Soonafter

Interested in history, interested in facts. Doesn’t support anything.

[miuarchiv]

Tagung der Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, 17 Dec 1941

Another WS video, still with low quality unfortunately.

You can see him still wearing the old collar tabs. He had been quite busy during that period, according to his memoir.

Press photo of this event:

https://miuarchiv.tumblr.com/post/772299633034657792/new-pic-from-a-friends-findings

[whitechoc135]

Reinhard Heydrich

*Trigger warnings: blackmail, war crimes, nazis. Also, this will be very extensive: warning for a long post. *

Reinhard Heydrich was a high ranking nazi party member, war criminal and spy master. He ran the SD (The Intelligence Service of the SS), the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office - the organization that encompassed the SD, Kripo and Gestapo). He also commanded the Einsatzengruppen (mobile killing squads) units as a whole. His SS ranking was Obbergruppenfuhrer, the SS equivalent of the rank 'General.' All that combined with his notoriety and fear of him as well as him being second in command to Heinrich Himmler (The Reichsfuhrer-SS; head of the SS), made him someone who people didn't want to make an enemy of.

He had a few habits, including reading paperwork from a briefcase while explaining orders, taking and joining subordinates and superiors out to luncheons and dinners. He also had a habit of visiting brothels in Berlin.

Reinhard Heydrich mostly fit the archetypical 'aryan' as he was 6'4, blonde and blue-eyed; however, he had a bird chest and oddly wide hips. His eyes were sharp and glimmered when he thought he had the upper hand in a situation. His forehead was large, and his face was slightly asymmetrical.

He had many hobbies including fencing, boxing, hunting, violin playing and horse riding (which he apparently viewed with superstition, until Lina Heydrich continued to press the issue).

The following is photos of him doing his hobbies

Here's an extract about his hunting habit.

Reinhard Heydrich had his own plane which he used to get to the Wansee Conference and fly recreationally. It's believed he went out to fly as a member of the Luftwaffe, but it's also believed he didn't have the time for such. Still, there was an incident that put him at risk. He flew his plane and crashed in Russian territory. He had to get rescued after his plane below was damaged in the crash.

He a nasally voice and goat-like laugh.

Reinhard Heydrich got involved with Brothels on more than one occasion. This didn't just involve attending; it involved organizing the kidnapping of a well-known Madam of a wealthy brothel and coerced her into letting him set up microphones and getting secrets through pillow talk. He also had one 'investigation', where he went off with one of the girls and ordered his SD men to shut off the microphones.

He had a fantastic memory and innate curiosity which led to him inquiring how others knew someone and asking about implied conversations he found suspicious, making them tell him everything before Heydrich let them go.

He very rarely went to the cells in the RSHA building and looked upon communists and prisoners with disdain. The only other time he interrogated someone was a man called Kerstein who was Heinrich Himmler's doctor who was trying to convince Heinrich Himmler to let Jews go as hostages from the camps. s

Reinhard Heydrich had a specific way of dealing with reports which were in the context of the SD (counter-intelligence) and nefarious orders in the context of the SS hierarchy. When reporting information to Hitler, he'd do it in a military like fashion. When accepting reports, it was often during dinners (with Walter Schellenberg) or in his office in the RSHA building. He often gave orders at his hunting lodge. The nefarious orders he gave included, but were not limited to the following:

-Ordering his SD men to steal a file from the Abwehr (an opposing spy network in Germany)

-Ordering Walter Schellenberg to track down Otto Strasser and poison him with a liquid poison that burns the skin of those it comes too close to.

-Ordering the Einsatzengruppen to round up and shoot innocent Jews and Czechs when following the German army into a country Hitler was taking over.

He had many rumors about him; that he was secretly Jewish, that he had to leave the navy because he slept with and promised marriage to another women who wasn't his fiancé at the time.

Reinhard Heydrich was manipulative as he pinned his subordinates and superiors against each other. He loved to play cat and mouse games with his subordinates and spent several weeks-months trying to entrap Walter Schellenberg into confessing he was sleeping with Lina Heydrich (his wife). He even ordered over telephone that Walter Schellenberg would have dinner 'in mufti' with him and then 'go places' after playing cards with both Walter and Lina while playing the loyal, devoted husband. He even blackmailed Heinrich Mueller, the head of the Gestapo who was also his subordinate by two rows down. He did it apparently because Heinrich Mueller was anti monarchy and anti nazi.

Reinhard Heydrich had a cruel streak. There was instance where Greggor Strasser got shot in the back of the neck in an SD cell and Heydrich called him 'swine' while he bled out for an hour. He also let go of an officer who disobeyed one single order to head the fake an attack from Poland and justify Germany's aggression. Heydrich also created the concentration camp system and 'with cynical joy' forced Jews to have Jewish councils to govern their own in the ghettos.

Reinhard Heydrich was lecherous. Besides what else has been mentioned, he some 'lecherous things' to Walter Schellenberg while they were out for dinner together. This was during Heydrich's attempts to entrap him.

Reinhard Heydrich was also quite intelligent. A German General and Walter Schellenberg believed this. He was also politically savvy.

Finally, Reinhard Heydrich was apparently a fun drunk and saved Walter Schellenberg from getting beer thrown on him by a Russian.

Reinhard Heydrich treated his subordinates as such and was quick to criticize them. He didn't have any protege's or 'students' nor did he give anyone the sense they could be friends. He showed practical concern once when making sure Walter Schellenberg didn't get taken by the Americans while on an undercover mission. If they said anything that would possibly put them at risk or embarrass himself, he wouldn't hesitate to kick their leg under the table. He also liked to play cat and mouse games with them, in terms of trickery of deception - he never rested until a subordinate was in his power, 'to be struck down at the slightest sign of escape'. He sewed conflict with those above him and beneath him to distract from his growing power.

[salon-kitty]

Allow me to correct some errors here:

Yes. The text is not wholly false, but it is methodologically very bad: it mixes correct institutional facts with sensational anecdotes, unattributed memoir material, physical caricature, and confident psychological claims. The result is not “a profile of Heydrich” so much as a collage of hostile tropes, Schellenberg/Lina-style anecdote, pop-history simplification, and fandom-like character notes.

The strongest criticism is this: the text repeatedly treats “this has been said about Heydrich” as equivalent to “this is known about Heydrich.” Emotionally effective narrative motifs start replacing source hierarchy and factual control. Things that “sound true” can become accepted because they fit a known narrative grammar, not because the underlying event is documented.

1. The text skeleton: partly correct, but flattened

The opening paragraph is the most factually solid part, although even there it is sloppy.

Heydrich did head the SD and then the RSHA; the RSHA brought together the SD and the Security Police, which included the Gestapo and Kripo. USHMM describes the RSHA as created in September 1939 and led initially by Heydrich; it formalized the relationship between the SD and the Security Police. Source

It is also correct that the RSHA was central to the Holocaust, including deportations, Einsatzgruppen deployment, and the Wannsee Conference. USHMM explicitly says the RSHA coordinated forced emigration/deportations, developed poison-gas killing methods, deployed Einsatzgruppen, and hosted Wannsee.

