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.

The Second World War

Before the invasion of Russia in 1941, Himmler began preparing his SS for a war of extermination against the forces of "Judeo-Bolshevism". Himmler, always glad to make parallels between Nazi Germany and the Middle Ages, compared the invasion to the Crusades. Himmler collected volunteers from all over Europe, including Danes, Norwegians, Dutch, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and, after the invasion, Ukrainians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians. Himmler indoctrinated these non-German volunteers by declaring a pan-European crusade to defend the traditional values of Old Europe from the "Godless Bolshevik Hordes".

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In 1944, Himmler was granted still further power as the result of a bitter rivalry between the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and the Abwehr, the intelligence arm of the Wehrmacht.

Related Topics:
1944 - Sicherheitsdienst - Abwehr - Wehrmacht

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The involvement in the July 20, 1944, plot against Hitler of many of the Abwehr leaders, including its head, Admiral Canaris, prompted Hitler to disband the Abwehr and make the SD the sole intelligence service of the Third Reich. This increased Himmler's already considerable personal power.

Related Topics:
July 20, 1944, plot - Admiral Canaris - Third Reich

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In late 1944, Himmler became commander of army group Oberrhein (Upper Rhine), which was fighting the oncoming United States 7th Army and French 1st Army in the Alsace region on the west bank of the Rhine. Himmler held this post until early 1945 when he was switched to command an army group facing the Red Army to the East. As Himmler had no practical military experience as a field commander, he was quickly relieved of his field commands and appointed Commander of the Home Army. At the same time, he was appointed as the German Interior Minister and was considered by many to be a candidate to succeed Hitler as the Führer of Germany. However, it became known after the war that Hitler never really considered Himmler as a successor even before his betrayal, believing that the authority that was his as head of the SS had caused him to be so hated that he would be rejected by the Party.

Related Topics:
United States - French - Alsace - Rhine - 1945 - Red Army - Führer

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