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Hitler's Hangman: The Life Of Heydrich

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 88 ratings · 17 reviews

Reinhard Heydrich is widely recognized as one of the great iconic villains of the twentieth century, an appalling figure even within the context of the Nazi leadership. Chief of the Nazi Criminal Police, the SS Security Service, and the Gestapo, ruthless overlord of Nazi-occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and leading planner of the "Final Solution," Heydrich played a central ro...more

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Published (first published January 1st 2011)

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Sep 25, 2012 G.d. Brennan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wish Robert Gerwarth had written this book earlier.

I’ve spent much of the past six years writing a novel about Heydrich’s 1942 assassination. I thought I’d read everything there was to read on the man and the topic, and when I finally noticed this book this year, I figured it couldn’t tell me anything new. I’m both disappointed and pleased to discover that I was wrong—disappointed because I wish I’d had this work as a reference material, and pleased because it opened up new insights on a man a...more I wish Robert Gerwarth had written this book earlier.

I’ve spent much of the past six years writing a novel about Heydrich’s 1942 assassination. I thought I’d read everything there was to read on the man and the topic, and when I finally noticed this book this year, I figured it couldn’t tell me anything new. I’m both disappointed and pleased to discover that I was wrong—disappointed because I wish I’d had this work as a reference material, and pleased because it opened up new insights on a man and a topic I thought I already knew.

Not that Heydrich is a man most of us would want to know. As head of home security for the Third Reich, he was responsible for much of the police state apparatus of Nazi Germany—one subordinate referred to him as the “hidden pivot” of the Third Reich. He was one of the most powerful men in the SS; many insiders reportedly said: “Himmler’s Hirn heist Heydrich,” which means “Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich.” To the Czech exiles behind his assassination, he was “The Butcher of Prague.” But Gerwarth titled his book after a nickname coined by one of Heydrich’s most vocal German opponents, Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann. Mann was able to speak freely by virtue of the fact that he was an exile; his verdict is perhaps more pithy and more true than any of the above appellations. He referred to Heydrich simply as “Hitler’s Hangman.”

Gerwarth’s chief virtue is his willingness to look beyond such popular judgments at the historical truths that lay beyond—truths that are far too often distorted, warped, or enlarged by the imperfect lens of collective memory. And he does this for both the major areas and the minor ones; for Gerwarth, truth is something to be sought in matters as large as the Holocaust and as small as the musical career of a composer who might easily have been forgotten but for his infamous son. (Heydrich’s father is often reputed to have been a third-rate composer, and most authors, including yours truly, have parroted that lazy judgment, but Gerwarth makes it clear he was more of a musician’s musician, a talented man whose skills never translated into public acclaim, but who nonetheless opened a conservatory of some renown.)

Obviously, the former area’s far more important; the quest to know the truth about Heydrich is, in many ways, an attempt to understand the nature of evil; we are looking through history’s lens at something that’s ugly and misshapen to begin with. And here, too, Gerwarth looks away from the easy judgments. Popular history suggests that the Holocaust was a smoothly orchestrated mass-murder that unfolded according to a clear master plan. In some ways, it’s a comforting notion; the more abnormal the Holocaust appears, the easier it is to relegate it to glossy coffee table books, to look at it from a safe distance and tell ourselves nothing of the sort could happen again. Whereas Gerwarth makes it clear that history’s never so easy or comforting. There was bureaucracy and systematization, but there was also the confusion of a hateful ideology struggling to turn its thoughts into deeds amidst the chaos of a war it had started but couldn’t control. The Holocaust was deliberate, but it was also messy, unfolding in fits and starts, composed of disparate parts hastily sewn together, jerking and lumbering like Frankenstein’s monster through a series of ever-more-frantic and horrifying actions, from harassment to expulsion to haphazard murder to systematic extermination.

