Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( ; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 ) was " Reichsführer " of the " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) , a military commander , and a leading member of the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) of Nazi Germany . Nazi leader Adolf Hitler later appointed him Commander of the Replacement ( Home ) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the administration of the entire Third Reich ( " Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung " ) . Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and one of the persons most directly responsible for the Holocaust . As a member of a reserve battalion during World War I , Himmler did not see active service . He studied agronomy in college , and joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925 . In 1929 , he was appointed " Reichsführer - SS " by Hitler . Over the next 16 years , he developed the SS from a mere 290 - man battalion into a powerful group with its own military , and , following Hitler ' s orders , set up and controlled the Nazi concentration camps . He was known to have good organisational skills and for selecting highly competent subordinates , such as Reinhard Heydrich in 1931 . From 1943 forward , he was both Chief of German Police and Minister of the Interior , overseeing all internal and external police and security forces , including the Gestapo ( Secret State Police ) . On Hitler ' s behalf , Himmler formed the " Einsatzgruppen " and built extermination camp s . As facilitator and overseer of the concentration camps , Himmler directed the killing of some six million Jews , between 200 , 000 and 500 , 000 Romani people , and other victims ; the total number of civilians killed by the regime is estimated at eleven to fourteen million people . Most of them were Polish and Soviet citizens . Late in World War II , Hitler charged Himmler with the command of the Army Group Upper Rhine and the Army Group Vistula ; he failed to achieve his assigned objectives and Hitler replaced him in these posts . Shortly before the end of the war , realizing that the war was lost , he attempted to open peace talks with the western Allies without Hitler ' s knowledge . Hearing of this , Hitler dismissed him from all his posts in April 1945 and ordered his arrest . Himmler attempted to go into hiding , but was detained and then arrested by British forces once his identity became known . While in British custody , he committed suicide on 23 May 1945 . Early life . Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was born in Munich on 7 October 1900 to a conservative Roman Catholic middle - class family . His father was Gebhard Himmler , a teacher , and his mother was Anna Maria Himmler ( née Heyder ) , a devout Roman Catholic . His older brother , Gebhard Ludwig , was born in July 1898 , and his younger brother , Ernst , was born in 1905 . Himmler ' s first name , " Heinrich " , was the same as that of his godfather , Prince Heinrich of Bavaria of the royal family of Bavaria , who was tutored by Gebhard Himmler . He attended a grammar school in Landshut where his father was deputy principal . While he did well in his schoolwork , he struggled in athletics . His health was poor , with lifelong stomach complaints and other ailments . He trained daily with weights as a youth and exercised to become stronger . Fellow students remembered him as studious , and awkward in social situations . Himmler ' s diary , which he kept intermittently from age 10 , shows that he took a keen interest in current events , dueling , and " the serious discussion of religion and sex " . In 1915 , he began training with the Landshut Cadet Corps . His father used his connections with the royal family to get Himmler accepted as an officer candidate , and he enlisted with the reserve battalion of the 11th Bavarian Regiment in December 1917 . His brother , Gebhard , served on the western front and saw combat ; he received the Iron Cross and was eventually promoted to lieutenant . In November 1918 , while Himmler was still in training , the war ended with Germany ' s defeat , denying him the opportunity to become an officer or see combat . After his discharge on 18 December , he returned to Landshut . After the war , Himmler completed his grammar - school education . From 1919 – 1922 , he studied agronomy at the Munich " Technische Hochschule " ( now Technical University Munich ) following a brief apprenticeship on a farm and a subsequent illness . Although many regulations that discriminated against non - Christians — including Jews and other minority groups — had been eliminated during the unification of Germany in 1871 , antisemitism continued to exist and thrive in Germany and other parts of Europe . Himmler was antisemitic by the time he went to university , but not exceptionally so ; students at his school would avoid their Jewish classmates . He remained a devoted Catholic while a student , and spent most of his leisure time with members of his fencing fraternity , the " League of Apollo " , the president of which was Jewish . Himmler maintained a polite demeanor with him and with Jewish members of the fraternity , in spite of his growing antisemitism . During his second year at university , Himmler redoubled his attempts to pursue a military career . Although he was not successful , he was able to extend his involvement in the paramilitary scene in Munich . It was at this time that he first met Ernst Röhm , an early member of the Nazi party and co - founder of the " Sturmabteilung " ( " Storm Battalion " ; SA ) . Himmler admired Röhm because he was a decorated combat soldier , and at his suggestion , Himmler joined his antisemitic nationalist group , the " Reichskriegsflagge " . In 1922 , Himmler became more interested in the ' Jewish question ' , with his diary entries containing an increasing number of antisemitic remarks and recording a number of discussions about Jews with his classmates . His reading lists , as recorded in his diary , were dominated by antisemitic pamphlets , German myths , and occult tracts . After the murder of Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau on 24 June , Himmler ' s political views veered towards the radical right , and he took part in demonstrations against the Treaty of Versailles . Hyperinflation was raging that summer , and his parents could no longer afford to keep all three sons in school . Disappointed by his failure to make a career in the military and his parents ' inability to finance his doctoral studies , he was forced to take a low - paying office job after obtaining his agricultural diploma . He remained in this position until September 1923 . Nazi activist . Himmler joined the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) in August 1923 ; his Party number was 14 , 303 . As a member of Röhm ' s paramilitary unit , Himmler was involved