All language subtitles for [English (auto-generated)] Life of Reinhard Heydrich (WW2 Documentary) [DownSub.com]

Adolf Hitler once called him the iron

heart of the Reich. Cold, brilliant,

merciless.

Reinhard Hydrich was feared not only by

his enemies, but even by his fellow

Nazis. As the architect of the final

solution, his power stretched across a

continent. But in the spring of 1942, on

a quiet street in Prague, a handful of

resistance fighters dared the impossible

to strike at the very heart of Nazi

terror. What followed was an

assassination that shook the Third Reich

to its core and triggered one of the

most brutal reprisals of the war. This

is the story of Reinhard Hydrich. His

rise, his reign of terror and his

violent end.

Reinhardt Tristan Oen Hydrich was born

on March 7th, 1904 in the town of Hala,

situated along the river Sale. He was

not born into poverty or obscurity, nor

ironically into the military class. His

family were musicians. His father,

Richard Bruno Hydrich, was a composer, a

professional opera singer, and a music

educator.

Bruno Hydrich was born into poverty. His

father died when he was very young, and

his mother, a washerw woman, raised six

children alone. But Bruno was gifted

musically, intellectually, and in

ambition. Through sheer discipline, he

became a singer and composer. After

performing across Europe, he returned to

Hala and founded the Hala Conservatory

for Music and Theater in 1901.

Within three years, it grew from 20 to

190 students. 11 teachers, assistants,

and even a secretary joined the staff.

His family living in the grandhouse

above the conservatory. In this rare

photo, you can see Reinhard, his

brother, his sister, and his mother

Elizabeth. Reinhard Hydrickch's mother,

Elizabeth, was a devout Catholic and

piano teacher. Elizabeth played a

decisive role in shaping her children's

outlook and was particularly strict with

Reinhardt.

From the start, he was taught to move,

speak, and present himself as a model of

national and moral discipline. He played

the violin with exceptional skill,

eventually reaching a concert level

proficiency that astonished those who

heard him. Young Reinhardt clearly

benefited from the musical talents of

his parents. Reinhardt's father

supported his early interest in music.

And in 1910, when Reinhard was just 6

years old, Bruno took him to a major

musical event at the Hala City Theater,

a performance of the Ring of the

Nebulong, the classic music drama of

Richard Vagnner. This experience ignited

a lifelong love for romantic music in

Reinhard, especially the mythic world

portrayed in Vagnner's operas, a deep

passion he would later share with Adolf

Hitler. Reinhard grew up under a regime

of strict rules and exacting

expectations. He was a gifted child,

particularly in music and academics. He

played the violin with near professional

skill and spoke in formal high register

German even as a boy. His parents pushed

him hard, but not out of cruelty, but

ambition. Despite his later fixation on

physical fitness, Reinhard Hydrich was a

physically weak and sickly child. He was

small, slender, and often ill, which led

his parents to actively encourage him to

take up all kinds of physical activities

from an early age, such as swimming,

running, football, sailing, horseback

riding, and fencing. These efforts laid

the foundation for his lifelong

enthusiasm for sports.

The family typically spent their summer

holidays along the scenic Baltic coast

in the upscale seaside resort town of

Shwina Munda on Usodom Island. For the

Hydrich children, these vacations were a

highlight of the year filled with

sightseeing, nature walks, boat rides,

and long joyful days at the beach.

Hydrickch had good relations with his

family, but not with his classmates. He

was physically thin, blonde, pale, and

often bullied. Hydrick's classmates used

to tease him because they found him

effeminate. They used to bully him

relentlessly because of his high-pitched

voice, which is why he was nicknamed Z,

meaning the goat.

This nickname humiliated him. But he

didn't break. He hardened. He withdrew,

focused inward, mastered his music and

studies. Even in childhood, he showed

signs of cold intelligence and a need

for control. Reinhard Hydrickch's

academic performance was above average

with particularly outstanding results in

science subjects. As a teenager, he

aspired to become a chemist. At the same

time, he developed a deep fascination

with crime fiction and spy novels, many

of which were serialized in newspapers.

British and American detective stories

from Sherlock Holmes to Nick Carter and

Nat Pinkerton were wildly popular in

Germany and captured Heddrich's

imagination. It was this very addiction

to spy novels that would later go on to

completely alter the course of

Hydrickch's life. In the summer of 1914,

while the Hydrickch family was

vacationing on the Baltic coast as

usual, their stable and orderly life was

suddenly disrupted by a major event.

On June 28th, the assassination of

Austrian heir France Ferdinand in Sievo

triggered a crisis that would soon

escalate into the First World War. For

young Reinhard Hydri, who was just 10 at

the time, the full significance of what

was happening around him was hard to

grasp. He belonged to the war youth

generation, too young to fight, but old

enough to understand that this war was a

defining moment both for his country and

for himself. Even though no one in his

immediate family went off to battle, the

war was everpresent. Newspapers and

posters glorified military successes.

Classrooms displayed photos of famous

generals and decorated alumni, and

teachers regularly announced new

victories during assemblies. Over time,

older students at his school began

disappearing to the front lines. By June

1915, around 80% of the seniormost boys

had volunteered for the army, while

younger ones like Reinhard waited

eagerly for their chance to follow. For

boys his age, the war likely felt like a

thrilling faroff adventure. They

believed Germany would surely win, a

belief further fueled by the wildly

popular war story magazines aimed at

teens. But the enthusiasm of the German

people quickly vanished after the

shocking realization that Germany had

lost the war. Up until the fall of 1918,

German propaganda had assured the public

that victory was near. The Treaty of

Breast Letosk signed earlier that spring

to seal Germany's triumph over Russia

only strengthened the belief that

defeating Britain and France was just a

matter of time. So when the armistice

was suddenly signed in November 1918, it

came as a devastating and unexpected

blow, shattering the hopes of countless

Germans. The abruptness of the Allied

victory just months after Germany's

initially successful spring offensive

left many in disbelief. It seemed

impossible to accept that the German

military had truly been defeated. This

disbelief gave rise to a powerful and

dangerous myth, the infamous stab in the

back legend, which claimed that

Germany's undefeated army had been

betrayed by disloyal revolutionaries

back home. Germany had lost over 2

million men in action and more than 4.1

million soldiers were wounded out of an

overall population of 65 million. The

country had spent the equivalent of some

$40 billion on the war, most of which it

had borrowed from its citizens. In the

treaty of Versailles, Germany lost 13%

of its territory and was required to pay

$33 billion as a war indemnity to the

victors. After the war, all of Germany

plunged into instability. Across the

country, communist and right-wing

paramilitary groups were violently

clashing with each other. And soon these

violent confrontations reached

Hydrickch's hometown of Halle as well.

