*Trigger warnings: blackmail, war crimes, nazis. Also, this will be very extensive: warning for a long post. *
There will be changes to this post as I believe this was made last year and I like talking about Heydrich.
Reinhard Heydrich was a high-ranking SS officer and member of the Nazi Party. He ran the SD (The Intelligence Service of the SS), the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office - the organization that encompassed the SD and the Sipo, aka The Security Police).
'As the Nazi Germany began military expansion, Heydrich created Operation groups (Einsatzengruppen) of the Security Police and SD. (*The Einsatzengruppen was different to the Einsatzkommando*.) He tasked them with a variety of security duties:
The seizure of key building and documentation
The establishment of functioning intelligence operations
The Identification and elimination of real and perceived opponents of German rule.
His SS ranking was Obbergruppenfuhrer, the SS equivalent of the rank 'General.'
(Source for the above: Reinhard Heydrich: In Depth | Holocaust Encyclopedia
Nigel Jones stated he was dreaded Nazi, a big statement but take it as you will. Two questionably reliable primary sources support this; Walter Schellenberg described him as 'dreaded' in The Labyrinth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg. It should be noted that Walter Schellenberg had quite a lot of respect for Heydrich and his memoirs were written after WW2, so take it with a grain of salt.
(Source for the above: Kitty Salon by Nigel Jones, Urs Brunner and Dr Julia Schrammel and The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg).
He had a few habits, including reading paperwork from a briefcase while explaining orders and taking and joining subordinates and superiors out to luncheons and dinners.
(Source for the above: The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg. Such a minor detail, Schelenberg would have little reason to lie about as if he wished to save himself from trial, it wouldn't be relevant. Also, a photo of him sitting with Himmler and others at what looks like a cafe.
Reinhard Heydrich mostly fit the 'archetypical aryan' as he was blonde, 6'3 (1.91 meters) and blue-eyed; however, he had oddly wide hips.
(Source; Google for the height. There's also a photo below regarding the rest.)
He had many hobbies including fencing, hunting and violin playing.
(Evidence of the following in the photo bellow and this: 1940s Reinhard Heydrich/SS Officers Fencing)
To give extra content on the violin playing his father wanted him to have a musical career.
(Source for the above: Reinhard Heydrich: In Depth | Holocaust Encyclopedia.)
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 fly recreationally.
(Source for the above: The Labyrinth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg).
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.
(Source for the above: Reinhard Heydrich - Fighter Pilot?)
He a nasally voice.
(Source for the above: The Labyrinth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg).
Reinhard Heydrich and Kitty Salon:
He organized the kidnapping of a well-known Madam of a wealthy brothel, after she tried to leave the German border. There are several different stories from different parties of how Heydrich came up with the idea and how it played out prior to that, all which are contradictory. Either way she was starved and beaten. She was then coerced into becoming a collaborator and letting the SD's technical set up microphones and getting secrets through pillow talk.
(Source for the above: Kitty Salon by Nigel Jones, Urs Brunner and Dr Julia Schrammel).
He also had 'inspections', where he went off with one of the girls and ordered his technical teams 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.
(Source for the above: The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg.)
Reinhard Heydrich had a specific way of dealing with reports which were in the context of the SD (counterintelligence) and indifferently cold 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 orders he gave included, but were not limited to the following:
(Source for the above: The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg, The Assasination of Reinhard Heydrich by Callumn Mcdonald).
-Ordering his SD men to steal a file from the Abwehr (the intelligence organization of the German Military)
(Sources for the above: Abwehr - Wikipedia and Kitty Salon by Nigel Jones, Urs Brunner and Dr Julia Schrammel).
-In an indirect way, 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.
(Source for the above: The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg.)
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. Again, all rumors, so treat it with skepticism.
(Source above: The Assasination of Reinhard Heydrich by Callumn Mcdonald).
(Source below: The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg, so treat it with skepticism.)
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. He also threatened of an SD officer who disobeyed the order to head the fake an attack from Poland and justify Germany's aggression against the Poles.
(Source above: The Assasination of Reinhard Heydrich by Callumn Mcdonald).
Heydrich also created the concentration camp system and 'with cynical joy' forced Jews to have Jewish councils to govern 'their own' in the ghettos.
(Source below: The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg, so treat it with skepticism.)
Reinhard Heydrich was lecherous. Besides what else has been mentioned, he had some 'lecherous things' to Walter Schellenberg while they were out for dinner together. Date wasn't specified and was apparently in the months during Heydrich's attempts to entrap him.
(Source below: The Labrynth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg by Walter Schellenberg, so treat it with skepticism.)
Finally, Reinhard Heydrich was apparently a fun drunk and saved Walter Schellenberg from getting beer thrown on him by a spy they were with.
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.
