the Czech resistance . Heydrich was attacked in Prague on 27 May 1942 by a British - trained team of Czech and Slovak soldiers who had been sent by the Czechoslovak government - in - exile to kill him in an operation code named Operation " Anthropoid " . He died from his injuries a week later . Intelligence falsely linked the assassins to the villages of Lidice and Ležáky . Lidice was razed to the ground ; all adult males were executed , and all but a handful of its women and children were deported and killed in Nazi concentration camps . Early life . Heydrich was born in 1904 in Halle an der Saale to composer and opera singer Richard Bruno Heydrich and his wife Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Krantz , a Roman Catholic . His two forenames were patriotic musical tributes : " Reinhard " referred to the tragic hero from " Amen " ( an opera his father wrote ) , and " Tristan " stems from Richard Wagner ' s " Tristan und Isolde " . Heydrich ' s third name , " Eugen " , was his late maternal grandfather ' s forename ( Professor Eugen Krantz had been the director of the Dresden Royal Conservatory ) . Heydrich was born into a family of social standing and substantial financial means . Music was a part of Heydrich ' s everyday life ; his father founded the Halle Conservatory of Music and his mother taught piano there . Heydrich developed a passion for the violin and carried that interest into adulthood ; he impressed listeners with his musical talent . His father was a German nationalist who instilled patriotic ideas in his three children , but was not affiliated with any political party until after World War I . The Heydrich household was strict . As a youth , Heydrich engaged his younger brother , Heinz , in mock fencing duels . Heydrich was very intelligent and excelled in his schoolwork — especially in science — at the " Reformgymnasium " . A talented athlete , he became an expert swimmer and fencer . But he was shy , insecure , and was frequently bullied for his high - pitched voice and rumored Jewish ancestry . The latter claim earned him the nickname " Moses Handel " . Years later , Wilhelm Canaris said he had obtained photocopies proving Heydrich ' s Jewish ancestry , but these photocopies never surfaced . Nazi Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan also claimed that Heydrich was not a pure " Aryan " . Heydrich ultimately ordered Schutzstaffel ( SS ) researchers to investigate the rumour . They reported that he had no Jewish ancestors . Nazi official and " race expert " Achim Gercke concluded that Heydrich was a pure Aryan , with no Jewish ancestry . In 1918 , World War I ended with Germany ' s defeat . In late February 1919 , civil unrest — including strikes and clashes between communist and anti - communist groups — took place in Heydrich ' s home town of Halle . Under Defense Minister Gustav Noske ' s directives , a right - wing paramilitary unit was formed and ordered to " recapture " Halle . Heydrich , then 15 - years old , joined Maercker ' s Volunteer Rifles ( the first Freikorps unit ) . When the skirmishes ended , Heydrich was part of the force assigned to protect private property . Little is known about his role , but the events left a strong impression ; it was a " political awakening " for him . He joined the Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund ( The National German Protection and Shelter League ) , an anti - Semitic organisation . As a result of the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles , hyperinflation spread across Germany and many lost their life savings . Halle was not spared . By 1921 , few townspeople there could afford a musical education at Bruno Heydrich ' s conservatory . This led to a financial crisis for the Heydrich family . Naval career . In 1922 Heydrich joined the Navy , taking advantage of the security , structure , and pension it offered . He became a naval cadet at Kiel , Germany ' s primary naval base . On 1 April 1924 he was promoted to senior midshipman ( " Oberfähnrich zur See " ) and sent to officer training at the Mürwik Naval College . In 1926 he advanced to the rank of ensign ( " Leutnant zur See " ) and was assigned as a signals officer on the battleship , the flagship of Germany ' s North Sea Fleet . With the promotion came greater recognition . He received good evaluations from his superiors and had few problems with other crewmen . He was promoted on 1 July 1928 to the rank of sub - lieutenant ( " Oberleutnant zur See " ) . The increased rank fueled his ambition and arrogance . Heydrich became a notorious lothario , having countless affairs . In December 1930 he attended a rowing - club ball and met Lina von Osten . They became romantically