But the phrase “he commanded the Einsatzgruppen units as a whole” needs nuance. Organizationally, yes, the Einsatzgruppen were under RSHA/Heydrich authority. But operational command in occupied territories was not simply “Heydrich personally ordered every round-up and shooting.” There were Einsatzgruppen commanders, Higher SS and Police Leaders, army interfaces, local initiatives, and shifting chains of command. So the claim is not false, but it compresses a complex machinery into a cartoon chain: Heydrich → murder squad → shootings.

Likewise, “second in command to Himmler” is broadly defensible only in the SS-police-security sphere. It should not be read as “formal number two of the entire SS in every administrative, economic, Waffen-SS, camp, and police matter.” He was Himmler’s crucial deputy in security and police power, not simply a universal vice-Himmler.

Also: “Obbergruppenfuhrer” is misspelled. It should be SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei. Calling it simply “the SS equivalent of General” is imprecise; in many rank equivalency charts it corresponds more closely to a senior general rank, often lieutenant-general level, depending on context.

2. Wannsee: the flattening risks a common misconception

The text says he used his plane to get to the Wannsee Conference. That may come from dramatizations or anecdotal tradition, but the important correction is conceptual: Wannsee did not “decide” the Holocaust. The House of the Wannsee Conference states explicitly that it would be incorrect to say the murder of European Jews was decided there; the meeting coordinated implementation and involved ministries and party offices in a policy already decided at a higher level. Source

The protocol itself has Heydrich opening the meeting by saying that Göring had put him in charge of preparations for the “Final Solution” and that the purpose was to clarify fundamental questions and coordinate the agencies involved.

So a more accurate formulation would be:

Heydrich chaired the Wannsee Conference as head of the Security Police and SD, using it to assert RSHA leadership over the coordination of deportation and murder policy across Reich ministries and occupied administrations.

That is different from a vague villain prose.

3. Salon Kitty / brothel material: high contamination risk

This is one of the weakest parts of the text.

There probably was an SD-linked espionage operation around Salon Kitty, and Schellenberg’s memoirs are a key source for the microphone story. But the evidentiary situation is messy. A review of The Madam and the Spymaster notes that much of the famous Salon Kitty story is “largely unsubstantiated,” that later mythmaking drew heavily from Schellenberg and sensationalized 1970s treatments, and that many primary-source gaps remain. Source

Another article says postwar reports linked the brothel to SD informants and that Schellenberg claimed it was wired, but it also notes that little is actually known and that SD involvement remains obscure. (Also stated in the Nancy Dougherty book).

So:

Heydrich/Schellenberg used Salon Kitty for intelligence.

–> Plausible, but source dependent.

Kitty Schmidt was coerced

–> Often repeated, but not cleanly documented

Heydrich personally “visited brothels as a habit”

–> Not plausibly documented

Heydrich went off with a girl and ordered microphones off

-> Anecdotal, probably memoir/sensational-literature territory

Therefore Heydrich was “lecherous” –> Argumentative leap

This is a perfect example of evidence laundering: a story enters through memoir, becomes sex-spy folklore, then gets retold as personality evidence.

4. Physical description: caricature disguised as observation

The “Aryan archetype” paragraph is rhetorically suspicious.

Blond, blue-eyed, tall: broadly consistent with common descriptions. But “6’4” is likely exaggerated; many sources give him around 191 cm, roughly 6’3, and even that varies. “Bird chest,” “oddly wide hips,” “sharp glimmering eyes,” “goat-like laugh,” “nasally voice” are not neutral facts. They are physiognomic characterization. In fact, he was 187 centimetres tall, as documented by medical records.

This is not necessarily useless — hostile descriptions can preserve real impressions — but it should be labelled as witness-description / hostile memoir / literary portrait, not objective data.

It also contradicts itself rhetorically. It says he “mostly fit the archetypical Aryan,” then immediately tries to deform him physically: bird chest, wide hips, asymmetry, goat laugh. That is not analysis. That is anti-iconography: first raise the idealized Nazi image, then spoil it bodily. Very common in demonizing portrayals.

5. Hobbies: mostly plausible, but the interpretation is overdriven

Fencing, violin, riding, flying, and hunting are all broadly plausible or documented. The problem is the hunting quotation.

The quote:

“Heydrich much enjoys shooting… because he must make a kill…”

may come from a hostile or postwar recollection. It is not impossible as an observation, but it is psychologizing: it translates a hobby into a moral diagnosis. The text then uses it as if it reveals essence: “he must kill.” That is exactly the kind of narrative shortcut that should raise alarms.

A better historian’s formulation would be:

Some hostile recollections portray Heydrich’s hunting as intensely competitive and bound up with control or dominance; without corroboration, this should be treated as characterization rather than proof of sadistic compulsion.

6. Flying: partly true, partly mangled

He was a trained pilot and did fly with the Luftwaffe. His aircraft was hit over Soviet territory in July 1941, and he had to land and get back/rescued. The broad event is real: his Bf 109 was hit by Soviet fire near the Dniester/Yampil area, he landed behind or near enemy lines, avoided capture, and was later forbidden or stopped from such missions.

But the text says:

“He had his own plane which he used to get to the Wannsee Conference and fly recreationally.”

This needs qualification. “Own plane” can mean private, assigned, personal-use, liaison aircraft, or dramatized shorthand. It should not be stated baldly without identifying the aircraft, ownership status, and source. And using it “to get to Wannsee” is a detail that needs direct proof, not assumption from a filmic image of Heydrich flying into Berlin.

7. Gregor Strasser: plausible anecdote, but not cleanly handled

The Strasser passage is another example of a true atrocity wrapped in melodramatic certainty.

Gregor Strasser was killed during the Röhm purge/Night of the Long Knives, and Heydrich and Himmler were involved in the broader conspiracy and purge machinery. USHMM says Himmler and Heydrich conspired with Göring to persuade Hitler to eliminate Röhm and planted rumors/evidence of a coup threat. Source

The “Let the swine bleed to death” line is widely repeated, but it is still anecdotal. It should be attributed, not simply narrated as camera-visible fact. Also, the text says “SD cell,” which is probably imprecise; the usual accounts place Strasser in Gestapo custody/headquarters context, not simply “an SD cell.”

So: possible, famous, damning — but still should be source-labelled.

8. “He created the concentration camp system” is wrong

This is one of the clearest factual failures.

Heydrich did not create the concentration camp system. Early camps emerged in 1933; Dachau was central under Himmler/Eicke, and the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps developed under Theodor Eicke. Heydrich/RSHA/SiPo/Gestapo were deeply involved in arrests, Schutzhaft, deportations, and later exterminatory policy, but “created the concentration camp system” is too broad and wrong.

A correct version:

Heydrich’s police-security apparatus supplied victims to the camp system and integrated police intelligence, repression, and deportation into SS terror policy; he did not personally create the camp system as such.

9. “Forced Jews to have Jewish councils with cynical joy”: overstatement

Jewish councils/Judenräte were part of German occupation policy and ghetto administration. Heydrich/RSHA policy is relevant here, but “with cynical joy” is pure interior-state language unless tied to a specific source. It turns administrative cruelty into mind-reading.

The policy can be condemned without inventing emotional certainty.

10. Walter Schellenberg material: very dangerous source base

The text leans heavily on Schellenberg-like anecdotes: dinners, “mufti,” games with Lina, sexual jealousy, kicking under the table, practical concern, cat-and-mouse, clever drunk, Russian beer incident, poisoning Otto Strasser.

