Heinrich Himmler

{{Audio|de-Heinrich Himmler.ogg|Heinrich Himmler}} (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. As Reichsführer-SS, he controlled the SS and the Gestapo, and was the leading organizer of the Holocaust. As founder and officer-in-charge of the Nazi concentration camps and the Einsatzgruppen death squads, Himmler was responsible for implementing the industrial scale murder of between six and twelve million of people. Among the victims were Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Communists, Slavs, and Catholic priests.

Rise in the SS

Between 1927 and 1929, Himmler devoted himself increasingly to his duties as Deputy Reichsführer-SS. Upon the resignation of SS Commander Erhard Heiden, Himmler was appointed as the new Reichsführer-SS in January 1929. At the time Himmler was appointed to lead the SS, it numbered only 280 members and was considered a mere battalion of the much larger SA. Himmler himself was considered only an SA-Oberführer, but after 1929 he simply referred to himself as the "Reichsführer-SS".

Related Topics:
1929 - Reichsführer-SS - Erhard Heiden

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By 1933, when the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany, Himmler's SS numbered 52,000 members, and the organization had developed strict membership requirements ensuring all members were of Adolf Hitler's "Aryan" "Herrenvolk" (i.e., master race). Now a Gruppenführer in the SA, Himmler next began a massive effort to separate the SS from SA control; he introduced black SS uniforms to replace the SA brown shirts in the fall of 1933. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer und Reichsführer-SS and became an equal to the senior SA commanders, who by this time loathed the SS and the power it held.

Related Topics:
1933 - Adolf Hitler - Aryan - Herrenvolk - Gruppenführer - Obergruppenführer

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Himmler and another of Hitler's right hand men, Hermann Göring, agreed that the SA and its leader Ernst Röhm were beginning to pose a real threat to the German Army and the Nazi leadership of Germany. Röhm had strong socialist views and believed that, although Hitler had successfully gained power in Germany, the 'real' revolution had not yet begun, leaving some Nazi leaders believing Röhm was intent on using the SA to administer a coup.

Related Topics:
Hermann Göring - Ernst Röhm - Socialist - Revolution - Coup

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With some persuasion from Himmler and Göring, Hitler began to feel threatened by this prospect and agreed that Röhm had to die.

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Hitler delegated the task of administering Röhm's demise to Himmler and Göring who, along with Reinhard Heydrich, Kurt Daluege and Walter Schellenberg, carried out the execution of Röhm and numerous other senior SA officials in what became known as The Night of the Long Knives on June 30, 1934. The very next day, Himmler's title of Reichsführer-SS became an actual rank, and he was appointed to the position, while the SS became an independent organization of the Nazi Party.

Related Topics:
Reinhard Heydrich - Kurt Daluege - Walter Schellenberg - Night of the Long Knives - June 30 - 1934

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