Heinrich Himmler : A Life (198 page)

Belgium 495–6, 607–8

birth 13

capture by Allies 1–2, 736, 749n1

career in Nazi regime 741–7

phases of 743–7

career setbacks 516

Catholic faith:

commitment to 34

conflict with 34

distancing from 77

mother’s influence 14

practise of 31

childhood 16,
17
, 737–8

Cadet Corps member 22, 23

fascination with First World War 19–22

father’s influence 13–14

friendships 18–19

holiday diaries 16–18

illness 15, 16

school 16, 18, 23, 27

Christianity/Christian church:

centrality of conflict with 265–6

de-Christianization 265

homosexuality in 235

hostility towards 218, 220, 262–3

image of neutrality towards denominations 218–20

Jehovah’s Witnesses 267

Protestant Church 222–3

public caution about 221

‘Special Witch Project’ 224–5

communist threat 213

action against 192–3, 194–5

memorandum on (1935) 193–4

preventive repression 203

use of 193

concentration camps:

centralization and unification of system 183

on conditions in 245

control over establishment of 479–80

defence of 244–5, 727

development of ‘Dachau model’ 154

evacuation of 710–11, 730–1

failure to hand over to Allies 730–1

forced labour 557–61

inspections of
175
, 246,
481
,
558

orders end of killing 724

organizes tours of 246–7

prevents investigation of Dachau 155

pre-war expansion of 241–7

prisoners doubled to meet labour needs 687

wartime expansion 479, 480–1

Cosmic Ice Theory 277, 279–80

criminal police:

preventive criminal policy 225–6, 636–8

preventive custody 227

unification and modernization 226–7

Czechoslovakia:

establishment of security regime in 412–13

occupation of Prague 412

death of 2–3,
736

decency 198

double standards 310

inapplicability to opponents 309–10

mass murder 309

as SS virtue 308–11

Denmark 606

fails to acquire influence in 492

repression in 654–5

as deputy Nazi Propaganda Chief (1926-30):

anti-Semitism 93

appointment 89

claims leaders’ support to justify decisions 98, 100

conflicts with party members 97–9

deployment of party speakers 91

freedom of action 90–1, 100

Propaganda
(1928) 91–2

regional concentration of propaganda 96–7

Reichstag elections (1928) 96

Reichstag elections (1930) 116

relinquishes post 116

reporting and data collection 91–2

speaking activities 92–3

state elections (1928) 96

state elections (Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1927) 94–6

state elections (Thuringia, 1927) 94

unifies party propaganda activities 91

as Deputy Reichsführer-SS (1927-29):

appointment 110

internal reorganization 113

as diarist:

childhood 16–18

First World War 19–22

domestic repression 661–2

education:

family unable to finance degree 65

political reading 30

proposed political degree 64

reading 29–30, 41–3, 44–5, 77–81

school 16, 18, 23, 27, 28

see also
agricultural student at Munich Technical University

employment:

artificial fertilizer factory 65–6

considers emigration 72

limited job prospects 72

ethnic policy 387, 610–11

direction of 388

France 498

Hungary 502–3

indirect influence over 389–91

Netherlands 495

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 457

reasons for involvement in 391–2

Romania 502

SS recruitment 609–16

executions ordered by 474

expelled from party and state offices by Hitler 730

experimental farms 483–4

family background 12–13, 14–15

father, relationship with 13–14, 58–9, 379, 737–8

in final days of war 733–4

prepare to flee 734–5

on the run 735–6

final solution:

deportation of Jews from Reich 624

deportation of Jews to east 542–3, 544–5

expansion throughout Europe 563–4, 571–2

extermination of Jews in General Government 573–4

extermination through work 557–61, 573, 624

as first step in new order 574

implicates Wehrmacht in 694–5

justification of 689–90, 695

key role in 542, 551, 745–6

link with settlement policy 578–9

mass murders in General Government 561–2, 566

murder of those incapable of work 560, 562, 571, 572

open references to 689–90, 694–5

permits construction of extermination camp 547

search for method of killing 547–8

witnesses use of gas chambers 573

First World War:

Cadet Corps member 22, 23

childhood fascination with 19–22

impact on 40, 738

military service 23–6

forced labour:

concentration camps 557–61

increasing supply of 621

obtaining through partisan campaign 660

foreign policy:

acquires influence over 392–5

disputes with Ribbentrop 506–7

embassy attachés 394, 506–7

infiltration of diplomatic service 392–4

legionnaires’ putsch in Romania 505–6

links with foreign police forces 395

France:

deportation of Jews 571–2, 619–20, 624

establishes influence in 497

lack of Italian cooperation over Jews 663

Marseilles punishment operation 649–51

offers alliance with 729

opposition to policy in 652, 653

presses for deprivation-of-citizenship law 668

radical policy in south of France 648–9

settlement policy 588–92

Freemasons 213–14

attacks on 84

as organizational model 84–5

friendships 380

as agricultural student 31, 34, 44

alienates friends 74–5

childhood 18–19

Johst 380–1

Germanic view of history 269–74

Ahnenerbe (Ancestral Heritage) 275–9

Charlemagne 271–2

Christianization as mistake 271

Henry I 272–3

Hohenstaufens 273

racial thinking 270

Teutonic Knights 273

Gestapo:

appointed Inspector of the Secret State Police in Prussia 168

functions of 206

Göring unable to secure control over 185–7

infiltrates 166

nature of 184–5

self-image as head of 184

Greater Germanic Reich 263, 385–7, 605–7, 745

conception of 640

speeding up creation of 642

SS’s leading role in 640–1

steps to achieving 638–40

Greece 544–5

gypsies 230, 669–72

health:

as agricultural student 29, 30

believes illness psychosomatic 105, 310

childhood 15, 16

health of SS members 329–33

nutritional advice 334–5

Hess’s flight to Scotland 519

Hitler:

criticised by 722–3

expelled from party and state offices by 729

praise of 79

reads
Mein Kampf
87

relationship with 87, 100

secures agreement on police reorganization 199

Sima’s flight 651–2

swears oath of loyalty to
141

talks on role of SS 199

Hitler putsch (1923)
68
, 69, 72

homosexuality:

falsely accuses Fritsch 239, 399–400

hostility towards 38, 52, 231

views on 232–7, 238–9, 464

Wittje case 400–2

Hungary 625, 651–2, 693–4, 706

ideology:

conflict with Asia 262–4

constant elements of 264

development of 739

flexible combination with power politics 747

Germanic blood in the east 263–4

Germanic view of history 270–4

identification of enemies 262

ideological conflict 386

inconsistency 264

Jewish-Bolshevik threat 262

racial conflict 261–2

scarcity of pre-war statements on 261

subordination to politics 264–5

indebtedness of SS leaders 324–7