HHhH

Hitler summons Heydrich, with whom he converses privately for a long time. I don’t know what Heydrich says to him, but after this meeting, the Fuhrer’s mind is made up. He tells Himmler: “This man is extraordinarily gifted and extraordinarily dangerous. We would be stupid not to use him. The Party needs men like him, and his talents will be particularly useful in the future. What’s more, he will be eternally grateful to us for having kept him and he will obey us blindly.” Himmler is vaguely disturbed to have at his command a man who can inspire such admiration in the Fuhrer, but he agrees all the same: he is not in the habit of disputing his master’s opinion.

So Heydrich has saved himself. But he has lived through the nightmare of his childhood once again. What strange fate allows him to be accused of being Jewish, he who is clearly such a perfect incarnation of the Aryan race in all its purity? His hatred for that cursed people grows ever stronger. In the meantime, he writes down the name of Gregor Strasser.

34

I don’t know when exactly it happens, but I tend to think it’s during these years that Heydrich decides upon a slight modification in the spelling of his first name. He drops the t from the end: Reinhardt becomes Reinhard. It sounds tougher.

35

I’ve been talking rubbish, the victim of both a faulty memory and an overactive imagination. In fact, the head of the British secret service at this time was called “C”—not “M” as in James Bond. Heydrich too called himself “C,” and not “H.” But it’s not certain that, in doing so, he wished to copy the British: the initial more probably referred to der Chef.

While I was checking my sources, however, I came upon this statement, disclosed to I don’t know whom, but which shows that Heydrich had a very clear idea of his job: “In a modern totalitarian system of government, the principle of state security has no limits. Therefore whoever is in charge must aim to gather a degree of power almost without restraints.”

You can accuse Heydrich of many things, but you can’t say he didn’t keep his promises.

36

April 20, 1934, is a significant date in the history of the Schutzstaffel: Goring surrenders the leadership of the Gestapo, which he created, to the two heads of the SS. Himmler and Heydrich take possession of the magnificent headquarters on Prinz Albrecht Strasse in Berlin. Heydrich chooses his office. He moves in. Sits down at his desk. Gets to work straightaway. He places some paper in front of him. Takes his pen. And starts making lists.

Obviously, Goring isn’t happy to give up the leadership of his secret police, already one of the jewels in the crown of the Nazi regime. But it’s the price he must pay to win the support of Himmler against Rohm: the petit bourgeois of the SS worries him less than the left-leaning agitator of the SA. Rohm likes to brag that the National Socialist revolution is not finished. But Goring doesn’t see things that way: they’ve got the power, their only task now is to keep it. Heydrich undoubtedly subscribes to this point of view too, even if Rohm is godfather to his son.

37

Berlin hums with conspiracy as a document circulates the city. It’s a typewritten list. Neutral observers are stunned by the carelessness with which this sheet of paper is passed around in the cafes, going from hand to hand under the eyes of waiters whom everybody knows to be informers in the pay of Heydrich.

It is nothing less than the blueprint of a hypothetical ministerial cabinet. In this future government, Hitler remains chancellor but the names of Papen and Goring vanish. In their place appear those of Rohm and his friends —Schleicher, Strasser, Bruning.

Heydrich shows the list to Hitler. The Fuhrer, who likes nothing more than having his paranoid tendencies confirmed, chokes with rage. However, the heterogeneity of the coalition leaves him puzzled: Schleicher, for example, has never been counted among the friends of Rohm, whom he despises. Heydrich retorts that General von Schleicher has been seen deep in conversation with the French ambassador—proof that he is part of the plot.

In fact, the disparate couplings of this strange coalition show above all that Heydrich still needs to refine his knowledge of internal politics. Because he’s the one who has drawn up and distributed this list. The prevailing principle behind it is very simple: he has, naturally enough, written down the names of his enemies, along with the enemies of his two masters, Himmler and Goring.

38

From outside, the imposing gray stone building reveals nothing. At most you might guess at an unusual activity in the movements of the silhouettes that enter and exit. But inside this SS hive there is frenzied agitation: men run in all directions, shouts echo in the great white hall, doors slam on every floor, telephones ring endlessly in offices. At the heart of the building and of the unfolding drama, Heydrich plays what will become his greatest role— that of the killer bureaucrat. Around him are tables, telephones, and men in black who dial and hang up. He takes all the calls.

“Hello! He’s dead?… Leave the corpse where it is. Officially, it’s suicide. Put your gun in his hand… You shot him in the back of the neck? Well, never mind, that doesn’t matter. Suicide.”

“Hello! It’s done?… Very good… The woman too?… All right, you’ll say that he was resisting arrest… Yes, the woman too!… That’s right, she tried to intervene, that will work fine!… The servants?… How many?… Take their names, we’ll deal with them later.”

“Hello! Finished?… Good, now throw it all in the Oder.”

“Hello!… What?… At his tennis club? He was playing tennis?… He jumped over the hedge and disappeared in the woods? Are you fucking with me?… You comb the woods and you find him!”

“Hello!… What do you mean, ‘another’? What do you mean, ‘the same name’?… The first name too?… All right, bring him here, we’ll send him to Dachau while we find the right one.”

“Hello!… Where was he last seen?… The Adlon Hotel? But everyone knows the waiters work for us, that’s idiotic! He said he wanted to give himself up?… Very well, go back and wait at his house, then send him to us.”

“Hello! Let me speak to the Reichsfuhrer!… Hello? Yes, it’s done… Yes, that too… It’s happening now… It’s done… And where are you with number one?… The Fuhrer refuses? But why?… You must convince the Fuhrer!… Talk about his morals! And all the scandals that we’ve had to suppress! Remind him of the trunk left behind at the brothel!… Understood, I’ll call Goring now.”

“Hello? Heydrich speaking. The Reichsfuhrer tells me that the Fuhrer wants to spare the SA Fuhrer!… Naturally, under no circumstances!… You must tell him that the army will never accept it! We have executed Reichswehr officers: if Rohm doesn’t die, Blomberg will refuse to back the operation!… Yes, there you go, a question of justice, absolutely!… Understood, I’ll wait for your call.”

An SS guard enters. He looks worried. He approaches Heydrich and bends down to speak in his ear. They