Read Heinrich Himmler : A Life Online
Authors: Peter Longerich
astrology, Himmler’s interest in 77–8, 280
Atlantis 281
Attolico, Bernardo 419
Auschwitz concentration camp:
dismantling of gas chambers 707
establishment of 480, 481
evacuation of 710–11
murder of those incapable of work 572
production facilities in 482, 633
IG Farben 480, 557–8
use of gas 548–9
construction of gas chambers 563
Himmler witnesses demonstration 573
Zyklon B experiments 549
Austria:
abortive Nazi putsch in (1934) 177–9
Anschluss 402–4
Gestapo established in 404
persecution of Jews 406–7
settlement policy 414
Babi Yar 533, 536
Bach-Zelewski, Erich von dem 322, 325, 438, 522
combating partisans 628
physical and mental breakdown 332–3
Soviet Union:
deployment in 530–1
mass murder of Jews 526, 533–4
Backe, Herbert 415
Baden, Himmler takes control of political police 159
Balbo, Italo 396
Baltic states, evacuation of concentration camps 710
Basch, Franz 503, 614, 673
Bauer, Friedrich Franz 260
Bauer, Fritz 377
Bavaria:
crisis in relations with Reich 60–1
Epp appointed Minister of the Interior 148
Himmler takes control of political police 150–1
Hitler putsch (1923) 69
Kahr appointed emergency dictator 66–7
political crisis (1923) 66–9
political divisions 61
post-First World War political unrest 27
radical right in 61
secret rearmament 63
soviet republic proclaimed 27
Bavarian People’s Party (BVP) 61
Himmler’s action against 155
Himmler’s support for 26, 27–8
Becher, Kurt 708–9
Beck, Ludwig 182
Becker, Herbert 368
Beger, Bruno 282
Behrends, Hermann 167, 187, 212, 319, 366
ambition of 327–8
as head of VoMi 390, 391
Belev, Alexander 663–4
Belgium:
deportation of Jews 571, 620, 668
Himmler’s influence over military administration 496
invasion of 492
military administration appointed by Hitler 496
repression by SS 631
counter-terror 657
reprisals for acts of resistance 544
Waffen-SS recruitment in 607–8
national legion 603
Below, Nikolaus von
432
Belzec extermination camp 547, 561
construction of 547, 548
extension of 562, 572
Bender, Horst 486
Berchtold, Joseph 110, 112–13
Bergen, Diego von 397
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp 725
evacuation of 728, 730
Jewish hostages 708
liberation of 728
production facilities in 633
Berger, Gottlob 307, 346, 585, 653, 702
Belgium 607
Selbstschutz, creation of 429
Slovakia 705
Volkssturm (home guard) 712–13
Waffen-SS, recruitment of non-Germans 499–500, 501, 503, 604, 673, 678
Berkelmann, Theodor 588
Bernadotte, Folke 724–5, 726–7, 728–9, 734
Best, Sigismund Payne 473
Best, Werner 159, 187, 190,
207
, 469, 654, 657
attempt to deport Danish Jews 693
background of 319
head of administrative department in Gestapa 195
search for compromising material on SA 172
state protection corps 204–5
Bingel, Rudolf 259
Birn, Ruth Bettina 306
Blank, Herbert 225, 246
Blaskowitz, Johannes 433, 461
Blomberg, Werner von 182, 190, 398
Blüher, Hans 52, 234–5
Bocchini, Arturo 395, 459
Bock, Fedor von 433, 538
Boden, Margarete,
see
Himmler, Margarete
Bohemia and Moravia,
see
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Bohle, Ernst Wilhelm 388, 393
Bolanden, Conrad von 45
Boltz, Wilhelm 158
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 698
Bormann, Martin
432
, 519
anti-Jewish actions 216
Christian persecution 221
Poland, supports Himmler in 439
total war 684, 700
Volkssturm (home guard) 712, 713
Bose, Herbert von 173
Bouhler, Philipp 89,
453
