Heinrich Himmler : A Life (136 page)

47
. Ibid. no. 223, read 22–4 October 1924.

48
. Ibid. no. 173, Heinrich Böhmer,
Die Jesuiten
, 4th completely revised edition (Leipzig and Berlin, 1921), read 5–24 November 1923.

49
. Ibid. no. 193, Carl Felix von Schlichtergroll,
Der Sadist im Priesterrock
(Leipzig, 1904), read 19 February 1924: ‘History of the seduction of women and girls in a sadistic manner in Paris. Moral constraint and hypnosis.’

50
. Ibid. no. 207, Alfred Miller,
Ultramontanes Schuldbuch. Eine deutsche Abrechnung mit dem Zentrum und seinen Hintermännern
(Breslau, 1922), read 19 May 1924.

51
. Ibid. no. 229, K. v. Widdumhoff,
Die entdeckten schwarzen Henker des deutschen Volkes
(Weissenburg i. B., 1924), read October 1924–20 January 1925.

52
. Ibid. no. 189, Adolf-Viktor von Körber,
Adolf Hitler: sein Leben und seine Reden
(Munich, 1923), read 16 January 1924. Ibid. no. 208, Dietrich Eckart,
Der Bolschewismus von Moses bis Lenin
.
Zwiegespräch zwischen Adolf Hitler und mir
(Munich, 1924), read 19 May 1924. ‘A down-to-earth and witty conversation between Hitler and Eckhardt, which reveals both of their personalities so accurately and so well. It provides a perspective through all epochs and opens one’s eyes to many things that one hasn’t been aware of. I wish that everyone would read this book.’

53
. Ibid. no. 162, Björnstjerne Björnson,
Mary
(Berlin, 1910), read 15–19 September 1923: ‘Mary is a purely Nordic, Germanic woman.’

54
. Ibid. no. 165, Werner Jansen,
Das Buch Treue. Nibelungenroman
(Hamburg, 1916), read 28 September–3 October 1923.

55
. Ibid. no. 179, read 1 October 1923–5 January 1924.

56
. Ibid. no. 217, Werner Jansen,
Das Buch Leidenschaft. Amelungenroman
(Braunschweig, 1920), read 18–20 September 1924. The book was based on the ‘Amelungenlied’, a literary reconstruction produced in the nineteenth century.

57
. Ibid. no. 218, read 24 September 1924.

58
. Ibid. no. 220, Werner Jansen,
Gudrun: Das Buch Liebe
(Brunswick. 1920), read 4–21 October 1924.

59
. Ibid. no. 202, Hans Günther,
Ritter, Tod und Teufel
(Munich, 1921), read 28 February–5 March 1924 as well as July–November 1924. In a letter of August 1924 (BAK, NL 1126/17), which was concerned among other things with the essence of ‘völkisch’ and which refers to conversations with Himmler, his friend Maria Rauschmayer mentioned both
Das Buch Treue
and Günther’s work.

60
. According to a post-Second World War report written by Gregor Strasser’s brother Otto, which is not very reliable, Himmler had already met Gregor during 1923. He claims that Himmler was visiting Gregor when the police arrested him in Landshut directly after the putsch. Otto Strasser also maintains that during the previous months Himmler had assisted Gregor with the organization of his own paramilitary unit based in Landshut, acting as his ‘adjutant’. This statement is not supported by any other evidence and appears
improbable in view of Himmler’s involvement with the Reichskriegsflagge (Otto Strasser,
Hitler und ich
(Konstanz, 1948), 47 and 66 f.).

61
. On Gregor Strasser see above all Udo Kissenkoetter,
Gregor Straßer und die NSDAP
(Stuttgart, 1978) and Peter D. Stachura,
Gregor Strasser and the Rise of Nazism
(London, 1983). Strasser outlined his views on ‘National Socialism’ in his book
Kampf um Deutschland. Reden und Aufsätze eines Nationalsozialisten
(Munich, 1932).

62
. It is clear from Himmler’s Leseliste that he was based in Landshut from July 1924.

