Reinhard Heydrich was in the midst of planning something far more important than the pursuit of Himmler’s foolish dream of discovering the ultimate weapon in an ancient spell or trinket. He had been tasked by Hitler himself with finding and implementing the most efficient means of ridding Germany, once and for all, of its biggest problem, its Jews. This final solution, this Endlosung, he had pursued with relish. This would be a historic achievement. Indeed, his next appointment was to be with his old Reichsmarine colleague, Walter Rauff, who had invented something intriguing he called a mobile gas chamber. And Standartenfuhrer Rauff was helping him plan an operation that, one night soon, would soon mark the beginning of the Endlosung. Still, Himmler was not someone to be disobeyed or taken lightly. He controlled all of the SS and its sub-units, the SD, the Orpo, the Kripo, the Gestapo, the fledgling Waffen-SS. As to the Jews, Himmler hated them even more than Hitler. Indeed, Himmler had built the first of the concentration camps, at Dachau, and had personally designed the death’s head insignia for the guards’ uniforms.