involved and soon announced their engagement . Lina was already a Nazi Party follower ; she had attended her first rally in 1929 . In 1931 Heydrich was charged with " conduct unbecoming to an officer and a gentleman " for breaking an engagement promise to a woman he had known for six months before the von Osten engagement . Admiral Erich Raeder dismissed Heydrich from the navy that April . The dismissal devastated Heydrich , who found himself without career prospects . He kept the engagement and married Lina in December 1931 . Career in the SS and military . In 1931 , Heinrich Himmler began setting up a counterintelligence division of the SS . Acting on the advice of his associate Karl von Eberstein , who was von Osten ' s friend , Himmler interviewed Heydrich . Himmler was impressed and hired him immediately . His pay was 180 reichsmarks per month ( 40 USD ) . His NSDAP number was 544 , 916 and his SS number was 10 , 120 . Heydrich later received a Totenkopfring from Himmler for his service . On 1 August 1931 Heydrich began his job as chief of the new ' Ic Service ' ( intelligence service ) . He set up office at the Brown House , the Nazi Party headquarters in Munich . By October he had created a network of spies and informers for intelligence - gathering purposes and to obtain information to be used as blackmail to further political aims . Information on thousands of people was recorded on index cards and stored at the Brown House . To mark the occasion of Heydrich ' s December wedding , Himmler promoted him to the rank of SS - " Sturmbannführer " ( major ) . In just over fifteen months , Heydrich had surpassed his former naval rank and was making what was considered a " comfortable " salary . In 1932 a number of Heydrich ' s enemies began to spread rumours of his alleged Jewish ancestry . Within the Nazi organisation such innuendo could be damning , even for the head of the Reich ' s counterintelligence service . Nazi Party racial expert Dr . Achim Gercke investigated Heydrich ' s genealogy . Gercke reported that Heydrich was " . . . of German origin and free from any coloured and Jewish blood " . Gestapo and SD . In mid - 1932 , Himmler appointed Heydrich chief of the renamed security service — the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ) . Heydrich ' s counterintelligence service grew into an effective machine of terror and intimidation . With Hitler striving for absolute power in Germany , Himmler and Heydrich wished to control the political police forces of all 17 German states . They began with Bavaria . In 1933 , Heydrich gathered some of his men from the SD and together they stormed police headquarters in Munich and took over the police using intimidation tactics . Himmler became the Munich police chief and Heydrich became the commander of Department IV , the political police . In 1933 , Hitler became Chancellor of Germany , and through a series of decrees became Germany ' s Führer und Reichskanzler ( leader and chancellor ) . The first concentration camp s , which were originally intended to house political opponents , were established in early 1933 . By year ' s end there were over fifty camps . Hermann Göring founded the Gestapo in 1933 as a Prussia n police force . When Göring transferred full authority over the Gestapo to Himmler in April 1934 , it immediately became an instrument of terror under the SS ' s purview . Himmler named Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934 . On 9 June 1934 , Rudolph Hess declared the SD the official Nazi intelligence service . Crushing the SA . Beginning in April 1934 , and at Hitler ' s request , Heydrich and Himmler began building a dossier on Sturmabteilung ( SA ) leader Ernst Röhm in an effort to remove him as a rival for party leadership . At this point , the SS was still part of the SA , the early Nazi paramilitary organisation which now numbered over 3 million men . At Hitler ' s direction , Heydrich , Himmler , Göring , and Viktor Lutze drew up lists of those who should be liquidated , starting with seven top SA officials and including many more . On 30 June 1934 the SS and Gestapo acted in coordinated mass arrests that continued throughout the weekend . Röhm was shot without trial , along with the leadership of the SA . The purge became known as the Night of the Long Knives . Up to 200 people were killed in the action . Lutze was appointed SA ' s new head and it was converted into a sports and training organisation . With the SA out of the way , Heydrich began building the Gestapo into an instrument of fear . He improved his index - card system , creating categories of offenders with color - coded cards . The Gestapo had the authority to arrest citizens on the suspicion