A tall, blond-haired former naval officer, Reinhard Heydrich was both a champion fencer and talented violinist. Heydrich joined the Schutzstaffel, or Protective Squads, better known as the SS, in 1931, and quickly became head of its counterintelligence service.

Reinhard Heycrich

In September, 1941, Heydrich was appointed “Reich Protector” of Czechoslovakia, which had fallen prey to Germany in 1938 but whose citizens were growing restless under Nazi rule.

Heydrich immediately ordered a purge, executing 92 people within the first three days of his arrival in Prague. By February, 1942, 4,000-5,000 people had been arrested.

In January, 1942, Heydrich convened a meeting of high-ranking political and military leaders in Wannsee,  Germany, to streamline “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”  

An estimated six million Jews were thus slaughtered.

Returning to Prague, Heydrich continued his policy of carrot-and-stick with the Czechs—improving the social security system and requisitioning luxury hotels for middle-class workers, alternating with arrests and executions.  

The Czech government-in-exile, headquartered in London, feared that Heydrich’s incentives might lead the Czechs to passively accept domination. They decided to assassinate Heydrich.  

Two British-trained Czech commandos—Jan Kubis and Joseph Gabcik—parachuted into Prague. 

On May 27, 1942, Kubis and Gabcik waited at a hairpin turn in the road always taken by Heydrich. When Heydrich’s Mercedes slowed down, Gabcik raised his machinegun—which jammed.

Rising in his seat, Heydrich aimed his revolver at Gabcik—as Kubis lobbed a hand grenade at the car. The explosion drove steel and leather fragments of the car’s upholstery into Heydrich’s diaphragm, spleen and lung.

Scene of Reinhard Heydrich’s assassination

Hitler dispatched doctors from Berlin to save the Reich Protector. But infection set in, and on June 4, Heydrich died at age 38. 

The assassination sent shockwaves through the upper echelons of the Third Reich. No one had dared assault—much less assassinate—a high-ranking Nazi official.

Nazis had slaughtered tens of thousands without hesitation—or fear that the same might happen to them. 

Suddenly they realized that the fury they had aroused could be turned against themselves.

Which brings us to the leaders of America’s own Right-wing.

The names of infamous Nazis were widely known:

• Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering;
• Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels;
• Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess;
• Propaganda Film Director Leni Riefenstahl;
• SS-Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler;
• “Hanging Judge” Roland Freisler;
• Architect Albert Speer;
• Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop;
• SS Obergruoppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich; and
• The most infamous Nazi of all: Adolf Hitler.

Members of the Nazi government

And so are the names of the infamous leaders of the American Right: 

• House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell;
• Texas Senator Ted Cruz; 
• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas;
• Evangelist Franklin Graham;
• Florida Senator Marco Rubio;
• Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito; 
• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; 
• Former President Donald Trump.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republican leadership

The difference between these two infamous groups is this:

In Nazi Germany, ordinary Germans could not learn about the personal lives of their dictators—including their home addresses—and to conspire against them.

In the United States, ordinary citizens have an array of means to do this. They can turn to newspapers, TV and magazines. And if that isn’t enough, “people finder” websites, for a modest price, provide addresses and names of relatives of potential targets.

In Nazi Germany, firearms were tightly controlled.

In the United States, the Right’s National Rifle Association has successfully lobbied to put lethal firepower into the hands of virtually anyone who wants it.

Which brings us to the impending Republican shutdown of the Federal Government.

Behind this lies a civil war within the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.

The warring parties include Fascistic Right-wingers, moderates and those whom conservative columnist David Brooks says “simply want to burn the place down.”

A chief demand among Right-wingers: End all economic and military aid to Ukraine.

In the past, Republicans prided themselves on their staunch anti-Communism.

But since Russian President Vladimir Putin began making “campaign contributions” to Republican House and Senate candidates, Republicans have gone from being “Better Dead than Red” to “Better Red Than Un-Elected.”

Another Right-wing demand: Make drastic cuts in programs to help the poor—such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

A shutdown would halt paychecks for millions of federal employees.  Among these:

• Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers;
• Two million active duty military troops and reservists;
• FBI agents, prosecutors and Border Patrol officers.  

Other consequences:

• Over seven million dependents on the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program would lose their benefits.
• National parks, monuments and campgrounds would be closed. 

Depriving millions of hard-working Americans of the salaries they need to support themselves and their families will arouse fury in even the most law-abiding men and women.

So will depriving millions of needy Americans of food and/or medical care.

This is especially true when a political party—such as the Nazis and Republicans—makes clear its intention to rule by force, rather than by public consent.

Reinhard Heydrich believed himself invulnerable from the hatred of the enemies he had made. That arrogance cost him his life.

The day may soon come when America’s own Right-wingers start learning the same lesson.