Heydrich's "grave." ?

[CARL]

Mark, if as you say, you are one who reads for factual history then I am surprised you actually spent the time to acquire and read the work...unless you purchased it prior to any general review search..? I say this as the book, for me at least, is more reminiscent of a screenplay than a factual work - although it does patently include enough historical material to interest most. You are not alone in your opinion though - I have read other negative opinions but also noted that the vast majority enjoyed the book and reviewed it in a positive manner. THANKFULLY we all have our opinions, which we are entitled to

Carl

[Larboard]

Thx much for the review. I think I can identify with what you are saying as a reader, I am that type of reader also, I'll take your word for it.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Read the Gerwarth book, or read the biography of the Israeli S. Aronson from the 1960s, which still holds up. I have to find the title. I own the book. It appeared in German.

The Heydrich cult is all part of the SS cult, some of which is more than deeply creepy and does not belong on this site. The cultists and the fetishists have a large
Lebensraum in the digital jungle.

Colleague Carl 88 does a fine job of historical research, and we thank him.

The actual story of the SS in detail is usually far more compelling than literary and dramatic interpretations.

The site has included a lot of primary sources where the active student of the past can piece together something close to the truth, such as it is.

The newest research from young scholars on the SS is top flight, but most of it is in German.

Michael Wildt's work on Die Generation der Unbedingten is very useful, too.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The person who claims to be writing a historical novel about Heydrich is probably none of the things in her/his/its post, truth be told.

This kind of thing happens all the time.

It is a total bore.

Such a thing is also irritating, when some of us find very nice historical data on the SS which then receives no notice at all.

[CARL]

Absolutely...it cannot be stated clearly enough how imperative it is to focus on primary sources whenever possible.

Thanks, as ever, to you F-B for your continued efforts and contributions in this area.

Carl

[CARL]

The person who claims to be writing a historical novel about Heydrich is probably none of the things in her/his/its post, truth be told.

This kind of thing happens all the time.

It is a total bore.

Such a thing is also irritating, when some of us find very nice historical data on the SS which then receives no notice at all.

This is sadly all too often the case.

[bigmacglenn]

Thank you Carl for sharing this information with us...There had been speculation that Heydrich had Jewish Blood, and that Himmler used this information to manipulate Heydrich into Anti-Semitic Over-Zealousness as a matter of self-hatred...I recall reading of an incident where Heydrich shot at his image in the mirror as well...A high-achiever in several respects - a competitive nature - as if he had something to prove...His voice was rather high-pitched as well, and I understand that he was very self-conscious about that...He had also been warned more than once about travelling in such a careless manner... Just my musings...
cheers, Glenn

[Friedrich-Berthold]

This is sadly all too often the case.

I should keep my mouth shut, but this little episode is all too typical of things.

I should think that there are people who want to write historical novels and are genuinely interested in character and biography.

Moreover, there are younger people who have no contact with those who lived through all of this who find the topic more and more abstract and removed from its human context. Biography is always a good thing, so long as the biography is sound. In the German speaking world, such biographies are elevated to a high art and I am
an eager reader of such things.

The biography of Werner Best from the late 1980s or the early 1990s is especially good, along with the Michael Wildt writings. I think Wildt's has been translated,
but the one on Best has not.

Longerich's bio of Himmler is also very useful, and fits with Wildt, Aronson, and Gerwarth.

Gerwarth did what I wanted to do as a young student, but my teachers diverted me.





and

Best. Biographische Studien über Radikalismus, Weltanschauung und Vernunft. 1903–1989. Bonn 1996,


or

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Best_%28NSDAP%29

[Gunny Hartmann]

Thank you Carl for sharing this information with us...There has been speculation that Heydrich had Jewish Blood, and that Himmler used this information to manipulate Heydrich into Anti-Semitic Zealousness as a matter of self-hatred...I recall an incident where Heydrich shot at his image in the mirror as well...A high-achiever in several respects - a competitive nature - as if he had something to prove...His voice was rather high-pitched as well, and I understand that he was very self-conscious about that... Just my musings...
cheers, Glenn

Well said Glenn and i remember somebody also describing Heydrich as having female like hips. Great thread BTW!...

[HPL2008]

There has been speculation that Heydrich had Jewish Blood, and that Himmler used this information to manipulate Heydrich into Anti-Semitic Zealousness as a matter of self-hatred...I recall an incident where Heydrich shot at his image in the mirror as well...

Heydrich didn't have Jewish ancestry.

These rumors were already persistent during his time as a naval officer and would continue to haunt him in his SS days. Their origins lay with the second husband of his paternal grandmother, whom she married three years after the death of her first husband Karl: His name was Gustav Robert Süß. Süß is also a common Jewish name, but the man in question actually was no Jew (and even if he had been, he had no blood relation to Reinhard Heydrich, whose father Bruno stemmed from the first marriage).

Still, the thought that there might have been some other non-Aryan ancestor somewhere in his lineage deeply troubled Heydrich, who was a master of extortion and intimidation and was known to keep incriminating files on just about every potential rival or opponent, knowing full well that they would gladly return the favor.

The man was brave, but foolhardy, and in the end... all ends well that ends well...

I suppose you refer to his time as an aviator in the war (in any case, I would not know what else could be meant here), but would not call his attitude "brave" myself, as I feel that would be giving him too much credit and make him his actions seem all to virtuous and heroic.

If anything, his volunteering to fly with the Luftwaffe was born of his characteristic and near-pathological wish to constantly prove his worth and superiority in everything he did.

He certainly didn't excel there, however: Within the few months of his aviation career, he lost three fighters: He destroyed one in a botched landing (in which he broke his arm, too), mananged to total another one while parking it in the hangar and was shot down in the third one, finding himself behind enemy lines until rescued by a German patrol. "Red Baron stuff" this is not.

I can certainly agree with the foolhardy part, though. His habit of riding in an unescorted, open-top limousine was certainly an expression of tremendous foolhardiness and arrogance and ultimately his undoing.

Longerich's bio of Himmler is also very useful, and fits with Wildt, Aronson, and Gerwarth.

Longerich's work on Himmler and Gerwarth's on Heydrich are two of my three favorite SS biographies, the third one being Ulf Schmidt's biography of Dr. Karl Brandt.

Incidentally, a new Hitler bio by Longerich has been recently published, but I haven't read it (yet).