in the Beer Hall Putsch — an unsuccessful attempt by Hitler and the NSDAP to seize power in Munich . This event would set Himmler on a life of politics . He was questioned by the police about his role in the putsch , but was not charged because of insufficient evidence . But he lost his job , was unable to find employment as an agronomist , and had to move in with his parents in Munich . Frustrated by these failures , he became ever more irritable , aggressive , and opinionated , alienating both friends and family members . In 1923 – 24 , Himmler , while searching for a world view , moved away from Catholicism and furthered his interest both in the occult and in antisemitism . Germanic mythology , reinforced by occult ideas , became a substitute religion for him . Himmler found the NSDAP appealing because its political positions agreed with his own views . Initially , he was not swept up by Hitler ' s charisma or the cult of Führer worship . As he learned more about Hitler through his reading , he began to regard him as a useful face of the party , and he later admired and even worshipped him . To consolidate and advance his own position in the NSDAP , Himmler took advantage of the disarray in the party following Hitler ' s arrest in the wake of the Beer Hall Putsch . From mid - 1924 he worked under Gregor Strasser as a party secretary and propaganda assistant . Travelling all over Bavaria agitating for the party , he gave speeches and distributed literature . Placed in charge of the party office in Lower Bavaria by Strasser from late 1924 , he was responsible for integrating the area ' s membership with the NSDAP under Hitler when the party was re - founded in February 1925 . That same year , he joined the " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) as an SS - Führer ( SS - Leader ) ; his SS number was 168 . The SS , initially part of the much larger SA , was formed in 1923 for Hitler ' s personal protection , and was re - formed in 1925 as an elite unit of the SA . Himmler ' s first leadership position in the SS was that of " SS - Gauführer " ( district leader ) in Lower Bavaria from 1926 . Strasser appointed Himmler deputy propaganda chief in January 1927 . As was typical in the NSDAP , he had considerable freedom of action in his post , which increased over time . He began to collect statistics on the number of Jews , Freemasons , and enemies of the party , and following his strong need for control , he developed an elaborate bureaucracy . In September 1927 , Himmler told Hitler of his vision to transform the SS into a loyal , powerful , racially - pure elite unit . Convinced that Himmler was the man for the job , Hitler appointed him Deputy " Reichsführer - SS " , with the rank of " SS - Oberführer " . Around this time , Himmler joined the Artaman League , a " Völkisch " youth group . There he met Rudolf Höss , who was later commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp , and Walther Darré , whose book , " The Peasantry as the Life Source of the Nordic Race " , caught Hitler ' s attention , leading to his later appointment as Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture . Darré was a firm believer in the superiority of the Nordic race , and his philosophy was a major influence on Himmler . Rise in the SS . Upon the resignation of SS commander Erhard Heiden in 1929 , Himmler assumed the position of " Reichsführer - SS " with Hitler ' s approval ; he still carried out his duties at propaganda headquarters . One of his first responsibilities was to organise SS participants at the Nuremberg Rally that September . Over the next year , Himmler grew the SS from a force of about 290 men to about 3 , 000 . By 1930 Himmler had persuaded Hitler to run the SS as a separate organisation , although it was still subordinate to the SA . To gain political power , the NSDAP took advantage of the economic downturn during the Great Depression . The coalition government of the Weimar Republic was unable to improve the economy , so many voters turned to the NSDAP . Hitler used populist rhetoric , including blaming scapegoats — particularly the Jews — for the economic hardships . In the 1932 election , the Nazis won 37 . 3 percent of the vote and 230 seats in the Reichstag . Hitler led a short - lived coalition government and was appointed chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933 . Hindenburg appointed Hermann Göring as minister without portfolio , Minister of the Interior for Prussia , and Reich Commissioner of Aviation , and named Wilhelm Frick as Reich Interior Minister . Less than a month later , the Reichstag building was set on fire . Hitler took advantage of this event , forcing von Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree , which suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial . The Enabling Act , passed by the Reichstag in 1933 , gave Hitler and his party full legislative powers , and the country became a de facto dictatorship . After the death of von Hindenburg in August 1934 , the Reichstag appointed Hitler " Führer und Reichskanzler " ( leader and chancellor ) ; he thus became head of state as well as head of government . The post of president was eliminated . The Nazi Party ' s rise to power provided Himmler and the SS an unfettered opportunity to thrive . By 1933 , the SS numbered 52 , 000 members . Strict membership requirements ensured that all members were of Hitler ' s Aryan " Herrenvolk " ( " Aryan master race " ) . Applicants were vetted for Nordic qualities — in Himmler ' s words , " like a nursery gardener trying to reproduce a good old strain which has been adulterated and debased ; we started from the principles of plant selection and then proceeded quite unashamedly to weed out the men whom we did not think we could use for the build - up of the SS . " Few dared mention that by his own standards , Himmler did not meet his own ideals . Himmler ' s organised , bookish intellect served him well as he began setting up different SS departments . In 1931 he appointed Reinhard Heydrich chief of the new ' Ic Service ' ( intelligence service ) , which was renamed the " Sicherheitsdienst " ( SD : Security Service ) in 1932 . He later officially appointed Heydrich his deputy . The two men had a good working relationship and a mutual respect . In 1933 , they began to remove the SS from SA control . Along with Interior Minister Frick , they hoped to create a unified German police force . In March 1933 , Reich Governor of Bavaria Franz Ritter von Epp appointed Himmler chief of the Munich Police . Himmler appointed Heydrich commander of Department IV , the political police . That same year , Hitler promoted Himmler to the rank of SS - " Obergruppenführer " , equal in rank to the senior SA commanders . Thereafter , Himmler and Heydrich took over the political police of state after state ; soon only Prussia was controlled by Göring . Himmler further established the SS Race and