Heinrich Himmler : A Life (132 page)

45
. On war games see TB, 1 September 1914, 1 and 18 February1915.

46
. KAM, OP 54540, report of the head of the Landshut Jugendwehr, 26 June 1917.

47
. TB, 25 September 1915. On the Jugendwehr see Smith,
Himmler
, 61.

48
. TB, 16 February and 31 July 1915.

49
. TB, 27 September 1914.

50
. BAK, NL 1126/3, Membership card; date of entry was 6 February 1917.

51
. Smith,
Himmler
, 69.

52
. Ibid. 68 f. and 72; Himmler,
Brüder Himmler
, 57.

53
. Smith,
Himmler
, 72.

54
. KAM, OP 54540, certificate of the district liaison officer for youth military training, 25 June 1917.

55
. Hofverwaltung, Frau Prinzessin Witwe Arnulf, Hofmarschall Pflaum, 4 and 11 June 1917; Smith,
Himmler
, 72 ff.

56
. BAK, NL 1126/1, questionnaire 1. Btl. 1. Inf.-Regiment, completed by Gebhard Himmler on 23 June 1917.

57
. KAM, OP 54540, school report of 15 July 1917. Himmler was rated ‘very good’ in the subjects Religious Studies and History, ‘good’ in German, Latin, French, Maths, and Gymnastics, and ‘satisfactory’ in Physics.

58
. BAK, NL 1126/1, Magistrat Landshut to Gebhard Himmler, 6 October 1917, as well as KAM, OP 54540, Certificate of the Magistrate of 24 December 1917. On this episode see also Smith,
Himmler
, 74 f.

59
. KAM, OP 54540, letter from Hofmarschall Pflaum to the commander of the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, 17 August 1917.

60
. Ibid. Archiv des fr. Bay. III. A.K., letter to Major Ritter v. Braun re promotion to lieutenant, 18 March 1921; Smith,
Himmler
, 82 f.

61
. BAK, NL 1126/11, letter of 4 January 1918.

62
. Ibid. correspondence with his parents (January); Smith,
Himmler
, 76 ff.

63
. Details in BAK, NL 1126/11.

64
. Ibid. 29 January 1918.

65
. Ibid. correspondence with his parents (February); Smith,
Himmler
, 79.

66
. Himmler,
Brüder Himmler
, 60 f.

67
. BAK, NL 1126/11, 23 March 918.

68
. Ibid. 7 May 1918, also 6, 15, and 22 May 1918.

69
. Smith,
Himmler
, 82 f.

70
. BAK, NL 1126/11, 20 June and 17 September 1918.

71
. Thus, for example, in his letter of 5 August 1918, in which he wrote that he had reported sick and the doctor had prescribed rest.

72
. BAK, NL 1126/11, 23 June and 29 August 1918.

73
. Ibid. 29 August 1918.

74
. Ibid. 4 August 1918.

75
. KAM, OP 54540, assessment of 14 September 1918. In this assessment Himmler’s performance was rated good to very good, and he was considered suitable for a commission at a later date.

76
. BAK, NL 1126/11, 13 August 1918.

77
. Smith,
Himmler
, 85.

78
. BAK, NL 1126/11.

79
. Ibid. 23 October 1918; Smith,
Himmler
, 85.

80
. Smith,
Himmler
, 86f. Details are to be found in his letters to his parents of 30 November as well of 6, 10, 11, and 17 December 1918 (BAK, NL 1126/11).

81
. BAK, NL 1126/11, 6 December 1918.

82
. Ibid. 23 June and 29 August 1918. Cf. Smith,
Himmler
, 87 f.

83
. BAK, NL 1126/11, 6 December 1918.

84
. KAM OP 54540, Archive des fr. Bay. III. A.K., letter to Major Ritter v. Braun re promotion to lieutenant, 18 March 1921; Smith,
Himmler
, 88.

1
. BAK, NL 1126/13, Teacher notebook of Gebhard Himmler’s: War Special Class A, Gymnasium Landshut. Class teacher Himmler, Konrektor; cf. Smith,
Himmler
, 89.

2
. Poems by the two friends can be found in BAK, NL 1126/19; Smith,
Himmler
, 90 f.

3
. On the revolution in Munich see Allan Mitchell,
Revolution in Bayern 1918/1919. Die Eisner-Regierung und die Räterepublik
(Munich, 1967); Karl Bosl (ed.),
Bayern im Umbruch. Die Revolution von 1918, ihre Voraussetzungen, ihr Verlauf und ihre Folgen
(Munich and Vienna, 1969); Heinrich Hillmayr,
Roter und Weißer Terror in Bayern nach 1918. Ursachen, Erscheinungsformen und Folgen der Gewalttä-tigkeiten im Verlauf der revolutionären Ereignisse nach dem Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges
(Munich, 1974); Hans Fenske,
Konservatismus und Rechtsradikalismus in Bayern nach 1918
(Bad Homburg v. d. H., 1969), 40 ff.; Heinrich August Winkler,
Von der Revolution zur Stabilisierung. Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1918 bis 1924
, 2nd edn (Berlin and Bonn, 1985), 184 ff.

4
. 4 BAK, NL 1126/18, Reports of the Regensburg secretariat of the BVP, 23 and 30 December 1918 and 9 January 1919; cf. Smith,
Himmler
, 93.

