Heinrich Himmler.


Himmler was born on October 7, 1900, in Munich Germany, and was considered middle-class. He was a well organized child, who aspired to be a part of the military. He instead studied agriculture, and recieved his degree in August 1922, and was an avid political activist. In 1923, while working in a manure-processing factory, he joined up with the Nazi party.

What Was His Job?

Heinrich's first job in the Nazi Party was to be a speaker/organizer, and a personal assistant. He upgraded in 1929, to become  of the S.S. He developed and overlooked many different things while serving, such as:

     -Security Service: kept tabs on Hitler's opponents within the Nazi party and gathered intelligence on leaders and activities of other political parties, in 1931.

      -Race and Settlement Office: managed marriages and encouraged racial purity, at the end of 1931.

      -January 1933, Himmler built an unassailable position for the SS by taking control of the German police forces. On March 9, he was appointed president of police in Munich. Three weeks later, he was named Commander of the Bavarian Political Police. By the time 1934, Himmler took over each of the state political police departments in Germany, and had centralized them within a single new agency in Berlin, the Secret State Police(Gestapo).

      -In September 1939, Himmler fused the Security Police and the Security Service into the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the agency that would be tasked with implementing the Holocaust in 1941-1942.

      -In October, Hitler gave Heinrich the ability to control and command what the S.S did.

      -1944, Hitler appointed Himmler Commander of the Replacement Army (a position responsible for training and overseeing military personnel) and gave him command of matters relating to prisoners of war.

Interesting Facts

-Himmler married Margarete Boden in 1928, who bore him a daughter, Gudrun, in 1929.

-April 1945, Himmler asked the Vice President of the Swedish Red Cross, to transmit an offer of surrender on the western front to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces. News of the offer reached Hitler on the night of April 28-29, 1945. In one of his last official acts, Hitler stripped Himmler of all of his offices and ordered his arrest.

-Captured by Russian soldiers in May, 1945, he was turned over to the British, and he eventually confessed his identity. Three days later,  while undergoing a body search, Himmler killed himself by biting down on a cyanide capsule hidden in his mouth which he had for that very purpose.

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