And yet the person who did so much to set this monster in motion was, after all, a man; he lived, he breathed, he died. And while we would like to think an early death would be the best possible end for someone who took so many lives, it’s difficult to see what good came of Heydrich’s assassination. While it (and the German reprisals afterwards) brought moral clarity to the Allied war effort, it also spurred the monster towards more frantic and horrifying exertions; at the time of Heydrich’s death, roughly 3/4ths of the Holocaust’s victims were still alive, but nine short months later, 3/4ths of the Holocaust’s victims were dead.

Gerwarth could have done a little better at presenting these facts more smoothly; he spends just enough of his narrative flashing forward to future events that the reader misses something that the best biographies and histories give—the sense of being in another time, seeing only what our subjects saw and knowing only what they knew, and having their same uncertainty about events that are in their future but our past. (On a side note, while the book itself is worthwhile, the e-book is atrociously formatted. E-books usually start out as an .html document so as to allow the text to display properly on various e-readers and at various text sizes. Depending on the .html encoding encoding used, certain characters may end up unreadable, particularly Czech and Polish characters such as č and Ƚ. The publishers’ answer to this problem seems to have been a 2-part solution. Part 1, presumably, was to insert those characters as little tiny .jpgs or .bmps, which causes them to display on their own line, even if they’re in the middle of a word, which makes for difficult reading. Part 2, or so I’m guessing, was to price the e-book exorbitantly high so as few readers as possible would notice.)

Still, these deficiencies are made up for by some thorough and compelling original historical research. (Another quick aside: I love scholarly books such as this, and their extensive footnotes, in part because I always forget that I don’t actually have to read all the footnotes. I always reach the early end of the narrative with some surprise; it’s like running a marathon and getting to mile 19 and having someone tap you on the shoulder and say, “Hey, you’re done. Good job, buddy!” Granted, I usually read enough footnotes to find out where the author’s being original and where he’s building on the work of others, but still. O.K., enough digressions.) Gerwarth does a great job of presenting these uncomfortable facts in a manner he refers to as “cold empathy.” While Heydrich obviously isn’t a likeable person, we do at least get some understanding to go along with history’s judgment; we don’t get excuses for his inexcusable deeds, but we do at least get explanations—a much-needed opportunity to understand both the man and his frightful legacy.(less)

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Apr 12, 2013 Steven Z. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Until 1942, the year of his assassination Reinhard Heydrich was the chief of the Nazi Criminal Police, the SS Security Service and the Gestapo. He played a significant role in the planning of the "Final Solution" and was responsible for many of the atrocities implemented by the Nazi hierarchy until his death. In this new biography, HITLER'S HANGMAN: THE LIFE OF HEYDRICH by Robert Gerwath, the Director of the Center for War Studies at the University College Dublin,the reader is presented with the...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

HITLER’S HANGMAN: The Life of Heydrich. (2011). Robert Gerwarth. ****.
Although the lives and careers of most of the major Nazis from WW II have been extensively covered, Heydrich’s has been relatively unexplored. In this thorough work, the author, based on exhaustive research into all remaining documents, has traced the career of Heydrich from his childhood from a cultured middle-class family to his end as one of the top Nazi officers – one who can claim primary responsibility for the ultimate...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Steven Peterson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How does one write a biography of a butcher, someone who committed atrocities? The author notes at the beginning that it is a difficult task, but one must understand the subject of a biography--even if the subject produces loathing. Robert Gerwarth's answer regarding Reinhard Heydrich, "Hitler's Hangman," is what he calls "cold empathy"--(Page x): ". . .an attempt to reconstruct Heydrich's life with critical distance, but without reading history backward or succumbing to the danger of confusing...more

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May 08, 2012 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, wwi-wwii

An amazing biography of one of the most evil men of the Third Reich who surprisingly has not had as much written about him as have Hitler's other acolytes. Reinhard Heydrich came from an upper middle class, cultured, and musical family but turned to the Nazi party in 1931 and became one of the most violent and virulent anti-Semites in the party leadership. On his shoulders rests, at least in part, the responsibility for the "final solution" (more commonly known as The Holocaust) as he and his mi...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Luka Novak rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ww2, biography

Heydrich is one of those Nazis who played an important role but held second level positions and are as a result mostly ignored by historians. Unlike Hitler, Speer, Goering or even Himmler there is little biographical work on Heydrich and he is either relegated to playing Himmler's talented sidekick or as head of SD in books dealing with that organisation.

Gerwarth tries to correct that and does a decent job. Not great, mind you, but good enough. Book starts with Heydrich's assassination in 1942,...more Heydrich is one of those Nazis who played an important role but held second level positions and are as a result mostly ignored by historians. Unlike Hitler, Speer, Goering or even Himmler there is little biographical work on Heydrich and he is either relegated to playing Himmler's talented sidekick or as head of SD in books dealing with that organisation.

Gerwarth tries to correct that and does a decent job. Not great, mind you, but good enough. Book starts with Heydrich's assassination in 1942, rewinds to his childhood and teenage years, follows his rise through Nazi party hierarchy and involvement in repressive machinery, relations with key players in that field (Himmler, Hitler, Goering) and ends with Nazi retaliation for his death.

Gerwarth doesn't put forward any controversial subjects or adresses any conspiracy theories such as had Himmler had a hand in his death (that is interfered with his post-assassination treatment) because he feared him as a rival, was his dismisal from navy part of Canaris' plot to gain inside man in Nazi security aparatus.... He simply collects and presents information about his life, his work and consequences.

I assume it was hard for author to write biography of such a man and not pass judgement but Gerwarth managed to pull it off. Book presents action and allows reader to draw his own conclussion and judgement, something for which author should be commended.

Mind you, this book does not uncover and new parts of Heydrich's life. Most of it was written in one form or another either in books covering Himmler's life, Nazi security aparatus (Heydrich's brainchild SD, SS, RSHA....) or Holocaust. It's worth noting that book goes in greater detail about his work as Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, the remains of Chechoslovakia left after 1938 Munich agreement and Slovak secession. While his rule is often described as carrot-and-stick Gerwarth argues it was plenty of a stick and little carrot.

Overall a book that concentrates on the man himself, placing him in centre and not as head of organsation book covers or somebody operating some distance away from other person book deals with. Also worth reading if you are interested in second tier officials who held great degree of power but were conmstanly locked in struggles with people in similar positions in jungle that was Nazi Germany state bureaucracy.(less)

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Jan 19, 2012 Geli rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finally, a comprehensive biography of Reinhard Heydrich! Previous books about Heydrich have dealt more with his assassination and its aftermath. Gerwarth's bio delves more into the man himself. Despite the dearth of information on Heydrich (compared to some of his contemporaries, including Himmler, who kept a diary), the author's extensive research has brought new information and insight into his subject. In addition to being extremely well researched, the notes in this book are some of the best...more

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Jan 04, 2013 KOMET rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies-diaries-and-memoirs, history-germany, second-world-war-non-fiction, zz-out-of-residence

I first became aware of Reinhard Heydrich in 1975 when I (still in grade school) read Gunter Peis' book "The True Story of the Man Who Started the War." In it, Heydrich, as one of the luminaries in the SS, was the boss of Alfred Naujocks (upon whom the book was focussed) who was tasked with staging an "incident" along the German-Polish border, which Hitler would use as a pretext for invading Poland in September 1939. Even then, Heydrich struck me as a sinister figure. But it would take years of...more I first became aware of Reinhard Heydrich in 1975 when I (still in grade school) read Gunter Peis' book "The True Story of the Man Who Started the War." In it, Heydrich, as one of the luminaries in the SS, was the boss of Alfred Naujocks (upon whom the book was focussed) who was tasked with staging an "incident" along the German-Polish border, which Hitler would use as a pretext for invading Poland in September 1939. Even then, Heydrich struck me as a sinister figure. But it would take years of self-study of the Third Reich and the Second World War before I could begin to grasp the enormity of the crimes this man committed for "Führer und Vaterland".