The Hydrickch family's musical business

also collapsed leading to significant

financial losses. Reinhard now a

teenager watched this unfold. And though

he did not yet join any movement, his

hatred of disorder and longing for

hierarchy took root. As a result,

Hydrickch was now about to choose a

career path that his family could never

have even imagined.

In the late spring of 1922, after

earning top marks in his final school

exams, Reinhardt decided to pursue a

career as a naval officer. The Hydrris

had mixed feelings about Reinhardt's

career decision. His mother felt proud

of his ambition to join the Navy, but

his father was disappointed that his

musically gifted son wouldn't be

continuing the family's musical legacy.

Still, Reinhard stood firm, and on April

1st, 1922, he officially began his

journey as a naval cadet in Keel

together with dozens of other cadets of

crew 22. Hydrrich remained an isolated

loner throughout his time in Keel and

had no friends among the crew. While it

is true that Hydrich found it difficult

to adjust to the new environment, the

reasons for his outsider status remain

unclear. One of his crew colleagues

remembered after the Second World War,

"Hydrick's appearance was of remarkable

disharmony." His limbs somehow did not

fit together. A long, narrow, and much

too small head sat on a long neck with

short blonde hair, a long nose,

mistrustful, squinting eyes that stood

very close together, and a small mouth

whose gaping lips he usually pinched

together, a long upper body with almost

ape-like arms sat over a deep, broad

pelvis, a husky build with rounded,

unmuscular legs. He appeared gangly,

somewhat soft, and affeminite. Hydrich

was probably seen as an outsider partly

because of his refined middle-class

upbringing.

While most naval cadets embraced the

tough and masculine culture of the Navy,

Hydrich would quietly play his violin

during his free time. This habit made

him stand out and not in a good way. His

love for music often became a reason for

others to mock him. But slowly,

Hydrickch's position began to improve.

He became a dedicated sailor, eventually

winning both the Baltic Sea and North

Sea championships. Alongside being an

exceptional seaman, he also grew into a

skilled sports person. Now Hydrich was

promoted to second naval lieutenant.

After his promotion, he appears to have

gained more recognition from his

colleagues and was no longer mocked as

often. His superiors frequently gave him

recognition and good evaluations. With

every sign of recognition, his zeal

increased, and so did his arrogance.

Ambition was undoubtedly Heddrich's

strongest characteristic. He wanted to

accomplish something, and others were

supposed to be amazed. Now he was

dreaming to become naval chief or

admiral. Although his relationship with

the other young officers improved

significantly, Hydrickch started showing

a clear sense of arrogance towards his

subordinates, a trait that would grow

even more prominent in the 1930s. On 1st

July 1928, Hydrich was promoted to first

left tenant. He now had significantly

more free time, which he largely devoted

to sport, music, and a third area of

interest, women.

He repeatedly sought the company of

women whom he could impress with his

officer's uniform, his good manners, and

his musical talents. His efforts were

not without success. As one of his

fellow officers recalled after the war,

he left an impression more than once,

particularly on older ladies.

On the 6th of December 1930, at a naval

ball, Hydrich met a woman who would

completely alter the course of his life.

Her name was Lena Fon Austin. The moment

Hydrich laid eyes on this cute

19-year-old blonde, he was instantly

smitten. Lena also liked Heddrich from

the very first meeting. Although his

skull looked like it had been assembled

with leftover parts, he was 6'3,

athletic, and an officer in the Navy.

Basically, he was a walking Tinder

profile. Lena described Hydrickch as

tall, manly, and very self- assured in

his uniform. In today's Tik Tok era,

where girls scroll past one handsome guy

after another and their standards have

shot through the roof, calling Hydrich a

weird skull kind of makes sense. But

back in those days, Hydrich was the full

package, tall, athletic, and in uniform.

Basically, a walking green flag with a

slightly dented head. Heddrich proposed

to Lena, and she said yes. After that,

he started writing her love letters. My

dearest Lena, in the midst of the hustle

and bustle of work and in a great hurry

before my departure, I wanted you to

know that all my thoughts are with you.

And I realize now how much I love you.

That is why I am looking forward all the

more to the life that lies ahead of us.

With you, I could endure every sorrow.

Much love, your Reinhardt.

Lena was just 19 years old, so of course

she couldn't marry a guy with a weird-l

looking skull just like that. Heddrich

had to get her parents' approval first.

Hadrich went to Lena's house to convince

her parents. Her parents could find no

fault with Heddrich. A smart and

ambitious naval officer with a seemingly

secure pension and an apparently bright

career ahead of him was more than the

Austin might have expected. It suited

their image of a prospective son-in-law.

So they said yes without any hesitation.

The two officially got engaged. Now

Heddrich started writing letters not

just to Lena but to her parents as well.

Dear parents-in-law, back in service and

hard at work, I would like to thank you

once more with all my heart for having

received me so kindly and like a son in

your house. I will never forget my first

days in Lena's childhood home. I am so

grateful to you for your consent to our

engagement. I realize more and more

every day that it was the right thing to

do. Lena does not have to resort to

secrecy in Keel and we can be together

often and get to know each other better

and better without having to pay

attention to the gossip of others.

Regarding our wedding date, please

please allow us to marry in September.

There is nothing worse than uncertainty.

I would be very very grateful to you if

you could agree on September. My parents

too will be available then. Accept my

sincere thanks. You're Reinhardt.

Lena thought she'd bagged herself a

tall, athletic Navy officer with dreamy

love letters and a violin on the side.

What could possibly go wrong? Well,

everything.

Turns out Reinhard had more exes than a

Game of Thrones character, and one of

them wasn't ready to stay buried in the

past. Just as he was busy writing

Forever Yours to Lena, a ghost from his

romantic graveyard rose up and she

wasn't sending best wishes.

Heddrich had the announcement of his and

Lena's engagement published in the

newspaper. Back in the early 1900s and

even midentth century, it was quite

common, especially among middle or upper

class families in Europe and America, to

publish engagement announcements in

local or national newspapers. It was a

way to publicly declare the engagement,

also a status symbol. If it had happened

today, Reinhardt might have simply

uploaded a polished photo to Instagram,

captioned it, "Engaged," and tagged

Lena. Heddrich had officially gotten

engaged to Lena, and even sent out a

newspaper announcement to his friends

and acquaintances. But one of the people

who received it was a young woman from

Berlin, someone Heddrich had met at a

ball more than 6 months earlier. They

had grown very close and even shared a

physical relationship. They visited each

other in Berlin and Keel and the woman

believed that she was engaged to

Hydrich. But when she saw the engagement

notice in the newspaper with someone

else's name on it, her world came

crashing down. Devastated and

humiliated, the poor woman suffered a

nervous breakdown.

