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Heydrich: The Face of Evil
An extraordinary portrait of Hitler’s most brutal henchman—now in paperback.
Tracks his full career, from the Navy to his appointment as Reichs-Protektor of Bohemia and Moravia
The complete story of his assassination and its horrific aftermath
Reinhard Heydrich was one of Hitler’s most evil henchmen. Praised by the Führer as being “the man with an iron heart”, Heydrich became one of the key architects of the Third Reich's horrific genocide. After his 1942 assassination, the murder of more than two million people at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka was codenamed “Aktion Reinhard”.
Heydrich joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and rose quickly through the ranks of the SS. By the age of twenty-nine he had become an SS brigadier general, and his ruthless ambition led many senior Nazis to believe that he was the natural successor to Hitler. It was Heydrich’s initiative to create the Einsatzgruppen, paramilitary units which were established before Operation Barbarossa to murder Jews and political operatives of the Communist Party. In 1941 Heydrich was made Reichs- Protektor of Bohemia and Moravia. Supremely confident of his authority, he often drove alone through the province in his open-top, dark green Mercedes. British-trained Czech partisans took advantage of this gesture, and in 1942 carried out a daring assassination attempt. Heydrich was mortally wounded in the ambush and died a week later in hospital. The reprisals that followed were more than 15,000 Czechs were murdered and the town of Lidice was razed to the ground.
In this critically acclaimed biography, which includes interviews with Heydrich’s surviving family, the author creates a complete portrait of pure evil.
Mario Dederichs was Bonn, Moscow and Washington correspondent for Stern magazine. Teja Fiedler, who has written a Preface to this edition, was a long-standing colleague and friend of the author, and is a correspondent at Stern magazine.
Tracks his full career, from the Navy to his appointment as Reichs-Protektor of Bohemia and Moravia
The complete story of his assassination and its horrific aftermath
Reinhard Heydrich was one of Hitler’s most evil henchmen. Praised by the Führer as being “the man with an iron heart”, Heydrich became one of the key architects of the Third Reich's horrific genocide. After his 1942 assassination, the murder of more than two million people at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka was codenamed “Aktion Reinhard”.
Heydrich joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and rose quickly through the ranks of the SS. By the age of twenty-nine he had become an SS brigadier general, and his ruthless ambition led many senior Nazis to believe that he was the natural successor to Hitler. It was Heydrich’s initiative to create the Einsatzgruppen, paramilitary units which were established before Operation Barbarossa to murder Jews and political operatives of the Communist Party. In 1941 Heydrich was made Reichs- Protektor of Bohemia and Moravia. Supremely confident of his authority, he often drove alone through the province in his open-top, dark green Mercedes. British-trained Czech partisans took advantage of this gesture, and in 1942 carried out a daring assassination attempt. Heydrich was mortally wounded in the ambush and died a week later in hospital. The reprisals that followed were more than 15,000 Czechs were murdered and the town of Lidice was razed to the ground.
In this critically acclaimed biography, which includes interviews with Heydrich’s surviving family, the author creates a complete portrait of pure evil.
Mario Dederichs was Bonn, Moscow and Washington correspondent for Stern magazine. Teja Fiedler, who has written a Preface to this edition, was a long-standing colleague and friend of the author, and is a correspondent at Stern magazine.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 14, 2023
When you have Reinhard Heydrich as your subject for a book, any decent writer of biographies would consider it a good challenge. The fellow has everything you could possibly dream of to write a biography that'll be engrossing and educational to your readers. The man was a virtuoso musician, supposedly could've become another Mozart if not for WWI leaving Germany in shambles, had musically-gifted parents, was a good career navy officer, got expelled for a matter involving skirts, was a lifelong ladies' man, became one of the early time Nazis, got appointed Himmler's right-hand man, improved the police state system of Nazi Germany, was the organiser of the Final Solution, was named to one of the top jobs as a Reichsprotektor, was assassinated in a James Bond-style ambush, got a state funeral and whole towns paid for his death. What else do you need as a writer?
I want to be fair and say that probably it was Dederichs' passing away that is to account for how messy and disorganised this biography is. In the introduction, it's stated that it was his colleague that finally completed the manuscript Dederichs left unfinished. It's very sad that it happened, and not the first time someone dies whilst writing about Heydrich, the same happened to Nancy Dougherty, who also left an unedited manuscript of a book about Heydrich and his wife. So, to judge this book by Dederichs, I have to put this out that his passing away did indeed affect the book's final editing and polishing.
