Lina Heydrich: The Fanatical Nazi Widow of Reinhard Heydrich

Lina Heydrich, the wife of SS leader Reinhard Heydrich, was one of the most fanatical women in the Nazi elite. Fiercely loyal to both her husband and Adolf Hitler’s regime, she embraced the power, privilege, and brutality that came with being the spouse of one of the Third Reich’s most feared men.Born in 1911 on the island of Fehmarn, Lina grew up surrounded by nationalism and antisemitism. In 1930 she met a young naval officer, Reinhard Heydrich. Less than two weeks later they were engaged. After Heydrich’s expulsion from the navy, Lina encouraged him to join the Nazi Party and the SS, a decision that would shape the future of both their lives—and the machinery of Nazi terror.As Heydrich rose through the Gestapo, SD, and the leadership of the Reich, Lina enjoyed wealth, influence, and status. After his assassination in 1942, she continued to benefit from the system he helped create, using forced labourers from Theresienstadt and Flossenbürg at the family’s confiscated castle near Prague. Witnesses later testified that prisoners were beaten and abused under her authority.Even after the war, Lina Heydrich never expressed remorse. She received a pension, remarried, and ran Heydrich’s former home as a nostalgic inn for former Nazis. In her memoirs she defended her husband and dismissed the Holocaust as “a fairy tale.” She died in 1985—unrepentant until the end.This episode is part of the series Nazi Wives and Companions.Watch the full documentary and explore hundreds of historical films at:WorldHistory.tv.