We don't know her name, but we do know

one important detail. Her father had

strong connections with senior officers

in the Navy. When he found out what had

happened, he used those connections to

file a complaint against Hydrich. And

just like that, Hydrickch was about to

land in serious trouble. Because of this

complaint, Hydrickch was tried in a

military court and was kicked out of the

Navy.

Breaking off an engagement was clearly a

violation of the officer cause code of

conduct, but it wasn't a serious enough

offense to get someone kicked out

automatically. The whole embarrassing

incident could have easily been

dismissed as little more than a personal

misunderstanding or perhaps just some

girl's tail. However, Hydrickch's

arrogant attitude pushed things too far

and ultimately got him into real

trouble. Rather than owning up to his

actions and accepting a minor

punishment, Hydrich chose to shift the

blame. He claimed it was the woman who

had initiated their physical

relationship and flatly denied ever

making any promise of marriage. His

dismissive attitude toward their affair,

and the way he trivialized it only

served to irritate the court officials

further. Heddrich wasn't dismissed

because of the affair itself, but

because of how he behaved in court. He

didn't have the courage to admit the

truth, take the blame, or defend the

woman. And that's what got him kicked

out, not the actual offense itself.

On 30 April 1931, Hydrickch's promising

naval career came to an abrupt and

unexpected end. Initially, Heddrich

hoped he might be reinstated, but his

official appeal to Reich President Paul

Fonhindenberg was rejected.

Hydrickch was suddenly confronted by the

grim reality of being unemployed in 1931

in the midst of the Great Depression.

His future looked gloomy. He locked

himself in his room and cried for days

in rage and self-pity. Lena remembered

after the war,

>> getting kicked out from the Navy was the

heaviest blow of his life. It wasn't

about losing his salary. It was the pain

of losing the career he had completely

dedicated himself to.

>> But even after everything that had

happened, Lena did not leave Hydrickch's

side. In her heart, she had made a vow.

If she were ever to marry, it would be

Reinhard Hydrich and no one else. Behind

every successful man, there is a woman.

In Hydrickch's case, it was going to be

behind every successful evil man, there

is an evil woman.

Lena was a staunch anti-semite and a

committed Nazi. Don't let Lena's sweet

little face fool you. Behind that

angelic smile was a hardcore Nazi fan

girl. However, Heddrich lacked any

interest in political parties. He hadn't

even heard of Hitler's mine camp and

would often crack jokes about the Nazi

leader, calling him just a Bohemian

corporal.

As for Gerbles, he mocked him, too,

referring to him as that [ __ ]

You might be surprised to know that even

Hydrickch's former naval colleagues

described him as a liberal, but Lena was

friends with Carl von Ebstein, a

highranking officer in the Nazi party.

Through him, she managed to arrange an

interview between the unemployed Hydrich

and SS Chief Hinrich Himmler. At first,

Hydrich himself seemed unsure about

joining the Nazis, but Lena encouraged

him to seriously consider the

opportunity. It was only when Aberstein

offered him the prospect of an elevated

position at the Nazi party headquarters

that Hydrich finally agreed. The

possibility of an elevated position

existed because Himmler was planning to

create an intelligence department within

the SS and he needed competent people

for it. The previously mostly apolitical

hydri who hadn't even read mine camp or

heard of the SS before was now about to

step into the most radical paramilitary

wing of Hitler's movement. He followed

that path not out of deep ideological

conviction, but because Nazism offered

him the opportunity to return to a

structured life in uniform, providing

along with it a sense of purpose and a

way of regaining the confidence of Lena

and her family of devoted Nazis.

On the 14th of June 1931, the date of

Hydrickch's interview finally arrived.

Himmler unsurprisingly was immediately

impressed the moment he first laid eyes

on Hydrich. Hydrich had blonde hair,

piercing blue eyes, stood 6' 3 in tall,

and was physically wellb built, exactly

the kind of man the Nazis were looking

for to fit their Aran race propaganda.

Himmler informed Hydrickch about his

plans to develop an intelligence service

within the SS. To evaluate his

potential, Himmler asked him to sketch

out an organizational structure for this

proposed SS intelligence agency and gave

him just 20 minutes to do it. Heddrich

had no prior training in espionage. But

relying on bits and pieces he'd picked

up from reading cheap crime thrillers

and spy novels over the years, he

quickly put together a plan, dressing it

up in formal military language.

Ironically, this basic understanding

still exceeded Himmler's own knowledge.

Impressed by Hydrickch's response,

Himmler decided to hire him on the spot.

The fact that Heddrich chose a role in

the SS instead of any of the better paid

jobs that were on offer was due to a

number of factors. His desire to impress

his wife and her family with a job in

the political movement they supported.

The role also had a military-like

structure which appealed to his

background. Most of all, it offered him

an exciting role within a radical

organization that openly rejected the

very political system he believed had

unfairly ended his promising naval

career. At that point in time, the SS

was still a small and relatively

unimportant unit. It had originally been

formed as Hitler's personal bodyguard

following his release from Lansburg

prison, where he had spent much of 1924

due to his failed coup attempt in Munich

the year before. Initially, the SS

operated under the command of the SA and

remained a subordinate group for several

years. However, it soon began to view

itself as an elite formation. Hitler's

loyal guard of honor, fiercely dedicated

to him and the Nazi cause. Hydrich thus

joined the SS at an important turning

point in its history, which partly helps

to explain the organization's appeal for

him. The SS promised a career in uniform

and the opportunity for rapid

advancement within a still malleable

body that promoted revolutionary views

for the reordering of Germany. Even if

the pay was modest, the new activity

offered Hydrich, as an ardent reader of

crime fiction, a job in an elite

organization that boosted his shaken

self-confidence.

Heddrich, still new and lacking street

credibility, had to prove himself

through direct confrontation. He did so

in brutal street battles against

communists and social democrats. During

these raids, small SS motor squads would

storm political meetings and vanish

before the police could react. Hydrich

quickly gained a fearsome reputation as

the leader of one such unit. In

Hamburg's communist circles, he became

known as the blonde beast. a name earned

by the ruthless efficiency and military

precision of his commando group. Then

after some months, Hydrich returned to

Munich to take up his new position at

the Nazi party headquarters, the

infamous Brownhouse, where Himmler

officially appointed him as the head of

the SS's newly envisioned intelligence

division, the Zika Heights Dest or SD.

