Heinrich Himmler : A Life (140 page)

18
. Sybille Steinbacher
, Dachau—die Stadt und das Konzentrationslager in der NS-Zeit. Die Untersuchung einer Nachbarschaft
(Frankfurt a. M. etc., 1993).

19
. On the investigations of the Munich public prosecutor see Gruchmann, ‘Justiz’, 416 ff. Prosecutor Wintersberger’s report of 2 June 1933 is published
as doc. D-926, in
IMT
, vol. 36, pp. 55 ff. On the meeting with Epp on 2 June see Gruchmann, ‘Justiz’, 420 f.

20
. On Eicke see Tuchel,
Konzentrationslager,
128 ff., and Aronson,
Heydrich
, 105 ff.

21
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Eicke, Eicke to Himmler, 29 March 1933.

22
. Ibid. Eicke report of 20 March 1933 on the events in Ludwigshafen; Himmler order of 3 April 1933.

23
. Ibid. Eicke to Himmler, 29 March and 13 April 1933; Report of Heyde, 22 April 1933.

24
. Ibid. letter to Eicke on Himmler’s behalf, 20 May 1933; Himmler to Heyde, 2 June 1933.

25
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Koegel, Eicke to the head of the Bavarian auxiliary political police [Hilfspolizei], 27 November 1933; see Bernd Wegner,
Hitlers Politische Soldaten. Die Waffen-SS 1933–1945: Leitbild, Struktur und Funktion einer nationalsozialistischen Elite
, 5th edn. (Paderborn, 1997), 179.

26
. On the Dachau model see Tuchel,
Konzentrationslager
, 141 ff.; Richardi,
Schule
, 119 ff.

27
. Partly reproduced in doc. PS-778, in
IMT
, vol. 26, pp. 291 ff.

28
. BAB, R 22/1167, Service Regulations for Sentries and Prison Guards, see Tuchel,
Konzentrationslager
, 144 f.

29
. Details in Richardi,
Schule
, 183 ff.

30
. Ibid. 189 ff. and 209 f. At the cabinet meeting on 26 July 1933 Interior Minister Wagner announced that he had directed Himmler ‘to provide him with daily reports on important events and on significant measures that were being planned’ (BHStA, MA 99 526).

31
. Richardi,
Schule
, 179 ff.

32
. Published in Distel und Jakusch,
Dachau
, 80; see also Tuchel,
Konzentrationslager
, 142 f.

33
. The acting Minister of Justice had already advocated restricting the use of protective custody at the cabinet meeting on 7 April 1933; on 16 May the ministers criticized the unauthorized measures taken by the Bavarian political police chief against Jewish institutions in Munich. It was minuted that ‘actions of the political police chief had repeatedly caused great concern’ (BHStA, MA 99 525). On 26 July the Reich Governor complained about the measures taken by the political police against the Nuremberg Jews; Prime Minister Siebert suggested that Himmler should be assigned an ‘experienced administrative lawyer’. In the cabinet meeting on 27 February 1934 the Justice Minister declared that the practice of the political police in carrying out arrests was ‘intolerable’, and won support for his suggestion that decisions on the application of protective custody should in future be made by the Interior Minister (MA 99 526). But Himmler’s work was not seriously affected by these repeated criticisms from the government.

34
. Dok. D-926, in
IMT
, vol. 36, pp. 47 f. In a letter to Justice Minister Frank of 29 November 1933 Wagner refers to Himmler’s commission of 18 November
1933, according to which the investigations of deaths in Dachau were to be abandoned ‘for political reasons of state’. See Gruchmann, ‘Justiz, 423 ff.

35
. BHStA, MA 99 525, meeting of 6 December 1933.

36
. Doc. D-926, in
IMT
, vol. 36, pp. 54 f., minute of Stepp, 6 December 1933.

37
. This is the accurate characterization in Tuchel’s
Konzentrationslager
, 149.

