{{Short description|SS officer who helped Jews (1905–1944)}} {{Infobox military person | birth_name = Heinz Siegfried Heydrich | birth_date = {{birth date|1905|09|29|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1944|11|19|1905|09|29|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Halle (Saale)|Halle an der Saale]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[German Empire]] | death_place = [[East Prussia]], [[Nazi Germany]] | image = reinhardheinz.jpg | caption = [[Reinhard Heydrich]] (left) and Heinz Heydrich | nickname = | allegiance = {{flag|Nazi Germany}} | service_years = | rank = ''[[Obersturmführer]]'' | branch = [[SS]] | commands = editor of ''Die Panzerfaust'' | unit = | battles = [[World War II]] | awards = | relations = {{plainlist| * [[Richard Bruno Heydrich]] (father) * Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Krantz (mother) * [[Reinhard Heydrich]] (brother) }} | spouse = Trude Heydrich (née Werther) | children = 5 }} '''Heinz Siegfried Heydrich''' (29 September 1905 – 19 November 1944) was the son of [[Richard Bruno Heydrich]] and the younger brother of SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' [[Reinhard Heydrich]]. After the death of his brother in June 1942, he helped a number of Jews escape the Holocaust.<ref>Lehrer, Steven ''[[Wannsee House and the Holocaust]]''. McFarland. Jefferson, North Carolina 2000 pp 53-87 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ahrZF9pAZJ0C]</ref>
==Early life==
Heinz Siegfried Heydrich was born on 29 September 1905, in [[Halle (Saale)|Halle an der Saale]] to composer [[Richard Bruno Heydrich]], a [[Protestant]], and his wife Elisabeth Anna Maria Amalia Krantz, a [[Catholic]]. Her father was [[Eugen Krantz]], director of the Dresden Royal Conservatory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/das-spiel-ist-aus-arthur-nebe-a-c93ff157-0002-0001-0000-000044446464?context=issue |accessdate=2009-01-26 |language=de |title=Das Spiel ist Aus — Arthur Nebe |publisher=[[Der Spiegel]] |work=Der Spiegel 6/1950 vom 09.02.1950, page 21}}</ref>
Heydrich's family held social standing and substantial financial means. Their father, [[Richard Bruno Heydrich]], was an opera singer, the founder of a music conservatory in Halle, and a German Nationalist who instilled patriotic ideas in the minds of his three children.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/reinhard-heydrich-bio |title=Reinhard Heydrich}}</ref> The Heydrich household was very strict and the children were frequently disciplined. As a youth, Heydrich engaged his older brother, [[Reinhard Heydrich]], in mock [[fencing]] duels.<ref>{{Citation |last=Robert. |first=Gerwarth |title=Hitler's hangman : the life of Heydrich |date=2016 |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/959572414 |publisher=Tantor Media |isbn=978-1-5159-1081-7 |oclc=959572414 |access-date=2023-02-13}}</ref>
==Career in the SS== <!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:heinzheydrichfn.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Heinz Heydrich (directly behind Hitler's left shoulder) at the Reich Chancellery funeral of [[Reinhard Heydrich]], June 9, 1942.]] --> Heinz Heydrich was an ''[[Obersturmführer]]'' (lieutenant), journalist, and publisher of the soldiers' newspaper, ''Die Panzerfaust''. He was at first a fervent admirer of Hitler. Before his brother Reinhard's State funeral in Berlin in June 1942, Heydrich was given a large packet containing his brother's files, released from his strongbox at [[Gestapo]] Headquarters, 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, Berlin.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Paul |last=Donnelley |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/231589691 |title=Assassins and assassinations : history's most infamous plots |date=2008 |publisher=New Holland |isbn=978-1-84537-940-7 |oclc=231589691}}</ref> Heinz had shut himself away in his room with the papers. The next morning, his wife noticed that her husband had sat up all night burning the documents from the package. Heinz, on leave from the front, could not be engaged in conversation, his wife remembered; he seemed to be elsewhere mentally, and like stone. The files in the package were probably Reinhard Heydrich's personal files, from which Heinz understood for the first time in all its enormity the systematic extermination of the Jews, the so-called [[Final Solution]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=Callum |last=MacDonald |title=The killing of Reinhard Heydrich: the SS 'Butcher of Prague' |publisher=Da Capo Press |date=August 21, 1998 |page=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McKinney |first=Dagney |date=2020-02-15 |title=Reinhard Heydrich and the Heydrich Terror: The Real Story Behind Operation Anthropoid |work=Cultura Obscura |url=https://www.culturaobscura.com/heydrich-terror-memorial-prague/ |access-date=2023-02-13 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Thereafter, Heydrich helped at least two Jews escape by forging identity documents and printing them on ''Die Panzerfaust'' presses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leong Kok Wey |first=Adam |date=2012-04-01 |title=Operation Anthropoid |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2012.675808 |journal=The RUSI Journal |volume=157 |issue=2 |pages=68–75 |doi=10.1080/03071847.2012.675808 |issn=0307-1847|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Graeme |last=Donald |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1298714596 |title=The man who shot the man who shot Lincoln : and 44 other forgotten figures from history |date=2011 |publisher=Lyons Press |isbn=978-0-7627-7584-2 |oclc=1298714596}}</ref>
==Suicide== When in November 1944 an economic commission headed by a State Attorney investigated the editorial staff of ''Die Panzerfaust'', Heinz Heydrich thought he had been discovered and shot himself in order to protect his family from the Gestapo.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dederichs |first=Mario |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1327553239 |title=Heydrich: The Face of Evil |date=April 19, 2009 |publisher=STACKPOLE BOOKS |isbn=1-78438-893-9 |pages=165 |oclc=1327553239}}</ref> In reality, the attorney knew nothing about the forgeries, and was only trying to find out the reason for shortages in paper supplies.<ref name=Mario>Dederichs, Mario R. (2006). ''Heydrich: the face of evil''. Translated by Geoffrey Brooks. Greenhill Books, p. 166. {{ISBN|1-85367-686-1}}</ref> According to his nephew Heider, however, Heydrich committed suicide because of a pending court martial case against him for theft and corruption.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Gm2UB07ZQsC |title=Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich |last=Gerwarth |first=Robert |date=2011-11-15 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300115758 |pages=290 |language=en}}</ref>
Heinz Heydrich is buried in the war cemetery of [[Riesenburg]], according to the [[Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hopmans |first=Rob |date=2018-09-22 |title=Heinz Siegfried Heydrich, the younger brother of SS General Reinhard Heydrich. |url=https://ww2gravestone.com/heinz-siegfried-heydrich-younger-brother-ss-general-reinhard-heydrich/ |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=WW2 Gravestone |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Family== Heydrich had five children. His oldest, {{ill|Peter Thomas Heydrich|de}} (1931–2000), was a well-known German cabaret singer, and wrote a book about his childhood, father, and uncle. In the book, Peter Heydrich describes how, as a youth, he enjoyed the fame of being a "crown prince", as the nephew of Reinhard Heydrich. During boyhood, he thought of his uncle as a successful sportsman and a sensitive musician. In Prague, Peter observed that his uncle had become a "bigwig". Peter derived many privileges from being Reinhard Heydrich's nephew. Even after the war, Peter still felt some pride in the familial relationship, if not so openly. But finally, Peter Heydrich had to admit that Reinhard Heydrich was a devious schemer, who planned and executed important parts of [[the Holocaust]] and other crimes. Peter died on 22 November 2000, after a long illness.<ref>Peter Thomas Heydrich, et al. ''Ich war der Kronprinz von Heydrich: eine Kindheit im Schatten des Henkers von Prag''. Kreuz Verlag, Stuttgart, 2006</ref>
==See also== * [[Albert Göring]], [[Hermann Göring]]'s anti-Nazi younger brother * [[List of Germans who resisted Nazism]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heydrich, Heinz}} [[Category:1905 births]] [[Category:1944 suicides]] [[Category:1944 deaths]] [[Category:German military personnel who died by suicide]] [[Category:German military writers]] [[Category:Heydrich family|Heinz]] [[Category:Nazi-era German officials who resisted the Holocaust]] [[Category:People from Halle (Saale)]] [[Category:People from the Province of Saxony]] [[Category:People who rescued Jews during the Holocaust]] [[Category:SS-Obersturmführer]] [[Category:Suicides by firearm in Germany]] [[Category:Nazis who died by suicide in Nazi Germany]] [[Category:Waffen-SS personnel]] [[Category:Military personnel from Saxony-Anhalt]]