He joined the SS in 1931, and in 1934 became deputy head of the Gestapo. From 1941 he administered the Czech territory of Bohemia-Moravia, his inhumanity earning him the names the ‘Hangman of Europe’ and ‘the beast’. He was assassinated by Czech nationalists in 1942. The Germans retaliated by indiscriminately executing hundreds of civilians including the entire male population of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky.