Heinrich Himmler : A Life (163 page)

120
. Müller,
Heer
, 445 f.; on the meeting of 2 February see Franz Halder,
Kriegstagebuch. Tägliche Aufzeichnungen des Chefs des Generalstabes des Heeres 1939–1942
, ed. Hans-Adolf Jacobsen together with Alfred Philippi, vol. 1:
Vom Polenfeldzug bis zum Ende der Westoffensive (14. 8. 1939–30. 6. 1940)
(Stuttgart, 1962), 183, 5 February 1940.

121
. Müller,
Heer
, 448 ff.; Halder,
Kriegstagebuch
, vol. 1, 229, 13 March 1940.

122
. See Müller,
Heer
, 459 ff., on the ‘disgust and outrage’, which the edict had aroused in the officer corps, and which among other things is shown in Groscurth’s diary (14 December 1939 and 22 January 1940). Himmler’s friend, Johst, felt prompted to mount a defence of the edict in his book,
Ruf des Reiches, Echo des Volkes. Eine Ostfahrt
(Munich, 1940).

123
. BAB, NS 19/3901; Facsimile in Norbert Westenrieder,
‘Deutsche Frauen und Mädchen!’ Vom Alltagsleben 1933–1945
(Düsseldorf, 1984), 42.

124
. BAB, NS 19/3901, 10 January 1940. On 19 June 1940 regulations for implementing the RFSS’s order of 28 October 1939, which modified the original purpose of the order: ‘The first duty is to care for all children of good blood whose fathers have been killed in the war and their mothers [ . . . ] The second duty is to care for all children of good blood who have been fathered by SS men during the war. The SS will take responsibility for their care and for the care of expectant mothers in all cases where there is need and hardship. […] The third duty is to care for the families of members of the SS who have been called up into the Wehrmacht or the Waffen-SS’ (NS 2/275).

125
. BAB, NS 7/221, The SS judge attached to the RFSS in the SS Court Main Office, 24 March 1942 (refers to the order of 30 January 1940). In this letter the SS judge accepts in Himmler’s name that in individual cases punishment may not be appropriate: ‘However, it is obvious that in all those cases where the culprit has exploited the absence of the husband and has behaved irresponsibly, with a lack of decency, or even in a mean way towards the husband or wife the court must be merciless in imposing punishment.’

126
. BAB, NS 19/4007, 29 February 1940, see also Himmler,
Geheimreden
, 116 ff., quotation 117 ff. Italics in the original.

127
. BAB, NS 19/4007, speech to the commanders of the ‘Leibstandarte’ on the evening of Metz Day, 7 September 1940.

128
. PRO, WO 208/4474, Hedwig Potthast, Reichsführer Himmler’s Mistress, 24 May 1945. I used this report of the British Secret Service to reconstruct her most important biographical data. During the 1980s Hedwig Potthast spoke to the journalist Peter Ferdinand Koch about her relationship with Himmler (see his book
Himmlers graue Eminenz. Oswald Pohl und das Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt der SS
(Hamburg, 1988)). On Himmler’s relationship with Potthast see also Himmler,
Brüder Himmler
, 233 ff.

129
. BAB, NS 19/3672.

130
. BAK, NL 1126/37, Letter of November 1941.

131
.
Dienstkalender
.

132
. Koch,
Pohl
, 57 and 79.

133
. Ibid. 186 f.

134
. USHMM, Acc. 1999.A.0092, 4 September 1939; on Margarete’s life during the war see Himmler,
Brüder Himmler
, 241 ff.

135
. USHMM, Acc. 1999.A.0092, 11 September, 16 October, and 3 and 14 November 1939.

136
. Ibid. 3 December 1939.

137
. Ibid. 2 June 1940. Further entries during the years 1942–3, for example on 16 August 1943: ‘My stations were in perfect order.’

138
. Ibid. 7 March 1940.

139
. Ibid. 23 March 1940.

140
. Ibid. 6 April 1941.