Schellenberg is useful, but he is also self-serving. He had every incentive after the war to portray himself as brilliant, endangered, reluctantly involved, and personally interesting to Heydrich. So whenever the text uses Schellenberg material to create a psychologically intimate Heydrich, the evidentiary rating should drop.

The claim that Heydrich spent weeks or months entrapping Schellenberg over Lina is especially suspicious. It may preserve something — jealousy, surveillance, social testing — but it reads like memoir-drama. “He never rested until a subordinate was in his power” is not a fact; it is literary villain construction.

11. Otto Strasser poisoning: plausible operation, bad wording

The claim that Heydrich ordered Schellenberg to track down Otto Strasser and poison him refers to real anti-Strasser operations, but the description “liquid poison that burns the skin of those it comes too close to” is garbled and sensational. It sounds like botulinum toxin or another assassination-toxin story transformed into pulp detail. This needs exact sourcing.

Do not accept it unless these can be answered:

1. Which source?

2. Which poison?

3. Which date?

4. Which operational file?

5. Was the plan ordered, proposed, tested, or merely claimed later by Schellenberg?

Without that, it is anecdote dressed as operational history.

12. Gleiwitz / “let go of an officer” is confused

The sentence:

“He also let go of an officer who disobeyed one single order to head the fake an attack from Poland…”

seems to refer to the Gleiwitz incident / Operation Himmler. The wording is nearly incoherent. Heydrich was involved in organizing false-flag operations around the Polish invasion, but this sentence does not clearly identify the officer, the order, or what “let go” means. It is unusable as written.

To sum things up:

It piles up stories from different genres — institutional history, memoir, gossip, physical description, operational anecdote — and lets quantity simulate proof.

USHMM-type institutional facts, Schellenberg memoir anecdotes, Lina-related domestic material, pop-history descriptions, and hostile quotes are all presented at the same evidentiary level.

Factual objections:

Mind-reading.

“He must make a kill,” “with cynical joy,” “lecherous,” “loved to play cat and mouse,” “never rested until…” These are interpretations, not facts.

Moral adjectives replacing analysis.

“Cruel,” “lecherous,” “manipulative,” “nefarious” may or may not be fair moral descriptors, but the text uses them as organizing categories before proving them.

Category confusion.

Institutional guilt is mixed with personality gossip. Heydrich’s role in genocide is real and central; that does not automatically validate every story about brothels, jealousy, or body oddities.

Villain portrait logic.

The writer clearly wants a coherent monster: sexually predatory, physically uncanny, socially sadistic, intellectually brilliant, murderous, jealous, and theatrical. Some parts may be true. But the total portrait is too neat.

What is actually safe to say?

A tighter, source-clean version would be:

Reinhard Heydrich was one of the central SS-police figures of the Nazi regime: head of the SD, chief of the Security Police and SD, and head of the RSHA from 1939 until his death. The RSHA coordinated major components of Nazi repression and Holocaust policy, including deportations, Einsatzgruppen operations, and the bureaucratic coordination represented by the Wannsee Conference. Heydrich was feared for his intelligence, ambition, administrative effectiveness, and access to compromising information. Many postwar accounts also portray him as cold, suspicious, manipulative, and socially predatory, but these personality claims often derive from memoirs and hostile recollections and must be separated from well-documented institutional responsibility.

The text is not reliable as historical analysis. It is a character dossier built from unranked fragments. The worst problem is not that it condemns Heydrich; the worst problem is that it does so lazily. It takes real institutional responsibility — which is already severe enough — and dilutes it with poorly sourced villain folklore.

[salon-kitty]

One of the publications issued in 1943, with the title of Ich kämpfe. Includes many interesting pictures. Such as this one:

[derschoeffe]

(!) The content provided is for educational and informational purposes only. Enigma is strictly against hateful ideologies.

The Österreichische Nationalbibliothek has a large archive of newspapers. Type surname or word → click ”Medium” and choose ”Zeitung” → click ”Titel” and select the name of the newspaper.

Voilá, the site will show you all the mentions marked in red. Here’s a direct link with all the filters I applied (for RH, of course). And links to articles with pics: Prague, 1939 / Rome, 1940 / Prague, 1941.

[tapok-for-tr]

Himmler's visit to Prague, October 1941

In the same time in London Beneš (president of Czechoslovakia) decided to hit back directly at Heydrich in Operation Anthropoid

Video on Czech with German subtitles

By the way, decision to kill Heydrich wasn't really easy, because everyone (include Beneš) understood that for such act of disobedience Czechs would pay own blood

Even in May 1942, when Kubiš and Gabčík were already in Prague, some people from Czech resistance asked (twice!) to cancel the assassination

Fragment from ÚVOD message to Beneš, 12th May 1942:

This assassination would in no way benefit the Allies, and might have incalculable consequences for our nation. It would not only endanger our hostages and political prisoners, but also cost thousands of other lives. It would expose the nation to unparalleled consequences, while at the same time sweeping away the last remnants of [underground] organization. As a result it would become impossible to do anything useful for the Allies in future

The answer of Beneš was pretty cynical, from my point of view:

«I expect that in the forthcoming offensive the Germans will push with their forces. They are sure to have some success . . . In such a case I would expect German proposals for an inconclusive peace. The crisis would be a serious one [for us] . . . In such a situation, an act of violence such as disturbances, direct subversion, sabotage, or demonstrations, might be imperative or even necessary in our country. This would save the nation internationally, and even great sacrifices would be worth it»

After the assassination there weren't any discussion in the Third Reich, what kind of Czechs could be Germanized and what kind supposed to be killed (as it was, when Heydrich started developing such sort of classification)

Hitler decided after the end of war in Russia, all Czechs would be dead, without a doubt

So, it's really hard question, on which I still don't have any clue answer even for myself. Was it really necessary: risk the whole nation for restoring political pride?

Nevertheless, the major picture looked like that: Heydrich is a life = people will be dead Heydrich is killed = people will be dead

But... what if, just what if, Germans won in WW2? What then Beneš could think when the entire nation would be destroyed because of Operation Anthropoid?

Stop thinking there. Keep in mind: at least half of Czechs should have been dead, another part would be Germanized, according to Heydrich's plan. It means, that for Beneš perspective, there wasn't a big difference between be killed today or in next ten years. Czechs did not have any future in Reich. That is the simple fact

As I said: no clue answer, pure moral and pride decision

To deeply understand the Beneš motive I recommend reading more not only about how the Europa betrayed Czechs. It is NOT the most cruel part. You should read about Czechoslovakism to comprehend the huge scale of humiliation of their nation and how it really was painful, to lose everything, when your entire ideology based on believe that you are... Well. Just read. Really painful.

The true heroes of this story are two young men, who knew they would be for sure dead. There wasn't any escape plan. Just wasn't.

But they still did what they believed they should have, although many people before them were massacred, run away or just joined to the nazi

[tightcollars]

26/ Max Wünsche: The Seizure of Prague (1939)

It seems very unlikely that Max Wünsche did not travel to Prague, as Hitler’s close entourage for such events did not change and usually consisted of the following: SS-Obergruppenführer Brückner, SS-Gruppenführer Schaub, Reichsleiter Bormann, Reichsführer SS Himmler, Professor Hoffmann, Professor Dr. Morell, SS Sturmbannführer Dr. Brandt, SS-Obersturmführer Wünsche, SS-Obersturmführer Bahls, an adjutant of the Reichsführer SS, Christa Schröder and Miss Daranowski. Of course there were others as well, but these individuals regularly appeared on similar lists, even just a few weeks later.

By 9 a.m. on the 16th of March, German troops had already entered Prague.  Hitler also issued a “Wehrmacht report,” the first of his rule, beginning with the words “The High Command of the Armed Forces announces,” a format that would be used thousands of times during the Second World War.

Hitler followed the Wehrmacht in his special train. Adjutants also traveled through the night, and there was lively discussion over breakfast. Von Below later recalled: “At breakfast in the dining car, I learned more. The Wehrmacht had crossed the borders and was advancing everywhere without encountering resistance. The Czech army had been ordered to remain in the barracks and to hand over its weapons there to the German Wehrmacht. A bitter fate for an army that had not been defeated in battle.”

While Hácha was still in Berlin, Hitler was already nearing his destination in the heart of Europe. After leaving the train, he transferred to his off-road vehicles. The weather was miserable, with heavy snowfall, and German troops of various branches were marching along the country roads.

By the time (8 p.m.) they arrived, it was already dark. No one knew the access road to Prague Castle through Hradčany, so the cars ended up driving into a courtyard behind a small building. The courtyard was completely crowded with German soldiers and vehicles.

Only after considerable effort was it possible to find an official who led Hitler and his entourage through a passage into the Hradčany complex. The troops were very surprised at how quickly Hitler had arrived in Prague. A room had to be prepared for the “Belowed Führer of the German people” with difficulty—no one had expected him, and in truth, no one wanted him there. His companions lay on the floor in various rooms; it resembled a Wallenstein camp. Christa Schröder recalled: „Something was not right. The great wrought-iron gates were shut, and the SS bodyguard had to get out and open them, for me a clear sign that we were not welcome.” The Czechs didn’t even provide them with food—scandalous! So at two in the morning, the SS aides went to the Deutsches Haus to look for some. The prepared food had already been eaten by his own officers long before the Führer arrived.

Erich Kempka also chimed in: „This military occupation of Prague had been effected by an invasion force consisting of Hitler, his military escort and one company of an SS engineer battalion. This battalion had been formed in Dresden from a training unit under instruction and was so poorly armed that the men of the Führer's SS bodyguard had to lend them half their stock of machine pistols!“

On the other hand, Czech journalists found admiration for the “slender and tall figures of the SS members,” noting approvingly that “the vast majority of the soldiers have light hair and healthy, round faces.”

Early on the morning of the 17th, the sky was a clear, bright blue.

After discussing the constitutional consequences of the occupation in Prague with Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick, Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop announced by radio the decree establishing the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and its incorporation into the German Reich. With this occupation and annexation, Germany violated the Munich Agreement, which it had itself concluded on September 30, 1938.

Around midday, President Emil Hácha arrived, completely astonished to find Hitler already at the Hradschin. After receiving the entire cabinet, headed by the Czech prime minister, Hitler departed from Prague, having spent not even 24 hours there.

The Prussians among his entourage didn’t really understand all the fuss. Bohemia (and Moravia) meant nothing to them—they had no real history with it. But Hitler, as an Austrian, felt almost at home. They spent the night in the special train on Sudeten German territory. During their subsequent tour through the Protectorate, Adolf Hitler visited Olomouc (Olmütz) and Brno (Brünn). In Brno, they reviewed the 2nd Panzer Division, were received at the town hall, and Hitler delivered a speech addressing those present as “the new citizens of the Greater German Reich.” According to a confidential press directive, the term “Greater German World Reich” was not to be used, as it was “reserved for later occasions.”

They then continued by special train to Vienna, arriving at the North Station at around 5 p.m., where they took up quarters at the Hotel Imperial. In Vienna, Hitler appointed former Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath as Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, based in Prague. To assist him, the Deputy Gauleiter of the Sudeten region, Karl Hermann Frank, was assigned.

After drafting a protection treaty for Slovakia, they returned to Berlin by special train. In Berlin, the celebrations were in full swing. They arrived in the evening at Görlitz Station, where Hermann Göring greeted Hitler with a bombastic speech, hailing him as a “heroic soldier.” According to von Below, however, the scene was, this time, truly embarrassing.

By decree, the Protectorate was declared autonomous and was thus formally supposed to have the right to self-government. In reality, however, it had to exercise its authority in accordance with Germany’s political, military, and economic needs. Autonomy therefore remained largely on paper—Germany could restrict it and in some areas eliminated it entirely. From the perspective of international and Czechoslovak law, this was a disguised form of illegal annexation. The legitimate government was the (later established and Allied-recognized) government-in-exile in London, led by President Edvard Beneš. The grim years had begun!

We will still need the Protectorate quite a lot—especially since even MW, despite his remarkable tendency to forget things about the critical developments that were to unfold in the country later that same year. But the thought of MW, after a long trip, scrambling to get his boss something to eat at 2 a.m. made me laugh… By the way, this terrible idea of Hitler’s, going to Prague in the worst possible weather, with minimal protection and absolutely no preparation, was remembered at length in just about every memoir (von Below, Schroder, Kempka, Schaub, Himmler). See you next time!

Want to know more? Here’s the guide

[tightcollars]

25/ Max Wünsche: Occupation of Bohemia and Moravia (1939)

On March 7, 1939, Arthur Seyss-Inquart met Slovak leaders to push for Slovak independence. The Czechoslovak government responded with a military and political intervention. Jozef Tiso, a Slovak priest and politician aligned with Nazi Germany, was summoned to Berlin on March 13, where Hitler forced him to choose between Slovak independence or a Hungarian invasion.

Tiso agreed, and on March 14 Slovakia declared independence, breaking away from Czechoslovakia, which then ceased to exist. Meanwhile, Hungary occupied Subcarpathian Ruthenia, the easternmost region of Slovakia.

A lot was going on in Berlin. Hitler was enthusiastic about the collapse of the state and eager to see his new territories as soon as possible. Officially, nothing had happened yet—but he was certain. Completely certain that everything would turn out in his favor.

On the afternoon of March 14, an operational briefing was held with Rommel. It was decided that Hitler should travel by train as far as Česká Lípa in the Sudetenland, close to the Czech border, and that motorized units were to be set in motion there the same evening. Hitler agreed with the proposal, but reserved the right to make further decisions depending on how the situation developed, and only once he had reached Lípa. The special train was to be prepared for departure at short notice from Anhalter Bahnhof from midnight onward.

Later that evening, Hitler even watched a film. His adjutants had never seen him so calm before a military action as he was on this occasion. Keitel arrived during the course of the evening, and shortly afterward, the arrival of „Czechoslovak“ President Emil Hácha was reported, while German troops were already crossing the Czechoslovak border.

Ribbentrop arranged for the meeting to begin at midnight on March 15. At the appointed time, the adjutants accompanied Hitler to the new Reich Chancellery. He was once again certain that Hácha would give in. Czechoslovakia had been abandoned by its former allies—there would be no second Munich. In a confident mood, he greeted Göring, Ribbentrop, and Weizsäcker, and awaited his guest at the entrance in the courtyard of honor.

