How Did Heinrich Himmler Contribute To Hitler

One of Adolf Hitler's closest allies, Heinrich Himmler was the chief of the SS and perpetrator of genocide. Directly responsible for the deaths of six million Jews in German concentration camps and collectively responsible for the deaths of over 46 million Europeans, Heinrich Himmler became one of the most feared men in Nazi Germany.

Himmler was known to possess a reputation for thoroughness, great organisation skill, and efficiency. he was dedicated to hunting down 'traitors', such as Germans who helped Jews flee from the Nazi's grasp, as well as supporting Hitler's ideology of racial purity and excellence. Heinrich Himmler's impact on the Second World War was of destruction and domination resulting in one of the most horrific holocausts in history.

Heinrich Himmler was a devoted follower of Hitler, convinced that he was the messiah sent by God to lead Germany to greatness, and had the long term job of organising Nazi Party propaganda. In 1929, Himmler was promoted by Hitler to lead his personal bodyguard, the SS. He managed to develop the

SS into the strongest military organisation in the Third Reich. In 1929 when he was appointed to lead the SS it had only 280 members but by 1933 when the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany it had 52,000 members, even though Himmler reviewed each membership application to ensure that all members were of Hitler's "Aryan" 'master race'. With Hitler's permission, the SS acquired vast police powers in Germany itself and the occupied territories and it also gained primary responsibilities in the areas of security, and intelligence gathering.

Himmler's army was not the largest Nazi military group in Germany but was second only to the SA.

Both Himmler, and another of Hitler's right-hand men, Hermann Goering, agreed that the SA and its leader, Ernst Rohm were beginning to pose a threat to the German Army and the whole Nazi leadership of Germany itself. Rohm had strong socialist views and believed that although Hitler had successfully gained power in Germany, the 'real' revolution had not yet begun, leaving some Nazi leaders with the belief that Rohm was intent on using the SA to administer a coup. With some persuasion from Himmler and Goering, Hitler began to feel threatened by this prospect and agreed that Rohm must die. He delegated the task of administering this death to Himmler and Goering, who, along with many others, carried out the execution of Rohm and numerous other senior SA officials, in what became known as The Night of the Long Knives on June 30,

1934.

Himmler now had total control over internal German military as the SS was now the dominant force in the Reich. In 1936 Himmler gained yet more power as Hitler handed the control of Germany's secret police force, the Gestapo over to him. In the Second World War, the SS's units were given the task of organising and administering Germany's regime of concentration camps and eventually, extermination camps. Himmler created the idea to start industrialising murder and so the SS were ordered to find Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and communists and any other culture or race deemed by Hitler to be either Untermenschen (sub-human) or in opposition to his regime and place them in concentration camps. Heinrich Himmler spoke passionately on October 4th, 1943 saying, "I am talking about the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people... it's part of our plans, we're eliminating the Jews, exterminating them, a small matter.'"

Himmler now became one of the main creators of the Holocaust, using elements of enthusiasm and a passionate belief in the racist Nazi ideology.
By 1944, Himmler had lost faith in the German victory and came to the realisation that if the Nazi regime was to have any chance of survival, it would need to seek peace with Britain and the United States. When Hitler discovered this and found Himmler attempting to make contact with the Allies, he ordered his arrest. Attempting to escape arrest, Himmler disguised himself but was recognized and captured on May 22nd in Bremen, Germany, by a British Army unit. Himmler was scheduled to stand trial with other German leaders as a major war criminal at Nuremberg but committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule that took 12 minutes to kill him, before interrogation could begin.

Collectively responsible for murdering 46 million people, Heinrich Himmler was an evil and powerful leader during the Second World War.