Hitler's Women - Women In Hitler’s Inner Circle

Lina Heydrich

Lina was the wife of Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD and one of the main architects of the Holocaust. Considered one of the most brutal members of the Nazi regime, Heydrich earned the dubious appellation of being “the man with the iron heart” from Hitler himself.Lina’s marriage to Heydrich immediately presented a problem because her new husband was dismissed from his former position in the Navy when he was accused of breaking an engagement promise to another woman. Lina took matters into her own hands and suggested that Heydrich apply for a job in counterintelligence. Himmler suggested a meeting with Heydrich but sent a message cancelling it at the last minute. Lina ignored this message and sent her husband anyway. Her efforts proved successful when Heydrich was hired on the spot. Her husband was assassinated by British-trained Czech and Slovak soldiers in 1942.After the war, Lina, controversially, was able to claim a German pension from the West German government because her husband had been a colonel who died in action.She defended her husband until her own death in 1985.