Secret Reichsssache — Heydrich an Bormann, Expropriation of the Czech nobility, 16 May 1942

German-language typed copy of the letter from SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich to Reichleiter Martin Bormann, dated Prague 16 May 1942. Classified "Geheime Reichsssache! Eilig!" (Secret Reich Matter! Urgent!). Subject: Expropriation of the Czech nobility. Orders Forced administration of estates of ten principal Czech noble families including Czernin, citing their September 1938 declaration of loyalty to the Czech state as the stated reason. Also names Kinský, Belcredi, Sternberg, Schwarzenberg, Lobkowicz, Kolowrat, and Strachwitz. Notes the families exploited their German names and noble connections for subversive activities and espionage in the Reich, Ostmark, and Hungary. States that all intervention attempts from the Reich on helped of these aristocrats, especially through State Councillor Graf Goltz, were rejected. Written 11 days before Heydrich's assassination on 27 May 1942. This typed German text differences from records 3506 (Czech transcript by Jan Drocár) and 3513 (published German transcription from Sternberg estate memoir).

Typed transcription (Abschrift) of the letter from SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich to Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, dated Prague 16 May 1942. This is not the original document but a clean retyping on plain paper — no official letterhead, stamps, or classification markings. The transcriber reproduced the full text including the "Geheime Reichssache! Eilig!" header and Heydrich's signature block. Subject: Besitzenteignung des tschechischen Adels (Expropriation of the property of the Czech nobility). Orders Zwangsverwaltung (forced administration) of approximately 50,000 hectares of estates belonging to ten principal Czech noble families including Czernin, citing their September 1938 declaration of loyalty to the Czech state (Treuebekenntnis). Also names Kinský, Belcredi, Sternberg, Schwarzenberg, Lobkowicz, Kolowrat, and Strachwitz. Likely the same transcription that circulated via the Dokumentationsarchiv des Amtes des Reichsprotektors, found in Prague after the war and passed to Leopold Sternberg (see record 3513 provenance). The original German document has not yet been located. Written 11 days before Heydrich's assassination on 27 May 1942. See also: record 3506 (Czech translation by Jan Drocár), record 3513 (published German transcription from Sternberg estate memoir).