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YEAR 12 HISTORY
Himmler
2.5 Examine causes and consequences of a significant historical
event – 5 credits external
Notes from:
HEINRICH HIMMLER The Evil Genius of
the Third Reich, – Frischauer, Willi.
Odhams Press, London, 1953.
Heinrich Himmler
INTRODUCTION:
Heinrich Himmler was born on the 7th
October 1900. He was a dull and
ineffectual man who rose to become
the leader of one of the most insidious
groups of soldiers ever seen,
responsible for the deaths of millions
of people during World War Two.
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Background:
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middle class Catholic family.
one of three boys.
loved medieval history
not a spectacular student
went to a technical high school for
agriculture in Munich.
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he was declared ‘unfit’ for the army
had connections to Ernst Rohm.
had a minor role in the Munich Putsch (1923).
Hitler formed the Schutz Staffeln (Protective Guards) –
the SS.
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Himmler joined the Nazi
Party in 1925.
• he met Gregor Strasser
• he was appointed as
Assistant Propaganda Chief
of the National Socialist
Worker’s Party.
• Deputy Leader of the SS
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• he married Margarethe Borden
in 1927
• he bought 50 chickens with her
dowry money
• he met Alfred Rosenberg who
was engrossed in the idea of
the superiority of Nordic Blood
• and Walther Darre who
suggested that he apply what
he knew to people - the SS.
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He told Hitler of his ideas:
“If I had power to rule this exquisite handful
of men in his spirit, I could help in
perpetuating the Nordic race for ever. They
could become the bulwark against the wave
of Jewish influences which threatens to
drown our beloved people. They could be
symbols of the greatness of the German race
of which we are the guardians.”
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• January 6th 1929 - Reichsfuehrer of the SS
Black Guards.
• he had fantasies of racial purity.
• The SS ideals – Race, Obedience and
Sacrifice.
• Marriage was a key to racial purity.
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• 1931 Order No 65 – Marriage Order
– Himmler to give permission to
marry
• Brides were invasively examined
• Encouraged SS men to have 4
children
• 10-12% of applicants were inducted
into the SS.
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• Reichstag Fire – Gestapo set
up
• 1933 Himmler was Police
President of Munich.
• Order of Protective Custody
• Dachau –new camp, guarded
by the SS.
• 12 year contracts
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• ‘Commitment to a Concentration
Camp’ replaced the Order of
Protective Custody.
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Arrival at a camp meant
donning a camp uniform
with symbols.
Criminals - green triangles
Jews - yellow star
Bible Students - violet triangles
(Jehovah’s Witnesses)
Homosexuals - pink triangles
Gypsies - brown triangles
Work shy - black triangles
Political - dark red triangles
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• 1933 the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
(Adolf Hitler Bodyguard) LAH was
formed
• Himmler promoted to Police Chief
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• 1934 Himmler was unwell.
• SS - ‘Night of the Long Knives’.
• Reinhard Heydrich ordered a recruitment
drive of 50,000.
• two lightening strikes - ancient symbols of
Seig-Victory.
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SS were to become like Teutonic Knights
Castle rebuilt, used ancient symbols
Heydrich helped plan the first Anschluss- 1934
The failure of this Anschluss made Hitler become
cold towards Himmler.
• Himmler took it out on the ‘traditional enemies of
Germany-reactionaries, the Catholics, the Jews
above all.’
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• Himmler formed the ‘World League
of Anti-Semites’
• German women seen with Jewish
men were deemed to have
committed Rassenschande - Race
Shame.
• 1935 Nuremberg Laws underway
• SS newspaper Das Schwarze Korps
(The Black Corps).
• Hitler constantly left difficult
decisions to Himmler. “Let Himmler
deal with it” – the Jews, Catholics
and Party members.
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• October 1935 Hitler asked Himmler to
‘devote your whole strength to the
National Socialist Reich.’
• 1936 - Himmler saw himself as King
Heinrich 1 reincarnated.
• He relied on the occult and astrologers.
• promoted to Reichsfuehrer-SS.
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• mineral water company
bought to prevent SS
drinking alcohol
• began to study German
people living outside
Germany
• museums had to study
human remains for race
purity
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• Lebensborn developed
• ‘Mothers Cross’
• now encouraged SS men to take 2 wives
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• 1938 Austria - Anschluss
• Jews - ‘If the Americans pay their fare and
look after them we shall gladly let them go…”
• Mauthausen built for Austrian Jews.
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• 1939 most Jews had disappeared from
Germany
• Random searches carried out
• Himmler now a powerful Nazi leader
Top: Himmler at
German police
day 1937
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• Waffen SS (Armed SS) inserted
into army units
• Auschwitz built for Polish Jews.
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• Himmler received new orders to:
‘bring back for final return into the Reich all
German nationals in foreign countries…[and]
to eliminate [parts of the population which]
represent a danger to the Reich…’
• made Commissioner for the Preservation of
German Volkdom.
• Himmler shut down Polish education and
further pursued Lebensborn in Poland
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• He looked to the Spanish Inquisition for
inspiration:
‘What the Jesuits did for Rome the SS
must do for the Nazi Party’.
• Einsatzgruppen (Action Groups) to
exterminate of 30 million people.
• Ghettoes cleared and refilled
• 90,000 liquidated in the Ukraine
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• Treblinka set up
• Gas vans developed
• Gave permission for human
experimentation
• Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated
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• Himmler had an unshakable faith in Hitler:
‘Hitler is infallible, he never makes a mistake.’
• Killing had to slow down – disposal of bodies
difficult
• August 1943 - Reichsfuehrer of the Interior.
• Woman Gestapo to strengthen German
womanhood
• July 1944 Commander of the Reserve Army
(Home Guard).
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At The End
• refused to assume leadership
upon Hitler’s death
• Grand Admiral Doenitz named as
Hitler’s heir.
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5th May 1945.
intercepted at a checkpoint.
swallowed a cyanide pill and died.
body lay neglected
he was buried in a secret location:
‘I had to dig the grave myself, nobody will ever know
where he is buried’.
Himmler’s Symbols
• Death Camps
• Death’s Head
• SS
Himmler’s SS were responsible
for the deaths of:
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4-5 million Jews
2.5 million Poles
520,000 Gypsies
473,000 Russian POWs
100,000 mentally and physically ill
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