A notably large group of people took part in the discussion. The adjutants saw Göring, Keitel, Ribbentrop, Meißner, Weizsäcker, Dr. Dietrich, and Hewel acting as record-keeper. Hácha had brought with him the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Chvalkovský and his chief of cabinet. The doors were closed, and the usual waiting period for adjutants began. After a nearly hour-long monologue, Hitler declared that a German invasion was unavoidable. Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop then continued to pressure and wear down the Czech delegation. President Hácha eventually collapsed and had to be treated by Hitler’s personal physician. Göring threatened the bombing of Prague.

Von Below later recalled it something like this; Max Wünsche, who was sitting there with him, may have thought the same: ‘We observed frequent comings and goings in Hitler’s study. Each time, it was possible to learn something about the progress of the talks. From this, it was clear that the negotiation was an unequal struggle. We felt pity for the old gentleman. Professor Morell appeared with his medical case and disappeared into the conference room. After some time, he returned and reported that Hácha had recovered after a heart attack and an injection. Around 2 a.m., the conference was interrupted.”

Hácha withdrew with his foreign minister and his chief of cabinet to telephone Prague and order that no resistance be offered. After about an hour and a half, Hitler returned, and around 4 a.m., the Czech representatives agreed to sign a prepared declaration of submission, placing “the fate of the Czech people and country with full confidence in the hands of the Führer of the German Reich.”

Hitler’s adjutants and secretaries then found their Chief standing in his study, surrounded by the conference participants. In a confident mood, he told his (famale) staff: “So, children, now here and here,” pointing to his left and right cheeks, “each of you give me a kiss.” As he had never made such a request before, they were taken aback, but quickly composed themselves and complied with his wish. “This is the finest day of my life,” he continued. “I have achieved something that has been striven for in vain for centuries. I have succeeded in unifying Czechoslovakia with the Reich—Hácha has signed the treaty. I shall go down in history as the greatest German.”

At around 6 a.m., Joseph Goebbels published the “Agreement on the Protection of the Czech People by the German Reich,” while Hitler informed the German public of the occupation. He justified it by claiming that Czechoslovakia was collapsing and that intolerable terror against ethnic Germans prevailed in Bohemia and Moravia.

This was originally meant to be a long post, but in the end it has been split up. MW was present; he simply never commented on Czechoslovakia in his interview, even when asked. Given that he continued to dutifully sign documents in the personal adjutant’s office, he cannot really excuse himself from it. So I can’t spare you from it either! See you next time in Prague!

Want to know more? Here’s the guide

[vintage-tigre]

Next time you’re watching any news show or political coverage see how many of these you can spot:

Quick rundown of each propaganda technique:

• Glittering Generalities: Using vague, emotionally appealing words (like “freedom” or “justice”) that sound good but lack specific meaning.

• Transfer: Associating a person, idea, or product with something already respected or disliked (like using a flag, religion, or celebrity image) to carry over those feelings.

• Name-Calling: Attaching negative labels to an opponent or idea to create fear or distrust without real evidence.

• Card-Stacking: Presenting only positive information for one side and leaving out or distorting the negatives.

• Testimonial: Having a famous or respected person endorse an idea, product, or cause.

• Plain Folks: Presenting the speaker as an “ordinary” person to seem relatable and trustworthy.

• Band Wagon: Urging people to follow the crowd with the idea that “everyone else is doing it.”

[tightcollars]

22/ Max Wünsche: Annoying letters (1939)

Max Wünsche remained quite tense at the very beginning of the year; the Führer’s security was a rather delicate matter, only 40–50 privileged individuals, mainly Gauleiter, Reich leaders, ministers, and close associates like Speer, could visit Hitler for lunch simply by calling ahead to aides. They could enter the New Chancellery with minimal security, often moving freely and even unaccompanied in Hitler’s private rooms. For the less privileged, however, the Chancellery was carefully guarded, partly by units of the LSSAH.

It was precisely these mens that Max was annoyed about when, on 18 January, he wrote a letter to the LSSAH headquarters for the second time regarding the (same) problems with guards.

„1.) Garden Post. Despite the letter of the 10th of this month and the repeated instructions given to the officer on duty, the garden sentry again patrolled past the Winter Garden on the 17th and stuck his nose up to the windows. It is regrettable that the Führer’s instructions are being ignored by the unit in this way.

2.) Uniform. The men on the last guard shift wore very poorly polished boots and had anything but a proper military haircut. The Führer also expressed displeasure in this regard… (continues over the next three pages)

His rather long sharp letter must have been noted by the leadership; Max kept up his tone in his correspondence throughout January, and others, including Peiper, also caught some of it from him, fortunately, in that case he was only dealing with the revised dates of the Führer’s visits.

Max, was about to receive next rather unpleasant letter. An incident from the previous year resurfaced in official correspondence: back in March 1938, while still a young SS officer in „training“, Max Wünsche had been involved in a car accident at a tram stop in Munich. The report notes that on 9 March 1938, near the stop of Line 14 on Maria-Ward/Dachauer strasse, the passenger car W-165—driven by Wünsche of the SS Junker School in Braunschweig—was involved in the incident. By May, the matter had already taken on a bureaucratic tone: an official letter informed him, almost curtly, that “the vehicle was damaged by you,” and that he was therefore expected to settle the resulting invoice from Daimler-Benz through his insurance. He was given a clear deadline—mid-June—to resolve the issue and report back. And they also reminded him that he was to “immediately report his current private address,” so he probably didn’t have things entirely in order himself either.

Yet the case did not simply disappear. It moved slowly through the system, passing from Munich police to the SS training camp at Dachau, then onward through administrative offices in Berlin. Months later, the files were still being requested and forwarded, as if no one office quite wanted to take responsibility. And then, just as quietly, it ended. By late January 1939, the conclusion was recorded in a single line: the matter had been “settled directly by SS-Untersturmführer Wünsche.”

On 30 January 1939, marking the sixth anniversary of the Nazi seizure of power, Adolf Hitler received the laureates of the 1938 National Prize in the Great Reception Hall of the New Reich Chancellery. Among them were prominent figures such as aircraft designers Willy Messerschmitt and Ernst Heinkel, as well as Ferdinand Porsche and Fritz Todt.

Later that day, Max surely lifted his spirits. In the evening, the “Greater German Reichstag” convened for the first time in the Kroll Opera House, with all 885 deputies in attendance. Adolf Hitler delivered a lengthy speech—lasting two and a half hours—in which he again defended the annexation of Austria and the handling of the Sudeten crisis. At the same time, he openly spoke of the destruction of European Jewry.

“Today I will once again be a prophet: If international finance Jewry within and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe (…)”

After sharp attacks on politically active churches, he ended his speech in a familiar tone, invoking religion and "offering thanks to God." Max Wünsche, together with Joachim Peiper, stood there the entire time and listened. That day’s events concluded with torchlight processions and an SS parade through Berlin, as Hitler received the crowd’s homage from the balcony of the Reich Chancellery.

I don’t know what got into Max overnight at the beginning of the year, but he kept sending nothing but angry letters! I guess he badly needed a holiday — not that he was going to get one! See you next time!

Want to know more? Here’s the guide

[salon-kitty]

I’m deeply sorry everyone.