But it's also fair to say that not everything here is a matter of Dederichs dying before he could edit it for publication. The first half is edited and in a finished state, whilst the second half is messier and all over the place. You can tell the difference, and you can tell when it's a problem of the author's own responsibility and when it's just the lack of editing. Dederichs' sourcing is, to put it kindly, not the best. And he writes like a journalist, quoting sources here and there in bits without bothering much to ascertain their reliability, so ultimately the book reads like an overlong and poorly edited newspaper article. Not a very interesting article to read, either.
In fairness, he does quote some of the most respected WWII academics, such as Kershaw and Browning, but he pads the book up with less reliable sources and outdated ones as well, which are more. And he also engages in personal speculation, about thoughts and feelings, and asking directed questions he doesn't answer because he needs to leave certain implications floating in the air, and in others he does answer to suit his desired conclusions. He also often inserts "clarifications" in parentheses, and he breezes through chunks of Heydrich's tenures too. For example, for all that the Wannsee Conference is so crucial to understand Heydrich's role in Nazi Germany and why he's considered the most evil Nazi by many, the dedicated chapter isn't complete. Bear in mind that this book is short, 256 pages in total, and about 60 of these pages are notes and bibliographical citations.
Dederichs seemed to want to address Heydrich's legacy as well, not just his life, and probably that was where he was working on when he died, because you can see this is the worst written and argued part. Most of the top Nazis that got caught were in the habit of blaming things on Heydrich, a convenient dead scapegoat, and Dederichs is right to point out this. He's also right in taking Lina Heydrich to task, for the woman hero-worshiped Heydrich to the bitter end and wrote a memoir full of falsities to defend him. But Dederichs isn't right in demanding public mea culpa and self-flagellation of Heydrich's three children, because they were children during the war and one was born post-assassination; they're not morally obliged to repent for being the children of that monster. Ironically, Dederichs showed in his own person why the three Heydrichs don't want to give interviews or talk to the press, because he proved he won't be satisfied with anything but a very vocal mea culpa on behalf of their father's crimes, and he is dismissive towards the one Heydrich that caved in an talked, the one that was born after her dad was killed, when she did agree to talk and told him people don't know how it feels to have such a father, and Dederichs snootily goes all "AKSHUALLY, she didn't meet him..."
So yeah, congratulations for proving her point. Journalistic aggressiveness and lack of respect for personal boundaries is a problem many have had to endure and Dederichs' lack of self-awareness just made things worse. Also, comparing their quiet and silent attitude to Heinz Heydrich's son's vocal disavowal of his uncle and father isn't the same. Peter Thomas Heydrich was a teen, he was more aware than his child cousins, and he's not the one to carry on his shoulders the weight of having the architect of the Final Solution as his dad. Dederichs' last paragraph being a strawman question about whether the Heydrichs' silence was for fear of reprisals from Jews is absurd, too.
Again, he should've taken Lina von Osten Heydrich to task for the whole of the Heydrich family. She deserves it, she was a supportive accomplice, and never regretted what her husband did nor expressed any compunctions for the life and privileges she enjoyed at his side. But leave their children out; they don't owe you their regret, and they weren't defending their father either.
To conclude, I imagine some will say this is a good overview of Heydrich's life. But so is Wikipedia, if that's what you're looking for. And at least Wikipedia is compact and better edited. I'm sorry that Dederichs wasn't able to see this to the end, but maybe it wouldn't have been much better given how summed up, dull and tendentious his delivery was here. If you're interested, I'd recommend Gerwarth's Hitler's Hangman and Dougherty's The Hangman and His Wife for your Heydrich history lesson, both are much better, especially the former. Laurent Binet's HHhH is also much better.
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I want to be fair and say that probably it was Dederichs' passing away that is to account for how messy and disorganised this biography is. In the introduction, it's stated that it was his colleague that finally completed the manuscript Dederichs left unfinished. It's very sad that it happened, and not the first time someone dies whilst writing about Heydrich, the same happened to Nancy Dougherty, who also left an unedited manuscript of a book about Heydrich and his wife. So, to judge this book by Dederichs, I have to put this out that his passing away did indeed affect the book's final editing and polishing.
