Reinhard Heydrich
Second in the SS only to Heinrich Himmler and one of the architects of the Holocaust, Reinhard Heydrich became a martyr of the Third Reich on May 27, 1942, when assassins killed him on the way home from his headquarters in Prague. In September 1941, Heydrich had been appointed Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia to ‘encourage’ productivity in Germany’s conquered Czech territories. Although Heydrich knew he was hated, he was so arrogant and sure of the fear he generated that he habitually drove between Prague and his country home without an armed guard in his open-top green Mercedes.
On May 27, Heydrich was slowing down to take a bend in a Prague street when two British-trained Czech operatives attacked him. They shot the ‘Butcher of Prague’ as he was known and followed through with a bomb. Despite his injuries, Heydrich was able to stagger from his vehicle and fire to shots at his assailants before collapsing in the street. He was taken to the hospital and attended to by his doctors who operated. However, on June 4, Heydrich died- somewhat ironically from blood poisoning attributed to fragments of his car and uniform which became lodged in his spleen during the explosion.
Heydrich was the only senior Nazi to be successfully assassinated. His death brought about violent repercussions as Hitler, and the Reich attempted to reassert their dominance. The Nazis retaliated by killing around 10,000 Czech citizens. They obliterated the mining town of Lidice, which was scapegoated for the attack and the deported 3000 Czech Jews from the ghetto to concentration camps. As for Heydrich, he became ‘The Martyr of Germany” and ‘The man with the iron heart” His body lay in state in Prague’s Hradcany Castle while on June 7, Prague citizens were made to take part in a pantomime of grief.
However, once this show was over, Heydrich was shipped back to Germany for his funeral proper. Again, he was feted, with Hitler delivering his eulogy to the assembled officials. As a memento of the occasion, each mourner was given a copy of a specially produced stamp with a picture of Heydrich’s death mask upon it. Only 800 copies of this memento were created. However, a year and a day after Heydrich’s death, the stamp went on general release. It was known as a value-added stamp because any purchaser paid a surcharge on the face value. This excess went towards the support of Heydrich’s widow and children.
As for the mask itself, it survived the funeral and the war. Heydrich’s widow Lina took it with her when she returned to her birthplace on the Baltic island of Fehmarn in 1954. In 1979, it was a noted feature on the wall of the inn she ran- the only piece of war memorabilia in evidence.
Not all death masks were of men. Nor were all of the subjects of these masks well known.