38
. In Bavaria by 13 April 5,400 people had already been taken into protective custody, more than half of them communists. See Hartmut Mehringer, ‘Die KPD in Bayern 1919–1945. Vorgeschichte, Verfolgung und Widerstand’, in Hartmut Mehringer, Anton Grossmann, and Klaus Schoenhoven (eds),
Bayern in der NS-Zeit
, vol. 5:
Die Parteien KPD, SPD, BVP in Verfolgungund Widerstand
(Munich, 1983), 1–286, here 73 ff. In June 1933 over 1,000 Social Democrats were incarcerated in a further wave of arrests, see Hartmut Mehringer, ‘Die bayerische Sozialdemokratie bis zum Ende des NS-Regimes. Vorgeschichte, Verfolgung und Widerstand’, ibid. 287–432, here 338 ff.

39
. Tuchel,
Konzentrationslager
, 153 f.

40
. Ibid. 53 ff.

41
. On the takeover of the political police see the overview in Hans Buchheim, ‘Die SS—Das Herrschaftsinstrument’, in id.
et al
.,
Anatomie des SS-Staates
, 7th edn. (Munich, 1999), 13–212, 39 ff., and the detailed account in Browder,
Foundations
, 98 ff.

42
. Wegner,
Politische Soldaten
, 81 ff.; James J. Weingartner,
Hitler’s Guard: The Story of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
,
1933–1945
(Carbondale, Ill., etc., 1974), 1 ff.

43
. Even after Himmler had appointed Dietrich leader of the SS-Oberabschnitt East, Dietrich continued to emphasize the special position of the Leibstandarte. In April 1934, however, he agreed to the subordination of the Leibstandarte to the Oberabschnitt East; see Wegner,
Politische Soldaten
, 83, and Weingartner,
Guard
, 8 f.

44
. On the takeover of the political police in Hamburg see Browder,
Foundations
, 100 ff.; Michael Wildt, ‘Der Hamburger Gestapochef Bruno Streckenbach. Eine nationalsozialistische Karriere’, in Frank Bajohr and Joachim Szodrzynski (eds),
Hamburg in der NS-Zeit. Ergebnisse neuerer Forschungen
(Hamburg, 1995), 93–123;Henning Timpke (ed.),
Dokumente zur Gleichschaltung des Landes Hamburg 1933
(Frankfurt a. M., 1964); Ludwig Eiber, ‘Unter Führung des NSDAP Gauleiters. Die Hamburger Staatspolizei (1933–1937)’, in Gerhard Paul and Klaus-Michael Mallmann (eds),
Die Gestapo. Mythos und Realität
(Darmstadt, 1995), 101–17; BAB, BDC, SS-O Kaufmann.

45
.
Dokumente zur Gleichschaltung
, 169 ff.

46
. Ibid. 31.

47
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Hans Nieland, SS-OA Nord, 21 March 1934, to RFSS. This appointment only occurred orally but was made formal on 30 April 1934 (Head of the SS Office to OA Nord, 7 April 1934). Nieland had joined the SS officially on 1 November 1933. See
Dokumente zur Gleichschaltung
, 177.

48
.
Dokumente zur Gleichschaltung
, 177 f.

49
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Streckenbach; Wildt, ‘Streckenbach’, 101;
Dokumente zur Gleichschaltung
, 176.

50
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Kaufmann, Himmler to Kaufmann, 15 November 1933.

51
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Georg Friedrich Ahrens, cv of 25 June 1942 and letter from Himmler dated 14 August 1934.

52
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Streckenbach.

53
.
Dokumente zur Gleichschaltung
, 176.

54
. Ibid. 231 ff.

55
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Hildebrandt and SS-O Ludwig Oldach (SS date of entry: 26 September 1933); Browder,
Foundations
, 104 f.;
Völkischer Beobachter
, 13 December 1933: ‘Himmler becomes leader of the political police in Mecklenburg.’

56
. On Himmler’s appointment in Württemberg see Browder,
Foundations
, 106 ff.; Paul Sauer,
Württemberg in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus
(Ulm, 1975), 58 ff. On Stahlecker see Jürgen Schuhladen-Krämer, ‘Die Exekutoren des Terrors. Herrmann Mattheiss, Walther Stahlecker, Friedrich Mussgay, Leiter der Geheimen Staatspolizeistelle Stuttgart’, in Michael Kissener and Joachim Scholtyseck (eds),
Die Führer der Provinz
.
NS-Biographien aus Baden und Württemberg
(Konstanz, 1997), 405–43, esp. 416 ff.