But it's also fair to say that not everything here is a matter of Dederichs dying before he could edit it for publication. The first half is edited and in a finished state, whilst the second half is messier and all over the place. You can tell the difference, and you can tell when it's a problem of the author's own responsibility and when it's just the lack of editing. Dederichs' sourcing is, to put it kindly, not the best. And he writes like a journalist, quoting sources here and there in bits without bothering much to ascertain their reliability, so ultimately the book reads like an overlong and poorly edited newspaper article. Not a very interesting article to read, either.
In fairness, he does quote some of the most respected WWII academics, such as Kershaw and Browning, but he pads the book up with less reliable sources and outdated ones as well, which are more. And he also engages in personal speculation, about thoughts and feelings, and asking directed questions he doesn't answer because he needs to leave certain implications floating in the air, and in others he does answer to suit his desired conclusions. He also often inserts "clarifications" in parentheses, and he breezes through chunks of Heydrich's tenures too. For example, for all that the Wannsee Conference is so crucial to understand Heydrich's role in Nazi Germany and why he's considered the most evil Nazi by many, the dedicated chapter isn't complete. Bear in mind that this book is short, 256 pages in total, and about 60 of these pages are notes and bibliographical citations.
Dederichs seemed to want to address Heydrich's legacy as well, not just his life, and probably that was where he was working on when he died, because you can see this is the worst written and argued part. Most of the top Nazis that got caught were in the habit of blaming things on Heydrich, a convenient dead scapegoat, and Dederichs is right to point out this. He's also right in taking Lina Heydrich to task, for the woman hero-worshiped Heydrich to the bitter end and wrote a memoir full of falsities to defend him. But Dederichs isn't right in demanding public mea culpa and self-flagellation of Heydrich's three children, because they were children during the war and one was born post-assassination; they're not morally obliged to repent for being the children of that monster. Ironically, Dederichs showed in his own person why the three Heydrichs don't want to give interviews or talk to the press, because he proved he won't be satisfied with anything but a very vocal mea culpa on behalf of their father's crimes, and he is dismissive towards the one Heydrich that caved in an talked, the one that was born after her dad was killed, when she did agree to talk and told him people don't know how it feels to have such a father, and Dederichs snootily goes all "AKSHUALLY, she didn't meet him..."
So yeah, congratulations for proving her point. Journalistic aggressiveness and lack of respect for personal boundaries is a problem many have had to endure and Dederichs' lack of self-awareness just made things worse. Also, comparing their quiet and silent attitude to Heinz Heydrich's son's vocal disavowal of his uncle and father isn't the same. Peter Thomas Heydrich was a teen, he was more aware than his child cousins, and he's not the one to carry on his shoulders the weight of having the architect of the Final Solution as his dad. Dederichs' last paragraph being a strawman question about whether the Heydrichs' silence was for fear of reprisals from Jews is absurd, too.
Again, he should've taken Lina von Osten Heydrich to task for the whole of the Heydrich family. She deserves it, she was a supportive accomplice, and never regretted what her husband did nor expressed any compunctions for the life and privileges she enjoyed at his side. But leave their children out; they don't owe you their regret, and they weren't defending their father either.
To conclude, I imagine some will say this is a good overview of Heydrich's life. But so is Wikipedia, if that's what you're looking for. And at least Wikipedia is compact and better edited. I'm sorry that Dederichs wasn't able to see this to the end, but maybe it wouldn't have been much better given how summed up, dull and tendentious his delivery was here. If you're interested, I'd recommend Gerwarth's Hitler's Hangman and Dougherty's The Hangman and His Wife for your Heydrich history lesson, both are much better, especially the former. Laurent Binet's HHhH is also much better.
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2023
great book i don't have much to say just that the story was shocking to know more about this character
Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword, Greenhill Books, for the advanced copy of Heydrich in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword, Greenhill Books, for the advanced copy of Heydrich in exchange for my honest review.
May 2, 2008
Biography of one of the truly nastiest senior figures of the Nazi Regime in World War II. Good for anyone who is interested in the period and decently written.
August 23, 2024
Psychologist John Watson once said that if you gave him a dozen infants and his own worlds to raise them, he could mold them into anything he desired, from doctors and artists to thieves and beggars. Today, we understand that human “nature” has more nuances. Far from Watson’s pure behaviorist perspective, a person’s nature combines their genetics and their experiences. Understanding the interplay helps us understand how people can be monsters or mice.
Enter Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most ruthless monsters of the Third Reich, an ambitious mass murderer who killed thousands and who saw himself as Hitler’s successor. Had he not lived when he did, Heydrich may have nurtured a different talent and excelled as a violinist or an athlete. His bullying streak and psychopathic personality would probably have exerted some pressure, earning him enemies and impeding his grasping attempts at success.
