Heinrich Himmler: The SS, Gestapo, His Life and Career

Oh that Heinrich Himmler (1900-45) the infamous Reichsfuhrer of Hitler's S.S. had never been born! Alas he was! Himmler first saw the light of day in Munich. His father was a teacher. The boy was raised in upper middle class comfort; he was too young to serve in the trenches in World War I. Himmler was a good student who read chemistry in university. He married a nurse who ran a retirement home. Both of the Himmlers were interested in herbal medicine and raised chickens on a farm. Himmler became an early member of the Nazi Party participating in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in November, 1923. He became head of the SS and plotted to destroy the rival SA under Ernst Rohm in the night of long knives murders of June 1934. He was Hitler's policeman being in charge of the SS, Gestapo and Reserve Army.Germany was a brutal dictatorship under Hitler and his cronies from hell. Himmler's Death Head SS was charged with administering the concentration and extermination camps. Over six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. Himmler was a rabid anti-Semite who wanted to wipe Jewry off the map; resettle German pioneers in Russian and the East and ensure Germany rulership over Europe and the entire world. His SS men were told to procreate prior to battle and stud farms for willing females were established across the Reich and in occupied territories. Himmler looked like a mediocre middle class man who might be a teacher, professor or clerk. He had a child by his wife but carried on a longtime affair with his secretary-mistress Hedwig who gave him two children. He loved blond Nordic individuals. He was spartan in his life style dabbling in genealogical research, the occult and delving into the German past. Himmler truckled to Hilter; his hero was Genghis Khan. Herr Himmler was cold and ruthless. Himmler's right hand SS man was Reinhard Heydrich the sinister master of Prague who was assassinated in 1943. Himmler was a weak and sick man who relied on Felix Kersten to relieve him of his pains. Himmler committed suicide by biting on a poison cyanide pill while under capture by British troops in May 1945. This book is an old biography being printed in the early 1960s but is still a valuable study of a horrible man and the foul regime he represented. Well done!

This book is book three of a trilogy; the other two books were “Joseph Goebbels” and “Hermann Goring”. I understand this was the first in-depth biography of Himmler. This book on Himmler was first published in 1965.Roger Manvell (1909-1987) died in 1987; he was born in London England. He was the first director of the British Film Academy. He was the author of many books on film making and on Nazi Germany. In 1975 he became a professor at Boston University. Manvell wrote this book with Heinrich Fraenkel (1897-1986). Fraenkel was a well known biographer of Nazi War criminals. Fraenkel was born in Leszno, Poland. At the time of his birth it was known as Posen, Germany. Fraenkel immigrated from Nazi Germany to Britain. He was also a well known chess player. This book on Himmler was first published in 1965.Himmler was the head of the SS and he supervised the extermination of millions. The authors follow his life from boyhood to his death. He is thought to have developed the Nazi “science” or racial purity theory and the idea of the superiority of the Aryan people. The book covers some of the most difficult periods of the Nazi rule.I found the book a fascinating study of Himmler and the people around him. This book goes into how the Nazis rose to power in Germany and what they did with this power. The book is well written and meticulously researched. The authors reviewed all the archived documents on Himmler as well as diaries, correspondence and other materials. They also interviewed people involved with Himmler.Audible Studies produced and published this as an audiobook in 2013. Joe Barrett has won multiple “earphone awards” for narration of audiobooks. Barrett’s narration of the book was excellent. I have this book under the whispersync via Audible and Kindle.

Here is a book that any student of the Holocaust should read. The most facinating part of the book for me was the story of how Himmler was captured by the British and while being searched by an army doctor, Himmler bit down on a cyanide capsule and died. The book, written as a result of interviews from people with first hand knowledge of the events, shows how Himmler was a part of the inner circle of Adolf Hitler. Himmler, acting on Hitler's orders exterminated millions of Jews during the Second Would War and when it was apparent that the war was over, Himmler entered into a dialogue with the British where Himmler thought he could use his SS to support the British and battle Communism in Russia. When faced with the Allies desire to try and execute anyone connected with the extermination of the European Jews, Himmler claimed the same garbage adopted by Rudolph Hoss (commandant of Aushwitz) Goebbels and the rest of Hitler's inner circle that they were only following orders and to disobey Hitler's orders was treason. It was so fitting that Hitler discovered Himmler's treachery and dismissed Himmler from the Nazi party before Hitler committed suicide. Himmler is described as a sorry excuse for a man, and his childhood and family life is fairly disclosed. The book discloses the man Himmler was, a sick individual with delusions of inferiority towards the Jewish race, Himmler was anxious to exterminate every Jew he could get his hands on to attempt to eradicate the seed of Judiaism. Truly a sick man with a sick mind. This is another piece of information on the players of the Holocaust, an in depth view of the mind of one of the most heinous criminals of our era, a man who wanted to perfect the jet engine and the A Bomb which would have been directed at America, a man that everyone should read about so that he can live in infamy forever. As a postcript, the book talks about Himmlers daughter Gudren from a first marriage and his other two children from another relationship. Its interesting to note that Himmlers two children from his second relationship changed their surname and vanished into oblivion while Gudren Himmler continued to be a supporter of the National Socialist Party and to this very day helps old Nazi's accused of crimes against humanity, pity Gudren Himmler did not have the same fate of the Goebbels children, i find it amazing and sad that Gudren has never been "wacked", we can only hope!

The face of evil and a strong warning to be heeded by all people of good will - evil can wear the face of you and I! Beautifully written!

Not that easy to read, but informative, with sufficient detail to paint the picture of probably the most dispassionately homicidal bureaucrat in history. Without access to his diaries his personality remains difficult to fathom, but an interesting read nonetheless.

This biography once again shows that innate evil persons are very rare, and that evil deeds are usually perpetrated by ordinary men placed in a position of unrestrained power over their fellow men.Heinrich Himmler comes out of this book as little more than a precise and slightly pedantic little man, a stickler for rules and detail, who would in other circumstances have gone down in (local) history as nothing more than the headmaster of a local school who hade this habit of going on about his theories about the "Nordic" race in the evenings until someone shut him up with another beer.As fate would have it, he was given unlimited leeway to put his theories into practice, being pedantic and precise behind his desk and leaving the translation into brutal practice to others. At the same time an unobtrusive little man, polite, shy and kind to his children.Roger Manvill does an excellent job in describing how such a man can rise to the top of an evil empire simply by being anxious to please the boss, being a trustworthy executioner of his policies, not making powerful enemies and bringing some ideas of his own into the job that happen to fit right in with company policy.The only reason not to give this book a 5 star rating has nothing to do with mr. Manvell's narrative talents. Heinrich Himmler basically was a dull person and the only thing fascinating about him is that such a person could wreak so much destruction and grief withhout ever questioning himself or the consequences of his actions. Dull persons do not make fascinating biographies; if you are already familiar with the subject of SS crimes and concentration camps, there are few surprises to be discovered in the personality of Himmler himself.

Thank u

Good read.