Reinhard Heydrich, 29 January 1942

Reinhard Heydrich

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Through convening the meeting at Wannsee and its outcome, Reinhard Heydrich forged the basis to press ahead with the planning and implementation of the further deportations. For many years, he had been a key figure in driving forwards the forced expulsion of Jewish men, women and children. Yet it was only after he joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931 that he developed into a staunch advocate of National Socialism. Shortly before, his career in the German Navy had abruptly ended with his dishonourable discharge for breaking a promise of marriage. The SS first and foremost offered him a chance for a new career – and what’s more, one increasing his standing with his new fiancée Lina von Osten and her family, all ardent supporters of Hitler.

Heydrich distinguished himself by his particularly radical approach and actions. He soon became one of Heinrich Himmler’s most trusted confidants, helping him to turn the SS from a small organisation, rather sidelined politically, into the most important organ of terror and suppression in Nazi Germany.

For a good four months after the meeting in Wannsee, Heydrich pressed ahead with the plans for the wholesale murder of the European Jews. Then, in late May 1942, he was a target of an assassination attempt. A few days later, he died of the wounds he had sustained.