Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a high-ranking German Nazi politician and leader of the SS and the Gestapo.  He was involved in the Beer Hall Putsch (1923) and Night of the Long Knives (1934) and as well as Kristallnacht/Night Of The Broken Glass (1938).  He was one of the youngest top leader of the Nazi Party and one of the few who did not fight in World War I.  One of Heinrich Himmler's most evil and cruel henchman was Reinhard Heydrich, deputy head of the Schutzstaffel and Gestapo. 

Himmler has been portrayed in various works of fiction. In the 1989 Steven Spielberg movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Himmler was portrayed by Ronald Lacey.  In the TV series The Man in the High Castle he appeared along with Reinhard Heydrich (who was actually assassinated in 1942).

Himmler and the Holocaust 
Himmler's SS (the Totenkopfverbände) organized and administered Germany’s regime of concentration camps. After 1941, they administered the Holocaust in Poland. The SS, through its Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst, or SD), hunted down Jews, Gypsies, communists and any persons who the Nazis believed to be either Untermensch (sub-human) or against the regime. They were brought to concentration camps. Himmler opened the first of these camps at Dachau on 22 March 1933.

Unlike Hitler, Himmler inspected concentration camps. In August 1941, he saw many Jews being shot in Minsk. It was said that he turned green in the face after brain matter from one of the Jews splashed onto his coat. His assistant had to jump forward and hold him steady. After that, the Nazis searched for a new and easier way to kill. This led to the use of the gas chambers. In June-July 1934 Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich were both responsible for the SS to execute Ernst Röhm the head of the SA during Night of the Long Knives .

Posen speech 
On 4 October 1943, Himmler spoke of the extermination of the Jewish people during a secret SS meeting in the city of Poznań (Posen). The following are parts from an audio recording of the speech:

I also want to mention a very difficult subject before you here, completely openly. It should be discussed amongst us, and yet, nevertheless, we will never speak about it in public. I am talking about the Jewish evacuation: the extermination of the Jewish people. It is one of those things that is easily said. "The Jewish people are being exterminated," every Party member will tell you: "Perfectly clear, it’s part of our plans, we’re eliminating the Jews, exterminating them, ha!, a small matter."

Heinrich Himmler died on 23 May 1945 age 44 when he was captured by the British Army and he committed suicide by potassium cyanide capsule. It is unknown where Heinrich Himmler’s body is buried in Germany .

They called him "father of the concentration camp". The architect of genocide.

References

Other websites 

 List of Himmler speeches  A very detailed list of Himmler speeches including online sources and material in the U.S. National Archives.
 audio recording  of the Poznan speech
 Die Schutzstaffel als antibolschewistische Kampforganisation An essay by Himmler
 About Heinrich Himmler 

1900 births
1945 deaths
Directors of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt
Former Roman Catholics
German military personnel of World War I
German military personnel of World War II
German war criminals
Government ministers of Nazi Germany
Holocaust perpetrators
Members of the Reichstag (Nazi Germany)
Members of the Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
Murderers who committed suicide
Nazis who committed suicide
Politicians from Munich
Politicians of the Nazi Party
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Suicides by poison
Suicides in Germany