In its earliest form, the SD had a clear

two-fold mission. first to gather

intelligence on political opponents,

especially the communists and the social

democrats, but second, and far more

sensitive, was to root out police

informers and undercover communist

agents, hiding within the Nazi party

itself.

This latter task would repeatedly land

the SD in trouble, as it walked a fine

line between loyalty and paranoia. Yet

for all its future infamy, the SD's

origins were humble. In fact, it began

as a one-man operation. Reinhardt

Hydrickch was the SD's sole employee,

investigator, cler, analyst, and typist

all-in-one. With almost no budget, he

set up a primitive index card system to

record the names and affiliations of

suspected enemies of the party. He

didn't even have his own office or

equipment. Heddrich had to share a desk

and even a typewriter with Richard

Hildebrandt, chief of staff of the tiny

SS division South. But from that cramped

room in the Brownhouse, Hydrich began

laying the foundation for a secret

police apparatus that would one day

terrorize Europe. Heddrich worked 18

hours a day obsessively. He didn't leave

the office. He barely slept. Every file

was a puzzle. Every whisper a potential

lead. In time, the SD grew. Informants

were recruited. Files multiplied.

Operations expanded. But in those early

days, it was Hydrickch alone, driven by

humiliation, vengeance, and ambition.

What started as a desk in a shared room

soon evolved into the Nazi party's most

feared intelligence machine. By the end

of 1931, Heddrich had stabilized his

career and secured his financial footing

to such a degree that he was finally

able to marry his longtime fiance.

On 26th December 1931, the weird skull

and the blonde Nazi fan girl were

officially married. To mark the happy

occasion, Himmler promoted Hydrich to SS

Major just 7 days after his promotion to

SS Captain. In just 15 months since

joining the SS, Hydrickch had already

surpassed the rank he once held in the

Navy. Even if being a naval officer

remained more prestigious than an SS

career at this point, Hydrich must have

felt that his life was back on track. In

June 1932, Hydrickch's SD grew even

stronger. As a result, Himmler promoted

him to the rank of SS Colonel.

Heddrich's rapid rise in the SS

hierarchy and his scarcely disguised

ambition earned him many enemies. By

June 1932, whispers turned to

accusations. The old rumor about his

supposed Jewish ancestry resurfaced with

a vengeance. This time it posed a

serious threat. After all, Heddrich was

now a rising star in a political

movement that was built on staunch

anti-semitism. The rumor originated from

Hala, his hometown. Local Nazi party

members, likely envious of his rapid

ascent, fanned the flames. On the 6th of

June, the goaler of Hala, Rudolph

Yordan, formerly wrote to the party's

organizational chief, Gregor Strasa,

raising a pointed concern. He mentioned

a party member with the name of Reinhard

Hydrich, whose father lives in Hara.

There is reason to assume that his

father Bruno Hydrich is a Jew. Alarmed,

Strasa handed the case to Dr. Akim

Gerka, the Nazi party's chief

genealogologist and head of their

information office. Less than 2 weeks

later, on the 22nd of June, Gerka

responded. His report cleared Hydrich

completely. He was of German origin and

free from any trace of colored or Jewish

blood. Girka dismissed the claims as

slander and took full responsibility for

the assessment, even offering to defend

it in court if necessary. Despite this

clarification, Hydrrich was deeply

shaken by the reemergence of the

damaging rumors only a year after his

dismissal from the Navy. Rumors that

threatened his carefully rebuilt

professional existence.

Partly as a result of this embarrassing

and potentially career terminating

episode, Hydrich devoted great energy to

his work in the summer of 1932, his

ambitions continued to be vast. The

rumor that Reinhard Hydrich had Jewish

ancestry started because of a

misunderstanding around his family name.

In a 1916 edition of a music

encyclopedia, Hydrich's father, Bruno,

was listed as Bruno Seuss. Seuss was the

surname of Bruno's stepfather, not

Bruno's biological father. The word

Seuss sounded Jewish to many people,

especially in a society obsessed with

racial purity like Nazi Germany. But in

reality, Seuss was not a Jewish name in

this case, and it didn't come from a

Jewish family. But in an anti-semitic

environment, even this kind of mixup

could cause serious problems. Because of

this, many people wrongly assumed that

Reinhardt had Jewish blood. The rumor

had existed since his childhood, where

some of his classmates used to mock him

by calling him the white Jew or white

Moses. These were meant as insults based

on nothing more than stereotypes and

jealousy. Anyways, in 1933, the Nazis

seized power and almost immediately

unleashed a wave of suppression and

violence. But Reinhard Hydrich didn't

play a major role in the initial street

level terror that swept Berlin. Instead,

he watched from the sidelines,

calculating, waiting, and plotting his

next move to take control of the very

machinery of the German state. Under the

old VHimar Republic, Germany had no

unified police system. Each state

maintained its own law enforcement

agencies, a fragmented system ripe for

exploitation. Hydrrich and his superior

Hinrich Himmler saw this as an

opportunity. But to transform it, they

needed to centralize power, uniting the

various state and local police forces

under a single command, the SS. They

began with Bavaria, one of Germany's

largest and most influential states. Its

capital, Munich, was the birthplace of

Nazism. But the regional government

remained hesitant to accept full Nazi

control. That hesitation quickly

vanished after consistent threats of

violence were made against local

officials. Ultimately, Bavaria folded,

recognizing Hitler's authority. With the

political resistance crushed, Hydrickch

took over the Bavarian political police,

reorganizing it according to SS

principles. Under his command, the

police began rounding up communists,

social democrats, union leaders, and

Jews. Many were sent to newly built

concentration camps like Dhaka and

Bavaria was just the beginning. One by

one, Hydrich and Himmler bullied and

coerced other German states into

accepting Nazi control. As each state

submitted, its police forces were

absorbed by the SS. By summer 1934, the

only major law enforcement body not

under SS control was in Prussia. This

wasn't because Prussia was reluctant to

accept the Nazis. In fact, its state

president, Herman Guring, was a leading

member of the Nazi party. The real issue

was power.