This is perhaps likely to be the most comprehensive biography of Reinhard Heydrich. It has an 88-page bibliography, which attests to the author's diligence in gathering a complete portrait of a man who became for the Nazis one of its 'patron saints' after his death in June 1942 from an assasination attempt.

Heydrich was born in Halle in 1904, the son of a composer of operas who enjoyed some measure of acclaim in Wilhelmine Germany. His father founded the Halle Music Conservatory, where Reinhard's mother taught piano. The Heydrichs were Catholic (a minority group in Halle) and enjoyed a comfortable, bourgeois existence prior to the First World War. Young Reinhard learned to play the violin with some skill. Shortly after the war, he joined a Freikorps unit in Halle (one of the many right-wing paramilitary units formed in the immediate postwar period to stamp out the spread of Communism in Germany), Later, he joined the "Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund (The National German Protection and Shelter League)", which was an anti-Jewish organization.

Like many Germans in the early postwar years, the Heydrichs suffered materially from the ravages of hyperinflation during the early 1920s. Reinhard gained admittance as a cadet in the Navy in 1922 and threw himself into a military career. Politics at that time seemed not to figure in his life. But as he advanced in rank, Reinhard acquired a reputation for arrogance and engaging in numerous affairs. This proved to be his undoing. Prior to meeting his future wife, Lina von Osten (who was a virulent anti-Semite and fervent Nazi) in 1930, Reinhard had been engaged to another woman and broke it in haste. Soon thereafter, he became engaged to Lina. The Navy, however, looked askance at Reinhard's cavalier behavior. Reinhard refused to apologize for his conduct, and was dismissed from the Navy in April 1931 for "conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman."

Now without a career and prospects, Reinhard was devastated. But he went on to marry Lina, who later prodded him to join the SS, which at the time when Reinhard applied to join it in the summer of 1931 was the smallest organization in the National Socialist movement. (The SA or "Brownshirts" were Hitler's defacto army, with a membership larger than the 100,000 man Reichswehr, the Garman Army in the Weimar Republic.) He was personally interviewed by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, who was impressed with him and immediately offered him a job.

In little more than a year, Heydrich developed an intelligence-gathering and a network of spies and informers to ferret out any "traitors" in the Nazi Party and keep tabs on its external enemies throughout Germany. At this time, rumors were spread about Heydrich's alleged Jewish blood and as a result, he was subjected to an extensive search into his family tree. Exonorated and declared a "true Aryan", Heydrich felt chastened and became more committed to the Nazis and their anti-Jewish philosophy. Indeed, "by the mid-1930s, Heyrich had successfully reinvented himself as one of the most radical proponents of Nazi ideology and its implementation through rigid and increasingly extensive policies of persecution."

Upon the outbreak of war, Heydrich created the Einsatzgruppen, militarized units of SS men who closely followed the German Army as it proceeded into Poland. There, the Einsatzgruppen rounded up as many Polish intelligensia and Jews they could find, and executed them in large numbers. The same modus operandi would be carried out on a much larger scale (with help from local auxiliaries) in the immediate wake of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.

All the while persecution against the Jews (and other perceived enemies of the Reich) proceeded apace in Germany and the countries (e.g. Austria) it either subsumed into the nation proper or conquered between 1939 and 1942, there hadn't been a concerted plan for a Jew-free Europe via genocide. The expectation until Germany suffered its first serious setback on the Eastern Front in December 1941 was that most of Europe's Jews could be settled in Madagascar under SS management. And at the same time, the areas in the East under German control would be cleared of its people who did not meet the Nazi criteria for acceptability and replaced with Germans and ethnic Germans. What Heydrich regarded as "Germanization." But as the European War became a full-fledged world war with the entry of the United States into the conflict, the Germans re-evaluated its policies against the Jews to date. Heydrich convened a conference at Wannsee in Berlin, in January 1942 to hssh out ideas and develop a workable, comprehensive plan for "the Final Solution to the Jewish Question."

