Hunting the Hangman

by Howard Linskey

  Today’s gathering was arguably the most important of Heydrich’s career. The general had summoned the heads of a diverse group of governmental agencies, together with the controllers of the major European territories. Now he had to convince them all to work in unison for him. There was less than a handful of men in the Reich ambitious enough to even attempt such an undertaking and fewer still who possessed the talent required to turn it into a success.

  Heydrich began by calling the meeting to order. He then instructed his subordinate to read out a memo from Hitler’s deputy.

  ‘The order is from Reichsmarschall Göring and addressed to the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service, SS OberGruppenführer Heydrich,’ Eichmann told the gathering of self-important souls assembled around the heavily waxed wooden conference table. He bowed his head almost imperceptibly in his superior’s direction, cleared his throat and continued in his customary flat and emotionless tone.

  ‘Complementing the task that was assigned to you on 24 January 1939, which dealt with the carrying out of a solution to the Jewish problem, I hereby charge you with making all necessary preparations in regard to the final solution of the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence in Europe.’ Eichmann could have been a civil servant reading out the latest munitions targets.

  He paused again and was greeted by a tangible silence from the assembled dignitaries – men who had just had their power and influence on this most contentious of issues removed at a stroke thanks to the formal intervention of Göring.

  ‘Wherever other governmental agencies are involved, these are to cooperate with you. I charge you furthermore to send me, before long, an overall plan concerning the organisational, factual and material measures necessary for the accomplishment of the desired solution of the Jewish question.’

  This missive had the required effect. There were many in the room who feared Heydrich personally; and those cavalier enough not to had just been presented with undeniable evidence of the general’s authority on the issue. They would be working for him.

  ‘Well, I think the implications of the Reichsmarschall’s words are clear enough, gentlemen. The purpose of this meeting is to once and for all end the Jewish problem in Europe,’ said Heydrich.

  Stuckart was the first to speak – his phrases those of the world-weary lawyer. ‘We have never even arrived at a true and universal classification of the Jew or the half Jew, let alone been in a position to…’

  Heydrich stopped the Secretary of State for the Interior with a raised hand. ‘I too have been present during interminable debate about the qualifications of Jewry – what to do with half Jews, quarter Jews, those married to Jews, Jews with decorations from the First World War and so forth. I do not intend to waste the majority of this meeting in further debate. There will be time for the study of fine detail later.

  ‘The key point is there are eleven million Jews in Europe. Eleven million and they multiply like bacteria. The question remains of what to do with them all. You will no doubt be pleased to learn I have given this matter a great deal of thought of late and much work has already been undertaken on our behalf. If I can draw your attention to the papers in front of you.’

  Heydrich paused for a moment while a dozen pairs of hands unfolded an equal number of draughtsman’s plans.

  ‘Let me understand this correctly,’ said Friedrich Kritzinger, from the Reich Chancellery. ‘You have brought us here to assist with a solution to the Jewish Question, yet you appear to have already devised this solution.’

  ‘That is precisely what I am saying. There can be only one final solution. That much must be clear to all of you by now – what remains is the method required to implement it. You will be familiar with the basic layout of this camp. It is loosely modelled on Dachau but there are some important differences. Dachau was devised as a correctional facility, within Germany, for enemies of the state and party. It was largely a work camp. Auschwitz, however, contains special facilities. The huts you see marked in bold on the plans before you are gas chambers. We have recently perfected the use of the nerve agent Zyklon B, a form of cyanide, to the extent that we can now safely use the gas in enclosed chambers like these to efficiently resolve our problem with the Jews once and for all. This new special treatment is far more effective than any method previously attempted.’

  ‘To give you a sense of the scale involved, two months ago, twelve hundred antisocials and political prisoners were taken from Buchenwald to Bernberg Euthanasia institute and subjected to the first large scale testing of the gas. They were dealt with in little over an hour, a quite considerable leap forward in technology. There are other camps under construction across middle and Eastern Europe; in Treblinka, Sobibór, Bełżec and Chełmno. All will be equipped with the new gas chambers.

  ‘Many of you are fully aware of the extraordinary executive measures in place to combat the clear danger of world Jewry. You have all accepted, by your presence in the highest reaches of this administration, the need to rid the Reich of their insidious influence. The progress made thus far is commendable. We have taken on the most arduous of tasks in a spirit of selflessness and with a laudable energy considering the restrictions of war.

  ‘When this work is complete we will receive the gratitude of the entire civilised world. Germany will be proud to say it led the way where other nations stood idly by. Be assured there are thousands who will applaud our endeavour in this matter even within nations which are currently our enemies at war. But we must do more, much more. The Americans have joined the conflict and the Russian war has proved to be a far harder campaign than expected. Let there be no doubt that both nations will eventually fall before us but their unavoidable defeat will take time and enormous resources of men and equipment.’

  ‘What has this to do with the Jews?’ asked Dr Martin Luther, the Foreign Office Under Secretary of State, displaying a singular failure to grasp the key principles of the argument before him.

  ‘Everything. We must speed up our special treatment of the Jews before the work becomes an unwelcome distraction.’

