Never Our Fault - Lina Heydrich, an Unrepentant Nazi (part I)

Lina Heydrich is emblematic of the way in which National Socialists have fought through any means necessary, to the point of self-delusion, to avoid facing the consequences of their actions. For many years, Lina Heydrich has been dismissed as nothing more than a poorly-educated Nazi widow, and she has been more than happy to hide under that façade of perceived harmlessness. But in reality, she was clever, shrewd, determined, practical, resourceful and shockingly open about her unchanging political convictions, until the very end of her life.

The years in which the Nazi Party existed were the highlight of Lina's life. The long decades after its bloody end were spent attempting to wash away her husband's monstrous legacy, caught between hard evidence and wishful thinking, squirming away from uncomfortable questions, closing her eyes to the pain her beliefs, her party and her husband inflicted upon the world. Because in the end, in her eyes and the eyes of many others like her? This was never their fault.

00:00 Introduction
03:48 Wednesday's child
16:41 A whirlwind romance
29:00 The star hour
34:33 The spider weaves his web
40:32 A letter home

Sources:

1. "Hitler's Hangman: The Life and Death of Reinhard Heydrich" by Robert Gerwarth, Yale University Press, 2013.
2. "The Hangman and his Wife: The Life and Death of Reinhard Heydrich" by Nancy Dougherty, edited by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2022.
3. "Heydrich: The Face of Evil" by Mario Dederichs, Greenhill Books, 2006.
4. "Life with a War Criminal" by Lina Heydrich, W. Ludwig, 1976.

Notes:
* I apologize to Mr. Gerwarth for butchering the pronunciation of his name.
* I've been working on this since May, and it took forever to make because I kept waiting for more books to be delivered. But here it is.

[johnschofield]

Most of the "Nazi's" were, in other circumstances the same as people all over the world. They laughed, cries, loved their wives and children, parents and friends, but what set them apart was their ability to turn a switch and suddenly become a remorseless animal, with no sense of right and wrong, no moral compass whatsoever except for doing what the party told them to do. What frightens me is that this can, and HAS happened elsewhere and can certainly happen again at anytime.

[mike]

The subtle laugh when discussing Himmler's inability to pass the racial exams LOL.... I love you!!

[Vl]

I’ve always fancied myself well informed about the period. I am always happily proven wrong by your videos. Very well researched and delivered with anecdotes that bring those historical figures to life.
Can’t wait for part 2!

[Gene]

I've watched all three videos in this series, and found them very informative. Until now I knew next to nothing about Lina Heydrich. Thank you for your hard work and for sharing.

[adelkaizbest]

I'm from Czech Republic. The country where Heydrich was the Reich Protector. I did not expect that I would ever see so many informative videos about him that were not in Czech. We are a small country and we are used to our history being often overlooked.
The name Heydrich still has a negative connotation here. Everyone knows who he was, what he did, and we celebrate the men who assassinated him as heroes to this day.
Likewise, everyone knows what happened after that and how the 2 Czech villages ended up...
He is a symbol of cruelty and suffering, a figure, not a person. To this day it's weird for me to see him in historical films. Move and talk, to see him be as a human being and not a statue. And this documentary has even bigger effect on me.
I'm glad to see that even someone who probably didn't hear about it in school is interested in this topic.

[lymarie]

I am a forever student, and love learning new things. My gosh all these new details you've shared is amazing. Thank you so very much.

[TheFilipinaWifeLife]

I am binge watching your whole series on Lena. My God, please don't stop making documentaries.

[HarryFlashmanVC]

I would very much recommend reading The Hangman and his Wife, by Nancy Dougherty.. which is based on a series of interviews she had with Lena Heydrich.
Like Sereny's study of Franz Stangl, the disconcerting thing is how normal Heydrich was. It becomes apparent that he ended up in the SS and in the Nazi Party because he needed a job in the middle of a horrendous recession where a loaf of bread cost a wheelbarrow of reichmarks. He wasn't ideologically motivated, certainly not at first, and it appears that the febrile internal politics of the Nazi.leadership resulted in Heydrich protecting his job by making himself indispensable and unassailable because be became the librarian of the dirty deeds and political fauxpas of the others but also because he simply outworked them. The Nazi party was such a den of thugs, nutters and gangsters that Heydrich, an intelligent, highly talented organiser and, sophisticated and extremely hard working and ambitious man came along at precisely the same time that Hitler needed to make the party respectable in the eyes of the German establishment. It was relatively easy for a man of intelligence, work ethic and ability to shine against the likes of Himmler and Hess. Goebbels certainly recognised this in Heydrich. How did he then become the architect of the final solution? Well that's pretty easy because in the right circumstances and with the right warped moral framework, any one of us could find ourselves doing similar. Add the German tradition of serving your superiors and not questioning orders and you have an environment for all sorts of horrors that we have seen in similar cultures.
The one reason why democracies make it difficult for this to happen is our tradition of freedom.of speech and constantly questioning those who rule us make it difficult for such a culture to emerge. This is why it is SO IMPORTANT to defend freedom of speech and to constantly question the actions and policies of politicians and to be highly suspicious of anyone who seeks to silence you for doing so especially if that person is a secret policeman! (Americans here, take note!)

