To thedismay of the British, a few days later more than two hundred thousand Czechs gathered in a mass demonstration in Prague to mourn Heydrich’s death. When the cortege carrying Heydrich’s body was being moved to the trainthat would carry it to Berlin, the crowds in Prague that were hailinghim and crying at his death numbered some six to ten thousand. In fact, by this time over half a million Czech citizens were formally claiming that they were of full orpartial German descent. As a result of Heydrich’s policies, the Czech Lands became one of the more prosperous regions in wartime Europe. Within months of assuming power, Heydrich lifted martial law, and the ordinary Czech could live a normal life again. The black market was ruthlessly crushed, thereby earning Heydrich the loyalty of thousands of poor Czechs. He gave away 200,000 pairs of shoes for free to the needy. Heydrich often toured factories and told the workers what an inspiration they were, even to the Germans. Amicable agreements were reached with the trade unions on minimum wages, pensions, insurance cover, and holiday entitlements. He ordered the distribution of thousands of free cinema, theater, and football tickets to Czech workers. Factory workers were given extra rations of food and sugar as rewards for extra work. Heydrich implemented the first-ever social security and pension schemes the Czechs had experienced. The economy was stabilized and unemployment disappeared. Since the army was dissolved, Czech men no more had to face conscription. The Protectorate brought blessings for the Czechs. If this cannot be done, we must put them against the wall.” We can relocate some of them into the Reich, put them in a purely German environment, and then Germanize and re-educate them. We have to think through carefully what to do with them. One group remains, though, these people are racially acceptable but hostile in their thinking – that is the most dangerous group, because it is a racially pure class of leaders. As to the first kind, we must resettle them in the Reich or somewhere else, but we have to make sure they no longer breed, because we don’t care to develop them in this area. We have racially inferior people but with good judgment, then we haveracially unacceptable people with bad judgment. Between these two extremes, there are those in the middlethat we have to examine thoroughly. On the other hand, we have racially inferior elements and, what’s worse, they demonstrate wrong judgment. It’s going to be simple to work on them – we can Germanize them. We have all kinds of people here, some of them are showing racial quality and good judgment. “To be able to make a decision as to who is suited to be Germanized, I need their racial inventory. Soon after his arrival in Prague, he had this to say: Heydrich was methodical in his assessment of how to deal with enemies of the Reich. To Hitler's right is Arthur Seyss-Inquart, The driver of the truck was arrested but was later released by German investigators who concluded that it was nothing more than an accident. Heydrich’s wife Lina understandably started behaving crazily she went about threatening everyone, including the SS guards of the palace. The boy was cycling on the grounds of the Heydrich residence and suddenly cycled out on the road through the gate, which was open. Heydrich’s son Klaus was killed in a tragic accident. Heydrich 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. Heydrich was a skilled violin player for the whole of his life. His maternal grandfather Professor Eugen Krantz had been the director of the Dresden Royal Conservatory. Heydrich was born into a family with substantialmusical talent. Heydrich is mainly known for his actions as the Deputy Reich Protector of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the part of the Czech lands that was incorporated into the Reich. Heydrich was chief of the Reich Main Security Office (which included the Gestapo and Kripo), and he also served as President of Interpol from 1940 to 1942. Yet there are parts of his history that are not generally mentioned.Was this man responsible for the deaths of millions, or has he been unjustly vilified for being an intelligent and competent member of the Nazi elite? An incisive look at the history of the Czech lands during the Second World War shows not Heydrich the Hangman, but Heydrich the social reformer and popular leader of Bohemia and Moravia. Reinhard Heydrich is perhaps the man most demonized for what has been described as his role in planning and executing the Holocaust.
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