Summary

Reinhard Heydrich was one of the most powerful functionaries of the Nazi security state and a key organizer of terror and genocide in occupied Europe.

Historical role

He matters because he helped translate Nazi ideological aims into administrative, policing, and exterminatory systems that tied occupation, security policy, and mass murder together.

Connections

Useful for linking the SS security apparatus, occupation rule, repression, and the bureaucratic coordination of the Holocaust.