that they might commit a crime , and the definition of a crime was at their discretion . The Gestapo Law , passed in 1936 , gave police the right to act extra - legally . This led to the sweeping use of " Schutzhaft " — " protective custody " , a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings . The courts were not allowed to investigate or interfere . The Gestapo was considered to be acting legally as long as it was carrying out the leadership ' s will . People were arrested arbitrarily , sent to concentration camps , or killed . Himmler began developing the notion of a Germanic religion and wanted SS members to leave the church . In early 1936 , Heydrich left the Catholic Church . His wife , Lina , had already done so the year before . Heydrich not only felt he could no longer be a member , but came to consider the church ' s political power and influence a danger to the state . Consolidating the police forces . On 17 June 1936 all police forces throughout Germany were united , following Hitler ' s appointment of Himmler as Chief of German Police . Himmler immediately reorganised the police into two groups : the " Ordnungspolizei " ( Order Police ; Orpo ) , consisting of both the national uniformed police and the municipal police , and the " Sicherheitspolizei " ( Security Police ; SiPo ) , consisting of the " Geheime StaatsPolizei " ( Secret State Police ; Gestapo ) and " Kriminalpolizei " ( Criminal Police ; Kripo ) . At that point , Heydrich was head of the SiPo and SD . Heinrich Müller was the Gestapo ' s operations chief . Heydrich was assigned to help organise the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin . The games were used to promote the propaganda aims of the Nazi regime . Goodwill ambassadors were sent to countries that were considering a boycott . Anti - Jewish violence was forbidden for the duration , and news stands were required to stop displaying copies of " Der Stuermer " . For his part in the games ' success , Heydrich was awarded the " Deutsches Olympiaehrenzeichen " or German Olympic Games Decoration ( First Class ) . In mid - 1939 Heydrich created the Stiftung Nordhav Foundation to obtain real estate for the SS and Security Police to use as guest houses and vacation spots . The Wannsee Villa , which the Stiftung Nordhav acquired in November 1940 , was the site of the Wannsee Conference ( 20 January 1942 ) . At the conference , senior Nazi officials formalised plans to deport and exterminate all Jews in German - occupied territory and those countries not yet conquered . This action was to be coordinated among the representatives from the Nazi state agencies present at the meeting . On 27 September 1939 the SD and SiPo ( made up of the Gestapo and the Kripo ) were folded into the new Reich Main Security Office or SS - Reichssicherheitshauptamt ( RSHA ) , which was placed under Heydrich ' s control . The title of " Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD " ( Chief of Security Police and SD ) or CSSD was conferred on Heydrich on 1 October . Heydrich became the President of Interpol ( then under Nazi control ) on 24 August 1940 , and its headquarters were transferred to Berlin . He was promoted to SS - Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei on 24 September 1941 . Red Army purges . In 1936 , Heydrich learned that a top - ranking Soviet officer was plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin . Sensing an opportunity to strike a blow at both the Soviet Army and Admiral Canaris of Germany ' s Abwehr , Heydrich decided that the Russian officers should be " unmasked " . He discussed the matter with Himmler and both in turn brought it to Hitler ' s attention . But the " information " Heydrich had received was actually misinformation planted by Stalin himself in an attempt to legitimize his planned purges of the Red Army ' s high command . Stalin ordered one of his best NKVD agents , General Nikolai Skoblin , to pass Heydrich false information suggesting that Marshall Mikhail Tukhachevsky and other Soviet generals were plotting against Stalin . Hitler approved Heydrich ' s plan to act on the information immediately . Heydrich ' s SD forged a series of documents and letters implicating Tukhachevsky and other Red Army commanders . The material was delivered to the NKVD . The Great Purge of the Red Army followed on Stalin ' s orders . While Heydrich believed they had successfully deluded Stalin into executing or dismissing some 35 , 000 of his officer corps , the importance of Heydrich ' s part is a matter of speculation and conjecture . Soviet military prosecutors did not use the forged documents against the generals in their secret trial ; they instead relied on false confessions