Reinhard Heydrich

1904-03-07 - 1942-06-04 Contemporaries

Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942) was a high-ranking SS and police official in Nazi Germany and one of the principal architects of the Holocaust. From September 1939 he was chief of the Reich Security Main Office, which included the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD, and he chaired the January 1942 Wannsee Conference that formalized plans for the genocide of Jews in German-occupied Europe. He also served as Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia and was assassinated in Prague in May 1942, dying on 4 June.