Guring commanded Prussia's secret

police, the Gestapo, and he had no

intention of handing it over to Himmler

and Hydrich. However, Guring found

himself caught between two dangerous

forces. The SS growing more powerful by

the day and Ernst R, the head of the

unruly SA or brown shirts. Room had

become increasingly volatile, even

threatening a second revolution to purge

so-called traitors within the party. As

tensions continued to rise, Guring

reluctantly agreed to seed control of

the Gestapo to the more disciplined SS.

It wasn't just Guring. Hitler himself

feared that Rome, backed by nearly 3

million men in the SA, might one day

overthrow him. Even the German army was

growing increasingly alarmed by Rome's

ambitions and the SA's growing

influence. On April 22nd, 1934,

30-year-old Reinhard Hydrich was

appointed acting head of the Gestapo.

The SS now had the political police in

its hands, and it was time to deal with

Rome.

Hydrich moved quickly. He allegedly

fabricated a dossier accusing RM of

plotting a coup. The evidence, real or

not, was convincing enough for Hitler.

Hydrich drew up hit lists.

And between June 30th and July 2nd,

1934, the SS struck in what became known

as the night of the long knives.

Hundreds of SA leaders were arrested and

executed, including Anst R himself. And

mind you, Anst Room was also the

godfather of Heddrich's child. Despite

this personal bond, Hydrich showed no

hesitation when it came to orchestrating

Room's downfall. With the SA destroyed,

the SS emerged as the dominant power,

and the Gestapo became its weapon. From

this moment on, Hydrickch and Himmler

controlled the entire law enforcement

apparatus of Nazi Germany.

People of the same blood should be in

the same Reich. Hitler's dream was to

unite Germany and Austria, two nations

he believed were destined to be one. And

on March 12th, 1938, that dream turned

into reality. As tensions across Europe

reached a breaking point, Hitler made

his move, he annexed Austria. On March

12th, 1938, German troops marched into

Vienna, forcing the Austrian chancellor

to step down. This event would later be

called the Anlas. Soon after, Hydrick's

SD and Gestapo began cleaning house.

They arrested anyone who might stand in

the way. communists, supporters of the

old government, and royalists. In just a

few days, they detained over 21,000

people, most of whom were sent straight

to concentration camps. After the

Anelus, Hitler set his sights on

Czechoslovakia, particularly the Sudatan

land, a German-speaking border region.

He claimed he was protecting ethnic

Germans, but in truth, it was part of a

larger plan to dominate Eastern Europe.

In September 1938, under pressure from

Hitler and with the infamous Munich

Agreement, Britain and France handed

over the Sudatinland without a fight.

But Hitler wasn't satisfied.

Just a few months later, in March 1939,

Nazi forces invaded the rest of

Czechoslovakia.

The country was torn apart. The Slovak

Republic became a puppet state and the

remaining lands were turned into the

protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

which was directly governed by the

Nazis. And once again, Heddrich's men

swept in. His SS and Gestapo forces

crushed resistance in Prague, just as

they had done in Vienna. But these

repressive crackdowns weren't the main

act. They were just the warm-up. The

real test for Hydrickch's cruelty came

next in Poland.

As Germany prepared for war, Hydrickch

was given two major tasks. First, his SD

units were to engage in smallcale border

skirmishes immediately before the

planned invasion, which would give

Hitler a pretext for invading Poland.

Essentially, Hydrich was leading a false

flag operation. Second, Hitler wanted

the Polish elite completely wiped out.

This became Operation Tannenburgg, a

secret plan to destroy Poland's

leadership and spirit. Hydrich created a

list of 61,000 prominent Poles to be

tracked down and killed. This list

included intellectuals, religious

leaders, politicians, Jews, and

communists. To carry this out, Heddrich

turned to his Insat group, brutal squads

of SS and Gestapo members. Originally

formed during the Czechoslovakian

takeover, these units now had one

purpose, mass executions.

Within weeks of the invasion, 2,000

Einat Scrupman soldiers murdered over

16,000 civilians. And according to

historian Fala Ulich, that number would

rise to 40,000 by the end of the year.

This was a turning point. Heddrich

wasn't just locking people up. He was

ordering mass killings, and he was doing

it with speed and precision. This wasn't

just about loyalty to Hitler. It seemed

like Hydrich was starting to enjoy the

bloodshed. Some say he was trying to

make up for his past failures in the

Navy, while others believe he saw

extreme violence as a way to cement his

power inside the SS. But one thing was

certain, Operation Tannenburgg was the

moment Hydrich truly became what Hitler

later called the man with the iron

heart. A man so evil that even Hitler

called him the man with the iron heart.

The interval has arrived. So, if you're

still watching this video till now,

comment, "I love you, Roger," below.

Dropping this comment will motivate me

to keep making these long, highly

researched videos. It'll also let me

know that people actually watch these

long documentaries. So, don't forget to

comment, "I love you, Roger."

Now, let's get back to our story. As war

raged across Europe, the Nazi leadership

recognized a growing need to tighten

their grip. Not just over Germany, but

over the lands they were about to

conquer. They needed order, ruthless and

centralized control. And so, just weeks

after the invasion of Poland, the Nazi

regime created something entirely new,

something terrifying. On September 27th,

1939, the Nazis officially established

the RHA,

Reich Zika Heights helped amp or the

Reich main security office. Its goal was

simple. Centralize all of Nazi Germany's

security and intelligence services into

one powerful organization,

one that would answer only to Himmler

and ultimately Hitler. And to lead it,

they chose Reinhard Hydrich. Heddrich

was already feared as the head of the SD

and the Gestapo. But now with the RSHA,

he was given authority over far more

than just surveillance. Under his

control, the RSHA combined the SD, the

Gestapo, the Crypo, or German Criminal

Police and several smaller agencies, all

responsible for investigation, racial

policy and enforcement. This meant that

Hydrich now had eyes everywhere in

cities, in villages, in concentration

camps, in military zones, even within

the Nazi party itself. Every whisper of

resistance, every act of defiance, every

citizen deemed a threat to the Reich was

now under Hydrich's jurisdiction. And

this wasn't just power, it was total

surveillance. With the creation of the

RSHA, Reinhard Hydrich became the single

most powerful figure in the entire Nazi

security apparatus. He was no longer

just the man behind the curtain. He was

the man watching the entire stage.

In the spring of 1941,

Hydrich was informed about Operation

Barbarasa, the Nazi plan to launch a

surprise invasion of the Soviet Union.

Hitler believed that by striking

quickly, he could crush the Soviets,

dominate the entire European continent,

and finally defeat Britain. But this

wasn't just a military campaign. It was

a war of annihilation.

Hitler knew that a war against the

communists was going to be a war of

ideologies, which required total

annihilation of one side or the other.

