heinrich himmler
EARLY LIFE
Himmler was born in 1900 to a middle class, Catholic family in Munich, Germany. As a fervent patriot, Himmler wanted to enlist in the Germany Army (Reichswehr) during World War I, but before he could, the Versaille peace treaty was signed and he instead enrolled at Technical University to study agriculture. While in college he became involved with racist-nationalist groups and political activism. He also came into contact with National Socialists through a chief in the SA. In August, 1923, he joined the Nazi party and devoted his career to the furthering of its ideals. In 1923, Himmler marched, along with Hitler, Rohm, and Goring, in the Beer Hall Putsch against the German government. NAZI INVOLEMENT AND CRIMES IN WORLD WAR II While serving as the secretary and personal assistant to the Reich Propaganda Leader of the Nazi Party, Himmler built up his own image, emphasizing the ideas of "race consciousness", the cult of the German race, the need for German expansion, and the struggle against enemies of Germany. In January of 1929, Hitler appointed Himmler to the position of Reichsfurhrer SS. From this position, Himmler developed an elite corps of the Nazi party dedicated to internal security and guardianship over "racial purity". Two years later, in 1931, Himmler developed the Security Service (or SD-Sicherheitsdienst), which gathered intelligence on leaders and activists for other parties as well as government officials. By 1936, he had taken control of all German police departments and centralized them in Berlin. He continued this centralization of police forces with the merging of the Security Police and the SD into the Reich Security Main Office, which was in charge of the implementation of the Holocaust, as well as with the implementation of the centralized concentration camp system. Hitler gave Himmler power that was outside legal constraints of the German state, which enabled the authorization of indefinite incarceration and mass murder. In 1939, Hitler gave him the authority to have say over who was German, where Germans should live, and what populations should be moved out or annihilated to make room for Germans. Also in 1939, Himmler convinced Hitler to allow the establishment of the Waffen SS, which put half a million men under arms. Himmler's power extended again in 1941 when Hitler gave him the authority to over the mobile killing units and other SS units to initiate and enact the mass murder of Jews, Soviet officials, Roma and Sinti, and people with disabilities. He was appointed commander-in-chief of Army Group Upper Rhine in southwestern Germany. In April of 1945, the Nazi Party discovered that Himmler had negotiated with both the Swedish to surrender to the Western allies, and the Western Allies to form an alliance against the Soviet Union; following this action, Hitler stripped Himmler of all of his offices and ordered for him to be arrested. In 1943, during a speech about the implementation of the so-called "Final Solution" Himmler said: "In front of you here, I want to refer explicitly to a very serious matter...I mean here...the annihilation of the Jewish people...We had the moral right, we were obligated to our people to kill this people which wanted to kill us." DISCOVERY AND DEATH On May 20th, 1945, Himmler was found by Russian soldiers. He was dressed in Secret Field Police uniform and carrying fake identification. The Russians turned Himmler over to the British. While a body search was conducted on him, Himmler committed suicide by biting down on a cyanide capsule he had hidden inside his mouth Sources: www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007407 www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266132/Henrich-Himmler http://spartacus-educational.com/GERhimmler.htm www.pbs.org/auschwitz/40-45/killing/ |