MovieChat Forums > Anthropoid (2016) Discussion > 3rd in Command?

3rd in Command?

posted 8 years ago by larry8827
2 replies | jump to latest

I am always amazed that movies (and history books) rate Heydrich as 3rd in command after Hitler and Himmler. Whilst it is certainly highly likely that Hitler was grooming him to potentially be Fuhrer one day, at the time of his assassination he was still only a 2nd tier figure. He was head of RSHA (all German security service, SD, gestapo, Kripo etc) and in overall command of the einsatzgruppen. It's highly likely Hitler made him the Reichsprotector so that he could learn how to govern (the Nazi way).
But Himmler wasn't even the 2nd person in the reich. Goering was the Reichstag president and Bormann effectively was in charge of the party. Even the vain, arrogant and incompetent Von Ribbentrop was in the top tier.
Had the war went differently and Heydrich survived he would more than likely have became a tier one figure and probably Fuhrer. But not in 1942

[–] moviegeek71 8 years ago

You are correct. I think "3rd in importance of the SS ranks" fits better. I only wish there had been successful ops to take out the ones above him as well.

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[–] Hemiola_78 8 years ago

Well said Larry, I was going to bring this up myself.
I'm no historian but even I could name at least 4-5 guys in the Nazi hierarchy that were more powerful (or at least more valuable to the regime) than Heydrich. Depending on whether you go by the military or political chain of command you have at least Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Hess (although he was gone by 1942), Ribbentrop, Keitel, Donitz. Arguably Speer was more valuable too as minister of armament. Also Heydrich was "just" a general (a desk general with little combat experience to be more precise), so all field marshals and general-colonels outranked him. Was he really more important than Rommel, Manstein or Guderian?
He wasn't a great strategist, seasoned politician, or expert in secret weapons, just a brutal pen pusher.

If one needs proof, look no further than his "greatest" legacy: even after he left the scene the holocaust continued as before.

All in all, the allies made a big deal out of it because he was the highest ranked Nazi they could get to (but not that high really).
The Nazis made a big deal out of it because every movement needs a martyr.