Hitler saw communism and the Soviet

system as an existential threat. He

believed the only way to destroy an

ideology was through absolute brutality

and Hydrich's Enzat Grupam was ideal for

the task. In preparation for the

invasion, Heddrich issued deliberately

vague orders to his men. He simply told

them to target quote all Jews in the

service of the Communist Party and the

state. That was all the green light they

needed. On June 22nd, 1941, around 4

million Axis troops crossed into the

Soviet Union in what would become the

largest land invasion in human history.

As the German army pushed east,

Hydrick's Enzat Grupen followed close

behind, unleashing a wave of terror

throughout the Soviet Union. The Insat

group killed approximately 1.3 to 1.5

million people in the Soviet Union. One

of the most infamous atrocities occurred

in Babiar, just outside of Kiev. Over

the course of two days, an Enzat Grupam

unit murdered 33,000 Jews in a nearby

ravine. While Reinhard Hydrick's Enzat

Grupam were unleashing a wave of terror

across the Soviet Union. On the other

side of the front lines, Hydrickch

himself was flying combat missions. Yes,

apart from being a failed naval officer

and a brutal Nazi leader, Hydrich also

considered himself a fighter pilot.

During the earlier Norwegian campaign,

he had already flown several

reconnaissance and support missions,

craving recognition as a man of action,

not just a deskbound bureaucrat. And in

1941, as Operation Barbarasa unfolded,

Hydrickch insisted on taking to the

skies once again, this time over Soviet

territory. But during one of those

missions, his aircraft was shot down.

But somehow he survived the crash and

managed to escape before Soviet forces

could capture him. It was a narrow

escape and it shook the Nazi high

command. Hinrich Himmler was furious. He

ordered Hydrickch to stop flying

immediately. He was too valuable to

lose. But this episode revealed

something crucial about Hydrickch's

personality, his recklessness, his

thirst for adventure, and his relentless

ambition. He didn't just want to be

feared as a ruthless strategist. He

wanted to prove himself a warrior, too.

It was this dangerous mix of intellect,

cruelty, and boldness that made Hydrich

one of the deadliest men in the Third

Reich. But this very reckless spirit of

adventure would ultimately become the

cause of Hydrickch's death.

After Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in

March 1939, Hitler split the country

into two parts. The first was the Slovak

Republic, a puppet state under the

control of the Nazis with Yosef Tiso

installed as its president. The second

was the protectorate of Bohemia and

Moravia, which was placed under direct

Nazi rule. This region was strategically

important to Hitler, not just

politically, but economically as well.

Bohemia and Moravia were rich in raw

materials that were crucial for the

German war effort, including coal, iron,

steel, and other industrial resources.

It also had a strong manufacturing base,

especially in arms and machinery, which

the Nazis quickly absorbed into their

military economy. At first, Hitler

appointed Constantine Fonath, a

conservative diplomat, to oversee the

area. But Norath was too soft for

Hitler's liking. He tried to maintain

order using traditional means,

diplomacy, compromise, and minimal

violence.

The result, strikes, sabotage, and

growing Czech resistance. By 1941,

Hitler had had enough. He needed someone

ruthless, someone who would crush

resistance without hesitation.

And so he turned to Reinhard Hydrich.

Heddrich already had a reputation as one

of the most feared men in the Third

Reich. He was brutal, loyal, and

efficient. Hitler believed Hydrrich

could do what Vonurath couldn't. Break

the will of the Czech people and turn

the protectorate into a model of Nazi

order and productivity.

In September 1941, Hydrich was appointed

acting Reich protector of Bohemia and

Moravia. From the moment he arrived in

Prague, he ruled with an iron fist. He

executed over 400 people in his first

few months, targeting resistance

members, intellectuals, and anyone

suspected of disloyalty. Thousands more

were arrested and sent to concentration

camps. Streets were silenced by fear.

And yet alongside the terror, Hadrish

improved food rations and working

conditions, not out of compassion, but

to keep the Czech factories running for

the Nazi war effort. On 20 January 1942,

Hydrrich summoned a secret conference of

highranking Nazi officials at Vansi.

After this conference, the tragic fate

of millions of Jews was sealed.

But Heddrich may have also triggered an

ancient curse. In Prague Castle, kept

under heavy guard, lay the crown of

Saint Venislas. According to Czech

legend, any usurper who dares to place

the crown on his head. Someone unworthy

of the Bohemian throne will die within a

year. The legend dates back centuries

and is tied to St. Vinces, the patron

saint of Bohemia. The crown is said to

be sacred, a divine symbol of Czech

sovereignty. To wear it unlawfully is

not only treasonous, but fatal. It is

rumored, even believed by many, that

Hydrich, in a moment of arrogance or

mockery, privately wore the crown of St.

Venislas while alone inside Prague

Castle. There were no witnesses, but

whispers of the act spread quickly.

If true, it would mean that he had

fulfilled the exact condition of the

ancient curse, an unworthy ruler placing

the sacred Bohemian crown on his head.

And just as the legend warned, any such

man would die within a year. And in

Hydrickch's case, the curse didn't miss.

Hydrich's reign of terror in Prague had

not gone unnoticed. Back in Britain, the

Czechoslovak government in exile, led by

President Edward Banish, had been

closely watching the protectorate

suffering. They knew that to inspire

hope at home and prove their loyalty to

the Allies, they needed to strike a

decisive blow, something that would send

a message not just to the Nazis, but to

the whole world. And so, a daring plan

was born. The plan was simple.

assassinate Reinhard Hydrrich, the most

powerful Nazi in occupied Europe. The

operation would be called Anthropoid.

To carry it out, the Czech government in

exile turned to the British Special

Operations Executive, the SOE. The SOE

trained exiled soldiers from

Czechoslovakia in sabotage, explosives,

guerrilla tactics, and silent killing.

The original plan was to send Ysef

Gabchic, a Slovak, and Carol Svoda, a

Czech staff sergeant. They were chosen

for the mission on October 28th, 1941,

Czechoslovakia's independence day. A

symbolic date meant to echo National

Defiance. But before deployment, Svoda

suffered a head injury during training.

He had to be replaced, the new

candidate, Yan Kubish, a Czech

artilleryman.

But Kubish hadn't completed his

training, nor had his false identity

documents been prepared. The mission was

delayed. Finally, when everything was in

place, these two men were selected for

what would become one of the most daring

operations of the war. 30-year-old Ysef

Gabchic and 27-year-old Yan Kubish.

