Digging Up Reinhard Heydrich - Grave Robbers Target Himmler's Deputy 

The fact Heydrich was the only senior Nazi who was intentionally assassinated with full allied support shows how serious they felt about his competency.

'skulduggery was afoot"' has to be one of Mark's best sayings 😊

Mark Felton, the history teacher you always wanted but rarely got!

I first heard of Reinhard Heydrich from a professor of mine at Charles University in Prague who was a member of the RAF Czechoslovak squadron. He took us to the bend in the road where Heydrich was assassinated, and to the Orthodox cathedral where the paratroopers were eventually killed. (The Nazis flooded the crypt of the church and used explosives to make an entrance. The paratroopers killed themselves before they could be captured, and the Nazis killed the Orthodox bishop as well). We also visited Lidice, in which all the men were murdered and the women and children sent to concentration camps, most to eventually die. The village was then plowed under. All of this as reprisal for the death of one awful man. It was all terrible to learn, but I'm grateful to my professor for educating us so thoroughly on such horrible aspects of the war.

The Germans technically didn't rename these parts of Czechoslovakia, since these occupied areas were actually called Bohemia and Moravia and they still are today.

Mark, I really appreciate your plain and straight-forward delivery style.

no matter how bad he was , you don't dig a grave thats sick

Mark, you are a continued breath of fresh air on short format documentary videos. You don’t need a catch phrase at the end of each video, or to put a capitalized HORRIFIC or JUSTIFIED in your title like other sophomoric wannabes do. When a good story has real facts, you don’t need to embellish for views and clicks, and you are a master of giving the unbiased facts. Thank you!

A good movie about he assasination and the reasons behind it is in the movie Anthropoid. There is a marker in Praha at the location of the hit. Heydrich died a few days latter becasue he detested the Czechs so much that he forbid the Czech doctors to operate on him, instead waiting on german doctors to arrive from Berlin. It was sepsis, and his arrogance, that killed him in the end. The Czechoslovak Commandos that took part in the operation died in St. Cyril & St. Methodius Cathedral in Praha and the building still shows the bullet holes of the last fight, the cript is now a museum.

This is supposedly when Hitler realised the war had come home to him personally as Heydrich was the first of his inner circle to die during WW2.

all these years later and this dude still drops awesome tidbits. its amazing honestly.

No tears will be shed for the Butcher of Prague.

"Invaliden-Friedhof" means "cemetery of the disabled" (soldiers). Most famous graveyard in Berlin Central.

In US, Civil War graves were sometimes pilfered for artifacts. Supposedly many officers were buried with their swords; authentic officer swords are very much valued on the collectors market.

Man that sword in the thumbnail is magnificent. They might have been evil but they sure looked sharp doing it, I can’t deny.

I have just found two excellent high-resolution images of Heydrich's grave which were posted on a web-site TEN years ago, so the knowledge as to exactly where the grave is has been in the public domain at least since then.

My Father brought home a German Military Mauser bayonet liberated from a European battlefield. He used it around the farm as a "utilitarian tool" after the war so it was sharpened on a grinding stone. I now have possession of it. The bayonet/scabbard have matched serial numbers. It has a "bakelite" handle so was likely a 1943-44 edition.(?) It likely has little monetary value but is priceless to me.

Pretty obvious Mark robbed the grave.

The way Heydrich stares into the camera at the beginning is about as scary as anything I’ve ever seen in any movie. It’s like he’s staring right into your soul! Chilling!!

This is a wild story! Thank you for posting it.

He was no doubt buried in full uniform with all of his decorations, Nazi Dagger and possibly even a ceremonial service firearm.

I despise grave robbery in general. Such things belong in a museum and not in the hands of these thieves.

I have read that although Hitler insisted that Heydrich recieve the most elaborate and full military honors state funeral, he was furious with Reinhards death , as Hitler believed it was entirely avoidable and that Heydrichs own arrogance was more responsible for his demise than anything else ,as he was traveling without the usually required armed escort for Nazi Officials of his rank , in an open topped car , and on a route he took far too often , thus making it predictable. Also , it has been stated in some accounts that Reinhard initially seemed to be recovering ,but following a visit by one or a pair of Doctors sent by Himmler who were not a part of the team originally treating Heydrich, that his condition suddenly worsened leading to his death, fueling suspicion that Himmler , jealous of Reinhards ascension, may have sent them to not help him, but to poison Heydrich or otherwise worsen his condition .I would be extremely interested in your take on these reports, Dr Felton.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. History should never be forgotten, no matter how horrible it was.