Although I’m mostly a fact loving person and an archive nerd, I’ve stumbled upon this monstrosity in an online auction, which left me laughing like a retarded seal for several minutes.

Behold, everyone, an action figure from the set of the War criminals of the 20th century!

[theblondebeast]

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel: The Desert Fox.

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel

Born: November 15, 1891, in Heidenheim, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire

Died: October 14, 1944, near Herrlingen, Germany forced suicide following implication in the July 20 plot against Adolf Hitler.

Erwin Rommel, one of World War II's most renowned German commanders, earned the nickname "Desert Fox" for his brilliant tactical innovations and audacious leadership.

A professional officer from a non-military family, Rommel distinguished himself in World War I, earning Germany's highest honor, the Pour le Mérite, for bold actions on the Italian front, including the capture of Mount Matajur.

In World War II, he led the 7th Panzer Division during the 1940 invasion of France with remarkable speed and success. Promoted to command the Afrika Korps in 1941, Rommel transformed the North African campaign through mobile warfare, often outperforming opponents despite supply shortages and numerical disadvantages.Later assigned to defend Normandy, he fortified the Atlantic Wall but faced overwhelming Allied forces during the D-Day invasion.

Rommel was not a member of the Nazi Party and grew disillusioned with Hitler's leadership. Implicated in the 1944 bomb plot, he was given the choice of suicide to protect his family and reputation.Respected by allies and enemies alike for his chivalry and skill.

#ErwinRommel #DesertFox #WW2History #MilitaryHistory #AfrikaKorps #WorldWarII

[miuarchiv]

Scenario from a Friedrich Paulus book

Бланк Александр. Вторая жизнь фельдмаршала Паулюса Read with Google translate, accuracy not guaranteed.

· Walter, but Sie

An unpleasant conversation at RH’s office

“He was the most terrible figure among our statesmen,” Field Marshal Paulus felt it necessary to share his opinion. “Cruel, cunning, treacherous. I once ‘had the honor’ of being invited to talk to him.” “As you understand,” Paulus emphasized, “a summons to Heydrich was not an ordinary event even for an OKH general. And I went to see him very worried. ......The Obergruppenführer inquired about my wife's health," Paulus continued. "Apparently he knew about her from his wife: Helena Constanze and Lina Heydrich belonged to some kind of charitable society. "Your wife, General, is the object of constant attention from our fashionistas - they say her outfits are as magnificent as they are expensive… Where do you get so much money, my dear?" Heydrich joked. "I, for one, don't have any." Then he wiped the smile off his face. "Our Aryan women are now choosing a strict style of dress - there is a war and the fatherland is fighting," he noted. This was a clear hint at the non-German origin of Helena Constanze - "our Aryan women"… "But I," Heydrich finally dropped the joking tone, "of course, did not invite you to talk about the outfits of our ladies. "We are talking about your future trip to Bucharest and Budapest… We would like to ask you about something…" The Field Marshal fell silent. There was no continuation of the story.

Paulus, without any apparent connection to what was said, remarked: "Someone said it right: everyone imagines others in their own image and likeness. This is a very true thought."

The Field Marshal did not mention Heydrich again: the conversation remained unfinished. Only some time later, Paulus's close friend, his former first adjutant Wilhelm Adam, finished the story.

After talking about fashions and the modesty with which an Aryan woman should behave, Heydrich got down to business: "So, we have a favor to ask of you." He immediately picked up the telephone receiver and said quietly but rather insistently: "Schellenberg, please come to see me."

The head of the RSHA's foreign intelligence service immediately appeared and told Paulus in a peremptory tone: "Mr. General, we know that one of your relatives in Bucharest serves as the head of the cipher department of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will call him Stefan. Another of your Romanian relatives - we will call her Rosita - married a communist who is in preventive detention. We also know that your third Romanian relative is married to a man who remained in Bolshevik Bessarabia. Finally, and this is the main thing, we know that you, Mr. General, are a true patriot and a loyal soldier of the Fuhrer… Schellenberg fell silent, brazenly examining Paulus's face. Most likely, he wanted to understand what impression he had managed to make on the young general. Apparently, the scout caught the confusion on his face and, considering the issue resolved, stated the main thing without any disguise. - So, in a few days you are going to Bucharest. We cannot guarantee that the Romanians are always honest and open with us. And if your relative Stefan could help us to verify this, we would highly appreciate such a service.

Paulus literally choked with anger. Without hiding his indignation, he asked Schellenberg again: - You wanted me to recruit Stefan for you? Did I understand your proposal correctly? - Well, why state delicate issues so simply, - Schellenberg said with feigned offense. - It's about strengthening the relationship of trust, nothing more. - No, thank you. I'm a soldier, Herr Colonel (Schellenberg then held the rank of SS Standartenführer, which was equivalent to a colonel in the army), and I'm used to speaking frankly, without any beating around the bush. I'm not suited to the role of recruiter of agents, I don't know how to steal other people's codes. My job is to fight, and if necessary, to die for the Fuehrer and the Fatherland.

And then Heydrich, who had been silent the whole time, intervened: - We are not forcing you to do anything, Herr General. Walter simply asked for a small favor. The reasons for your refusal are clear to us, we respect them. After all, you don't want to endanger a close relative of your wife.

And even at that moment Heydrich did not miss the opportunity to sting Paulus. He supplemented the statement he had just made about understanding his position regarding his relative with a clearly offensive phrase: “And such a generous man – after all, he manages the family accounts of the Rosetti family.”

Seeing Paulus’s face flush again, the owner of the office stood up and said conciliatorily: “Let’s forget about this conversation. Walter, you are free to go.”

· Rumors are everywhere

At the same time, there was a version among the officers of the General Staff that Heydrich sent men with sledgehammers to smash to pieces a marble tombstone over one of the half-abandoned graves in the Leipzig cemetery, where his grandmother with a non-Aryan name was supposedly buried."

RH 's paternal grandmother was Ernestine Wilhelmine Lindner, his maternal grandmother was Maria Antonie Mautsch(Slavic in origin, but not Jewish anyway).

[miuarchiv]

Wilhelm Wanek's comment on the relationship between Schellenberg and Heydrich

"...was known to be an officially correct relationship."

Exactly the same script as Neumann's.

"...Schellenberg was called the "student" by certain circles. All of us who knew Schellenberg from the Office had to smile about this. At the time, when this started, Schellenberg was still in Office I, or IV-E. At any rate, it is certain that this expression came from Office IV and was then spread by the chief of the Personnel staff who liked to spread such fireside stories and loved to tell such anecdotes and was known for this in the SS."

"Chief of the Personnel staff" surely refers to the chief of Persönlicher Stab RFSS, 📢Karl Wolff📢. (The chief of personnel of the RSHA was Amtschef I, neither Best nor Streckenbach had such a reputation. And Wolff would get his Karma in 1943.)

In another interrogation, Wanek stated that the rumours about Lina and WS originated from Amt III.