63
. BAK, NL 1126/17, letter to Robert Kistler, Milan, 22 August 1924.

64
.
Kurier von Niederbayern
, 9 December 1924.

65
. In October 1924 the Völkische Bloc had joined the NS-Freiheitsbewegung, which had brought together the Deutschvölkischen and the Nazis.

66
. BAB, BDC, Research Ordner 199, letter of 8 July 1925.

67
. Ibid. 4 August 1925.

68
. See the further correspondence between Himmler and headquarters between September 1925 and February 1926 (ibid.).

69
. Ibid. letter of 17 February 1926. He finished the year 1925 with a considerable deficit in his payments to party headquarters. See the letter from headquarters to Himmler of 19 January 1926.

70
. Ibid. Himmler to Maurer, editor of the
Völkischer Beobachter
, 9 July 1925.

71
. BAB, BDC, Research Ordner 199, 12 August 1925, Headquarters to Himmler.

72
. Ibid. Himmler to Headquarters, 29 September 1925, and reply, 26 October 1925.

73
. Ibid. Report for the period 15 October 1925–1 May 1926.

74
.
Kurier von Niederbayern
, 28 August 1924, concerning a speech on 25 August in Aidenbach; ibid. 4 June 1925, concerning a speech in Viechtach; ibid. 21 September 1924 about a forthcoming speech in Fürstenzell on 24 September; on 3 April the paper reported on a speech in Malgersdorf on 26 March 1926.

75
. On 9 March he spoke in the Dingolfing local branch and on 26 March in Malgersdorf on this topic (ibid. 18 March and 3 April 1926).

76
. ‘History and Locarno’, Landshut local branch, speech on 19 November 1925 (ibid. 22–3 November 1925).

77
. He spoke about the ‘Dubious Machinations of the Jews’ on 30 May 1924 in Viechtach (ibid. 4 June 1924) und he expanded on the topic ‘Jewry and Bolshevism’ on 13 June 1925 in Zwiesel (ibid. 21 June 1925). He had spoken about ‘The Threats from the Jews’ on 30 April 1926 in Malgersdorf (ibid. 11 May 1926).

78
. Leseliste no. 235, Franz Haiser,
Freimaurer und Gegenmaurer im Kampfe um die Weltherrschaft
(Munich, 1924), read January–18 March 1925: ‘We need such books. They strengthen one’s belief in what one instinctively feels and yet, because one has been corrupted, doesn’t dare believe [ . . . ].’ In future years Himmler was to recommend this book and Wichtl’s piece of anti-Freemasonry
propaganda, which he had read in 1919, as essential reading for an understanding of this problem (BAB, NS 18/5022, letter to Lindner, 27 August 1927).

79
.
Kurier von Niederbayern
, 17–18 May 1925. He made similar statements on 15 May 1925 in Vilsbiburg (ibid. 20 May 1925). For speeches relevant to this topic see also 24 June 1925 in Deggendorf (ibid. announcement of 21 June 1925); 4 June in Straubing: ‘The Freemasons’ Lodge as a Tool of the Jews’ (ibid. 3 June 1925).

80
. He made similar speeches on 19 March 1926 in Irlbach and on 20 March 1926 in Strasskirchen (ibid. announcement of 17 March 1926).

81
. ‘The Agricultural Situation’, in
Nationalsozialistische Briefe
, 1 April 1926.

82
. ‘Wake Up, Peasants!’ of 20 July 1926.

83
.
Kurier von Niederbayern
, 17 September 1925.

84
. Ibid. 22–3 November 1925.

85
. Ibid. 12 November 1925, announcement of a speech in Rotthalmünster: ‘What Does National Socialism Want?’; ibid. 3 April 1926, about a speech on 26 March 1926 in Malgersdorf: ‘National or International Socialism’; ibid. 18 March 1926, about a meeting in Dingolfing on 9 March 1926; on 27 March 1926 he spoke in Plattling on the same topic (ibid. 27 March 1926), and in Landshut he took the same line on 25 March 1926 (ibid. 31 March 1926).

86
. Ibid. 3 December 1924.

87
. Ibid. 18 March 1926.

88
. Ibid. 3 April 1926. Himmler also spoke in September 1925 in Thuringia (see ibid. 7 October 1925) and between 10 January and 15 February 1926 undertook a speaking tour through north Germany (ibid. 18 February 1926.)

89
. Leseliste no. 276, read La[ndshut], Mu [nich] and [on] journeys, 1925–19 February 1927.

90
. Richard Breitman, ‘Mein Kampf and the Himmler Family: Two Generations React to Hitler’s Ideas’,
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
, 13 (1999), 90–7.

91
. On this see StA München, Pol. Dir. München 10081, Minute of the Munich police, Abt. VIa, of 13 January 1926; Report of Himmler’s interrogation of 12 January 1926.

92
. Elke Fröhlich
et al
. (eds.),
Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels
, 2 Parts, 9 and 15 volumes (Munich, 1993–2006), 13 April 1926.

1
. Wolfgang Horn,
Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung. Die NSDAP bis 1933
(Düsseldorf, 1972), 243; Peter Hüttenberger,
Die Gauleiter. Studie zum Wandel des Machtgefüges in der NSDAP
(Stuttgart, 1969), 26 ff.; Dietrich Orlow,
The History of the Nazi Party
, vol. 1:
1919–1933
(Newton Abbot, 1971), 76 ff.

2
.
Völkischer Beobachter
, 17 September 1926.

3
. BAB, BDC, Research Ordner 199, 30 January 1927. On the party headquarters in this period see Horn,
Marsch
, 278 ff.; Albrecht Tyrell,
Führer befiehl . . . Selbstzeugnisse aus der ‘Kampfzeit’ der NSDAP. Dokumentation und Analyse
(Düsseldorf, 1969), 355 ff.

4
. Hans-Walter Schmuhl, ‘Philipp Bouhler—Ein Vorreiter des Massenmordes’, in Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring, and Rainer Zitelmann (eds),
Die Braune Elite II. 21 weitere biographische Skizzen
(Darmstadt, 1993), 39–50.

5
. See Mathias Rösch,
Die Münchner NSDAP 1925–1933. Eine Untersuchung zur inneren Struktur der NSDAP in der Weimarer Republik
(Munich, 2002), 512, who does not attribute much importance to the later Oberbürgermeister of Munich during this period.

6
. Peter Longerich,
Geschichte der SA
(Munich, 2003), 53 f.

7
. On Hitler’s political style during this period see Tyrell,
Führer befiel
, 146; Ian Kershaw,
Hitler
, vol. 1:
1889–1936
(Stuttgart, 1998), 359 ff.

8
. Gerhard Paul,
Aufstand der Bilder. Die NS-Propaganda vor 1933
(Bonn, 1990), 64, and Kissenkoetter,
Straßer
, 33.

9
. Paul,
Aufstand
, 65.

10
. Ibid. 65 f.; a copy of the pamphlet is in the printed materials collection in the Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ) in Munich.

11
. On Himmler’s planning of the ‘Hitler meetings’ see above all the file BAB, NS 18/5002, correspondence with the individual local branches, in particular Himmler’s circulars dated 31 March 1928. Himmler had already sent questionnaires to local branches on 10 January 1928 in order to find out when, as a result of ‘the largest hall having already been booked or because of festivities’, a Hitler meeting could not take place (ibid.).

12
. Reichspropagandaleitung (ed.),
Propaganda
(Munich, 1928), 36 ff.

13
. BAK, NL 1126, appointments calendar for 1927.

14
. BAB, NS 19/1789, ‘National or International Socialism’.

15
. StA München, Pol. Dir. München 18001, police report concerning the membership meeting of the Neuhausen section on 6 October 1926, ‘Capitalism and Productive Labour’. The report is dated 14 October 1926.

16
. Ibid. report on the public meeting of the Regensburg NSDAP local branch, 11 April 1927. The meeting took place on 9 April 1927.