The Puzzling Death of Reinhard Heydrich

Abstract

Summary Reinhard Heydrich, SS Police chief and“Protector” of Bohemia-Moravia waswounded by a grenade fragment during anassassination attempt in Prague on May27, 1942. Eight days after undergoing emer-gency surgery, he suddenly collapsed,slipped into coma and died the next morn-ing, on June 4, 1942. The cause of his deathhas remained obscure.The present article reviews the knowndetails of Heydrich’s medical history afterthe attack. The death of his physicians,the loss of his medical records, and an in-adequate post-mortem make an accuratediagnosis impossible. Massive pulmonaryembolus with acute cor pulmonale and ce-rebral anoxia is a reasonable assumption.That Heydrich died from botulism is mostunlikely. Short Biographies of Heydrich’sPhysicians 1. Dick, Walter (1899-1990). Sudeten Ger-man born in Bohemia. MD degree fromCharles V University (Prague) in 1925.Chief of Surgery at Bulovka Hospital(Prague) from 1940 to 1945. From 1945to his retirement in 1967, was professorof surgery at the Universities ofKlagenfurt, Bonn and Tubingen.2. Hohlbaum, Josef (1884-1945). Born inGerman Silesia. From 1924 to 1940taught surgery in Leipzig. From 1941to 1945 was chairman of the SurgeryDepartment at Charles V University(Prague). Remained in Prague in May,1945, was sentenced to forced labor bythe Czech authorities and was criticallywounded by a mine while clearing abuilding in Prague. Denied treatmentby his Czech colleagues, he escaped toLeipzig where he died from his legwounds.3. Sauerbruch, Ferdinand (1875-1951).