I have never read a biography of Reinhard Heydrich before, so I cannot make comparisons. Heydric: The Face of Evil is well-researched and takes pains to present the man in a rounded light, looking at his family life and talents as well as his role in the ‘final solution.’ I found the book interesting and had trouble putting it down. It seemed a little disjointed and became challenging to read at times, almost like a late draft rather than a finished product. (I understand that the author died before finishing the book, which goes far in explaining this issue.) Well written and researched, chocked full of information about a man who committed unspeakable acts, and an excellent attempt to understand the motivations for a member of one of the heinous regimes of the 20th century. Just don’t expect to be able to consume the material in one sitting. It’s too disturbing.
Enter Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most ruthless monsters of the Third Reich, an ambitious mass murderer who killed thousands and who saw himself as Hitler’s successor. Had he not lived when he did, Heydrich may have nurtured a different talent and excelled as a violinist or an athlete. His bullying streak and psychopathic personality would probably have exerted some pressure, earning him enemies and impeding his grasping attempts at success.
I have never read a biography of Reinhard Heydrich before, so I cannot make comparisons. Heydric: The Face of Evil is well-researched and takes pains to present the man in a rounded light, looking at his family life and talents as well as his role in the ‘final solution.’ I found the book interesting and had trouble putting it down. It seemed a little disjointed and became challenging to read at times, almost like a late draft rather than a finished product. (I understand that the author died before finishing the book, which goes far in explaining this issue.) Well written and researched, chocked full of information about a man who committed unspeakable acts, and an excellent attempt to understand the motivations for a member of one of the heinous regimes of the 20th century. Just don’t expect to be able to consume the material in one sitting. It’s too disturbing.
January 20, 2024
I've owned a copy of this book for a while, but I've put off reading it until now for some reason.
If I hadn't read Nancy Dougherty's The Hangman and His Wife: The Life and Death of Reinhard Heydrich before this one, I may have enjoyed it more. But in spite of the flaws in Dougherty's book (like Dederichs, she died before completing her manuscript, which didn't leave it as crisp and tight as one could desire), that book provided a much more thorough picture of Heydrich.
This book, in comparison, almost felt like the Cliff Notes version of Heydrich's life. And while I tried to keep in mind that Dederichs died before completing his book and was, therefore, not responsible for at least some of the finished product, I just felt like this book was a disorganized mess much of the time. Heydrich, arguably the subject, takes a backseat in his own life for much of the book. He's more like a shadow than anything, never truly there, rarely making an affirmative appearance on the pages.
If I hadn't read Nancy Dougherty's The Hangman and His Wife: The Life and Death of Reinhard Heydrich before this one, I may have enjoyed it more. But in spite of the flaws in Dougherty's book (like Dederichs, she died before completing her manuscript, which didn't leave it as crisp and tight as one could desire), that book provided a much more thorough picture of Heydrich.
This book, in comparison, almost felt like the Cliff Notes version of Heydrich's life. And while I tried to keep in mind that Dederichs died before completing his book and was, therefore, not responsible for at least some of the finished product, I just felt like this book was a disorganized mess much of the time. Heydrich, arguably the subject, takes a backseat in his own life for much of the book. He's more like a shadow than anything, never truly there, rarely making an affirmative appearance on the pages.
January 25, 2019
Blond, yeux bleus, haute stature, physique athlétique, uniforme noir, casquette à tête de mort vissée sur la tête, Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (1904-1942) a été, de 1933 à sa mort en 1942, l’incarnation paroxystique, et presque caricaturale, de la terreur nazie. Bras droit du Reichsführer SS Himmler, il dirige d’une poigne de fer l’appareil répressif nazi. À la tête du service de sécurité de la SS (SD), de la police criminelle (Kripo) et de la Gestapo, il transforme les visions haineuses de Hitler en actes barbares. Planificateur de l’Holocauste, Heydrich organise les massacres de masse à l’Est avec les Einsatzgruppen, puis préside la conférence de Wannsee du 20 janvier 1942, point de départ de la « solution finale ». Il disparaît lors d’un attentat perpétré en mai 1942 par des résistants tchèques.Mario R. Dederichs explore les abîmes intérieurs de celui que Hitler décrivait comme « extraordinairement doué, extraordinairement dangereux ». Un homme mû par une volonté froide d’affirmer sa puissance, exécutant les ordres les plus inhumains avec un maximum d’efficacité. Un « diable à forme humaine » n’ayant jamais hésité à concurrencer Himmler dans l’horreur.