Excellent content as always. Thanks.

Everything in the coffin would be very valuable to collectors. Especially the uniform, medals and the sword. They said no bones were removed, But I get the feeling that was all that was left was just the bones.

What a wonderful wealth of topics, and each one is covered in an authoritative and concise manner. Quite simply some of the best content on RU-vid. Thank you Mark.

I love that you're putting out so many videos now and the quality has maintained that always high-level if not improved.

Big kudos for the “skullduggery” double entendre

Great presentation again Mr Felton.Still got it.I can always come back to your channel and i know i wont be disappointed. By the way,congrats now on you followers number

Mark Felton is absolutely brilliant

Mark, I have been waiting a few years for you to make a video about Heydrich! We need more! Your the best!!

I think there was a medallion/headpiece in the grave that you put on a staff to find the location of the Ark of the Covenant.

You know you're evil when grass won't grow above your grave

You are the best of all reporters that I listen to. Showing video or pix of the subject matter and to the point narratives.

Excellent content as always! Thanks Mark!

Another great presentation, but I have to dispel the myth that Heydrich’s grave location was “unknown” and a “secret”. With some research and period photos of the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery, I found it easily in 2016 when I was in Berlin doing WWII research. I also doubt it was much of a “secret” to any of the Germans in the area who frequented the cemetery. The horizontal concrete foundation that remains at the head of the grave was easily visible about 1” above ground. Obviously others knew the location…as well as the police who quickly confirmed Heydrich’s grave was “disturbed”.

As always ur uploads are FASCINATING! This is no exception. Wow another well researched subject; awesome archival films n still pictures. Kudos. Looking forward to ur next one. Peace

Excellent video as usual. Heydrich's grave has been known for decades, if one is into WW2 history big time specially the German side it comes up in certain circles of historians and people that have been to the Invalidenfriedhof every so often, i can't believe the Soviets didn't dig him up and burned him up when they destroyed everything. If that German order decoration was buried with Heydrich and would be retrieved by looters it would be worth a fortune,examples of the medal are extremely rare and thats a understatement, the other medals he had were relatively common however his personal Honor sword would also be worth a small fortune. The "cushions' correct name is Ordenkissen and was displayed at funerals of high ranking German soldiers, this is a practice that was done decades before Heydrich died,usually someone that was close to the deceased military wise or high ranking would have been chosen to carry the pillow in front of the procession,a major honor for the person carrying it. A little tidbit of information,Heydrich had 4 children, 2 girls 2 boys,as far as i know at least 1 girl and 1 boy are still alive,the boys name is Heider and hes in his late 80s probably,he worked for Dornier airplane manufacturing for many years. Many years ago i was watching a documentary on the Third Reich and happened to "Discover" Heydrich and i became interested in finding anything i could about him because hes not well known ,because he died in 42 not a lot of people are familiar with him,If Hitler had died in the later parts of the war no doubt Heydrich would have been his successor. For anyone wanting some good books on him, Max Williams wrote a 2 part volume thats about everything you need to know on him and hes considered a authority on the man,they come up on eBay every so often,expect to pay at least 100 dollars per volume.

It's interesting that persons were able to locate and dig on a completely unmarked grave. Must have had some photos of the surrounding area to know where it would be.

Utterly fascinating and a knock out the park as always, Dr. Felton. Christmas keeps on giving it would seem. Thank you.

Happy New Year Mark! Thank you for the brilliant dives into history...Semper Fi

I love watching you teach! I am now majoring in history! Hope to join you soon in this field!

Unbiased. As history should be.

Thank you so much for sharing this. Dr. Mark Felton you're the best!

Absolutely fascinating, Dr. Felton. Thank you.

My great uncle was in ww2 and fought in Germany. He used to tell me stories about his time in over there when I was a kid (7 or 8 yr old). I believe this is where my interest of ww2 comes from. He also showed me some of the things he brought back from the war. Among other things he had 2 swords that had SS lightning bolts on them. He also had a Luger pistol and a few knives, one of which I know was a Hitler youth knife. I wonder if the swords were similar to the ones in this story. From what I can remember it looked very similar to the ones in this video. Unfortunately I'll never know because someone stole everything after he passed away. I believe one of my family members stole everything and sold it all for drugs. The only thing left is the Hitler youth knife that my cousin still has.

