Heinrich Himmler : A Life (194 page)

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