, 509
Bousquet, René 631, 648, 652, 693
Brack, Viktor 509, 512, 520, 548
Bradfisch, Otto 534
Brandt, Karl 449–50
Brandt, Rudolf 257, 280, 344, 522, 681–2, 727, 735
Brauchitsch, Walther von 399, 433, 461, 462
Braun, Wernher von 688–9
Brehm, Friedrich 498
Bremen, Himmler takes control of political police 160
Brüning, Heinrich 126, 139
Brunner, Alois 692, 693
Brunswick, Himmler takes control of political police 160
Buchenwald concentration camp 242, 324, 728, 730
Bühler, Josef 556–7
Bulgaria, Jews in 619
deportation of 625, 663–4
Bund Deutscher Osten (BDO, League of the German East) 388, 390
Bürckel, Josef 407, 497, 498, 588–9, 590
Bürger, Karl-Heinz 322, 325
Bürger, Marianne 325
business:
Friends of the Reichsführer-SS 258–60
involvement in concentration camp system 480, 557–8, 686–7
Bütefisch, Heinrich 259
Caesar, Joachim 314, 416
Canaris, Wilhelm 433
agreement with Heydrich 189–90
becomes head of military intelligence 189
murder of 698
relations with Gestapo 189, 190
Catholic church:
Mit brennender Sorge
(‘With Burning Anxiety’) 223
persecution of 197, 221
criminal trials 221–2
see also
Christianity/Christian church
Centre Party 66, 698
Chamberlain, Houston Stewart 59
Chelmno extermination camp 548, 567
Christianity/Christian church:
Himmler:
centrality of conflict with 265–6
de-Christianization 265
hostility of 218, 220, 262–3
Jehovah’s Witnesses 267
public image of denominational neutrality 218–20
‘Special Witch Project’ 224–5
Nazi persecution of 221, 223–4
Catholic church 197, 221–2, 223–4
criminal trials 221–2
Jehovah’s Witnesses 224
Protestant Church 222–3
see also
Catholic church
Churchill, Winston 720, 726
Clauberg, Carl 520
Clausen, Fritz 606
Communist Party (KPD) 66
arrest of leaders of 150
Gestapo action against 192–3, 194–5
communist threat:
elimination of 213
Gestapo action against 192–3, 194–5, 202, 698
Himmler’s memorandum on (1935) 193–4
Himmler’s use of 193
preventive repression 203
comradeship, as virtue of SS 308
Concentration Camp Inspectorate (IKL) 480
concentration camps:
badges for prisoner categories 243
centralization and unification of system 183
conditions in:
Himmler on 245
Himmler’s defence of terror regime in 244–5
wartime deterioration 481–2
defended by Himmler 727
design of 242
development of ‘Dachau model’ 153–4
Eicke given responsibility for 174–5
end of killing ordered by Himmler 724
establishment of, Himmler’s control over 479–80
evacuation of 710–11, 730–1
extermination through work 557–61, 573, 624
failure to hand over to Allies 730–1
forced labour 243–4, 482, 557–61, 621
hiring out to armaments factories 686–7
inspections by Himmler
175
, 246,
481
investigations into mistreatment in 191
organization of 242–3
prisoner categories 482
political prisoners and asocials 637–8
pre-war expansion of 241–7
prisoner numbers doubled to meet labour needs 687
production facilities in 229, 243–4, 482–3
failure of armaments projects 632–4, 684–5
IG Farben 480
shooting of prisoners 244–5
SS businesses in 260–1, 482–3
tours organized by Himmler 246–7
treatment of prisoners 244
wartime expansion 479, 480–1
see also
extermination camps
Confessing Church 222
conscription 180, 229
Consul Organization 62–3
Conti, Leonardo 681
Coordination Centre for Ethnic Germans (VoMi) 389–90
Himmler’s indirect influence over 389–91
Lorenz appointed head of 389–90
Poland 391
relations with German organizations abroad 391
resettlement of South Tyroleans 419