  Eichmann leaned forward to interject, in what he probably considered to be his calm and helpful tone. It merely left him sounding like an adult trying to explain something to a particularly dim-witted child. ‘Everyone knows they caused our defeat in the last war by stabbing us in the back. Let us not lose this one because too many of our men are diverted from the frontline to deal with them.’

  Heydrich nodded his agreement.

  ‘What will we do, Eichmann?’ chided Stuckart. ‘Ship them all off to Madagascar?’

  Heydrich suspected the good doctor was annoyed at the curtailment of his specialist lecture on the various categories of Jewishness, as he was unable to keep the inherent insult from his voice. Eichmann had indeed constructed just such a scheme before war had intervened, preventing the deportation of millions of Jews to this enormous island off the south east coast of Africa. Eichmann ignored Stuckart and Heydrich treated the question as if it were entirely rhetorical.

  ‘May I ask what exactly is meant by the term Final Solution?’ asked Kritzinger, in a tone that indicated he saw himself as the only one willing to cut to the very core of the argument.

  ‘Extermination,’ answered Heydrich without hesitation. ‘Don’t minute that word, Eichmann. For the purposes of record use “transported to the east”.’

  ‘You will note from the plans in front of you that gas chambers are not only possible to construct but their wide-scale use is imminent. We estimate they could mean the annihilation of every Jew in Europe in less than one calendar year.’

  He certainly had them now; they were hanging on every word of his briefing. The men in uniform, and they were the majority, nodded their enthusiastic approval. Those who oversaw territories in the east competed with one another to begin the use of this exciting new technology.

  ‘Take my Jews first,’ pleaded Stur
mbannFührer Lange, the senior SS man in Latvia. ‘Do you know how many firing squads my officers have had to organise in the past month alone?’

  ‘No, no, you must take mine,’ argued Dr Bühler, the Secretary of State responsible for the former Polish territory, now known as the General Government. ‘These Polish Jews are the worst and I have 350,000 clogging up Warsaw alone.’

  It was the central ministries, those trumped up politicians in suits, who were the problem, with their law degrees and stately moderation. Some appeared sceptical but one or two were noticeably shuffling in their seats and looking uncomfortable. It was only then Heydrich realised Kritzinger was staring at him as if he had gone quite mad.

  ‘You are talking of herding people like cattle… into execution cells and… putting them down,’ he said indignantly.

  ‘I assure you it is quite humane, certainly more so than the bullet or the bayonet. In addition, it is a thousand times more efficient.’

  ‘It is an outrage!’

  ‘What alternative would you suggest? After all, one does not kill rats with a revolver.’

  It was the sheer size of the undertaking that daunted Kritzinger. Heydrich could see that now. He had such a civil servant mentality – incapable of visualising an entire continent cleansed of Jewry.

  Freisler, the Ministry of Justice man, was scrutinising the layout of a proposed camp. ‘And will these thousands of Jews march calmly to their deaths without offering any resistance?’

  ‘Yes, when the odds are overwhelming. Besides, the buildings resemble showers and there is no need to inform them of their impending demise. Herding them in with a bar of soap each should have the desired effect.’

  ‘And, of course, the soap could be reused,’ smirked Lange, to amusement from all corners of the table.

  Heydrich did not join in the laughter. Instead he continued to address the group, though his eyes never left Kritzinger’s for a moment.

  ‘Do not delude yourselves. You are already part of the process, contributing towards the solution to the Jewish problem. You are aware of the work of the Einsatzgruppen and have said nothing. You have never once queried the wisdom of the high policy against the Jews.’

  ‘Perhaps we should have,’ replied Kritzinger but his voice was beginning to crack, under the calm, stolid menace of Heydrich’s gaze.

  ‘It is too late for that. The work is already far advanced. You fail to comprehend this discussion is not about the annihilation of the Jews. That is already decided upon and occurring as we speak. I am merely seeking to make the process more efficient. You turn pale at the productivity levels of the gas chambers. Do you desire to kill more slowly? Is your objection then merely a question of mathematics?’

  When Krizinger spoke again his voice was weak and he was unable to match Heydrich’s stare for shame. ‘I am still not sure what you want from us all.’

  ‘It is very simple. I want your approval, your compliance, and your full and unreserved support. What I need is trains, camps, gas chambers and cooperation, nothing less than that. Before you leave here today, I wish you all to give assurance of your personal assistance in the operation. This I have promised to deliver to Reichsmarschall Göring directly. I am obviously keen to ensure my report contains no noteworthy omissions. He is not known for his patience in this matter. Is that understood?’

  ‘Yes, clearly,’ answered Kritzinger on behalf of everyone. The Ministerial Director sounded entirely defeated.

  ‘Good. Lieutenant Colonel Eichmann will write up the minutes, I will personally check and edit them and you will each receive a copy. Once everyone here is clear of his role and responsibilities in this affair all of the copies will be destroyed. No minutes are to remain. It will be as if this gathering never took place.

  ‘Gentlemen, thank you for playing your part in the creation of history. With your cooperation the future of Europe is assured. The continent will be combed of Jews from east to west.’