Q. Now, Schellenberg was a pronounced protégé of Heydrich. A. The expression is unfortunate. Q.Wolff told me he was a favorite pupil of Heydrich, apart from Lina Heydrich. A. I know this nonsense too. It all came from Amt III. That he, as an elegant young man, went in and out of Heydrich's office as a matter of course, and that there was anything between him and Lina Heydrich, all of that is quite out of the question, because Schellenberg was the personification of caution and distrustful of everything. Schellenberg would never have risked treating Mrs. Heydrich in any way that was anything more than polite. Mrs. Heydrich was a very beautiful woman, very vain, very ambitious, and ran a large social circle. It's clear that she must have found Schellenberg attractive as a young man, and that people then said there must be something more to him. But there was certainly nothing more to him than that. The fact that he was described, somewhat exaggeratedly, as her favorite student can be explained by the fact that there was nothing else there. Amt VI had far more capable personnel. Amt IV consisted only of detectives who lacked polish and poise. Schellenberg was an exception, even in Amt VI. You can see that he was capable by what he achieved in Amt VI. (Translated with Google)

...In my opinion, Heydrich gave him the opportunity to prepare himself for this task and to prove his ability while he was in the executive. His activity in Dortmund, the Border Stapo Office, and jobs in the investigation service showed what he could do in that field, and he was assigned to Department IV-E. In this capacity we felt rather sorry for him although this might seem strange, but it was proverbial that anyone who was to work in closely contact with Heydrich would sooner or later be in a difficult position. And in this case I would like to describe the relationship between the two saying the relationship was neither excellent nor bad. It was difficult for Schellenberg.

Wanek's further elaboration on this topic (although it was not submitted to the court):

Regarding the relationship between Schellenberg and Heydrich, I would like to say that, based on my personal assessment of Heydrich, there could be no question of friendship, especially since Heydrich fundamentally rejected the concept of “friendship” in both small and large circles and deliberately did not grant anyone the right to call themselves his friend. Nor was he a so-called “student” of Heydrich. I know that these two terms, “friend” and “pupil,” were circulated and deliberately staged by certain circles and people who were, on the one hand, professionally inferior to Schellenberg and, on the other hand, motivated purely by a need for recognition and sensationalism. Schellenberg's relationship with Heydrich — one must remember that he was an SS Hauptsturmführer at the time and later a Sturmbannführer and, in terms of civil service, an assessor or junior government councilor — was always that of a subordinate to a superior in professional terms, and he stood out from the crowd solely because of his unheard-of zeal for work and his abilities. These qualities, which he originally displayed in Amt I and later mainly in Amt IV, where the majority of criminal investigators were of average ability, perhaps gave him a certain special status as a worker in relation to Heydrich, but this was by no means associated with advantages for him, rather with disadvantages. As far as I can judge, he was exploited very heavily in terms of work, both in Amt I and in Amt IV. Heydrich himself was a very strong personality, extremely distrustful of everyone and also very headstrong.

[miuarchiv]

Schellenberg's secretary executed for homosexuality: Hans-Heinrich Gaulke

• In Amt I: In Jan 1937, Gaulke was among the staff of Zentralabteilung I 1, along with WS, and Erhard Urbannek, who would become WS's adjutant in IV-E.

• In IV-E: As the 27 Sep 1940 application for Gaulke's promotion to Untersturmführer indicated, Gaulke followed WS to the IV-E.

• In Amt VI In the May 1942 telephone book of RSHA, Gaulke and Werner Krüger were in charge of the same phone numbers: 250, 251, and 252 of Berkaerstrasse 32. These were supposed to be the telephones of WS's Vorzimmer (reception room). As seen in the telephone book, Schienke and Erdmann were both in VI-Wi by then. And WS had a residence inside of the office buildings that could be reached at an internal phone number.

Gaulke last appeared in the June 1943 telephone book. Although Schienke and Erdmann were still marked as VI-Wi staff, they were virtually in charge of the telephones in WS's Vorzimmer; however, Schienke claimed that she took over Gaulke's work only after his arrest. Wilhelm Schmitz had not yet joined Amt VI.

• Execution The exact time and circumstances of Gaulke's arrest were unknown. His verdict was published in the internal bulletin on "the most important unappealable decisions of SS and Police Courts", dated 27 July 1943:

SS-Hauptscharführer G. committed lewd acts with other men and allowed himself to be abused by them for lewd acts, even at a time when he was already aware of the Führer's decree on the purity of the SS and police of November 15, 1941. Consequence: G. was sentenced to death and three years in prison for unnatural lewd acts with men under §175 RStGB and for continued crimes after the declaration of Article I of the Führer's decree on the purity of the SS and police of November 15, 1941, and was expelled from the SS. He was deprived of his civil rights for life. The sentence was carried out.

Schienke was questioned about Werner Krüger, Gaulke's execution, and WS's attitude on 6 May 1948:

Q. But there were other known cases. A. I don't know. I only know about Gaulke. I know from hearsay about other SS men who violated the Paragraphs. This has been kept secret. His colleague was a man named Werner - I don't remember his last name. He was also a young SS man and called himself an "adjutant". But he was not what one would understand as an adjutant. Q. They were just young louts? A. Schellenberg noticed this very soon and sent Werner to war. He sent him to an SS unit. He came back on vacation twice. Then I heard nothing more from him. Q. Didn't you ask Schellenberg, “Why didn't you try to help Gaulke?” A. I asked him that later. I couldn't ask him until later. Schellenberg was unapproachable during the first 14 days when I first arrived. Later, when the matter had already been settled, I asked about Gaulke. He said to me, "That would have been impossible for me. One could easily have reproached me: 'You may have been his friend.' ” Schellenberg had himself once been a low-ranking SS officer. During that time, he had met Gaulke. I believe it was at Heydrich's. He told me that he couldn't help because Mueller had already claimed the credit for himself. Q. The boy's mother turned to Schellenberg. A. Schellenberg couldn't keep that a secret. He couldn't. Mueller would have been happy to have had that weapon in his hands. I always felt sorry for Gaulke. That's how I got there. I was all alone for the first few days. That didn't work. I had so many phone calls. It was impossible.

In June 1943, Himmler became irritated when the SS sexologist Dr Martin Brustmann, representing the RSHA, objected to 3 death sentences he signed against SS-Police members for violation of §175. He commanded Kaltenbrunner to put an end to the situation that the "old and asleep" SS experts and the head of IV C 4 c, Fritz Fehling, were "singing in the same tune", or he would cease the cooperation between the SS court and the RSHA.

I do not consider it justifiable, during a war that is a matter of our people's survival or non-existence, to pursue such soft tricks and to employ a human expenditure on a number of deranged scoundrels whose work is disproportionate to the success. For the duration of the war, I order that only the strictest punishment shall be given for all crimes, including those in the area of ​​homosexuality, and leniency can only prevail in cases where it truly concerns the seduction of a clearly normal youth.

Kaltenbrunner explained the cases reviewed by Brustmann as follows: 1. An SS soldier accused of homosexuality was diagnosed as "mentally and physically retarded" and therefore pardoned to 5 years of imprisonment; 2. A Schupo member accused of homosexuality was diagnosed with "abnormally large genitals" and thus difficulties in heterosexual intercourse. He was therefore pardoned and underwent treatment; 3. A Schupo member who committed sodomy with chickens in a drunken state was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Himmler and Brustmann had previously both believed in the connection between homosexuality and foreign espionage activities.

"The strictest punishment" demanded by Himmler was in response to the 15 Nov 1941 order issued by Hitler:

In order to keep the SS and the police free of same-sex destructive agents, the Führer decreed on November 15, 1941, that any member of the SS or the police who commits lewd acts with another man or allows himself to be abused by another man for lewd acts will be punished by death, regardless of age. In less serious cases, the sentence may be penal servitude or imprisonment for not less than six months.