Settlement Main Office ( " Rasse - und Siedlungshauptamt " or RuSHA ) , a racist and antisemitic organisation . He appointed Darré as its first chief , with the rank of SS - " Gruppenführer " . The department implemented racial policies and monitored the " racial integrity " of the SS membership . SS men were carefully vetted for their racial background and were required to get racial certificates of any prospective spouses . Each man was issued a " Sippenbuch " , a genealogical record detailing his genetic history . Himmler expected that each SS marriage should produce at least four children , thus creating a pool of genetically superior prospective SS members . The programme had disappointing results ; less than 40 per cent of SS men married and each produced only about one child . In March 1933 , less than three months after the Nazis seized power , Himmler set up the first official concentration camp at Dachau . Hitler had stated that he did not want it to be just another prison or detention camp . Himmler appointed Theodor Eicke , a convicted felon and ardent Nazi , to run the camp in June 1933 . Eicke devised a system that was used as a model for future camps throughout Germany . Its features included isolation of victims from the outside world , elaborate roll calls and work details , the use of force and executions to extract obedience , and a strict disciplinary code for the guards . Uniforms were issued for prisoners and guards alike ; the guards ' uniforms had a special death ' s head insignia on their collars . By the end of 1934 , Himmler took control of the camps under the aegis of the SS , creating a separate division , the " SS - Totenkopfverbände " . Initially the camps housed political opponents ; over time , undesirable members of German society — criminals , vagrants , deviants — were placed in the camps as well . A Hitler decree issued in December 1937 allowed for the incarceration of anyone deemed by the regime to be an undesirable member of society . This included Jews , Gypsies , communists , and those persons of any other cultural , racial , political , or religious affiliation deemed by the Nazis to be " Untermensch " ( sub - human ) . Thus , the camps became a mechanism for social and racial engineering . By the outbreak of World War II in autumn 1939 , there were six camps housing some 27 , 000 inmates . Death tolls were high . Consolidation of power . In early 1934 , Hitler and other Nazi leaders became concerned that Röhm was planning a coup d ' état . Röhm had socialist and populist views , and believed that the real revolution had not yet begun . He felt that the SA — now numbering some three million men — should become the sole arms - bearing corps of the state , and that the army should be absorbed into the SA under his leadership . Röhm lobbied Hitler to appoint him Minister of Defence , a position held by conservative General Werner von Blomberg . Göring had created a Prussian secret police force , the " Geheime Staatspolizei " or Gestapo in November 1933 , and appointed Rudolf Diels as its head . Göring , concerned that Diels was not ruthless enough to use the Gestapo effectively to counteract the power of the SA , handed over its control to Himmler on 20 April 1934 . Also on that date , Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia . Heydrich , named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934 , also continued as head of the SD . Hitler decided on 21 June that Röhm and the SA leadership had to be eliminated . He sent Göring to Berlin on 29 June , to meet with Himmler and Heydrich to plan the action . Hitler took charge in Munich , where Röhm was arrested ; he gave Röhm the choice to commit suicide or be shot . When Röhm refused to kill himself , he was shot dead by two SS officers . Between 85 to 200 members of the SA leadership and other political adversaries , including Gregor Strasser , were killed between 30 June and 2 July 1934 in these actions , known as the Night of the Long Knives . With the SA thus neutralised , the SS became an independent organisation from 20 July 1934 . Himmler ' s title of " Reichsführer - SS " became the highest formal SS rank , answerable only to Hitler . The SA was converted into a sports and training organisation . On 15 September 1935 , Hitler presented two laws — known as the Nuremberg Laws — to the Reichstag . The laws banned marriage between non - Jewish and Jewish Germans and forbade the employment of non - Jewish women under the age of 45 in Jewish households . The laws also deprived so - called " non - Aryans " of the benefits of German citizenship . These laws were among the first race - based measures instituted by the Third Reich . Himmler and Heydrich wanted to extend the power of the SS ; thus , they urged Hitler to form a national police force overseen by the SS , to guard Nazi Germany against its many enemies at the time — real and imagined . Interior Minister Frick also wanted a national police force , but one controlled by him , with Kurt Daluege as his police chief . Hitler left it to Himmler and Heydrich to work out the arrangements with Frick . Himmler and Heydrich had greater bargaining power , as they were allied with Frick ' s old enemy , Göring . Heydrich drew up a set of proposals and Himmler sent him to meet with Frick . An angry Frick then consulted with Hitler , who told him to agree to the proposals . Frick acquiesced , and on 17 June 1936 Hitler decreed the unification of all police forces in the Reich , and named Himmler Chief of German Police . In this role , Himmler was still nominally subordinate to Frick . In practice , however , the police was now effectively a division of the SS , and hence independent of Frick ' s control . This move gave Himmler operational control over Germany ' s entire detective force . He also gained authority over all of Germany ' s uniformed law enforcement agencies , which were amalgamated into the new " Ordnungspolizei " ( Orpo : " order police " ) , which became a branch of the SS under Daluege . Shortly thereafter , Himmler created the " Kriminalpolizei " ( Kripo : criminal police ) , merging it with the Gestapo into the " Sicherheitspolizei " ( SiPo : security police ) , under Heydrich ' s command . In September 1939 , following the outbreak of World War II , Himmler formed the " SS - Reichssicherheitshauptamt " ( RSHA : Reich Main Security Office ) to bring the SiPo ( which included the Gestapo and Kripo ) and the SD together under one umbrella . He again placed Heydrich in command . Under Himmler ' s leadership , the SS developed its own military branch , the " SS - Verfügungstruppe " ( SS - VT ) , which later evolved into the " Waffen - SS " . Nominally under the authority of Himmler , the " Waffen - SS " developed a fully militarised structure of command and operations . It grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II , serving alongside the " Heer " ( army ) , but never being