  23

  ‘We have become immune to any increase

  in the great screaming of world Jewry’

  SS journal Das Schwarze Korps

  Gabčík took Liběna for an evening at the Lucerna, an imposing art deco picture house whose ambition represented the city’s optimism for the future before the Germans marched in. The film was a harmless, pre-war melodrama starring Hana Vítová, bland enough to have escaped the ravages of censorship. Afterwards he had taken her dancing at the Palace Ballroom, holding her close, enjoying the smell of her skin and the softness of her hair.

  Before he knew it they had been stepping out, as she called it, for weeks; with trips to cinemas and dance halls. In between there were long walks across the city together. He would have to admit it felt like the most natural thing in the world. He finally confessed to Kubiš that he was seeing the girl and, to his great relief, Gabčík’s friend seemed to sense his discomfort at this admission and merely wished him the very best of luck with her.

  They were a couple, Liběna and Josef, who would have thought it? They discussed things he would have once seen as inconsequential and Gabčík found he wanted to provide them for her nonetheless. The house in a certain street, the plain wooden table where the friends and family could dine in the evenings, the brass bed with the down pillows. And Gabčík, who had owned little and cared less till now, began to realise the importance of these things. More, he dared to think of a future. If only he could complete his mission and somehow survive it.

  Zelenka had promised Kubiš a pleasant surprise and, sure enough, when he returned to Aunt Marie’s house that evening he found Jo Valčík, his old comrade from SOE training, sitting at her table.

  Valčík grinned at him. ‘There’s nothing left, Jan. I’ve eaten it all.’

  ‘It’s not the food I’m worried about,’ beamed Kubiš. ‘It’s my girl I’ll be keeping from you, though she would find that little boy’s moustache as hilarious as I do.’

  Valčík pretended to be hurt. ‘Please, I’ve not been growing it long. A necessity following our hasty departure from Pardubice.’

  The three men dined together from Aunt Marie’s table. They watched as the matriarch of the Jindra network defied the shortages by serving up a generous helping of smoked pork. Kubiš realised that, as in all things, this remarkable woman had her ways of defeating the German system and that night they dined as well as any Czech in the capital. Aunt Marie carried enormous clay bowls in from the kitchen full almost to the brim with black barley and horseradish, which she held easily in her fleshy arms as if they were no heavier than newspapers. Then she immediately sat down with the men as an equal, switching from the mother of the group to her less obvious role as the eyes and ears of Jindra.

  ‘Now we have found a haven for Valčík we should discuss other matters. Your mission for instance, Jan,’ and something in Zelenka’s voice gave Kubiš a premonition of trouble.

  ‘So,’ he asked quietly, ‘when were you thinking of telling me the target is Heydrich?’

  Kubiš’ heart sank. Though he had suspected it would be impossible to cloak their true intentions for long, he had hoped to avoid a confrontation with the resistance man who had been such a help since their arrival in Prague. Jan decided to make light of things.

  ‘I thought you would work it out for yourself soon enough.’

  ‘It was obvious in the end,’ conceded Zelenka. ‘Of all the comings and goings at Hradčany your follow up questions invariably came back to Heydrich.’

  ‘You are going to kill a Nazi general?’ asked the clearly astonished Valčík.

  ‘No,’ deadpanned Kubiš, ‘we’re going to buy him a beer and reason with him, ask him politely if he will leave our country.’

  ‘Oh my God.’

  Kubiš found he could at least derive some amusement from Valčík’s obvious state of shock. Zelenka, though, he could not read. The Jindra man was calmly polishing his gla
sses with a handkerchief, his gentle monk-like face as inscrutable and expressionless as ever.

  ‘What is it, Zelenka? Think it can’t be done?’

  ‘Oh, I think it can be done,’ he replied before putting his newly polished glasses back on and carefully pushing them to the back of his nose with his middle finger. ‘There are some, however, who would question whether it should be done.’

  ‘Some?’ asked Kubiš, alarmed now. ‘How many know of this?’

  ‘Not so many, Jan; Bartoš, Vaněk, one or two others in Jindra. I have to report back to them on the assistance I give you. It’s my duty. They worked some of it out for themselves.’

  ‘It’s your duty to resist the Germans, not tell the whole world of our mission.’

  Zelenka did not rise to this. Instead he gave Jan a frown, which indicated his argument was both flawed and beneath a response. Kubiš sighed then continued more reasonably. ‘What are the objections of the others?’

  ‘They think killing Heydrich will bring down a huge amount of trouble on them, which it will, of course. We barely survived the last Nazi reprisals, lost a lot of good people. They feel it is better to lay low and wait for a better opportunity.’

  ‘And you? What do you think, Zelenka?’

  ‘Me?’ He answered as if it were of no consequence what he thought, then he paused for a moment to take out a battered old brass cigarette case, offer all of them a smoke and light all four. Kubiš accepted his even though he wanted to knock the tin out of Zelenka’s hands, grab the man and shake him till he offered an opinion.

  ‘I think there may never be a better opportunity. I think if London wants Heydrich dead then they have their reasons and we should do all we can to grant the request. Personally I have never heard of anyone, bar Hitler, more deserving of an early grave than Heydrich.’