Another outstanding, extraordinary video by Mark Felton

Some speculate that Heydrich would've been in good contention for a successor to Adolf Hitler

Ever since seeing 'Conspiracy,' I've become fascinated with Heydrich. I knew he had an extravagant funeral, so was surprised to see such a simple gravesite. There is a YT series about his wife, that some may find interesting - 'Never Our Fault - Lina Heydrich, an Unrepentant Nazi.'

Random bit of trivia around Heydrich. Every Alterkampfer awarded an SS Honour Ring (Ehrenring) had to wear it, 24/7, on the ring finger of their left hand. There were to be NO exceptions. Heydrich wore his on his right hand. Check any photo of him & its on his right hand. That's how powerful he was - he could make up his own rules even as far, it seems, as defying Himmler himself.

Mark I am a ww2 historian who's interest was registered when I was a child by my 5-year combat veteran if WW2. Pop would not say a whole lot about those years but he did come home with some souvenirs.. One was a sabre which had a very shiny blade. It's top was a black handle with a gold curve on the handle which went around and ended up in a lionsmouth which had red eyes. The swird had the grey pommel hanging down from the handle. it has long since disintegrated from the sabre. I have seen pi three of it in books. Dad has other souvenirs from that period.

Almost felt like a Halloween Mark Felton special episode.

I find it so intriguing that Heydrich was only in his early and mid thirties during the diabolical height of his career.

As usual, a top-notch video. Excellent content and narration.

This was a great video to watch Mark and thanks so much for providing us with information on the subject. Now, in regards to the unconfirmed story about the switching of the SS swords, personally, I think it is true, since you said that Heydrich and Himmler were very close, If I had a compatriot who was very close to me, I'd switch something with theirs, as a way to keep part of them with me all the time. And adding to the fact of the unconfirmed story, you also mentioned that neither Heydrich nor Himmler's swords were ever seen again after the end of the war. So who knows? Maybe one day, someone might stumble across one of the swords and realize the historic significance of that particular sword.

That was probably one of your best episodes!!! Thank you so much

excellent as always Dr, Felton !!

This needs to be preserved for history. Perhaps display him in a museum.

Definitely one of the most interesting stories on your channel.

Excelent documentary - as always! Thank YOU!

I knew a guy who had a small caliber pistol that was mfg. in the late 18th Century. It was purchased it/ kept it in a shadow box as a wall hanging. The pistol had what he thought was an ivory handle. What was so strange is that once a week he open to open the box and dry the inside as well as the pistol of water "dew." This was very curious to him so he took it to a antique gun dealer and told about this and asked if he had an explanation. He did. He told him the handle was not ivory but made from human bone primarily from the hip. He explained that Ivory was expensive and human bone looked almost identical so grave robbers were digging up their "ivory" as a replacement. But the question lingered "why the expression of water?" The dealer stated he thought the bone was weeping as a component of a gun.

Their ceremonies are so over the top, it’s impressive. Did they have coordinators for such events? I can see why someone would pay for that crazy robbery.

Thank you, Dr. Felton, for this video. There are some things I'd like to know that weren't mentioned: 1. What is the state of the grave today (December, 2022)? 2. What happened to the grave after the discovery was made? 3. Did the robbers and/or police open the casket? It's mentioned at 00:28 that the robber/robbers "seem to have been disturbed and fled" and at 01:04 that "no bones were recovered." Do the police know that no bones were recovered because (a) they checked and counted the bones, or (b) not all of the soil had been removed from the casket (and so the casket was not opened)? Thank you!

Excellent detective work, Mark!

Excellently told perfect put together

Mark, my father served in the security intelligence Andrew Lewis Millett, who was one of, the most famous Nazi warfighters of them all that abandoned the US Army as a "deserted" in order to join the war against the Nazis. One of the research issues I would like your help with, and perhaps you could make a movie about is the dagger that was given by the NAZIS to SAUDI and ARABIA. I appreciate your research. Thank you.

Well done ... Very well done indeed. My compliments to you sir for this fine piece of research. Thank you for telling us this important nugget of history.

Very nice collector's artifacts. Well done Doc!

More videos like this please. Very good mark.

"Skullduggery was a'foot!" Just when I couldn't love your videos any more than I already do ... then this?! Made me laugh out loud. Thanks for all the excellent videos in 2022, and from Minnesota, happy new year, sir.

This is insanely interesting and shocking. Thank you Mark. You truly are one of the greatest when it comes to history channels on RU-vid! Thanks for your work! It is very appreciated. Greetings from Germany, Eifel

Interesting current history tied to WW2! Thanks Dr. Mark, Happy New Year 2023!