formally part of it . In addition to his military ambitions , Himmler established the beginnings of a parallel economy under the umbrella of the SS . To this end , administrator Oswald Pohl set up the " Deutsche Wirtschaftsbetriebe " ( German Economic Enterprise ) in 1940 . Under the auspices of the SS Economy and Administration Head Office , this holding company owned housing corporations , factories , and publishing houses . Pohl was unscrupulous and quickly exploited the companies for personal gain . In contrast , Himmler was very honest in matters of money and business . In 1938 , as part of his preparations for war , Hitler ended the German alliance with China , and entered into an agreement with the more modern Japan . That same year , Austria was unified with Nazi Germany in the Anschluss , and the Munich Agreement gave Nazi Germany control over the Sudetenland , part of Czechoslovakia . Hitler ' s primary motivations for war included obtaining additional " Lebensraum " ( " living space " ) for the Germanic peoples , who were considered racially superior according to Nazi ideology . A second goal was the elimination of those considered racially inferior , particularly the Jews and Slavs , from territories controlled by the Reich . From 1933 to 1938 , hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrated to the United States , Palestine , Great Britain , and other countries . Some converted to Christianity . World War II . When Hitler and his army chiefs asked for a pretext for the invasion of Poland in 1939 , Himmler , Heydrich , and Heinrich Müller masterminded and carried out a false flag project code - named Operation Himmler . German soldiers dressed in Polish uniforms undertook border skirmishes that deceptively suggested Polish aggression against Germany . The incidents were then used in Nazi propaganda to justify the invasion of Poland , the opening event of World War II . At the beginning of the war against Poland , Hitler authorised the killing of Polish civilians , including Jews and ethnic Poles . The " Einsatzgruppen " ( SS task forces ) had been originally formed by Heydrich to secure government papers and offices in areas taken over by Germany before World War II . Authorised by Hitler and under the direction of Himmler and Heydrich , the " Einsatzgruppen " units — now repurposed as death squads — followed the " Heer " ( army ) into Poland , and by the end of 1939 they had murdered some 65 , 000 intellectuals and other civilians . Militias and " Heer " units also took part in these killings . Under Himmler ' s orders via the RSHA , these squads were also tasked with rounding up Jews and others for placement in ghettos and concentration camps . Germany subsequently invaded France , Denmark and Norway , and the Netherlands , and began bombing Great Britain in preparation for an invasion . On 21 June 1941 , the day before invasion of the Soviet Union , Himmler commissioned the preparation of the " Generalplan Ost " ( General Plan for the East ) ; the plan was finalised in July 1942 . It called for the Baltic States , Poland , western Ukraine , and Byelorussia to be conquered and resettled by ten million German citizens . The current residents — some 31 million people — would be expelled further east , starved , or used for forced labour . The plan would have extended the border of Germany a thousand kilometres to the east ( 620 miles ) . Himmler expected that it would take twenty to thirty years to complete the plan , at a cost of 67 billion Reichsmarks . Himmler stated openly : " It is a question of existence , thus it will be a racial struggle of pitiless severity , in the course of which 20 to 30 million Slavs and Jews will perish through military actions and crises of food supply . " Himmler , declaring that the war in the east was a pan - European crusade to defend the traditional values of old Europe from the " godless Bolshevik hordes " , attracted volunteers from all over Europe for the Waffen - SS . He initially selected recruits from northern and western Europe — from Scandinavia , Liechtenstein , Luxembourg , Flanders , the Netherlands , and Switzerland — that he thought to be racially closest to Germans . Spain and Italy also provided men for Waffen - SS units . Among western countries , the number of volunteers varied from a high of 50 , 000 from the Netherlands to 300 each from Sweden and Switzerland . From the east , the highest number of men came Lithuania ( 50 , 000 ) and the lowest from Bulgaria ( 600 ) . After 1943 most men from the east were conscripts . The performance of the eastern " Waffen - SS " units was , as a whole , sub - standard . In the fall of 1941 , Hitler named Heydrich as Deputy Reich Protector of the newly established Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Heydrich began to racially classify the Czechs , deporting many to concentration camps . Members of a swelling resistance were shot , earning Heydrich the nickname " the Butcher of Prague " . This appointment strengthened the collaboration between Himmler and Heydrich , and Himmler was proud to have SS control over a state . Despite having direct access to Hitler , Heydrich ' s loyalty to Himmler remained firm . With Hitler ' s approval , Himmler re - established the " Einsatzgruppen " in the lead - up to the planned invasion of the Soviet Union . In March 1941 , Hitler addressed his army leaders , detailing his intention to smash the Soviet Empire and destroy the Bolshevik intelligentsia and leadership . His special directive , the " Guidelines in Special Spheres re Directive No . 21 ( Operation Barbarossa ) " , read : " In the operations area of the army , the " Reichsführer - SS " has been given special tasks on the orders of the " Führer " , in order to prepare the political administration . These tasks arise from the forthcoming final struggle of two opposing political systems . Within the framework of these tasks , the " Reichsführer - SS " acts independently and on his own responsibility . " Hitler thus intended to prevent internal friction like that occurring earlier in Poland in 1939 , when several German Army generals had attempted to bring " Einsatzgruppen " leaders to trial for the murders they had committed . Following the army into the Soviet Union , the " Einsatzgruppen " rounded up and killed Jews and others deemed undesirable by the Nazi state . Hitler was sent frequent reports . In addition , 2 . 