57
. BAB, R 18/5642, minute by Pfundtner on a conversation with Murr, 31 May 1934. Murr told Pfundtner: the ‘Führer is particularly keen on these units, which are similar to the Wecke unit, and, according to Herr Himmler, wants them to be introduced in all the states’.

58
. BAB, NS 19/1724, Himmler to Murr, 4 December 1933: ‘I would like to inform you that if you officially appoint me police chief in Württemberg I will be very happy to accept.’ In a letter to Murr of 15 December 1933 Himmler referred to ‘Würrtemberg as the first state with which I have been cooperating in the very important sphere of the political police for months’.

59
. Herbert,
Best
, 138.

60
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Murr.

61
. Browder,
Foundations
, 108; see also Herbert,
Best
, 137 f.

62
. Michael Stolle,
Die Geheime Staatspolizei in Baden. Personal, Organisation, Wirkung und Nachwirken einer regionalen Verfolgungsbehörde im Dritten Reich
(Konstanz, 2001), 85 ff.

63
. Browder,
Foundations
, 106 f.; Inge Marssolek and René Ott,
Bremen im Dritten Reich. Anpassung—Widerstand—Verfolgung
(Bremen, 1986), 121 ff. and 176 ff.; BAB, BDC, SS-O Laue and Schulz. According to his cv of 7 June 1935, from 1930 onwards the latter was in the Intelligence department, which de facto was the political police. From November 1933 he was acting head of the Secret State Police in Bremen. On Schulz see in particular Wildt,
Generation der Unbedingten
(Hamburg, 2003), 561 ff. See also BAB, NS 19/1718, telegram from Himmler’s Adjutant’s office to the Bürgermeister of Bremen, 18 December 1933, according to which Himmler was happy to become political police chief in Bremen.

64
. Browder,
Foundations
, 106.

65
. Buchheim, ‘SS’, 39; Browder,
Foundations
, 110. Prime Minister Alfred Freyberg joined the SS in November 1933 and from spring 1934 was registered as a leader in the SD Office. Reich Governor Loeper (who was also responsible for Brunswick) was given the rank of SS-Gruppenführer shortly after Himmler’s appointment: BAB, BDC, SS-O Friedrich Wilhelm Loeper, Himmler’s telegram of congratulation on his appointment dated 12 February 1934; SS-O Alfred Freyberg.

66
. Browder,
Foundations
, 111.

67
. Buchheim, ‘SS’, 42; Browder,
Foundations
, 111.

68
. On Saxony see Aronson,
Heydrich
, 160 f. In Dresden the SD had a valuable contact in the shape of Herbert Mehlhorn, from 1 September 1933 deputy president of the Saxon Secret State Police. Mehlhorn was a member of the SD. On Himmler’s appointment in Saxony see also Browder,
Foundations
, 111 f.

69
. BAB, NS 19/1724, 17 December 1933; BAB, BDC, SS-O Loeper, Himmler’s letter of congratulation dated 12 February 1934. On the context see Gerhard Wysocki,
Die Geheime Staatspolizei im Land Braunschweig. Polizeirecht und Polizeipraxis im Nationalsozialismus
(Frankfurt a. M. and New York, 1997), esp. 58 f.

70
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Klagges.

71
. Aronson,
Heydrich
, 166; on this conflict see also Browder,
Foundations
, 94 ff.

72
. In June 1933 Klagges brought Jeckeln back to Brunswick from SS headquarters in Munich, where he had been sent in 1932 because of his involvement in bomb attacks. Jeckeln had cooperated with Klagges in the conflict with the SD: see Wysocki,
Geheime Staatspolizei
, 63; BAB, BDC, SS-O Jeckeln, letters of appointment dated 6 February 1933 and 9 August 1933.

73
. Browder,
Foundations
, 109 f.