Zero Mercy: When Heydrich's SS Spymaster Met Czech Justice

The German occupation of Czechoslovakia began in March 1939, when German forces entered the Czech lands and established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Alongside the military occupation came an extensive police and intelligence apparatus designed to monitor political activity and suppress opposition. Among the men who became part of this system was Walter Jacobi, a German lawyer, SS officer and member of the Sicherheitsdienst, or SD. Jacobi had joined the Nazi Party while still a university student and later entered the SD, where his knowledge of Czechoslovakia made him valuable to the German security services. Arriving in Prague only days after the occupation began, he monitored Czech political organisations and gradually rose through the ranks of the occupation apparatus. Following anti-German demonstrations in Prague in 1939, Jacobi helped compile a list of Czech student leaders. Nine men were subsequently killed and around 1,200 students were sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, while Czech universities were closed. Jacobi later became head of the SD's main office in the Protectorate. His career also brought him into contact with Reinhard Heydrich. After the attack on Heydrich in Prague in May 1942, German authorities launched extensive reprisals across the Protectorate. Jacobi remained a senior figure within the SD during this period, which included the destruction of Lidice and the persecution of its inhabitants. As Nazi Germany collapsed in 1945, Jacobi fled Prague and reached territory controlled by American forces. After initially being mistakenly released, he was arrested again, transferred to Czechoslovakia and eventually brought before a court in Prague. This documentary examines Walter Jacobi's rise within the Nazi security system, his activities in occupied Czechoslovakia and the post-war proceedings that followed. Join World History channel and get access to benefits: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKKy_pNKZBX4KcCct8505HA/join Discla