extorted or beaten out of the defendants . Night - and - Fog Decree . By late 1940 , German armies had swept through most of Western Europe . The following year , Heydrich ' s SD was given responsibility for carrying out the " Nacht und Nebel " ( Night - and - Fog ) decree . According to the decree , " persons endangering German security " were to be arrested in a maximally discreet way : " under the cover of night and fog " . People disappeared without a trace and none told of their whereabouts or fate . For each prisoner , the SD had to fill in a questionnaire that listed personal information , country of origin , and the details of their crimes against the Reich . This questionnaire was placed in an envelope inscribed with a seal reading " Nacht und Nebel " and submitted to the Reich Main Security Office ( RSHA ) . In the WVHA " Central Inmate File " , as in many camp files , these prisoners would be given a special " covert prisoner " code , as opposed to the code for POW , Felon , Jew , Gypsy , etc . The decree remained in effect after Heydrich ' s death . The exact number of people who vanished under it has never been positively established , but it is estimated to be 7 , 000 . Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia . On 27 September 1941 , Heydrich was appointed Deputy Reich Protector of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( the part of Czechoslovakia incorporated into the Reich on 15 March 1939 ) and assumed control of the territory . The Reich Protector , Konstantin von Neurath , remained the territory ' s titular head , but was sent on " leave " because Hitler , Himmler , and Heydrich felt his " soft approach " to the Czechs had promoted anti - German sentiment and encouraged anti - German resistance via strikes and sabotage . Upon his appointment , Heydrich told his aides " [ w ] e will Germanize the Czech vermin . " Heydrich came to Prague to enforce policy , fight resistance to the Nazi regime , and keep up production quotas of Czech motors and arms that were " extremely important to the German war effort " . He viewed the area as a bulwark of Germandom and condemned the Czech resistance ' s " stabs in the back " . To realise his goals Heydrich demanded racial classification of those who could and could not be Germanized . He explained , " . . . making this Czech garbage into Germans must give way to methods based on racist thought " . Heydrich started his rule by terrorising the population : 92 people were executed within three days of his arrival in Prague . Their names appeared on posters throughout the occupied region . Almost all avenues by which Czechs could express the Czech culture in public were closed . According to Heydrich ' s estimate , between 4 , 000 and 5 , 000 people were arrested by February 1942 . Those who were not executed were sent to Mauthausen - Gusen concentration camp , where only four per cent of Czech prisoners survived the war . In March 1942 , further sweeps against Czech cultural and patriotic organisations , military , and intelligentsia resulted in the practical paralysis of Czech resistance . Although small disorganised cells of survived , only the communist resistance was able to function in a coordinated manner ( although it also suffered arrests ) . The terror also served to paralyse resistance in society , with public and widespread reprisals against any action resisting the German rule . Heydrich ' s brutal policies during that time quickly earned him the nickname " the Butcher of Prague " . As Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia , Heydrich applied carrot - and - stick methods . Labour was reorganised on the basis of the German Labour Front . Heydrich used equipment confiscated from the Czech organisation Sokol to organise events for workers . Food rations and free shoes were distributed , pensions were increased , and ( for a time ) free Saturdays were introduced . Unemployment insurance was established for the first time . The black market was suppressed . Those associated with it or the resistance movement were tortured or executed . Heydrich labelled them " economic criminals " and " enemies of the people " , which helped gain him support . Conditions in Prague and the rest of the Czech lands were relatively peaceful under Heydrich , and industrial output increased . Still , those measures could not hide shortages and increasing inflation ; reports of growing discontent multiplied . Despite public displays of goodwill towards the populace , privately Heydrich left no illusions about his eventual goal : " This entire area will one day be definitely German , and the Czechs have nothing to expect here " . Eventually up to two - thirds of the populace were to be either removed to regions of Russia or exterminated after Nazi Germany won the war . Bohemia and Moravia faced annexation directly into the German Reich . The Czech workforce was exploited as Nazi - conscripted labour . More than 100 , 000 workers were removed from " unsuitable " jobs and conscripted by the Ministry of Labour . By December 1941 , Czechs could be called to work anywhere within the Reich . Between April and November 1942 , 79 , 000 Czech workers were taken in this manner for work within Nazi Germany . Also , in February 1942 , the work day was increased from eight to twelve hours . Heydrich was , for all intents and purposes , military dictator of Bohemia and Moravia . His changes to the government ' s structure left President Emil Hacha and his cabinet virtually powerless . He often drove alone in a car with an open roof — a show of his confidence in the occupation forces and in his government ' s effectiveness . Summary of career . Heydrich ' s time in the SS was a mixture of rapid promotions , reserve commissions in the regular armed forces , and front - line combat service . During his 11 years with the SS Heydrich " rose from the ranks " : he was appointed to every rank from private to full general . He was also a major in the Luftwaffe , flying nearly 100 combat missions until 22 July 1941 , when his plane was hit by Soviet anti - aircraft fire . Heydrich made an emergency landing behind enemy lines . He evaded a Soviet patrol and met up with a forward German patrol . After this Hitler personally ordered Heydrich to return to Berlin to resume his SS duties . His service record also gives him credit as a Navy Reserve Lieutenant , although during World War II Heydrich had no contact whatsoever with this military branch . Heydrich received several Nazi and military awards , including the German Order , Blood Order , Golden Party Badge , Luftwaffe Pilot ' s Badge , bronze and silver combat mission bars , and the Iron Cross First and Second Classes . Role in the Holocaust . Historians regard Heydrich as the most fearsome member of the Nazi elite . Hitler called him " the man with the iron heart " . He was one of the main architects of the Holocaust during the early war years , answering only to , and taking orders from , Hitler , Göring , and Himmler in all matters pertaining to the deportation , imprisonment , and extermination of Jews . Heydrich was one of the organisers of " Kristallnacht " , a pogrom against Jews throughout Germany on the night of 9 – 10 November 1938 . Heydrich sent a telegram that night to various SD and Gestapo offices , helping to coordinate the program with the SS , SD , Gestapo , uniformed police ( Orpo ) , SA , Nazi party officials , and even the fire departments . It talks about permitting arson and destroying Jewish businesses and synagogues , and orders the confiscation of all " archival material " out of Jewish community centres and synagogues . The telegram ordered that " as many Jews – particularly affluent Jews – are to be arrested in all districts as can be accommodated in existing detention facilities . . . 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 . " Twenty - thousand Jews were sent to concentration camps in the days immediately following ; historians consider Kristallnacht the beginning of the Holocaust . When Hitler asked for a pretext for the invasion of Poland in 1939 , Himmler , Heydrich , and Heinrich Müller masterminded a false flag plan code - named Operation " Himmler " . It involved a fake attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz on 31 August 1939 . Heydrich masterminded the plan and toured the site , which was about four miles from the Polish border . Wearing Polish uniforms , 150 German troops carried out several attacks along the border . Hitler used the ruse as an excuse to launch his invasion . On 21 September 1939 , Heydrich sent out a teleprinter message on the " Jewish question in the occupied territory " to the chiefs of all Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police . It contained instructions on how to round up Jewish people for placement into ghettos , called for the formation of Judenräte ( Jewish councils ) , ordered a census , contained Aryanization plans for Jewish - owned businesses and farms , among other measures . The Einsatzgruppen followed the army into Poland to implement the plans . Later , in the Soviet Union , they were charged with rounding up and killing Jews via firing squad and gas vans . By the end of the war , the Einsatzgruppen had murdered over one million people , including over 700 , 000 in Russia alone . On 29 November 1939 , Heydrich issued a cable about the " Evacuation of New Eastern Provinces " , detailing the deportation of people by railway to concentration camps , and giving guidance surrounding the December 1939 census , which would be the basis on which those deportations were performed . In May 1941 Heydrich drew up regulations with Quartermaster general Eduard Wagner for the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union , which ensured that the Einsatzgruppen and army would cooperate in murdering Soviet Jews . On 10 October 1941 , Heydrich was the senior officer at a meeting in Prague that discussed deporting 50 , 000 Jews from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to ghettos in Minsk and Riga . The officers also discussed taking 5 , 000 Jews from Prague " in the next few weeks " and handing them over to the Einsatzgruppen commanders Arthur Nebe and Otto Rasch . Establishing ghettos in the Protectorate was also planned , resulting in the construction of Theresienstadt , where 33 , 000 people would eventually die . Tens of thousands more passed through the camp on their way to their deaths in the East . In 1941 Himmler named Heydrich as " responsible for implementing " the forced movement of 60 , 000 Jews from Germany and Czechoslovakia to the Lodz ( Litzmannstadt ) Ghetto in Poland . On 20 January 1942 , Heydrich chaired the Wannsee Conference , at which he presented his plan to deport and transport 11 million Jews from every country in Europe , to be worked to death or killed outright in extermination camp s : Death in Prague . In London , the Czechoslovak government - in - exile resolved to kill Heydrich . Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík headed the team chosen for the operation . Trained by the British Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) , the pair returned to the Protectorate , parachuting from a Handley Page Halifax , on 28 December 1941 . They lived in hiding , preparing for the assassination attempt . On 27 May 1942 , Heydrich planned to meet Hitler in Berlin . German documents suggest that Hitler intended to transfer Heydrich to German - occupied France , where the French resistance was gaining ground . Heydrich would have to pass a section where the Dresden - Prague road merged with a road to the Troja Bridge . The intersection , in the Prague suburb of Libeň , was well - suited for the attack because motorists have to slow for a hairpin turn . As Heydrich ' s car slowed , Gabčík took aim with a Sten sub - machine gun , but it jammed and failed to fire . Instead of ordering his driver to speed away , Heydrich called his car to a halt and attempted to confront the attackers . Kubiš then threw a bomb ( a converted anti - tank mine ) at the rear of the car as it stopped . The explosion wounded Heydrich and Kubiš . When the smoke cleared , Heydrich emerged from the wreckage with his gun in his hand ; he chased Kubiš and tried to return fire . Kubiš jumped on his bicycle and pedalled away . Heydrich ran after him for half a block but became weak from shock and collapsed . He sent his driver , Klein , to chase Gabčík on foot . In the ensuing firefight , Gabčík shot Klein in the leg and escaped to a local safe house . Heydrich , still with pistol in hand , gripped his left flank , which was bleeding profusely . A Czech woman went to Heydrich ' s aid and flagged down a delivery van . Heydrich was first placed in the driver ' s cab , but complained that the truck ' s movement was causing him pain . He was placed in the back of the truck , on his stomach , and taken to the emergency room at Na Bulovce Hospital . Heydrich had suffered severe injuries to his left side , with major damage to his diaphragm , spleen , and lung . He had also fractured a rib . Dr . Slanina packed the chest wound , while Dr . Walter Diek tried unsuccessfully to remove the splinters . He immediately decided to operate . This was carried out by Drs . Diek , Slanina , and Hohlbaum . Heydrich was given several blood transfusions . A splenectomy was performed . The chest wound , left lung , and diaphragm were all debrided and the wounds closed . Himmler ordered Dr . Karl Gebhardt to fly to Prague to assume care . Despite a fever , Heydrich ' s recovery appeared to progress well . Dr . Theodor Morell , Hitler ' s personal physician , suggested the use of sulfonamide ( a new antibacterial drug ) , but Gebhardt , thinking Heydrich would recover , refused . On 2 June , during a visit by Himmler , Heydrich reconciled himself to his fate by reciting a part of one of his father ' s operas : Heydrich slipped into a coma after Himmler ' s visit and never regained consciousness . He died on 4 June , probably around 04 : 30 . He was 38 . The autopsy concluded that he died of sepsis . Heydrich ' s facial expression