Who was Heinrich Himmler?
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (October 7, 1900 May 23, 1945) was a German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS). He was one of most powerful men in Nazi Germany. As Reichsfhrer-SS he oversaw all police and security forces, including the Gestapo. As overseer of concentration camps, extermination camps, and Einsatzgruppen (literally: task forces, often used as killing squads), Himmler coordinated the killing of millions of Jews, between 200,000 and 500,000 Romamany prisoners of war, and possibly another three to four million Poles, communists, or other groups whom the Nazis deemed unworthy to live or simply ‘in the way’, which included homosexuals, those with physical and mental disabilities and members of the Confessing Church. Shortly before the end of the war, he offered to surrender to the Allies if he were spared from prosecution. After being arrested by British forces, he committed suicide before he could be questioned. http://en.wikipedia.
Heinrich Himmler was Reichsführer-SS (Reich SS Leader) and Chief of the German police. In this capacity, he was responsible for the implementation of the Final Solution – the extermination of the Jews – as ordered by the Führer, Adolf Hitler. He was born in Munich on October 7, 1900. His father was the son of a police president, a former tutor to the princes of the Bavarian court, and a headmaster by profession. Himmler originally intended to be a farmer and in fact acquired a degree in agronomy. He fought in World War I at the every end, and afterwards drifted into one of the many right wing soldier’s organizations that were so prevalent at the time. It is here that he came into contact with Hitler. He took part in the Hitler Putsch (the attempt to overthrow the government) of 1923 as a standard-bearer. He married Margret Boden in 1926. In 1929, Hitler appointed him head of the SS, which at that time numbered about 300 men and served mainly as a bodyguard for Hitler. A superb organize
