Portrait of Reinhard Heydrich
Framed charcoal portrait of Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, dated 1937. Heydrich was in equal parts a capable, cunning and fearless SS officer, celebrated by his subordinates and superiors alike for his qualities as the epitome of SS excellence. Dedicated portraits of SS officers are known to be exceptionally rare, given the organization’s secretive nature. Towards the bottom-right is a dedication reading “A. Zimmer, B. Tölz (Artist Name, Bad Tölz, Bavaria) 1937”. Encased within a 50 x 44cm frame.
Described as “the man with the iron heart” by Adolf Hitler, Heydrich was the founding head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD, Security Service), the foremost intelligence agency of the feared Schutzstaffel (SS). As described by Heydrich himself, his Sicherheitsdienst was to serve as Hitler’s ideological shock troops, tasked with the detection and neutralization of actual or perceived ideological enemies of the state. The SD mobilized the entirety of its security and surveillance apparatus to maintain and expand the SS shadow-state within the larger Reich, rooting out subversive elements within the country and other threats to domestic security.
Adding to his impressive CV, Heydrich was also a qualified fighter pilot, having flown several combat missions over the Soviet Union in 1941 and for which he was decorated. After a streak of victories, he was ultimately shot down before being permanently grounded, as the undue risk of losing the head of the Reich Security Office (RSHA) in the role of a combat pilot was deemed unacceptable by Berlin.
Following this incident, Heydrich was assigned as Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, ruling the occupied Czech territories with an iron fist—a role at which he was known to be exceptionally proficient. On the 27th of May 1942, Heydrich was targeted in an assassination attempt by a British-trained Czech terrorist cell that succeeded in blowing up his car. Despite sustaining grievous wounds, Heydrich valiantly gave chase to the Czech rebels on foot, pistol drawn, until he could no longer, collapsing at last on the streets of Prague. He would succumb to his injuries a week later, and become a martyr of the SS thereon.
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Framed charcoal portrait of Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, dated 1937. Heydrich was in equal parts a capable, cunning and fearless SS officer, celebrated by his subordinates and superiors alike for his qualities as the epitome of SS excellence. Dedicated portraits of SS officers are known to be exceptionally rare, given the organization’s secretive nature. Towards the bottom-right is a dedication reading “A. Zimmer, B. Tölz (Artist Name, Bad Tölz, Bavaria) 1937”. Encased within a 50 x 44cm frame.
Described as “the man with the iron heart” by Adolf Hitler, Heydrich was the founding head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD, Security Service), the foremost intelligence agency of the feared Schutzstaffel (SS). As described by Heydrich himself, his Sicherheitsdienst was to serve as Hitler’s ideological shock troops, tasked with the detection and neutralization of actual or perceived ideological enemies of the state. The SD mobilized the entirety of its security and surveillance apparatus to maintain and expand the SS shadow-state within the larger Reich, rooting out subversive elements within the country and other threats to domestic security.
Adding to his impressive CV, Heydrich was also a qualified fighter pilot, having flown several combat missions over the Soviet Union in 1941 and for which he was decorated. After a streak of victories, he was ultimately shot down before being permanently grounded, as the undue risk of losing the head of the Reich Security Office (RSHA) in the role of a combat pilot was deemed unacceptable by Berlin.
Following this incident, Heydrich was assigned as Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, ruling the occupied Czech territories with an iron fist—a role at which he was known to be exceptionally proficient. On the 27th of May 1942, Heydrich was targeted in an assassination attempt by a British-trained Czech terrorist cell that succeeded in blowing up his car. Despite sustaining grievous wounds, Heydrich valiantly gave chase to the Czech rebels on foot, pistol drawn, until he could no longer, collapsing at last on the streets of Prague. He would succumb to his injuries a week later, and become a martyr of the SS thereon.