[marklivingstone]

I lived in Canberra (capital city of Australia) in the 1960s. Our neighbor was an unapologetic nazi who kept a black bordered picture, (about poster sized) of hitler on her wall till the day she died. She always claimed WW2 was an unwarranted attack on Germany, nothing bad went on there and that film of the camps was allied propaganda, with actors dressed in German uniforms, to discredit hitler. She also used to say the blitz on London never happened, the RAF bombed London and then blamed Germany to rile the people up and get them to fight. Not surprisingly, mum used to tell us to steer clear of her.

[johncreed]

This is a very well researched video. Looking forward to watching part 2

[fasteddie]

I've been researching Heydrich's notorious career since I was 9 yrs.old. (1955). I should have majored in history in college but, I took education courses instead. I'm retired now, but my interest in the works of the original "evil empire" continues. TY4 this great video. I like the detailed info that it contains.

[voyaristika]

Your narration and voice are captivating. This video is so well done. The wives of. these men aren't studied much so this is special. Your research is thorough and presentation is very cohesive. I accidentally stumbled on Part 3, so I will finish now with Part 2. You mention the arrest of Christian clergymen, another area given little attention that I'll look into. Thank you!

[markpeggs]

Very often such topics are over done with dramatic music and narration. The soft tone of voice and wonderfully accented English, creates such a reassuring humanity when juxtaposed against such a dark topic. It is truly an absorbing and unique piece of historiography. Great work!

[fowleheidi]

I lived in Germany, had many friends, all knew I'm Jewish. Not one person would admit having any Nazi family members, interesting, the local bus was 15 minutes to Dachau.

[susanprice]

In the 1960's in Athens, Georgia a German Nazi family lived two doors down the street from my family. The parents had both been born/raised in Germany, members of Hitler youth, and the father had been in the German Panzer Division in WWII. They often spoke to everyone about how they were German Nazis, had immigrated to the US after the war, and thought themselves quite a significant and wonderful gift to the United States. They told everyone how desperately unfair and frightening everyday life had been in Germany for the good deserving German people given the tremendous inflation and high unemployment. After Germany's defeat in WWII, this family thought they more than deserved to immigrate to the US and claim the wonderful life they so richly deserved. They were in no way apologetic and proudly spoke of their Nazi beliefs/activities. They considered themselves to be significantly more intelligent and worldly than their Georgian neighbors. They always presented themselves as a remarkable and highly valued GIFT to the town. For the rest of their lives they openly clung to their German heritage and proudly insisted that they were far, far superior to Americans.

[martaparsons]

I find your research accurate of what I listened to eavesdropping adult conversations Germany in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I understood more German than the adults knew. No one knew what went on, they talked about receiving ashes of family members who were in the hospital. They did not approve of the Nazis. I was 10 and have studied this attitude for the next 60 years.

[thudor]

Blonde like Hitler, athletic like Göring, tall like Goebbels and heterosexual like Röhm.
Good one.

[sotirisvourliotis]

I have just found your channel and watched Part I, an excellent video. In addition to the amount of referenced information, I really enjoyed your narration, the sound of each word within each sentence, the intonation, the timbre of the voice, the highlighting of the words and the meanings. Thank you!

[jukker]

This series represents the best potential for the internet, where we can all learn from the efforts of amateurs, who produce great stuff purely from their love of the subject matter.

[Grace.allovertheplace]

Hi thanks for this really amazing job of yours, about Lina Heydrich and her husband - their respective early lives, how they met, obstacles before they’re able to get married and all the great correspondence you’ve included. I look forward to watch part 2.
Thank you, Kindly Grace