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Author: Mario R. Dederichs When in search of inspiration for the next modeling subject, sometimes it helps to read books outside of the traditional modeling research texts. Such is the case with this book on Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was one of the principal players behind the Holocaust, ruthless and determined, feared by everyone, even those who worked with him. Mario Dederichs writes a compelling history of Heydrich, providing a disturbing glimpse into a Holocaust architect, his assassination, and the resultant reprisals. The book follows Heydrich's life, from his service as a Naval Officer through his rise in power and the plan to eliminate the Jewish population. Generally overlooked in history, most likely due to his early death in 1942, it was only with the opening up of archives in the East that Heydrich's role in the Holocaust could be fully told. It was Heydrich, using his role in the Reich Security Main Office, who developed the Einsatzgruppen in Poland and the Soviet Union. One wonders what would have happened had Heydrich survived beyond 1942, when the concentration camps were starting to ramp up their human destruction. Just as interesting is the story surrounding his assassination and the resultant reprisals against the town in which it happened. In fact, after the dark history of his life, the assassination offers a comedy of errors to an extent. The gunman's weapon jammed because he kept the weapon dismantled in the same pocket where he stored greens for his rabbit at home. On seeing the gunman, Heydrich stood in the car and fired at his would-be assassin, but his pistol was empty. The second assassin, armed with bombs, tossed one at the car, but it fell short and only wounded Heydrich. In fact, had he not been wearing the SS uniform, it is likely that he would have survived. The uniform, though, kept the citizens of the town from assisting him, and Heydrich lay in the street for nearly half an hour before finally getting to a hospital. A botched operation resulted in Heydrich dying seven days later. As I noted earlier, sometimes one finds inspiration in the least expected places. A diorama of the above assassination would make for an incredible display, with an assassin's gun jammed with greens, an SS officer standing in a Mercedes with an empty gun, and a second assassin making a bad toss of a bomb. This would be a simple arrangement, but one that tells such a huge story of the Second World War. My thanks to Casemate for the review copy.
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