8 million Soviet prisoners of war died of starvation , mistreatment , or executions in just eight months of 1941 – 42 . As many as 500 , 000 Soviet prisoners of war died or were executed in Nazi concentration camps over the course of the war ; most of them were shot or gassed . By spring 1941 , following Himmler ' s orders , ten concentration camps had been constructed in which inmates were subjected to forced labour . Jews from all over Germany and the occupied territories were deported to the camps or confined to ghettos . As the Germans were pushed back from Moscow in December 1941 , signalling that the invasion of the Soviet Union had failed , Hitler and other Nazi officials realised that mass deportations to the east would no longer be possible . As a result , instead of deportation , many Jews in Europe were destined for death . The Holocaust . Nazi racial policies , including the notion that people who were racially inferior had no right to live , date back to the earliest days of the party ; Hitler discusses this in " Mein Kampf " . Somewhere around the time of the German declaration of war on the United States in December 1941 , Hitler finally resolved that the Jews of Europe were to be " exterminated " . Heydrich arranged a meeting , held on 20 January 1942 at Wannsee , a suburb of Berlin . Attended by top Nazi officials , it was used to outline the plans for the " final solution to the Jewish question " . Heydrich detailed how those Jews able to work would be worked to death ; those unable to work would be killed outright . Heydrich calculated the number of Jews to be killed at 11 million , and told the attendees that Hitler had placed Himmler in charge of the plan . In June 1942 , Heydrich was assassinated in Prague in an operation led by Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš , members of Czechoslovakia ' s army - in - exile who had been trained by the British Special Operations Executive . During the two funeral services , Himmler — the chief mourner — took charge of Heydrich ' s two young sons , and he gave the eulogy in Berlin . On 9 June , after discussions with Himmler and Karl Hermann Frank , Hitler ordered brutal reprisals for Heydrich ' s death . Over 13 , 000 people were arrested , and the village of Lidice was razed to the ground ; its male inhabitants and all adults in the village of Ležáky were murdered . At least 1 , 300 people were executed by firing squads . Himmler took over leadership of the RSHA and stepped up the pace of the killing of European Jewry in " Aktion Reinhard " ( Operation Reinhard ) , named in Heydrich ' s honour . He ordered the " Aktion Reinhard " camps — the first extermination camp s — to be constructed at Bełżec , Sobibor , and Treblinka . Initially the victims were killed with gas van s or by firing squad , but these methods proved impracticable for an operation of this scale . In August 1941 , Himmler attended the shooting of 100 Jews at Minsk . Nauseated and shaken by the experience , he was concerned about the impact such actions would have on the mental health of his SS men . He decided that alternate methods of killing should be found . On his orders , by spring 1942 the camp at Auschwitz had been greatly expanded , including the addition of gas chamber s , where victims were killed using the pesticide Zyklon B . By the end of the war , at least 5 . 5 million Jews had been killed by the Nazi regime ; most estimates range closer to six million . Himmler visited the camp at Sobibor in early 1943 , by which time 250 , 000 people had been killed at that location alone . After witnessing a gassing , he gave 28 people promotions , and ordered the operation of the camp to be wound down . In a revolt that October , prisoners killed most of the guards and SS personnel , and 300 prisoners escaped . Two hundred managed to get away ; some joined partisan units operating in the area . The remainder were killed . The camp was dismantled by December 1943 . Himmler was a main architect of the Holocaust , using his deep belief in the racist Nazi ideology to justify the murder of millions of victims . Hitler and the Nazi regime had similar plans for the Poles ; intellectuals were to be killed , and most other Poles were to be only given a fourth - grade education . The Nazis wanted to breed a master race of " Nordic Aryans " in Germany . As an agronomist and farmer Himmler was acquainted with the principles of selective breeding , which he proposed to apply to humans . He believed that he could engineer the German populace , for example , through eugenics , to be Nordic in appearance within several decades of the end of the war . Posen speech . On 4 October 1943 , during a secret meeting with top SS officials in the city of Poznań ( Posen ) , and on 6 October 1943 , in a speech to the party elite — the Gau and Reich leaders — Himmler referred explicitly to the " extermination " ( German : " Ausrottung " ) of the Jewish people . A translated excerpt from the speech of 4 October reads : Hitler ' s motivation for authorising Himmler ' s speeches was to ensure that all party leaders were made aware of these plans and actions . Thus , it would be impossible for them to later deny knowledge of the killings . Because the Allies had indicated that they were going to pursue criminal charges for German war crimes , Hitler tried to gain the loyalty and silence of his subordinates by making them all parties to the planned genocide . Germanization . As Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood , Himmler was deeply involved in the Germanization program for the East , particularly Poland . As laid out in the General Plan for the East , the aim was to remove all non - Germanic peoples from German " Lebensraum " and to reclaim any " Volksdeutsche " ( ethnic Germans ) from Poland . Hitler declared that no drop of German blood would be lost or left behind to mingle with an " alien race " . Himmler continued his plans to colonise the east , even when many Germans were reluctant to relocate there , and despite negative effects on the war effort . Himmler ' s plans began with the " Volksliste " , the classification of people deemed of German blood . These included Germans who had collaborated with Germany before the war , but also those who considered themselves German but had been neutral ; those who were partially " Polonized " but " Germanizable " ; and Germans who were of Polish nationality . Himmler ordered that those who refused to be classified as ethnic Germans should be deported to concentration camps , have their children taken away , or be assigned to forced labour . Himmler ' s belief that " it is in the nature of German blood to resist " led to his conclusion that Balts or Poles who resisted Germanization were racially superior to more compliant ones . The plan also included the kidnapping of Eastern European children by Nazi Germany . Himmler urged : The " racially valuable " children were to be removed from all contact with Poles , and raised as Germans , with German names . Himmler declared , " We have faith above all in this our own blood , which has flowed into a foreign nationality through the vicissitudes of German history . We are convinced that our own philosophy and ideals will reverberate in the spirit of these children who racially belong to us . " The children were to be adopted by German families . Children who passed muster at first but were later rejected were taken to a ghetto in Łódź , where most of them eventually died . By January 1943 , Himmler reported that 629 , 000 ethnic Germans had been resettled ; however , most resettled Germans did not live in the envisioned small farms , but in temporary camps or quarters in towns . Half a million residents of the annexed Polish territories , as well as from Slovenia , Alsace , Lorraine , and Luxembourg were deported to the General Government or sent to Germany as slave labour . 