Heinrich Himmler: A LifeAs head of the SS, chief of police, 'Reichskommissar for the Consolidation of Germanness', and Reich Interior Minister, Heinrich Himmler enjoyed a position of almost unparalleled power and responsibility in Nazi Germany. Perhaps more than any other single Nazi leader aside from Hitler, his name has become a byword for the terror, persecution, and destruction that characterized the Third Reich. His wide-ranging powers meant that he bore equal responsibility for the repression of the German people on the home front and the atrocities perpetrated by the SS in the East. Yet, in spite of his central role in the crimes of the Nazi regime, until now Himmler has remained a colourless and elusive figure in the history of the period. In this, the first-ever comprehensive biography of the SS-Reichsführer, leading German historian Peter Longerich puts every aspect of Himmler's life under the microscope. Masterfully interweaving the story of Himmler's personal life and political career with the wider history of the Nazi dictatorship, Longerich shows how skilfully he exploited and manipulated his disparate roles in the pursuit of his far-reaching and grandiose objectives. In the process, he illuminates the extraordinary degree to which Himmler's own personal prejudices, idiosyncrasies, and predilections made their mark on the organizations for which he was responsible - especially the SS, which in so many ways bore the characteristic hallmarks of its leader, and whose history remains both incomplete and incomprehensible without a detailed and intimate knowledge of its deeply sinister commander-in-chief. |
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Ahnenerbe already appointed April army August Auschwitz Bavarian Berlin chief combating commander Commissar concentration camps concerning Dachau Darré December diary Dienstkalender district east edict Einsatzgruppen established ethnic Germans fact February Foreign Führer Gauleiter German Police Geschichte Gestapo ghetto Globocnik Goebbels Göring Government Gruppenführer Gypsies head headquarters Heinemann Heinrich Heinrich Himmler Heydrich Himmler Hitler homosexuality HSSPF Ibid Inland IIg January Jewish Jews July June Konzentrationslager leadership Lebensborn letter Lublin March meeting military Minister Ministry Munich nation Nazi November NSDAP October onwards organization party plans Pohl Police Leader political police population prisoners programme Prussian published Race and Settlement racial Rasse recruitment Reich Reichsführer Reichsführer-SS Reichswehr resettlement responsible RFSS Röhm role RSHA RuSHA security police Selbstschutz September Settlement Main Office Soviet speech SS and police SS leaders SS members SS-Leitheft SS-O task tion Völkischer Beobachter Volkssturm Waffen-SS Wehrmacht