terror is one of those phenomena in which totalitarian regimes manifested themselves in their essence. Terror has its own logic. Such was the terror unleashed by the Nazis in occupied Bohemia and Moravia.
It should be noted that the terror known as the “Heydrichiad” was not, in the strict sense, a consequence or a “punishment” (in the sense of the word that would be comprehensible from the point of view of normal legal concepts) for the assassination of Heydrich. Yes, the assassination was a suitable motive and pretext for him. But this terror was a continuation of the program of which Heydrich was the author and executive manager.
The infamous Reinhard Heydrich, general of the SS and the police, took up the position of representative Reich Protector in September 1941 in Prague. He replaced Konstantin von Neurath in it, whose performance did not satisfy the Führer for certain reasons. Heydrich’s task was to eliminate disorder, laziness and arbitrariness in the exercise of power, to prevent unwanted incidents, to suppress organized resistance and political intrigues, in short: to establish a regime of a hard and effective hand. It concerned all possible areas of life in the protectorate: courts-martial, confiscation of radio receivers, appointment and dismissal of officials, propaganda activities, closing of Czech schools, dismantling and liquidation of centers of resistance, and of course: the final solution to the Jewish question.
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