Heinrich Himmler : A Life (199 page)

Read Heinrich Himmler : A Life Online

Authors: Peter Longerich

Italy:

establishes security apparatus in 690–1

German-Italian police conference (1936) 395

holiday in 395–7

lack of cooperation over Jews 663

official visit to 404

predicts Mussolini’s fall 690

Jewish policy:

considers mass sterilization 512, 520

danger of exclusion from decision-making 217

deportation of Jews to east 542–3

deportation of Jews to the east 666

exchange of Jewish prisoners 707–9

expels Polish Jews from Germany 408

gains control over in General Government 564–6

ghetto in General Government 510

Jews as hostages 407–8, 707–8, 724

Kristallnacht 409–10

mass murders in Soviet Union 525–7, 531–4, 537, 538, 539

paucity of pre- 1938 comments on 215

personal responsibility for Jewish murders 539

pre-war anti-Jewish decrees in Germany 411

radicalization of 528–30

see also
anti-Semitism; final solution

journalism 70–1

Kok-Sagys cultivation 659, 660, 685–6

leadership style 299–302, 742

artificial correctness 301–2

dispute resolution 343

encouragement 336–7

indoctrination of SS members 312–14

intervention in members’ lives 315, 365–7

intervention in recruitment process 302–3

mobility 92,
494
,
623

present-giving 302

punishment 343–5

regulation of conduct of SS members 311–12

reprimands 337–42

soldierly image
137
, 300–1

on typical career of SS member 303–4

unpredictability 299

virtues of SS members 304–12, 742

marriage
108
, 109, 741

birth of daughter 109

confesses weakness to Margarete 104–5

first meets Margarete 103

holiday in Italy 395–7

houses 373–4

pre-marriage correspondence with Margarete 103–8

waning enthusiasm for wife 265

marriages within SS

adultery 375–6

approval of 126–7

approval procedure 353–8

ceremonies 288–9

divorce 375

examination of marriage requests 358–65

intervention in 365–8

number of children 378

orders to marry 377–8

second wives 376

military career:

Commander-in-Chief army group Vistula 715–18

Commander-in-Chief of Upper Rhine 715

desire for 28–9, 36–7, 54

First World War 23–6

Free Corps membership 28

joins Residents’ Reserve 33

psychological explanation of appeal of 40

relieved of command 718

Reserve Army Commander 698–704

satisfaction in feeling like a soldier 32

Territorial army membership 31–2

Volkssturm (home guard) 711–14

mistress (Hedwig Potthast):

children by 334, 466, 467

starts relationship with 375, 466

as Nazi agitator in Lower Bavaria (1924-26) 81–2

agricultural issues 85–6

anti-Semitism 84, 85

distanced approach to Hitler 87

journalism 70–1

paramilitary activities 87–8

speaking activities 71–2, 83–4, 86

tensions with Munich headquarters 82–3

negotiations with Rosenberg over role in east 516

Netherlands 606–7

acquires influence in 493–4

Dutch SS established 495

first trip to 492–3

Germanic policy for 495

repression in 655–6

Norway:

attempt to acquire influence in 491–2

extension of SS jurisdiction 544

visit to 500

occult 282–5, 519–20

Operation Reinhardt 350, 571, 583

opposition to legality 205

paramilitary organizations:

Free Corps membership 28

involvement with 28, 31–3, 54, 63, 66, 67

joins Freiweg Rifle Club 63

psychological explanation of appeal of 40

William Tell Shooting and Hiking League 87–8

partisans:

campaign against 626–9

expanded responsibility for combating 658–9

gains responsibility for combating 617, 621–2

link between Holocaust and combating partisans 625–6

securing labour through campaign against 660

peace approaches 720, 746–7

context of 724

discussions with Goebbels 721–2

false presentation of events 727

Jews as hostages 724

negotiations with Bernadotte 724–5, 726–7, 728–9

negotiations with Masur 727–8

offers alliance with France 729

offers partial surrender 729

self-presentation as honourable negotiator 725–6

personality 3–4, 737

adopts role of outsider 73

appeal of military/paramilitary 40

arrogance 73, 74–5

attachment disorder 39, 40–1, 55, 738

development of 737–41

difficulties with personal relationships 39–40, 54–6, 308, 738

double standards 742

fantasy world 574

feels lack of emotional support 55–6

influence on state protection corps 251

insecurity 138

interference in other people’s lives 73–4, 739

megalomania 92

need for control 92

obsequiousness 98

overbearing manner 97–9

personalization of political power 743

reaction to failure 740

sadism 343–4

self-assessment 51, 54

self-confidence 138

self-control 36, 40, 734, 738

sense of inferiority 55

sexual repression 50–1

soldierly image
137
, 300–1, 738–9, 740–1

talks too much 138, 728

use of violence 741

utilitarian outlook 267, 408, 709, 741

Poland:

defends atrocities in 464–5

deportation of Jews 439–40

deportation of Jews to General Government 444, 455–7

destruction of Warsaw 705

directs Einsatzgruppen 429–30

elimination of intelligentsia 429

establishes police organization 437–8

Germanization 434

mass arrests 658

orders destruction of Warsaw ghetto 664

orders final removal of Jews 665

penal code 439

police courts 439

re-Germanization 452–4

repression in 657–8

shooting of insurgents 428

‘Treatment of the Ethnically Alien Population in the East’ 450–2

police force:

amalgamation of police and SS 204–5

on duties of 206

extension and reorientation of 204

model of soldierly civil service 205–6

opposition to legality 205, 206

political ideas:

agricultural issues 85–6

as agricultural student 33

anti-capitalism 92–3

conflict with Bolshevism 123

development of world view 77–81

racial selection 123–4, 126–7

reading 30, 42, 59, 77–81

uses term National Socialism 86

völkisch peasant policy 100–1

see also
Greater Germanic Reich; ideology

political police:

appointed acting Munich police chief 149

establishment of Dachau camp 151

justifies mass arrests 150

takes control in German states 155–61

takes control in Prussia 161–8

takes control of in Bavaria 150–1

politicization of 60–4, 739

power of 642

growth of 643, 647–8

preventive repression 181, 193, 194, 195, 199

abortion 203

communist threat 203

criminality 203

development of concept 202–3

extension to all forms of opposition 203

homosexuality 203

protective custody:

justification of 150, 193–4

resists attempts to restrict 191–2, 200

succeeds in institutionalizing 196

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia:

repression in 654

reprisals for Heydrich’s assassination 568, 570

security regime in 412–13, 490

publications,
The SS as an Anti-Bolshevik Fighting Force
261

racial policy:

Ethnic German List 452–4

gypsies 230

marriages within SS 353, 354, 358–9, 362–3

membership of German nation 590–1

minimal education 451

racial selection 454–5

racial zones of Europe 575–7

regulation of sexual intercourse 594–5

sex between Germans and ethnic aliens 593–4

‘Treatment of the Ethnically Alien Population in the East’ 450–2

as Reich Minister of the Interior 681–4

religion:

alternative world view 285–6

ancestor cult 267–8

belief in God 266

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