ERMAN CULTURE PROJECT GERMAN Heinrich Himmler Basic Spoken

ERMAN CULTURE PROJECT GERMAN Heinrich Himmler Basic Spoken German Herbst 2012 Sasha

Background: q. Born Heinrich Luitpolt Himmler on October 7 1900 Before Hitler the q. Munich, Bavaria, and Germany q. Father, Gebhard Himmler and mother, Anna Maria SS Himmler th q. Two brothers, Gebhard (older) and Ernst (younger) q Attended grammar school in Landshut q. Keen interests include current events, dueling, and “the serious discussion of religion and sex. ” q. Interested in the War q. Joined officer cadet training for WWI in 1918 q. War ended before Heinrich saw action

Education and Impacts q. Graduated from Landshut high school in 1919 q. Studied agriculture and agronomy at the Technical University in Munich (pictured in the background c 1900’s) q. Joined a German-Nationalist fraternity q. Indulged in Völkisch (nationalist) -racist literature q. Popular in Germany during Interwar Period (1919 -1939) q. Graduated in August of 1922 q. Fanatic Völkisch-racist and political activist

Early Days of the Nazi Party q. Met with staff chief of the National Socialists, Ernst Röhm q. Influenced by Ernst, Himmler joins the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) in 1923 q. Involved in Munich Beer Hall Putsch – an unsuccessful attempt by Hitler and the NSDAP to over-run the government q. Unemployed, Himmler found work for the Reich Propaganda Leader, Gregor Strasser q. Delivered speeches asserting: “race consciousness, ” “eternal enemies, ” (Jews, socialist, Marxists, etc, ) liberal democracy and the Slavic people

Appeal to the Nazi Party q. Himmler strayed from Catholic belief towards the occult and anti-Semitism q. The Nazi Party mirrored Himmler’s political tendencies q. Initially unimpressed by Hitler, but soon regarded him as a “useful face for the party, ” and later came to admire and worship him q. Helped gain NSDAP members and reform the Nazi party in 1925 “Just wait till your Fuhrer gets home!”

Himmler’s Beginnings in the q. Himmler joins the Schutzstaffel or SS in 1925 as an SSFührer Schutzstaffel q. The SS began as protection for Nazi Party meetings q. Dominant organization within Hitler’s Third Reich q. Responsible for the majority of humanities crimes during WWII q. Himmler’s SS number was 138 q. Appointed SS-Gauführer (district leader) of lower Bavaria in 1926 q. Gained title of SS-Reichsführer after convincing Hitler that the SS should be a loyal, powerful, and racially-pure elite unit.

Himmler’s SS q. By 1933, the NSDAP had taken over the Weimar Republic q. The SS were 52, 000 members strong q. SS members must meet strict qualifications, oversaw by Hitler and Himmler: Aryan-Herrvolk q. Himmler appointed chief of Munich police by Governor Franz Ritter von Epp q. Himmler was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer q. To perfect the Herrvolk more precisely, Himmler ordered detailed genetic history and required four births per marriage, which failed

Himmler as Reichsführer-SS q. Night of the Long Knives – SA, conservative, anti-Nazis murdered q. In 1934, Himmler became the first official Reichsführer of the SS q. Responsible for security within the Third Reich q Overseer of extermination and concentration camps q. Commander of Waffen-SS and Allgemeine-SS q. Highest level of command within SS

q. Dachau was the first concentration camp, opened on March 22, 1935 q. Dachau, Bavaria, Germany q. Called the, “first concentration camp for political prisoners, ” by Himmler q. Under control of Theodor Eicke q. Eicke’s system included: isolation, roll calls, force, executions, and strict obedience q. Himmler and SS take control of camps; SSTotenkopfverbände q. Hitler’s decree in 1937 proclaimed any “undesirable member of society” to be Jews, Gypsies, communists, or any other political, racial, religious, or cultural affiliation Concentration Camps

On the Eve of War q“Operation Himmler, ” created by Himmler, Heydrich, and Müller, was an attack plan carried out during the invasion of Poland in 1939, marking the beginning of WWII q. Special SS units, the Einsatzgruppen, were ordered to execute civilians, Jews, and Poles q. By the end of 1939, the Einsatzgruppen had killed roughly 65, 000 idividuals q. Focused on rounding up Jews for latter concentration camps

The 40’s Foreshadow Failure q. June 21, 1941 Himmler finalizes Generalplan Ost; The General Plan for the East q. Germans to invade the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, and Byelorussia and to be inhabited by Germans q. Soviet concentration camps as well q 2. 8 Million Soviet Prisoners of War q. Invasion of Soviet fails in December of 1941 q. As Germanys forces are pushed back, Jews begin to be killed q. Marks the beginning to the Holocaust

The Holocaust q“Final solution to the Jewish problem. ” q. Following Heydrich’s death in June of 1942 q. Himmler initiates Aktion Reinhard; the building of extermination camps q. Approximately 6 million Jews killed q. Posen Speech – elicit extermination of Jewish people

Death q. Himmler had fled Germany, being hunted by Allies forces q. Detained in Lunburg on May 23, 1945 q. Committed suicide by cyanide pill q. Buried in an unmarked grave, still unsure of location

Bibliography • Encyclopedia Britannica. Heinrich Himmler. 1 December 2012 <http: //www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/266132/Heinrich-Himmler>. • History Learning Site. The Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. 5 December 2012 <http: //www. historylearningsite. co. uk/about-the-author. htm>. • Jewish Virtual Library. Dachau Concentration Camp. 2011. 1 December 2012 <http: //www. jewishvirtuallibrary. org/jsource/Holocaust/dachau. html>. • Lisciotto, Carmelo. "Treue Heinrich". 2007. 5 December 2012 <http: //www. holocaustresearchproject. org/holoprelude/himmler. html>. • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Heinrich Himmler. 11 May 2012. 20 November 2012 <http: //www. ushmm. org/wlc/en/article. php? Module. Id=10007407>.