20 July plot . On 20 July 1944 , a group of German army officers led by Claus von Stauffenberg and including some of the highest - ranked members of the German armed forces attempted to assassinate Hitler , but failed to do so . The next day , Himmler formed a special commission that arrested over 5 , 000 suspected and known opponents of the regime . Hitler ordered brutal reprisals that resulted in the execution of more than 4 , 900 people . Though Himmler was embarrassed by his failure to uncover the plot , it led to an increase in his powers and authority . General Friedrich Fromm , commander - in - chief of the Reserve ( or Replacement ) Army ( " Ersatzheer " ) and Stauffenberg ' s immediate superior , was one of those implicated in the conspiracy . Hitler removed Fromm from his post and named Himmler as his successor . Since the Reserve Army consisted of two million men , Himmler hoped to draw on these reserves to fill posts within the Waffen - SS . He appointed Hans Jüttner , director of the SS Leadership Main Office , as his deputy , and began to fill top Reserve Army posts with SS men . By November 1944 Himmler had merged the army officer recruitment department with that of the Waffen - SS and had successfully lobbied for an increase in the quotas for recruits to the SS . By this time , Hitler had appointed Himmler as Minister of the Interior and Plenipotentiary General for Administration ( " Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung " ) . In August 1944 Hitler authorised him to restructure the organisation and administration of the Waffen - SS , the army , and the police services . As head of the Reserve Army , Himmler was now responsible for prisoners of war . He was also in charge of the Wehrmacht penal system , and controlled the development of Wehrmacht armaments until January 1945 . Military commander . On 6 June 1944 the Western Allied armies landed in northern France during Operation Overlord . In response , Army Group Upper Rhine ( " Heeresgruppe Oberrhein " ) group was formed to engage the advancing U . S . 7th Army ( under command of General Alexander Patch ) and French 1st Army ( led by General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny ) in the Alsace region along the west bank of the Rhine . In late 1944 , Hitler appointed Himmler commander - in - chief of Army Group Upper Rhine . On 26 September 1944 Hitler ordered Himmler to create special army units , the " Volkssturm " ( " People ' s Storm " ) . All men between the ages of sixteen and sixty were required to join , over the protests of Armaments Minister Albert Speer , who noted that irreplaceable skilled workers were being removed from armaments production . In October 1944 , children as young as fourteen were being enlisted . Because of severe shortages in weapons and equipment and lack of training , members of the Volkssturm were poorly prepared for combat , and about 175 , 000 of them lost their lives in the final months of the war . On 1 January 1945 Hitler and his generals launched Operation North Wind ( " Unternehmen Nordwind " ) . The goal was to break through the lines of the U . S . 7th Army and French 1st Army to support the southern thrust in the Ardennes offensive , the final major German offensive of the war . After limited initial gains by the Germans , the Americans halted the offensive . By 25 January , Operation North Wind had officially ended . On 25 January 1945 , in spite of Himmler ' s lack of military experience , Hitler appointed him as commander of the hastily - formed Army Group Vistula ( " Heeresgruppe Weichsel " ) to halt the Soviet Red Army ' s Vistula – Oder Offensive into Pomerania . Himmler established his command centre at Schneidemühl , using his special train , " Sonderzug Steiermark " , as his headquarters . The train had only one telephone line , inadequate maps , and no signal detachment or radios with which to establish communication and relay military orders . Himmler seldom left the train , only worked about four hours per day , and insisted on a daily massage and a lengthy nap afterwards . He was unable to devise any viable plans for completion of the military objectives . Under pressure from Hitler over the worsening military situation , Himmler became anxious and unable to give him coherent reports . Hitler was unwilling to admit that his choice of commander had been inadequate . After an intense argument with General Heinz Guderian , who insisted on a change of command of the Army Group Vistula , Hitler assigned General Walther Wenck to Himmler ' s headquarters to take over command of a limited counter - offensive ; Hitler then observed that it was not possible for him to move the troops needed for Guderian ' s planned double pincer attack from neighbouring regions . When the counter - attack failed to stop the Soviet advance , Hitler held Himmler personally liable and accused him of not following orders . Himmler ' s tenure as a military commander ended on 20 March , when Hitler replaced him with General Gotthard Heinrici as Commander - in - Chief of Army Group Vistula . By this time Himmler , who had been under the care of his doctor since 18 February , had fled to a sanatorium at Hohenlychen . Hitler sent Guderian on a forced medical leave of absence , and he resigned his post as chief of staff to Hans Krebs on 29 March . Himmler ' s failure and Hitler ' s response marked a serious deterioration in the relationship between the two men . By that time , the inner circle of people which Hitler trusted was rapidly shrinking . Peace negotiations . In the spring of 1945 , Germany ' s chances of winning the war and Himmler ' s relationship with Hitler had both deteriorated . Himmler , therefore , considered independently negotiating a peace settlement . His masseur , Felix Kersten , who had moved to Sweden , acted as an intermediary in negotiations with Count Folke Bernadotte , head of the Swedish Red Cross . Letters were exchanged between the two men , and direct meetings were arranged by Walter Schellenberg of the RSHA . Himmler and Hitler met for the last time on 20 April 1945 — Hitler ' s birthday — in Berlin , and Himmler swore total loyalty to Hitler . At a military briefing on that day , Hitler stated that he would not be leaving Berlin , in spite of Soviet advances . Along with Göring , Himmler quickly left the city after the briefing . On 21 April , Himmler met with Norbert Masur , a Swedish representative of the World Jewish Congress , to discuss the release of