Heydrich, unlike most of his Nazi contemporaries, proved to be a zealous and tenacious practioner of Nazi policies in his exercise of power within the police and security apparatus he controlled with an iron hand. That is why he was marked for death by the British, who sent in a couple of Czech parachutists into the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Heydrich was appointed by Hitler as its administrator in September 1941) to assasinate him, and thus breathe new life into the Czech resistance, which had been a feeble force in 1941 and early 1942, relative to the other anti-German resistance groups in Occupied Europe.

Simply put, Reinhard Heydrich became the personification of the "face of evil" in the Third Reich, a functionary, who, without the slightest compunction or remorse, carried out Hitler's genocidal policies.

(less)

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Aug 15, 2012 Edwin van Amstel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Aan Gerwarth de ondankbare taak een poging te doen de motieven en beweegredenen van Heydrich te duiden. Daarin slaagt hij maar half. Vanaf het moment dat Heydrich carrière maakt als nazi (na 1931), wordt de biografie meer een beschrijving van het verloop van het Derde Rijk, en Heyddrichs rol daarin.
Of dat Gerwath te verwijten valt is de vraag. Van Heydrich is weinig persoonlijks bewaard gebleven. Maar toch had ik meer inzicht willen krijgen in de persoon Heydrich.
Het boek krijgt vijf sterren om...more

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May 02, 2013 Nicolas Bateman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: learn, wwii

If both the parts about Heydrich's youth and his time as the Reich Protector in Prague bring new and insightful information to a interested mind, I have to admit, regretfully, that this book has failed to convince me of its true scholarly importance. Plagued with a dozen annoying editing mistakes and, more important, by a series of factual or numeric misleading comments (How could have Heydrich's brother in law been a member of the nazi party for three years before their meeting when he joined i...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mature readers

Shelves: biography, europe, historical, non-fiction, holocaust, ww-ii

I was very surprised to find out Heydrich was born into a very musical Roman Catholic family, and played the violin extremely well. It seems that when he became engaged he wanted to impress his fiance's family who were Danish Nazi supporters, so he signed up for the SS. A strange twist of fate makes me wonder would he have turned out to be the murderous man he became. He did not show signs in his childhood. The story begins with his murder in Prague where he was the cruel enforcer. Again, if it...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Nora rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book follows the steps which inevitably led up to the final solution. It is horrifying to experience their growing bestiality and numbness toward their fellow humans as they relentlessly strive to achieve their goals. Heydrich was a yes man and over achiever for the Nazi Regime. This book is less about Heydrich and far more about the development of the Final Solution. Very well researched.

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Dec 16, 2012 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reinhard Heydrich is best known for the death camp system named for him and the fact that he was one of the few Nazi leaders who was successfully assassinated by allied forces (albeit with terrible consequences for the people of Lidece and the Czech resistance movement). This book provides a fascinating look inside the man to try to understand his evil.

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Mar 24, 2013 Deborah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very informative book on an important man who helped devise the extermination of millions of people. How does one become a cold blooded killer without compassion and remorse. While the questions is never fully answered, enough information is given to help you decide for yourself.

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Dec 19, 2011 Susan Paxton rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good intro, but needs more analysis - of course at this point figuring out what made Heydrich tick may be impossible.

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Jan 22, 2012 Maureen Flatley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It turns out the Nazis were much much worse than we thought. Monsters.

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Nov 26, 2012 Fran Strazzella rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very dry, but good historical tome.

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Dec 17, 2011 Marsha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent look of the life was a truly evil human. Very readable, even to someone not into scholarly history.

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