Read Heinrich Himmler : A Life Online
Authors: Peter Longerich
cynical approach to 267
immortality 267–8
reincarnation 269
Teutonic myths 266–7
see also
Christianity
repression in occupied countries:
contradictory policy 654
counter-terror 657, 705
dead zones in Soviet Union 659–60
Denmark 654–5
expansion in areas covered by 658–9
Netherlands 655–6
opposition to 652, 653
Poland 657–8
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 654
securing labour 660
south of France 648–51
as Reserve Army commander 698–704
appointed by Hitler 698–9
appoints SS leaders 701
army organization 702
brutalization of military justice 703
context of appointment 699–700
preventing retreat 711
responsibilities of 699
responsibility for prisoners of war 702
rocket programme 703–4
Russian forces for Wehrmacht 702–3
Volkssturm (home guard) 711–14
Werewolfs 714–15
SA (Storm Troops):
exploitation of Röhm’s homosexuality 120
Night of the Long Knives 174
relationship with Röhm 119–20
Stennes crisis (1930) 118
Samurai 281
SD (Security Service):
appoints Heydrich as head of 165
cooperation with Gestapo 188–9
raised in status within SS 165
role of 188
Second World War as opportunity 424–5
seeks control of police and security in east 515–16, 527, 535–6
settlement policy:
becomes focus of attention for 414–15
comprehensive European plan 578
deportation of Jews to General Government 444, 455–7
disagreement with Rosenberg 629–30
eastern occupied countries 535, 536, 579
female east European domestic staff 592–3
France 498, 588–92
gains control of 434–6
General Government 581–4
Germanization 441–50, 452–4, 572, 578, 582
limited interest in 413
link with final solution 578–9
military peasant 443
military settlements 450
negotiations with Rosenberg 538–9
opportunity for expanding SS empire 415
Poland 434,
453
progress with 579
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 420–2, 580–1
racial selection 445, 446–7
racial zones of Europe 575–7
re-Germanization 452–4, 592–3
secures Darré’s dismissal 416–17
seizure of children 595–9
South Tyrol 417–20, 458–61
Soviet Union 527, 528, 535, 584–6
standardization of 575
Ukraine 622
Yugoslavia 577
sexuality:
changed views on 373
illegitimate births 370–1
pre-marital sex 368–70
Procreation Order 462–4
regulation of intercourse 594–5
sex between Germans and ethnic aliens 593–4
significance of 4–5
Slovakia:
deportation of Jews 547, 562, 563, 705–6
security regime in 490
Waffen-SS recruitment in 608–9
Soviet Union:
campaign against partisans 628–9
dead zones 659–60
deployment of Russian troops with Wehrmacht
661
, 702–3
deployment of SS and police units in 520, 530–1
inspection visits 525–7, 530–1, 533–5,
537
, 538, 554,
597
intervention in extermination process 621–2
mass murder of Jews 525–7, 531–4, 537, 538, 539, 622
mass murder planned 520, 522
opposes strategy of gaining allies in 660
order for massacre of Pinsk ghetto 622
personal responsibility for Jewish murders 539
preparations for invasion 517–24
radicalization of Jewish policy 528–30
settlement policy 584–6
visits Crimea
587
witnesses executions 534
Spain, visit to 504–5
spiritualism 78
SS:
appointed Reichsführer-SS 113–14
appoints Darré as head of Racial Office 127–8
businesses established by 260–1
as a clan 352–3
on conduct in war 249
development of mass organization 138
establishes separate intelligence service 125
establishment of armed units 157
expansion crisis 168
Friends of the Reichsführer-SS 259
future development of SS 139
ideological indoctrination 276, 286, 312–14
issues Service Regulations (1931) 124–5
leadership corps loyal to Himmler 128–35, 305–7
lectures at leadership course 136
militarization of 181–3
Nuremberg party rally (1929) 114–15
as an order 256, 352–3
organizational structure 121, 135–6, 169, 181, 182, 257–8
organizational talent 138–9
pre-war expansion of armed units 247–9
racial selection of members 123–4, 126–7
speech on ‘Purposes and Aims of the SS’ (1931) 122–4
takeover of political police 147–79
on task of SS 248
terror campaign against opponents (1932) 140–1
unity of 255–6
wives of members 352, 353
see also
separate entry for SS
SS cult 742–3
ceremonies 288–94
Germanic view of history 269–74
motives for adopting 274
sacred sites 294–8
symbols 286–8
SS judicial system 485–9
control of 487–8
expansion of jurisdiction 486
motives for introducing 485–6
penal guidelines for 489
punishment of SS members 488–9
right to confirm sentences 486–7
sexual relations with alien women 486–7
state protection corps 204, 424
amalgamation of police and SS 204–5, 249–51
imprinted by his phobias and prejudices 251
Sudetenland 406
symbolic gifts distributed within SS
birth lights 288
brooch for mothers 288
death’s head ring 287–8
life lights 287
swords of honour 288
Yule lights 286–7
Teutonic myths 266–7
interest in 80–1
Tibet myth 281–2
total war 684, 700
treatment of Polish POWs and workers in Germany 475–6
virtues of SS members 304–12, 742
comradeship 308
decency 308–11
loyalty 304–7
obedience 307–8
Volkssturm (home guard) 711–14
Waffen-SS 424
ambitions for 680
army corps established 601
creation of 427
ethnic German recruitment 609–16, 673–4
expansion of 601
Germanic volunteers 605–9
Muslim divisions 675–7
national legions 602–5
new German SS divisions 672–3
organizational structure 499
recruitment of non-Germans 498–504, 602, 675–80
Wehrmacht:
complaints over SS atrocities in Poland 461–2
Procreation Order 461, 462
Werewolfs 714–15
wins seat in Reichstag 116
women, relationships with:
as agricultural student 48–50
Fifi (dancer) 49–50
Hedwig Potthast 334, 375
ideal woman 50, 53, 56, 77, 80, 766n17
impact of reading 41–2, 42–3
interference in brother’s engagement 73–4
Käthe Loritz 50, 56–7
lack of success 48
Luisa Hager 35
Maja Loritz 35–6, 37–8
Maria Rauschmayer 75–7
moral inhibitions 49
repression of sexuality 50–1
sexual abstinence 50
sexual curiosity 38, 48–9
Wegener’s influence on 42–3, 53
see also
marriage; mistress
Yugoslavia, settlement policy 577
Himmler, Johann (HH’s grandfather) 12
Himmler, Katrin 750n5, 754n5
Himmler, Margarete (née Boden) (HH’s wife)
55
, 107,
108
,
524
Anschluss with Austria 402
birth of daughter 109
Blomberg-Fritsch crisis (1938) 402
in British internment camp 732
dissatisfaction with marriage 373, 374–5
doubts over relationship with HH 105
embittered woman 104
first meets HH 103
impact of HH’s affair 468
Italy:
holiday in 395–7
refuses to follow court protocol 404
loyalty of 731–2
marriage 109, 741
pessimism 106
political position 107
pre-marriage correspondence with HH 103–8
professional confidence 105
reassures HH about his weaknesses 104–5
war work for Red Cross 467–8
Himmler, Mathilde (HH’s sister-in-law)
55