Jewish concentration camp inmates . As a result of these negotiations , about 20 , 000 people were released in the White Buses operation . During the negotiations , Himmler falsely claimed that the crematoria had been built to deal with the dead from a typhus epidemic . He also claimed very high survival rates for the camps at Auschwitz and Bergen - Belsen , even as these sites were liberated and it became obvious that his figures were false . Two days later , Himmler met directly with Bernadotte at the Swedish consulate in Lübeck . Representing himself as the provisional leader of Germany , he claimed that Hitler would be dead within the next few days . Hoping that the British and Americans would fight the Soviets alongside the remains of the Wehrmacht , Himmler asked Bernadotte to inform General Dwight Eisenhower that Germany wished to surrender to the West . Bernadotte asked Himmler to put his proposal in writing , and Himmler obliged . However , Göring sent a telegram a few hours earlier , asking permission to take over the leadership of the " Reich " — an act that Hitler , under the prodding of Martin Bormann , interpreted as a demand to step down or face a coup . On the evening of 28 April , the BBC broadcast a Reuters news report about Himmler ' s attempted negotiations with the western Allies . Hitler , who had long believed Himmler was second only to Joseph Goebbels in loyalty — calling Himmler " " der treue Heinrich " " ( the loyal Heinrich ) — flew into a rage about this apparent betrayal . Hitler ordered Himmler ' s arrest and had Hermann Fegelein ( Himmler ' s SS representative at Hitler ' s HQ in Berlin ) shot . Hitler told those who were still with him in the bunker complex that Himmler ' s act was the worst act of treachery he had ever known . By this time , the Soviets had advanced to the Potsdamerplatz , only from the Reich Chancellery , and were preparing to storm the Chancellery . This report , combined with Himmler ' s treachery , prompted Hitler to write his last will and testament . In the testament , completed on 29 April — one day prior to his suicide — Hitler declared both Himmler and Göring to be traitors . He stripped Himmler of all of his party and state offices and expelled him from the Nazi Party . Hitler named Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor . Himmler met Dönitz in Flensburg and offered himself as second - in - command . He maintained that he was entitled to a position in Dönitz ' interim government as " Reichsführer - SS " , believing the SS would be in a good position to restore and maintain order after the war . Dönitz repeatedly rejected Himmler ' s overtures , and initiated peace negotiations with the Allies . He wrote a letter on 6 May — two days before the German Instrument of Surrender — formally dismissing Himmler from all his posts . Capture and death . Unwanted by his former colleagues and hunted by the Allies , Himmler attempted to go into hiding . He had not made extensive preparations for this , but he had equipped himself with a forged paybook under the name of Sergeant Heinrich Hitzinger . With a small band of companions , he headed south on 11 May to Friedrichskoog , without a final destination in mind . They continued on to Neuhaus , where the group split up . Himmler and two aides were stopped at a checkpoint on 21 May and detained . Over the following two days he was moved around to several camps , and was brought to the British 31st Civilian Interrogation Camp near Lüneburg on 23 May . The duty officer , Captain Selvester , began a routine interrogation . Himmler admitted who he was , and Selvester had the prisoner searched . He was taken to the headquarters of the Second British Army in Lüneburg , where Doctor Wells conducted a medical exam . The doctor attempted to examine the inside of Himmler ' s mouth , but the prisoner was reluctant to open it and jerked his head away . Himmler then bit into a hidden cyanide pill and collapsed onto the floor . He was dead within fifteen minutes . Shortly afterward , Himmler ' s body was buried in an unmarked grave near Lüneburg . The precise location of the grave remains unknown . Mysticism and symbolism . Himmler was interested in mysticism and the occult from an early age . He tied this interest into his racist philosophy , looking for proof of Aryan and Nordic racial superiority from ancient times . He promoted a cult of ancestor worship , particularly among members of the SS , as a way to keep the race pure and provide immortality to the nation . All regalia and uniforms of Nazi Germany , particularly those of the SS , used symbolism in their design . The SS adopted runic symbols , chosen by Himmler , as insignia . The stylised lightning bolt " SS " runes were derived from the Armanen runes of Guido von List , which he had loosely based on the indigenous runic alphabets of the Germanic peoples . Himmler modified a variety of existing customs to emphasize the elitism and central role of the SS ; an SS naming ceremony was to replace baptism , marriage ceremonies were to be altered , a separate SS funeral ceremony was to be held in addition to Christian ceremonies , and SS - centric celebrations of the summer and winter solstice were instituted . The " Totenkopf " ( death ' s head ) symbol , used by German military units for hundreds of years , had been chosen for the SS by Schreck . Himmler placed particular importance on the death ' s - head rings ; they were never to be sold , and were to be returned to him upon the death of the owner . He interpreted the deaths - head symbol to mean solidarity to the cause and a commitment unto death . Relationship with Hitler . As second in command of the SS and then Reichsführer - SS , Himmler was in regular contact with Hitler to arrange for SS men as bodyguards ; Himmler was not involved with Nazi Party policy - making decisions in the years leading up to the seizure of power . From the late 1930s , the SS was independent of the control of other state agencies or government departments , and he reported only to Hitler . Hitler ' s leadership style was to give contradictory orders to subordinates and to place them into positions where their duties and responsibilities overlapped with those of others . In this way , Hitler fostered distrust , competition , and infighting among his subordinates to consolidate and maximise his own power . His cabinet never met after 1938 , and he discouraged his ministers from meeting independently . Hitler typically did not issue written orders , but gave them verbally at meetings or in phone conversations ; he also had Bormann convey orders . Bormann used his position to control the flow of information and access to Hitler , earning him enemies , including Himmler . Hitler promoted and practiced the " Führerprinzip " . The principle required absolute obedience of all subordinates to their superiors ; thus Hitler viewed the government structure as a pyramid , with