Heydrich Was Profoundly Influenced by Wagner

As the eldest son in the Heydrich family, Reinhard was supposed to one day inherit the Halle Conservatory (founded by his father in 1901), a professional destiny that required rigorous musical training from an early age.

Even before starting primary school in 1910, Richard had learned musical notation; he could play Czerny’s piano ;tudes perfectly and had begun violin lessons (he will eventually become a world-class violinist).

His father encouraged his musical interests and in 1910, at the age of only six, Bruno and his son attended an exceptional musical highlight in the Halle City Theatre: a staging of the Wagnerian opera Ring of the Nibelung.

The passion for romantic music in general, and for the mythical Wagnerian world in particular, would remain with Reinhard Heydrich for the rest of his life – a passion he shared with the future F;hrer of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler.

This profound influence of Wagner on Heydrich’s life is, alas, overlooked by just about all biographers of the latter. It is a serious mistake, because this influence significantly (to put it mildly) shaped the life of Reinhard Heydrich.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was much more than just an opera composer: he created a whole “parallel world”; a whole “parallel universe”. It was under Wagner’s influence that Adolf Hitler made a commitment to building a radically different, mystical (not occult – just mystical) civilization – even romantic… in a way.

Which he did – the Third Reich was a highly unique, deeply mystical and, yes, romantic (demonically romantic) civilization. Passion for Wagnerian world made Heydrich deeply attracted to Adolf Hitler – a kindred soul – and vice versa.

This attraction was instrumental in Heydrich’s commitment to the Third Reich (the New Civilization with “German culture triumphant”) and to Adolf Hitler personally. And to Himmler’s SS – even more mystical (bordering on occult) and, yes, very romantic “civilization within civilization”: SS-Staat.

Unfortunately, this “Wagnerian passion” profoundly contributed to Heydrich’s murderous anti-Semitism (Wagner was a very public fervent anti-Semite, although to which extent it was reflected in his operas, is still hotly debated).

Wagner in his final years developed an interest in the philosophy of Arthur de Gobineau, notably the belief that Western society was doomed because of miscegenation between “superior” and “inferior” races… which very possibly might have contributed to Heydrich becoming a diehard racist.