Heydrich, Reinhard (rīn`härt hī`drĭkh), 1904–42, German police official under the Nazi regime. Forced to resign (1931) from the navy for misconduct, Heydrich joined the SS (see National Socialism National Socialism or Nazism, doctrines and policies of the National Socialist German Workers' party, which ruled Germany under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1945.
..... Click the link for more information. ). He soon won Heinrich Himmler's confidence and in 1934 was appointed deputy chief of the Gestapo (see secret police secret police, policing organization operating in secrecy for the political purposes of its government, often with terroristic procedures.

The Nature of a Secret Police

..... Click the link for more information. ). He was deeply involved in planning the extermination of the Jews. In 1941, Heydrich was appointed protector of Bohemia and Moravia. His ruthless methods there and elsewhere and his numerous executions earned him the name "the Hangman of Europe." In May, 1942, he was shot by Czech patriots. Several days later the entire male population of the village of Lidice Lidice (lĭ`dyĭtsĕ), village, NW Czech Republic, in Bohemia.
..... Click the link for more information. was murdered in retaliation.

Heydrich, Reinhard (Tristan Eugen)

(born March 7, 1904, Halle, Ger.—died June 4, 1942, Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) German Nazi official. He resigned from the navy in 1931 to join the SS, becoming SS chief for Berlin (1934), head of the Reich Security Central Office (1939), and Heinrich Himmler's chief deputy. Noted for his ruthlessness against “enemies of the state,” in the early years of World War II he organized mass executions in the German-occupied territories and became known as “the Hangman.” In 1942 he chaired the Wannsee Conference. Appointed deputy administrator of Bohemia and Moravia, he was assassinated by Czech patriots; in retaliation the Gestapo demolished the village of Lidice and executed its male population of about 200.