Beautiful addition to the collection.

I suppose the most surprising thing to me is that this robbery didn't happen sooner. A morbidly curious case this is.

04:15 I believe the place that Mark Felton is talking about is the Wewelsburg, a castle near Paderborn in Westfalia. It was taken over by the SS with the intent of being a sort of Walhalla, a memorial site for high-ranking SS officers and others whose names would be mythologized for centuries to come. Philip Kerr, author of the Bernie Gunther mystery novels, describes in one of his book tour appearances his experience visiting this castle while doing research for his books. He describes it as having a vibe like the Third Reich is still alive and well and everybody is living in an alternative history sort of world. DW also did a video essay on the place. It may take some doing, but both can be found on Ytube.

I love it when you admit you cannot confirm somthing before still offering your opinion. Awesome

I have seen one of these SS honour swords close up as a child. My step dad was a WW2 vet and borrowed one from a "friend and vet". It was exactly as Heydrich's as I can still remember it clearly. This was the late 60s in Canada and I was 7 or 8. Great video as always Mark, thank you for your research.

There is no picture of Heydrich which fails to send a shiver down my spine. He truly was the embodiment of the Regime and the Party.

Dr. Felton, you should write a book that's a collection of some of your or the fans favorite videos from MFP and call it War Stories with Mark Felton.

amazing info never heard about this grave thing till now

Extremely interesting as always, thank you!

I’ve been waiting for this episode. Incidentally, a friend of mine is a distant relative of Heyderich, sharing his last name and even likeness. For obvious reasons, they have changed the name on any social media. Incidentally, much of his belongings, still reside with the family, of what hasn’t been placed in museums, or private hands.

That's a blood chilling stare into the camera Heydrich gives. I remember a Time-Life book about the Third Reich that dealt with the SS. One survivor recalled being summoned to Heydrich's office recalling Heydrich's menacing stare, how his long fingers looked like 'a spider's legs', Heydrich's deceptively high pitched voice and girlish looks, and a book on Heydrich's desk of names-some with checks, others with 'X' by them. He didn't want to know what the 'Xs' meant. He stated getting summoned to this office meant two things, one of them he didn't dare think of.

Great Video as always..

His Mercedes is in a museum in Denmark. Egholm castle, not far from Copenhagen. Worth a visit. And when you're in the neighbourhood, just south of Gilleleje, you'll find a huge private collection of ww2 things. Mostly German materiale. A Messerschmitt bf 110, one of three in the world. (so I'm told)

Thank you once again Dr Felton, your thorough research is sincerely appreciated.

His uniform knights crosses and SS ceremonial swords daggers etc plus his SS ring would be priceless.

Great video, once again very, VERY COMPELLING content....

190k views in 11 hours...that's a compliment in itself, great content as always Mark 👍

Absolutely fascinating . Thank you Dr Mark

That grave was looted way back in 1945 .. The robbers in 2019 had no idea what grave they were in as no bones were taken. Even those would have some value to someone ..

Very intresting as always! Thanks!

I know there will be lots of replies to this post but here it goes. I read a post (I think it was from one of Dr. Felton's videos where the poster said he read that Heydrich told one if his underlings something to the effect of "If the fuhrer keeps making mistakes he may have to be replaced." The underling told Himmler and it got to Hitler and from then on he was a marked man but they had to approach getting rid of him with care. He said Heydrich had a meeting with Hitler one day and Hitler stood him up for hours and came out and told him he didn't have time for him and shot him and icy stare. He said Heydrich's wife didn't go to the funeral because she thought Himmler let him die by bringing in his own doctors to treat him and all of the sudden he got worse. I am not stating this as fact, just what I have read. It may have been from Albert Speer's memoirs. The fancy funeral and the accolades mean nothing when you consider how they got rid of Rommel. His funeral was also a big one. Nazis were shrewd as Hell.

wow ! super cool to see those old photos of the funeral

We happened to be in Berlin last weekend and stopped by the cemetery to see this. It was a bizarre contrast, just a random piece of grass in a quiet cemetery, to the monster he was and the horror he created.

I remember reading that Himmler was worried about Heydrich usurping him.

I have a feeling he was dug up from a secret association, gathering endless artifacts and ceremonial pieces for a return one day !

Great presentation! Wouldn't it be wild if the lost Totenkopf rings had been posthumously placed within the coffin....thanks for all your very interesting videos!

Heydrich would have been buried in full uniform with medals affixed and with his cord , and perhaps even a sidearm. Collectors would pay big money for those items