141
. Ibid. 4 February 1941: ‘Heini’s been in Norway for the past week and I haven’t heard anything from him via the staff for two days. I don’t dare to ask because I’m treated appallingly and no one protects me and everyone is aware of it, otherwise I couldn’t understand their behaviour. And every young girl is after a man. If they only knew how bitter life is. Will I be able to protect my daughter from the worst?’

142
. Ibid. 1 March 1942.

143
. Ibid. 6 September 1943.

144
. This is clear from the
Dienstkalender
.

145
. BAK, NL 1126/16, Gudrun Himmler’s letters.

146
. An album into which Gudrun stuck the photos of her father is in the US Holocaust Museum in Washington: Himmler Family Collection. Himmler often put captions on the photos: ‘To my dear Püppi from Pappi.’

147
. Himmler,
Brüder Himmler,
277 f.

1
. Wildt,
Generation
, 259 ff.

2
. BAB, R 58/826, Reorganization of the Security Service of the Reichsführer-SS in order to align its organization and personnel with those of the security police, 24 February 1939. Schellenberg was putting forward ideas that he had already proposed in a paper that he had submitted in the summer of 1938 (R 58/827, minute of 5. July 1938).

3
. Ibid. Basic Principles for the Training and Career Development of the Leaders (senior officials) of the German Security Police, 1 March 1939. Best also advocated his views publicly in an article, which appeared under the title ‘Criticism and Aporia of the “lawyer”’ in the journal
Deutsches Recht
(1939), 196–9, and was printed in an abridged version in the
Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
of 12 April 1939. On the dispute see Herbert,
Best
, 228 ff.

4
. Both wanted to achieve this through the Reich government taking over the SD but without subjecting it to state administrative law. On this dispute see BAB, R 58/826, Schellenberg minute of 4 April 1939; R 58/137, meeting with Heydrich on 15 April 1939 re: reorganization of the Sipo and SD; R 58/137, Schellenberg minute of 25 April 1939 re: critique of Best’s position, R 58/826, Heydrich circular of 5 July 1939.

5
. Ibid. circular edict of 5 July 1939; R 58/240, merger of the central offices of the security police and SD, 27 September 1939.

6
. Material in BAB, R 43 II/393a; cf. Wildt,
Generation
, 278.

7
. Wildt,
Generation
, 335 ff.

8
. Ibid. 352 ff.

9
. Ibid. 301 ff.; Wagner,
Volksgemeinschaft
, 265 ff.

10
. Wildt,
Generation
, 378 ff. The SD homeland reports dealing with the whole of the Reich, which were collected by the RSHA, have been published in
Meldungen aus dem Reich 1938–1945. Die geheimen Lageberichte des Sicherheitsdienstes der SS
, ed. and with an introduction by Heinz Boberach, 18 vols. (Herrsching, 1984–5).

11
. Querg,
Spionage
, 165; Wildt,
Generation
, 391 ff.

12
. BAB, BDC, SS-O Jost.

13
. Querg,
Spionage
, 183 ff.

14
. Hachmeister,
Gegnerforscher
.

15
. BADH, ZR 920/56, circular edict of the Intelligence Service of 4 August 1941; cf. Dierker,
Glaubenskrieger
, 331 ff., and Wildt,
Generation
, 364 ff.

16
. Wildt,
Generation
, 377. Apart from Hachmeister’s study see also the article by Jürgen Matthäus, ‘“Weltanschauliche Forschung und Auswertung”. Aus den Akten des Amtes VII im Reichssicherheitshauptamt’,
Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung
, 5 (1996), 287–330, and the edited volume
Himmlers Hexenkartothek
.

17
. BAB, R 58/239.

18
. Wagner,
Volksgemeinschaft
, 330 ff.

19
. See the reports in the German daily newspapers, for example:
Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
of 10 November 1938 (morning edition), Headline: ‘The world’s view of the assassination attempt. RFSS announces: the culprits are believed to be foreign’;
Völkischer Beobachter
of 11 November 1938: ‘England and the Jews are the brains behind the Munich crime.’