as he died betrayed an " uncanny spirituality and entirely perverted beauty , like a renaissance Cardinal , " according to Bernhard Wehner , a Kripo police official who investigated the assassination . After an elaborate funeral held in Prague on 7 June 1942 , Heydrich ' s coffin was placed on a train to Berlin , where a second ceremony was held in the new Reich Chancellery on 9 June . Himmler gave the eulogy . Hitler attended and placed Heydrich ' s decorations — including the highest grade of the German Order , the Blood Order Medal , the Wound Badge in Gold and the War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords — on his funeral pillow . Although Heydrich ' s death was employed for pro - Reich propaganda , Hitler privately blamed Heydrich for his own death , through carelessness : Heydrich was interred in Berlin ' s Invalidenfriedhof , a military cemetery . The exact burial spot is not known — a temporary wooden marker that disappeared when the Red Army overran the city in 1945 was never replaced , so that Heydrich ' s grave could not become a rallying point for Neo - Nazis . A photograph of Heydrich ' s burial shows the wreaths and mourners to be in section A , which abuts the north wall of the Invalidenfriedhof and Scharnhorststraße , at the front of the cemetery . A recent biography of Heydrich also places the grave in Section A . Hitler wanted Heydrich to have a monumental tomb but , due to Germany ' s declining fortunes , it was never built . After the war , the West German judicial system awarded Heydrich ' s widow a federal pension . The couple had four children : Klaus , born in 1933 ; Heider , born in 1934 ; Silke , born in 1939 ; and Marte , born shortly after her father ' s death in 1942 . Klaus was killed in a traffic accident in 1943 . Lina wrote a memoir , " Leben mit einem Kriegsverbrecher " ( " Living With a War Criminal " ) , which was published in 1976 . She remarried once and died in 1985 . Aftermath . Heydrich ' s assailants hid in safe houses and eventually took refuge in Ss . Cyril and Methodius Cathedral , an Orthodox church in Prague . After a traitor in the Czech resistance betrayed their location , the church was surrounded by 800 members of the SS and Gestapo . Several Czechs were killed , and the remainder hid in the church ' s crypt . The Germans attempted to flush the men out with gunfire , tear gas , and by flooding the crypt . Eventually an entrance was made using explosives . Rather than surrender , the soldiers took their own lives . Supporters of the assassins who were killed in the wake of these events included the church ' s leader , Bishop Gorazd , who is now revered as a martyr of the Orthodox Church . Infuriated by Heydrich ' s death , Hitler ordered the arrest and execution of 10 , 000 randomly selected Czechs . But after consultations with Karl Hermann Frank , he tempered his response . The Czech lands were an important industrial zone for the German military , and indiscriminate killing could reduce the region ' s productivity . Hitler ordered a quick investigation . Intelligence falsely linked the assassins to the towns of Lidice and Ležáky . A Gestapo report stated that Lidice , north - west of Prague , was suspected as the assailants ' hiding place because several Czech army officers , then in England , had come from there and the Gestapo found a resistance radio transmitter in Ležáky . On 9 June , after discussions with Himmler and Karl Hermann Frank , Hitler ordered brutal reprisals . Over 13 , 000 people were arrested , deported , and imprisoned . Beginning on 10 June , all males over the age of 16 in the villages of Lidice and Ležáky were murdered . All the women in Ležáky were also murdered . All but four of the women from Lidice were deported immediately to Ravensbrück concentration camp ( four were pregnant – they were forcibly aborted at the same hospital where Heydrich had died and then sent to the concentration camp ) . A number of children were chosen for Germanization , but 81 were killed in gas van s at the Chełmno extermination camp . Both towns were burned and Lidice ' s ruins were levelled . At least 1 , 300 people were massacred after Heydrich ' s death . Heydrich ' s replacements were Ernst Kaltenbrunner as the chief of RSHA , and Karl Hermann Frank ( 27 – 28 May 1942 ) and Kurt Daluege ( 28 May 1942 – 14 October 1943 ) as the new acting Reichsprotektor s . After Heydrich ' s death , the policies formalised at the Wannsee conference he chaired were carried out . The first three true death camps , designed for mass killing with no legal process or pretext , were built and operated at Treblinka , Sobibór , and Bełżec . The project was named Operation " Reinhard " after Heydrich .