5
. According to his great-niece Katrin (though she does not provide any further evidence) he took part in the attack on Munich and in the fighting in the centre of the city as a member of the Landshut Free Corps (
Brüder Himmler
, 71). However, this is highly improbable. It would be the only example of Himmler having been involved in combat in his entire life, so one can assume that he would have referred to this event in later years. After all, throughout his life ‘Miles Heinrich’ tried to portray himself as a ‘soldier’, which is why he constantly referred to his period of military service. The fact that he never mentioned the fighting in Munich is an important indication that he did not take part in it. His army file in the Kriegsarchiv München, which was kept open until 1921, also fails to refer to any such action. His 1921 request for an abridgement to his university course—a special dispensation for those who had fought in the war—does not refer to it either.

6
. This is based on a short note in Himmler’s handwriting signed by his company commander on 13 July 1919 (it was concerned with permission to receive food), see BAK, NL 1126/1. See also Himmler,
Brüder Himmler
, 71.

7
. Beckenbauer, ‘Musterschüler’, esp. 97 f.

8
. BAK, NL 1126/12, letter of 10 August 1919 (I), also the letters to his parents of 1, 3, 10 (II), 15, and 24 August 1919. On his period of training see Smith,
Himmler
, 97 ff. His special work diary will in future be referred to as ATB.

9
. ATB, 10 August 1919.

10
. ATB, 2–23 September 1919. Three letters to his mother, who initially remained in Landshut, have survived: 11, 15, and 20 September 1919.

11
. ATB, 25 September 1919. On this see also the letters from Quenstedt to Gebhard Himmler of 24 September and 18 October 1919 (BAK, NL 1126/1). The doctor attributed the enlargement of the heart to the excessive physical demands of his military service. On his illness see Smith,
Himmler
, 99 ff.

12
. BAK, NL 1126/8, Leseliste [Reading list] no. 1—28, NL 1126/9 contains a transcription that was used for this book, which in future is referred to as Leseliste. See in detail Smith,
Himmler
, 102 ff.

13
. Leseliste no. 10: ‘A, to begin with nauseatingly insipid but in the end stimulating, novel, too naturalistic.’

14
. On the history of forgery see Nick Groom,
The Forger’s Shadow: How Forgery Changed the Course of Literature
(London, 2002).

15
. Leseliste no. 23, Friedrich Wichtl,
Weltfreimaurerei, Weltrevolution, Weltrepublik. Eine Untersuchung über Ursprung und Endziele des Weltkrieges
(Munich, 1919). The book appeared in 1928 already in its 11th edition. On Wichtl’s book see Helmut Neuberger,
Freimaurerei und Nationalsozialismus. Die Verfolgung der deutschen Freimaurerei durch völkische Bewegung und Nationalsozialismus
, vol. 2:
Das Ende der deutschen Freimaurerei
(Hamburg, 1980), 40 ff.

16
. Leseliste no. 19.

17
. TB, 16 October 1919. On Himmler’s period in Munich during the years 1919–20 see Smith,
Himmler
, 107 ff.

18
. TB, 18 October 1919; BAK, NL 1126/1, matriculation certificate from the same day.

19
. TB, 12 December 1919, about his examination by Dr Quenstedt.

20
. Smith,
Himmler
, 107.

21
. In the 1920
Adressbuch für München
there is the entry: Anna Loritz, widow of a chamber singer, boarding house, Jägerstr. 8 I; Smith,
Himmler
, 107 f.

22
. TB, 22 November 1919; on visits to von Lossow see also TB, 23 October and 26 December 1919.

23
. TB, 16 December 1919 and 11 January 1920.

24
. On his visits see among others TB, 22 November, 15 and 26 December 1919, and 12, 16, and 24 January 1920.

25
. TB, 21 February 1920.

26
. TB, 19 November 1919 (joining). On life in the fraternity see among other references TB, 20 November, 2, 4, 11, 13, and 17 December 1919, and 10 and 27 January 1920. On Apollo see Smith,
Himmler
, 114 f.

27
. TB, 27 January 1920.

28
. On his religious activity see among other references TB, 12 and 19 October, 16 and 28 November, 2, 8, and 26 December 1919, and 1, 10, 11, and 18 January 1920. On his attitude to religion at this period see Smith,
Himmler
, 119 ff.

29
. TB, 9 November 1919.

30
. TB, 24 December 1919.

31
. BAK, NL 1126/3, admitted on 10 November 1919.

32
. Ibid. receipt of the 14th Alarm Company, 16 May 1920.

33
. TB, 4, 7, and 8 November 1919. On his military activities see in addition TB, 14 November and 1 December 1919.

34
. TB, 11 December 1919.

35
. TB, 4 November 1919.

36
. TB, 1 December 1919.

37
. TB, 16 January 1920.

38
. TB, 17 October 1920. The names mentioned are undecipherable.

39
. BAK, NL 1126/12, 18 January 1920. Ibid. letters of 20 and 24 March 1920.

40
. Ibid. letters of 20 and 24 March 1920.

41
. On joining the Einwohnerwehr on 16 May 1920 he received from the Alarm Company ‘1 rifle with 50 bullets, 1 helmet, 2 bullet holders, 1 satchel’ (receipt) as well as an Einwohnerwehr booklet. He was a member of the machine-gun detachment of the 5th District in the Einwohnerwehr; see Programme of 5 August 1920 for the month of August (shooting practice and training evenings in the gym hall). All documents are in BAK, 1126/1.