20
. Judged as an example of a professional secret service in action the kidnapping was of dubious value since it meant that the chance of infiltrating the Secret Service network in the Netherlands was thrown away. On the Venlo Action see Schellenberg,
Memoirs
, 82 ff.; Höhne,
Orden
, 263 ff.; Querg,
Spionage
, 224 ff.; Wildt,
Generation
, 399 f.

21
. IfZ, ZS 1939, Albrecht Böhme, 19 May 1949, here another undated statement by Böhme, in which he repeats his story; ZS 735, Franz Josef Huber, 19 June 1969.

22
. Elser’s statement to the Gestapo has been published in various places, most recently in
Das Protokoll. Die Autobiographie des Georg Elser
(Königsbronn, 2006). The most comprehensive account remains Anton Hoch and Lothar Gruchmann,
Georg Elser. Der Attentäter aus dem Volke. Der Anschlag auf Hitler im Münchner Bürgerbräu 1939
(Frankfurt a. M., 1980).

23
. Note by Gürtner 20 September 1939 published in Martin Broszat, ‘Zur Perversion der Strafjustiz im Dritten Reich’, with a documentary appendix,
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte
, 6 (1958), 390–443, here 408 f.; Gürtner note on a meeting with Hitler, 14 October 1939, published ibid. 411; list of victims compiled by the Reich Justice Ministry, ibid. 411 ff.

24
. BAB, R 8/243, excerpts published in Broszat, ‘Konzentrationslager’, 399.

25
. For examples of executions in work re-education camps see Gerd Wysocki, ‘Lizenz zum Töten. Die “Sonderbehandlungs”-Praxis der Stapo-Stelle Braunschweig’, in Gerhard Paul and Michael Mallmann (eds),
Die Gestapo im Zweiten Weltkrieg.‘Heimatfront’ und besetztes Europa
(Darmstadt, 2000), 237–54, here 241 ff.; on businesses see ibid. 246 ff. Bernd-A. Rusinek,
Gesellschaft in der Katastrophe. Terror, Illegalität, Widerstand–Köln 1944/45
(Essen, 1989), 350 ff., describes a public execution in Cologne. For further examples of such murders portrayed as executions see Hans-Joachim Heuer,
Geheime Staatspolizei. Über das Töten und die Tendenzen der Entzivilisierung
(Berlin, 1995); see also Hellmuth Auerbach, ‘Der Begriff “Sonderbehandlung” im Sprachgebrauch der SS’, in
Gutachten des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte
, vol. 2 (Stuttgart, 1966), 182–9.

26
. This is indicated by the guidelines which the head of Gestapo Department II announced at a meeting of desk officers on 26 September 1939 (published in Martin Hirsch
et al
. (eds),
Recht, Verwaltung und Justiz im Nationalsozialismus. Ausgewählte Schriften, Gesetze und Gerichtsentscheidungen von 1933 bis 1945
(Cologne, 1984). Also the choice of words in the ‘Basic Principles’ of 23 September 1939 (‘on higher authority’) shows that Himmler could decide unilaterally and did not need to get Hitler’s approval in every individual case.

27
. Himmler minute, 20 November 1939, quoted in Ulrich Herbert,
Fremdarbeiter. Politik und Praxis des ‘Ausländer-Einsatzes’in der Kriegswirtschaft des Dritten Reiches
(Bonn, 1999), 91, based on files of the Berlin public prosecutor’s office.

28
. Edict of 8 January 1940, quoted ibid. 91 f., based on files of the Berlin public prosecutor’s office.

29
.
Documenta Occupationis
, vol. 10:
Praca przymusowa polaków pod panowaniem hitlerowskim: 1939–1945
(‘Polish Forced Labour under the Hitler Regime’) (Posen, 1976), doc. no. II 3, 28 December 1939.