himself — the infallible leader — at the apex . Accordingly , Himmler placed himself in a position of subservience to Hitler , and was unconditionally obedient to him . However , he — like other top Nazi officials — had aspirations to one day succeed Hitler as leader of the Reich . Himmler considered Speer to be an especially dangerous rival , both in the Reich administration and as a potential successor to Hitler . Speer refused to accept Himmler ' s offer of the high rank of SS - Oberst - Gruppenführer , as he felt to do so would put him in Himmler ' s debt and obligate him to allow Himmler a say in armaments production . Hitler called Himmler ' s mystical and pseudoreligious interests " nonsense " . Himmler was not a member of Hitler ' s inner circle ; the two men were not very close , and rarely saw each other socially . Himmler socialised almost exclusively with other members of the SS . His unconditional loyalty and efforts to please Hitler earned him the nickname of " der treue Heinrich " ( " the faithful Heinrich " ) . In the last days of the war , when it became clear that Hitler planned to die in Berlin , Himmler left his long - time superior to try to save himself . Marriage and family . Himmler met his future wife , Margarete Boden , in 1927 . Seven years his senior , she was a nurse who shared his interest in herbal medicine and homeopathy , and was part owner of a small private clinic . They were married in July 1928 , and their only child , Gudrun , was born on 8 August 1929 . The couple were also foster parents to a boy named Gerhard von Ahe , son of an SS officer who had died before the war . Margarete sold her share of the clinic and used the proceeds to buy a plot of land in Waldtrudering , near Munich , where they put up a prefabricated house . Himmler was constantly away on party business , so his wife took charge of their efforts — mostly unsuccessful — to raise livestock for sale . After the Nazis seized power the family moved first to Möhlstrasse in Munich , and in 1934 to Lake Tegern , where they bought a house . Himmler also later obtained a large house in the Berlin suburb of Dahlem free of charge as an official residence . The couple saw little of each other as Himmler became totally absorbed by work . The relationship was strained . The couple did unite for social functions ; they were frequent guests at the Heydrich home . Margarete saw it as her duty to invite the wives of the senior SS leaders over for afternoon coffee and tea on Wednesday afternoons . Hedwig Potthast , Himmler ' s young secretary starting in 1936 , became his mistress by 1939 . She left her job in 1941 . He arranged accommodations for her , first in Mecklenburg , and later at Berchtesgaden . He fathered two children with her : a son , Helge ( born 1942 ) and a daughter , Nanette Dorothea ( born 1944 at Berchtesgaden ) . Margarete , by then living in Gmund with her daughter , learned of the relationship sometime in 1941 ; she and Himmler were already separated , and she decided to tolerate the relationship for the sake of her daughter . Working as a nurse for the Red Cross during the war , Margarete was appointed supervisor in Military District III ( Berlin - Brandenburg ) . Himmler was close to his first daughter , Gudrun , whom he nicknamed " Püppi " ( " dolly " ) ; he phoned her every few days and visited as often as he could . Hedwig and Margarete both remained loyal to Himmler . Writing to Gebhard in February 1945 , Margarete said , " How wonderful that he has been called to great tasks and is equal to them . The whole of Germany is looking to him . " Hedwig expressed similar sentiments in a letter to Himmler in January . Margarete and Gudrun left Gmund as Allied troops advanced into the area . They were arrested by American troops in Bolzano , Italy , and held in various internment camps in Italy , France , and Germany . They were brought to Nuremberg to testify at the trials , and were released in November 1946 . Gudrun emerged from the experience embittered by her alleged mistreatment and has remained devoted to her father ' s memory . Historical views . Albert Speer notes that though Himmler seemed pedantic and insignificant on the surface , he was a good decision maker , had a talent for selecting highly competent staff , and successfully inserted the SS into every aspect of daily life . Historian Peter Longerich observes that Himmler ' s ability to consolidate his ever - increasing powers and responsibilities into a coherent system under the auspices of the SS led him to become one of the most powerful men in the Third Reich . Historian Wolfgang Sauer says that " although he was pedantic , dogmatic , and dull , Himmler emerged under Hitler as second in actual power . His strength lay in a combination of unusual shrewdness , burning ambition , and servile loyalty to Hitler . " Historian Peter Padfield opined that " Himmler . . . appeared the most powerful man under Hitler . It is impossible to say whether he was in practice , and meaningless to ask , since he was never prepared to use his power directly to change the course of events . . . " Historian John Toland relates a story by Günter Syrup , a subordinate of Heydrich . Heydrich showed him a picture of Himmler and said , " The top half is the teacher but the lower half is the sadist . " Historian Adrian Weale comments that Himmler and the SS followed Hitler ' s policies , without question or ethical considerations . Himmler accepted Hitler and Nazi ideology , and saw the SS as a chivalric Teutonic order of new Germans . Himmler adopted the doctrine of " Auftragstaktik " ( " mission command " ) , whereby orders were given as broad directives , with authority delegated downward to the appropriate level to carry them out in a timely and efficient manner . Weale states that the SS ideology gave the men a doctrinal framework , and the mission command tactics allowed the junior officers leeway to act on their own initiative to obtain the desired results . According to British war cabinet minutes released in 2006 , Winston Churchill advocated Himmler ' s assassination . In response to Himmler ' s attempts to open peace overtures with the Allies in 1945 through Count Bernadotte , Churchill enquired if they should negotiate with Himmler and bump him off later . ' Quite entitled to do so ' , said Churchill . This suggestion met with some support from the British Home Office . Historian Ian Kershaw observes that many Nazis seemed to have a " psychological block " at the end of the regime , refusing to recognise their responsibility for the barbaric actions that occurred during the Third Reich . They lacked self - awareness , and the moral value system had completely collapsed . In 2008 the German news magazine " Der Spiegel " described Himmler as one of the most brutal mass murderers in history , and the architect of the Holocaust . Notes . Explanatory notes Citations Bibliography . Online sources