Reinhard Heydrich

From Kaiserreich

Revision as of 10:10, 13 August 2008

Heydrich in Reval, United Baltic Duchy

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (born on March, 7 1904 in Halle an der Saale, Germany) is a German politician and settler in the United Baltic Duchy. He is the president of the local branch of the Pan-Germanist Grossdeutsche Volkspartei and a major figure in Baltic German politics.

Biography

Born in Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt, to composer Richard Bruno Heydrich, a staunch anti-Semite and racist, Heydrich was known at school for being an excellent pupil, with impressive skills in violin and fencing. As he was far too young during the Weltkrieg to enlist, the young man flaterred his strong nationalist feelings by joining various paramilitary, anticommunist and antisemetic groups. Then he joined the Kaiserliche Marine in 1921, the Weltkrieg ended before he was affected to a ship: naval cadet Heydrich saw no combat. Based in Kiel as a cadet, he advanced in 1926 to the rank of second lieutenant and was assigned as a signals officer on the battleship Schleswig Holstein. However, in 1930, he had an affair with the daughter of a shipyard director and cheated her by announcing his engagement with another woman; the shipyard director was friend of Admiral Erich Raeder. A formal complaint was lodged against Heydrich for insulting the honor of a young woman. He was charged with "conduct unbecoming to an officer and a gentleman" and an investigation ensued. Heydrich was called before a court of honor and he protested his innocence and accused the woman of lying. His attitude was so disdainful that the court admonished him for insubordination. Though he was exonerated, the officers demanded that he be cashiered for "conduct unbecoming a naval officer". In April 1931, admiral Erich Raeder sentenced Heydrich to "dismissal for impropriety." Heydrich was devastated, but he remained engaged to Lina von Osten, who is now his wife. He then emigrated to the United Baltic Duchy as a settler, establishing himself in Reval, where he became close to the local Pan-Germanists. Seducing the local members of the Grossdeutsche Volkspartei, and helped by his relations in Germany itself, he quickly became president of the local party, arosing in Baltic politics (most of the German settlers being convinced nationalists and Pan-Germanists) and even becoming a potential Prime Minister to the Duke Adolf Friedrich.