It is strange to say this but one of the Third Reich personalities i've "almost admire" is Heydrich, in the SS/SD he was one of the smartest and most competent officer, ruthless and he executed his tasks almost brilliantly a true workaholic for the Reich. Admire might come of wrong so i will rephrase it to i'm sort fascinated by his persona, and he was definitely more intelligent and efficient than Himmler.
I've had the pleasure of discussing the subject with author Max Williams, he made two brilliants books about both Himmler and Heydrich, and he had amazing sources and after much talk he demoted me because there was not many sources on this subject i'm presenting here and its something nearly impossible to prove today. Mr Williams is convicted in Himmler behalf, myself I always had a strange feeling about this.
First of all Heydrich death was his fault, the lack of security made him vulnerable to that attack, but what about his time in the hospital?
The first account i've read on this subject was by Eugen Dollmann in With Hitler and Mussolini: Memoirs of a Nazi Interpreter in wich he says that Dr Theodor Morell told him that Himmler sent Gebhardt to make sure Heydrich will die: in his opinion only a few of sulfonamides would have saved him. Dollmann also says that months later, Himmler was invited in Roma by Ciano that wanted to make this story clear and Himmler answered : "Heydrich was one of the best, but maybe some superior powers wanted only Adolf Hitler to lead the Reich to its destiny". This answer reinforced Dollman in his conviction that Himmler assassinated indirectly Heydrich by making sure he would not be saved.
Well Dollmann is not a very reliable person but the case is intriguing at least since when Heydrich was in the hospital in the first days he was doing good and getting better then Dr. Karl Gebhardt which was Himmler's personal doctor was sent to treat Heydrich and a couple of days later he dies of septicemia. The most valid point for his death was that germans didn't had penicillin, but Dr. Morrell at the time suggested sulfonamides for the treatment and Gebhardt discarded that option completely. I know most of them didn't like Morrell but if there's was a possibility why not try it? And I know Gebhardt would later try to recreate the situation on prisoners on concentration camps that sulfonamides wouldn't work, but the experiments were poorly conducted on prisoners poorly fed, in degradable conditions and poor health it was more of a torture, Heydrich on the other hand was a healthy man with the best care.
It's common knowledge that as the chief of SD Heydrich was a very powerful person, Hitler liked him a lot, and in my opinion he was way more efficient than Himmler and without that esoteric mumbo jumbo, that diverted a lot of attention from the party goals, even Hitler was not fond of it, could have Heydrich rise to a position that was threatening to the Reichsführer? His rise through the party was amazing, as protector of bohemia and moravia his work was exemplar and its said his next mission was going to France. He was still rising in the party, and being a dangerous man would be possibly that Himmler became afraid of him? or saw him as a treat? Giving numerous situations that happened during the third reich were people got killed, blackmailed, denounce, etc, for a chance for some other person to rise, would this be a consideration in the realm of possibilities? Did the perfect oportunity and conditions presented for Himmler to take out a rival without any suspicious? He's sure ruthless enough to pull something like this.
Excerpts from book "Heydrich - Dark Shadow of the SS":
Himmler ordered his friend, Professor Dr Karl Gebhardt, and Dr Ludwig Stumpfegger to fly to Prague and take over the care of his SS comrade. SS-Brigadeführer Gebhardt was Chief Surgeon of the Hohenlychen Medical Institute, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Berlin, and Chief Surgeon to the Reich Physician SS. He was accompanied by the famous surgeon, Ferdinand Sauerbruch, a consultant to the problem. Both eminent surgeons arrived by air on the night of the attack. Gebhardt was pleased with the operation results and, although there was drainage from the chest wound and the patient was running a temperature, both men thought that Heydrich would recover. By 2 June, Heydrich’s temperature was 102 degrees Fahrenheit and a further operation was discussed, but this was discounted by Gebhardt as he felt it would be unnecessary.
Dr Theodor Morell, Hitler’s physician, took the opportunity to suggest his ‘modern sulfonamides’, but Gebhardt refused. He considered sulphonamides totally useless in the treatment of field wounds. The medical staff were surprised at the vast quantity of morphine that was ordered for Heydrich. The thirty-eight years old Heydrich, at 6 feet 3 inches and weighing 205lbs, may well have required large quantities of narcotics to keep him comfortable during visits.
Heydrich…lost his fight for life and died at 4.30am on 4 June 1942, in Dr Dick’s converted office. His death was recorded, somewhat incorrectly, by a clerk in the death register, volume 1/1942, under number 348: ‘Reinhard Tristan Heydrich. Todesursache: Schussverletzung / Mordanschlag / Wundinfektion.’
The autopsy was conducted, at the request of the Reichsprotector’s Office, by Herwig Hamperl, Professor of Pathology at Charles University, and the forensic pathologist, Günther Weyrich, on the day of Heydrich’s death. Also present were Professors Dick and Hohlbaum, Professor Sauerbruch and the SS physicians, Professor Gebhardt and Dr Stumpfegger.
Cause of death was recorded in the autopsy report as hepathic, renal and myocardial damage caused by virulent microbes or their toxins. There was no reason to suppose chemical poisoning by a grenade splinter. Hamperl concluded that the absence of a spleen had weakened the body’s ability to resist infection. Professor Hamperl revised his conclusion in 1970 and declared that, in his opinion, death resulted from anaemic shock. The notion that the British SOE had doctored the grenade with botulinum toxins can be completely discounted as fiction.
Well i'm not saying this really happened, because Heydrich was also a value asset for Himmler, but is it completely out of the realm of possibilities? Giving the rise of Heydrich and the calculated ruthless of Himmler don't you think at some giving time they could have different interests, this happened a lot throughout the Third Reich Government, and if you take out a opponent like Heydrich reports can be altered or even forged to fit the narrative specially if you are the Reichsführer. Just like at the end of the war Himmler was moving in silence to make a treaty with the allied until they blow the whistl, Himmler was a dangerous man and all of his actions were very calculated but Heydrich was in the level only with less power, as chief of SD he had a vast knowledge of his surroundings and knew a lot of secrets and dirt on a lot of people, plus Hitler really liked him.
