New light on the ancestry of Reinhard Heydrich

Ever since 1950 claims have been made in history publications that Reinhard Heydrich, one of the leading functionaries in the National Socialist perse cution apparatus, was of Jewish descent. Although in 1971 Israeli historian Shlomo Aronson offered a refutation using Heydrich's SS file as evidence, his argument has not been universally accepted. Extensive research in paris h registries has provided an explanation of Heydrich's background. This art icle confirms Aronson's findings and discusses the ways by which a Jewish b ackground would have affected Heydrich psychologically and what impact it w ould have made on his career.