Explanation of the 1935 amendment of §175:

The concept of ‘unnatural sex act’ was replaced with the considerably broader one of ‘sex offence’. The former had applied only to intercourse-like acts, defined by a ruling of the supreme court [the Reichsgericht] as anal, oral and thigh intercourse; self-gratification in the presence of, against or with another man did not count. Evidence could seldom be produced (since the men were usually dealt with together and they knew the scope for interpretation), so that before 1935 criminal proceedings were initiated in relatively few cases. In the new version, the existence of an intercourse-like act was no longer required. Nor was it necessary, therefore, to prove that a criminal act had taken place – it became impossible to stop proceedings by means of the law. A ‘sex offence’ between men now designated not only intercourse-like acts but any kind of self- gratification in the presence of another man. An offence was committed when the member of one male touched the body of another ‘with sexual intent’, so that even the snuggling together of two naked male bodies came under this definition. —— Günter Grau. The Hidden Holocaust.

Gaulke was found to have "committed lewd acts with other men" (!!!plural), which could hardly be classified as "less serious". With Himmler irritated, Kaltenbrunner agitated, and the SS medical experts with milder views discarded, it may be concluded why Gaulke was doomed...

[salon-kitty]

You're welcome. I'm glad I had your attention for at least that much.

Given your earlier assessment of me, even though I have no idea how you got to that conclusion (especially since you don’t know me personally and I’d be also low key interested in how you arrived at it), why did you choose me, when the playground here is so big?

[salon-kitty]

Well, my first language it's Spanish, why?

I was just curious about the origin of the clearly not English syntax you use. Helps me pinpoint future native Spanish speakers. So thank you for helping me filling my internal trivia cabinet.

[miuarchiv]

Schellenberg's meeting with Fritz Thiele after the 720 assassination, as witnessed by Franz Kirchfeld

· Kirchfeld worked in the Ministry of Economy. He got in touch with WS through the introduction of Syrup, when he was seeking help to release a female friend seemingly involved in black market trading in 1941. WS also helped to release his Hungarian friends. (Kirchfeld agreed Syrup was  "Schellenberg's confidant in the Ministry of Economics.")

· WS attempted to win Kirchfeld over as the ally against Ohlendorf in the Ministry of Economics.

"I gained confidence in Schellenberg. When I had requests, I went to him. I sat with him in the evenings, even when his wife was there. His wife is an outspoken opponent of National Socialism. But Schellenberg also believed he could use me to oppose Ohlendorf."

"It was not trust. For example, he said to me: 'You've had guests again who don't suit Herr Ohlendorf.' "

· Kirchfeld's overall impression of WS:

"Schellenberg was regarded as a man who did not want to be seen as tough, but rather as someone who could also be humane. That was his goal, but whether he achieved it, I do not know."

· Kirchfeld's visit to Amt VI on 20 July 1944:

Q. So what was it like on July 20?

A. I am happy to tell you. I have never been asked about it. I only told it to Countess Hatzfeld the other day, who asked me: “What did you actually do that evening?” I was at my hairdresser's at half past seven. There I found out about the assassination.

24. Q. Did I understand you correctly that the visit to Schellenberg was planned?

A. Yes. - I asked when it happened. It said at one o'clock. I called Ohlendorf and asked him: “Is that right?” He said, “Yes,” and hung up again. Then Neubacher came into the hotel lobby at seven o'clock. He asked my opinion with his temperament and said: “I'm eating at your place tonight. I can't go back to the Adlon.” I advised him to call the Foreign Office and told him, ”We're not eating together, I've been invited to Schellenberg's for a glass of beer.”

I called Schellenberg and told him: “Everything is closed off here, I don't have a car.” He said: “I'll send you a car. I'll send you someone without a uniform.” The car was there on time at 1/2 9 o'clock. I said to Schellenberg: “What's going on?” He asked me: “How long have you known?” I said: “Since six o'clock, do you have any more news?” He said to me: “What about the tobacco exports from Bulgaria?” I said: “Don't play the know-it-all.” He replied: “There's almost nothing to say, I have almost no positive news yet.” I said: “I need to get out of here again. I drove across Fehrbellinerplatz. There are lots of tanks there. They camouflage themselves for the night. They have a very clear view of your office. I don't want to be taken out of your office by the Wehrmacht.”

We were together for maybe 10 minutes at most, then we were told: “A General Thiele wants to see you.” The door opened and Thiele came in. He was a little taken aback when he saw that Schellenberg was not alone. Schellenberg said: “You can go ahead and tell me. Mr. Kirchfeld is at the Ministry of Economics. We're talking about Bulgarian tobacco.” To my explanation, he said he was an intelligence general. I said it was FELIGIEBEL, I knew him through his brother, I said to SCHELLENBERG: “Don't do anything with the Bulgarian tobacco. I saw that the man was finished, completely fidgety and now tried to put on an act in front of Schellenberg.

Q. In what way?

A. He said: “What a mess it is that something like this can happen. I just come from Bendlerstrasse.”

Q. Did you have the feeling that it was an act?

A. No, I only got that feeling later from a remark by SCHELLENBERG.

He said: “Mr. Schellenberg, you are in danger here. Get out of here or you'll be taken out.”

Q. What did he mean by that?

A. That was obvious, if they had caught us back then.

Q. Who?

A. The troops who were in control for a while.

Q. You mean that they took him out?

A. Yes, that would have been a good thing, that's why Thiele said: “Why don't you be so kind as to protect yourself from these things?” Come with me to my apartment. Protect yourself in my apartment. You can contact your office from there at any time.” So he offered his help.

Q. Was he of the opinion that the matter had succeeded?

A. He didn't know what was in front and behind at all. He was looking for cover on both sides and did not have the necessary posture. The conversation lasted perhaps half an hour.

Q. What did Schellenberg say?

A. He said, “Why, nothing has happened. Hitler is alive.” - On the one hand I had the feeling that Neubacher was sitting at home and wanted to hear something and on the other hand I wanted to leave myself. When Thiele left, I also said goodbye to Mr. Schellenberg. He said: “No, no, I still need to talk to you.” Schellenberg said to me: “Have you noticed anything”. I said, “The man is very nervous.” He said, “The man is looking for an alibe.” I said: “Donner Wetter, what clever statesmen you are.” I didn't find Neubacher in the hotel.

Two days later Schellenberg called me and said: “You must make a note of our conversation in my office.” I asked him: “To what end?” He replied: “You don't need to sign it.” I told him, “You'll be surprised, but my note won't say anything about an alibi. That was your subjective assumption. I just had the feeling that he was very upset.” Schellenberg then said: “You're a nice guy, you shouldn't do that at all.” I then wrote about ten sentences.

Q. Who saw that?

A. SCHELLENBERG took it with him and said: “I want to write exactly like that.” I had the feeling that Schellenberg wanted to protect him.

· Schienke claimed she had little impression of Kirchfeld, but after her release from detention, she was able to contact Kirchfeld's girlfriend Jutta Stabenow. Stabenow warmly received Schienke but was later instructed by Kirchfeld to "stay away from that Schellenberg girl".