February 12, 2025
Little Good Info - Significant Historical Inaccuracy
Free on Kindle: A ripoff because it stole my time. This book gives virtually no significant insight into what made this man "tick." There are statements about the Nuremberg defendents that are flagrantly historical lyrics false (...e.g. staating only Frank was repentant which ignores von Schirach and the 3 found innocent who all were). You'd come out with wrong beliefs about the whole evil regime if you were not already a scholar, or well read researcher. I wanted to know more about the "most evil Nazi. " I gained NOTHING I didn't know, and would have misconstrued history to my detriment had I read and believed this. It tells of his evil acts but you learn little that is truly insightful. One of the weakest of the many books I've read. My family worked with Survivors in school classrooms, developing curriculum for years.
Free on Kindle: A ripoff because it stole my time. This book gives virtually no significant insight into what made this man "tick." There are statements about the Nuremberg defendents that are flagrantly historical lyrics false (...e.g. staating only Frank was repentant which ignores von Schirach and the 3 found innocent who all were). You'd come out with wrong beliefs about the whole evil regime if you were not already a scholar, or well read researcher. I wanted to know more about the "most evil Nazi. " I gained NOTHING I didn't know, and would have misconstrued history to my detriment had I read and believed this. It tells of his evil acts but you learn little that is truly insightful. One of the weakest of the many books I've read. My family worked with Survivors in school classrooms, developing curriculum for years.
June 30, 2023
I was so excited to receive this book for review and could not put it down once I started. It is a comprehensive, no holds barred analysis of one of the most influential members of the Nazi party. Heydrich’ s cruelty and crimes are well known but this book brings new depth to the subject. Well researched and written, this is a must-have addition to the library of any WWII history buff. By creating books such as this, authors help ensure the Holocaust is not forgotten and perhaps humanity can learn from its history.
July 4, 2023
Amazing book on one of the most coldblooded figures within Nazi Regime: Reinhard Heydrich. As the chef of SD, The Secret Police and the Gestapo he was responsible for the death of thousands of Jews. The book is well-written and well-researched. The must-read for all interested in the history of WW2.
August 14, 2023
I wasn’t familiar with Heydrich and his role before reading this book. I had to read in several sittings. The evil deeds of men like Heydrich can’t be forgotten.
Thank you to the author, Pen & Sword Publishing, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Thank you to the author, Pen & Sword Publishing, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
December 30, 2020
Pretty good for an overview but using Felix Kersten and other unreliable sources knocks it back a bit for me, don't think including a reference to the source potentially being unreliable is good enough and should only be used (Like Robert Gerwarth in Hitler's Hangman) if you are then using better evidence or facts to refute it.
June 25, 2023
This is a reprint of a work about one of the architects of the Final Solution. It is astonishing how a simple, if bratty child became the cold blooded of people he’s never met and hadn’t done anything wrong to him, and yet thought people loved him.
November 13, 2025
a very good very insightful look at Reinhard and his wife and his descendants and how some ignore the past while some try to acknowledge it and some just hide it from others. very enigmatic very interesting book.
July 10, 2016
Heydrich was one of Hitler's loyal supporters. I became aware of his part in carrying out the despicable act of the NAzi regime when I read Madeline Albrights memoir. I must admit that I skimmed a good bit of the book. It is well documented but is very dry to read. I learned about Heydrich's early life and his rise in the Third Reich where he worked under Himmler. It's difficult to understand how someone could become so evil and immune to human suffering--to cause it. Not a pleasant book, but it broadens my knowledge of how the Nazis carried out their mission of hate.
July 13, 2013
Well-done, but unable to explain what motivated Reinhard Heydrich. Surprisingly skimpy on the Wannsee meeting, and his tenure as governor of Bohemia. Dederich complains about the lack of cooperation from members of the family and various archives, which hampered the work. Still, the only comprehensive biography of Heydrich in English.
September 13, 2016
Read this for my undergrad. thesis - interesting read on one of the main designers of the holocaust. Shame the author died before he could finish the book.
July 11, 2014
Hard to read at times. This guy, like many of the Nazi hierarchy, was a psychopath.
September 29, 2009
Even the most fierce of men are not inextirpable.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews