Pannwitz , Heinz , 1911-?1981 , Gestapo officer

Heinz Pannwitz (1911-?1981) (real name Paulsen) was born in Berlin. In 1940 he became criminal commissioner heading Department GII of the Prague Gestapo in German occupied Czechoslovakia. On 27 May 1942 an assassination attempt was made on the life of Reinhard Heydrich (1904-1942) which resulted in his death on 4 June. Heydrich was head of the Nazi security police and governor of Bohemia-Moravia. The assassins were intelligence agents sent by Czech military intelligence in exile in Britain, aided by the Special Operations Executive. Pannwitz was appointed head of a special commision to investigate the killing. His final report was submitted to Hitler and found its way to the archives of the Institute for Jewish Research, New York (YIVO). In 1959 Pannwitz wrote his account of the investigation found in this collection. He would have had to rely on his memory as few books had been published on the subject at that time.