Gabchic had served in the Czechoslovak

army and was known for his sharp mind

and technical skills. Kubish had fought

in the artillery with frontline

experience and nerves of steel. Both had

already resisted the Nazis first during

the occupation of Czechoslovakia and

later in France. Both had escaped to

Britain and both understood one thing.

This was a mission with almost no chance

of survival. They had no illusions of

returning to London or even surviving in

Prague. But if Hydrickch's death could

weaken Nazi control over Europe, the

mission was worth it. Hydrich had to

die. After weeks of brutal training,

they were ready. On the freezing night

of December 28th, 1941, a British

Halifax bomber roared over

Czechoslovakia, flying low to avoid

detection. At around 2:00 a.m., Gabchic

and Kubish parachuted into the darkness,

aiming for a location near Piltson. But

immediately everything went wrong. A

snowstorm raged below. The drop zone was

missed. The two agents landed 75 mi off

target. And worse, Gabchic misjudged his

landing and badly injured his ankle on

the frozen ground. He could barely walk,

relying on Kubish's help just to stay

upright. They were lost, exposed, and

vulnerable. In deep snow, any Gestapo

patrol could have followed their

bootprints and caught them easily. The

mission appeared doomed from the start.

But thankfully, there was no Gestapo

unit anywhere nearby. Instead, a local

miller who had witnessed their parachute

landing discovered them hiding in a

nearby quarry. As luck would have it,

the miller was connected to the

resistance. With his assistance, Gabchic

and Kubish boarded a train to Prague and

through his contacts, they were

introduced to key members of the

resistance network in the city. There,

the resistance connected them with safe

houses and coordinated their next moves.

Carrying fake papers, pistols, grenades,

cyanide capsules, and a British sten

gun. The two men slipped into the

capital, now the heart of the Nazi

protectorate. For the next 5 months,

they lived like shadows, constantly

shifting between safe houses arranged by

the Czech resistance group. In the

shadows, the plan to kill Hydrickch

began to take shape. Gabchic and Kubish

stalked him for weeks. Learning his

roots, his habits, his blind spots, they

noticed something bizarre. Hydrich,

despite being one of the most powerful

men in Nazi Europe, traveled in an open

top Mercedes, usually without escort.

His only protection was a driver,

Johannes Klene. Sometimes Hydrich even

walked the streets of Prague with no

guards at all. He believed he was

untouchable. Even Himmler had advised

him to tighten his personal security.

But Hydrich ignored the warning. And

Hitler, he was furious. Hitler

reportedly said, "Such heroic gestures

like driving in an open unarmored

vehicle or walking in the streets of

Prague unguarded are just damn

stupidity. Men of importance like

Hydrich should know that they are being

continually stalked. There are any

number of people just waiting to kill

him." And he was right.

As the weeks passed, Gabchic and Kubish

began searching for the perfect place to

strike. They walked and cycled through

the city, surveying every inch of

Hydrickch's daily route from Prague

Castle to his country residence. They

searched for a location that offered

both a clear shot and a narrow window of

vulnerability. The mission demanded

absolute precision, one mistake, and

they were dead.

By early February, they found their

opportunity, a tight hairpin turn in the

Prague suburb of Leeben. Each morning,

Heddrich's Mercedes was forced to slow

down drastically at that turn, almost to

a walking pace. It was the perfect place

for an ambush. Just behind the turn was

a public bus stop, giving Gabchic and

Kubish the ideal cover to wait without

raising suspicion. Gabchic and Kubish

could blend in with ordinary commuters

and wait. So the plan was that Gabchic

would fire at Heddrich's car from the

front and Kubish would throw a grenade

from the side to finish off whatever

remained. When the resistance received a

tip from a Czech insider at Prague

Castle that Hydrish would be meeting

Hitler on May 27th and likely leaving

the country for several weeks. Gabch and

Kubish chose that day as the moment to

carry out their mission.

fighting and Hitler will tear Brag

apart.

>> Gabchic and Kubish, despite final pleas

from their underground protectors to

abandon the mission, decided that it was

time to act.

On the morning of the 27th of May,

Gabchic and Kubish accordingly

positioned themselves near the hairpin

curve designated for the attack. Despite

the warm weather, Gabchic carried a

raincoat over his arm, concealing his

submachine gun. On the opposite side of

the street, Kubish was leaning against a

lamp post. Two highly sensitive fused

bombs in his briefcase. A third man,

Ysef Valic, who had been parachuted into

the protectorate in December, positioned

himself further up the hill, where he

acted as lookout for the approaching

car. At around 10:20 a.m., Valtic's

shaving mirror flashed in the sun,

signaling that Hydrickch's car was

approaching.

As the assassins had anticipated,

Heddrich's driver slowed down for the

bend. When the car turned the corner,

Gabchic leaped out, aimed his submachine

gun at Hydrich, and pulled the trigger.

But in that crucial moment, everything

went terribly wrong.

The gun jammed, but then Heddrich made a

costly mistake. Instead of ordering his

driver to speed away, he told him to

stop. He pulled out his pistol and aimed

it at Gabchic. But before he could fire,

Kubish stepped out of the shadows and

tossed a bomb toward the open Mercedes.

He misjudged the distance and the bomb

exploded against the car's rear wheel,

throwing shrapnel back into Kubish's

face and shattering the windows of a

passing tram. The wounded Heddrich fired

shots at Kubish, but due to the smoke,

not a single bullet hit him, and Kubish

fled the scene on his bicycle.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Gabchic

threw away his jammed Sten gun and tried

to flee, but escape wasn't easy for him.

Heddrich's driver, Klene, chased after

him. Gabchic ran into a nearby butcher

shop, but quickly realized there was no

back door, no exit. He was trapped. But

as Klein stepped inside, Gabchic fired

two shots into his legs and made his

escape.

After the assassins made their escape,

Hydrickch was rushed to a nearby

hospital. While surgeons worked on him,

news of the attack reached both Himmler

and Hitler, and their fury was

immediate. Himmler was allegedly so

shaken that he burst into tears.

Both demanded swift and severe

retributions. Hitler instantly called

for the execution of 10,000 Czech

hostages, declaring that the checks have

to learn the lesson that if they shoot

down one man, he will immediately be

replaced by somebody even worse.

Thankfully, Heddrich's deputy Carl

Herman Frank managed to calm the enraged

Hitler. Fearing that mass reprisals

could damage Germany's vital economic

interests in the region, Frank

immediately flew to Berlin to argue his

case. He insisted the attack was an

isolated act orchestrated from London

and warned that indiscriminate killings

would harm Germany's war effort and

could cause the Czech resistance to

spread even further. Largecale

massacres, he argued, would also undo

Hydrickch's effective occupation

policies, [ __ ] Czech armament

production, and fuel enemy propaganda.

His reasoning worked, at least for the

moment. Hitler withdrew his order to

execute 10,000 Czech hostages, but

remained adamant that the assassins must

be found and captured without delay.

More than 12,000 Gestapo and SS

personnel spread out across Prague,

raiding nearly 36,000 buildings in their

search for the assassins. Yet, despite

leaving hardly a single home unchecked,

the massive police operation failed to

achieve its goal. The assassins were

nowhere to be found. The Nazis announced

a reward of 10 million Cronin for

capturing the assassins. Anyone found

sheltering or helping them or even

knowing their identities or location and

failing to report it would be executed

along with their entire family.

Meanwhile, as the massive manhunt for

Hydrickch's assassins raged on, Hydrich

seemed to be recovering well, and it

appeared he would soon be out of danger.

For days after the surgery, his

condition improved steadily and he was

alert, speaking to visitors and even

discussed future plans. But on the

morning of June 4th, everything changed.

Without warning, Hydrick's temperature

spiked and he slipped into a coma.

Doctors quickly realized that a deadly

infection had taken hold. Within hours,

Hydrick's organs began to fail. By

midday, it was clear he would not

survive.

At 4:30 a.m. on June 4th, 1942, Reinhard

Hydrich, one of the most feared men in

Nazi Germany, was pronounced dead. Not

from the blast itself, but from

septasemia caused by the infection.

On June 7th, 1942, Reinhard Hydrick's

body was placed in a coffin. His funeral

procession through Prague was unlike

anything the city had ever seen. Streets

were lined with thousands of German

soldiers in full parade uniform.

Military bands played solemn marches as

the coffin carried on a gun carriage

slowly made its way to the station. From

Prague, the coffin was transported to

Berlin, where the Nazi leadership

gathered for a grand state funeral. The

hall was filled with black banners and

an ocean of SS uniforms.

and

findus.

>> Hitler declared Hydrich a martr. On the

other hand, Himmler said, "I am

privileged to thank you for your

unswerving loyalty and for your

wonderful friendship which was a bond

between us in this life and which death

can never put us under." He also

proclaimed that Hydrich was someone who

should be emulated, though he

acknowledged that no one would be able

to achieve such glory. The Nazis gave

Hydrich a farewell as if a great saint

had died. On the very day of Heddrich's

grand funeral, the Nazis received

intelligence, claiming that his

assassins were hiding in the small Czech

village of Leit. Hitler, seizing on this

as an opportunity for swift and brutal

vengeance, ordered the village to be

completely wiped from the map, both as

retaliation and as a chilling warning

meant to compel others to turn in the

killers. But in the days that followed,

a grim truth emerged. The reports were

false. Litzay had no connection to the

resistance and the assassins had never

set foot there. Yet the truth meant

nothing to the Nazis. After Litay,

rumors spread that every tenth check was

to be shot. Despite the wave of terror

that engulfed the population, the

assassins were still nowhere to be

found. The massacre and destruction of

Litay failed to achieve the Gestapo's

intended goal. No one stepped forward

with clues or evidence about the

assassin's whereabouts. Frustrated, the

Nazis warned that if the culprits were

not handed over by June 18th, more

executions would follow across the

territory. In the wake of this threat,

the Nazis received nearly 2,000 tips,

one of them from a man named Carl Chura.

Chura himself was a resistance fighter.

But after witnessing the fate of Litay,

he became terrified. As a result, he

betrayed the cause for the safety of his

family. On June 16th, 1942, he went to

the Gestapo headquarters in Prague.

Although Chura did not know the

assassin's exact present location, he

provided the Gestapo with the addresses

of various safe houses they had used.

The Gestapo raided these safe houses and

after interrogation they learned that

the assassins were hiding in the church

of Sirill and Methodius in Prague. Ysef

Gabchic, Yan Kubish, Ysef Valic and four

other Czech and Slovak resistance

fighters were holed up inside the church

of Saints Sirill and Mthodius. On the

morning of June 18th, 1942, 750 heavily

armed SS troops and Gestapo officers

surrounded the church. The Nazis sealed

off the surrounding streets, placing

machine guns at key points. They were

determined that no one inside would

escape alive. At around 4:00 a.m., the

assault began.

German troops stormed into the church

where they found three members of the

resistance, including Kubish and Valick,

positioned in the upper gallery. A

fierce gun battle erupted.

Bullets tore through the church's sacred

walls as the resistance fighters

returned fire with pistols and Sten

guns.

For over two hours, the upper floor

became a war zone until the fighters

were either mortally wounded or killed.

Valchic fought bravely, but was killed

in the firefight. Kubish was gravely

wounded and later died from his

injuries. Meanwhile, Gabchic and three

other resistance fighters were hiding in

the church's crypt beneath the floor,

accessible only by a narrow hidden

entrance.

>> Jose,

you should surrender now and save

yourselves.

>> Do you hear me?

>> Through the traitor, Carl Chura, the

Nazis demanded that the remaining

resistance fighters surrender. You will

be treated humanely as prisoners of war.

>> We will never surrender.

>> But Gabchic and the others opened fire

and their reply was simple. We will

never surrender.

The Germans poured in tear gas, fired

through the floor, and even tried

flooding the chamber, but the men below

fought back relentlessly. They were not

seeking escape. They were holding their

ground. For hours they returned fire,

refusing to surrender.

When their ammunition was nearly gone,

each man saved a final bullet for

himself.

Gabchic and the men made their final

choice.

One by one, they turned their pistols on

themselves, not in defeat, but to deny

the Nazis the triumph of taking them

alive. When the Germans finally smashed

into the crypt, all they found were the

lifeless bodies of the men who had

assassinated Reinhardt Hydrich.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Chura had

received his reward. Had Chura not

betrayed the cause. Perhaps after the

war, these men would have been telling

the story of Heddrich's assassination in

their own words. Imagine Gabchic himself

recounting the moment when his Stan gun

jammed right in front of Hydrickch and

what went through his mind in that split

second. Surrounded, outnumbered, and

wounded, they fought to the last breath.

Not for medals, not for fame, but for

the dream of a free homeland. Today,

their story stands as a reminder that

even the mightiest tyrant can be brought

low by the courage of the few. My name

is Roger and this film was my humble

tribute to the men who laid down their

lives for their motherland.