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Himmler was born near [[Munich]] on October 7, 1900. His father Gebhard Himmler was a teacher and his mother a [[Roman Catholic]]. Himmler was the middle child of the family. He had an older brother, Gebhard (born 1898) and a younger brother, Ernst (born 1905).

Himmler was born near [[Munich]] on October 7, 1900. His father Gebhard Himmler was a teacher and his mother a [[Roman Catholic]]. Himmler was the middle child of the family. He had an older brother, Gebhard (born 1898) and a younger brother, Ernst (born 1905).

A leading psycho[[historian]], UCLA Professor Peter Loewenberg, has attempted a retrospective psychoanalysis of Himmler's childhood and youth, using his diaries, shows him to have been systematic, rigid, controlled, and blocked of affect. His character structure was of the obsessive-compulsive schizoid type, meaning withdrawn emotionally from the external world and existing in a repressed internal psychic world. He used his diary to guard against feelings rather than to express them. The period 1919-22 was marked by acute identity diffusion. His sexual, social, vocational, and religious identities were in flux. The diary shows gender role confusion, a desire to emigrate from Germany, vacillation between animal husbandry and a bourgeois vocation, and strong conflict on the issue of dueling, which contravened his Roman Catholic faith. Himmler, as an adolescent, was a conventional rather than pathological anti-Semite. He acquired virulent [[anti-Semitism]] after 1919 because of his identification with nationalistic [[xenophobic]] paramilitary groups. He joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925. Himmler became a professional bureaucrat par excellence. As Reichsführer-SS, he carried out the most sadistic orders without any show of feeling. Thus the flat, cold, emotionally colorless, adolescent Himmler became a writing desk murderer as an adult - a consistency that relates the child to the man.<ref>Peter J. Loewenberg, "The Unsuccessful Adolescence of Heinrich Himmler." ''American Historical Review'' 1971 76(3): 612-641. Issn: 0002-8762 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762(197106)76%3A3%3C612%3ATUAOHH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D Fulltext: in Jstor] and Werner T. Angress and Bradley F. Smith,  "Diaries of Heinrich Himmler's Early Years." ''Journal of Modern History'' 1959 31(3): 206-224. Issn: 0022-2801 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2801(195909)31%3A3%3C206%3ADOHHEY%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23 Fulltext: in Jstor ]</ref><ref>Weale, (2010)</ref>

A leading psycho[[historian]], UCLA Professor Peter Loewenberg, has attempted a retrospective psychoanalysis of Himmler's childhood and youth, using his diaries, shows him to have been systematic, rigid, controlled, and blocked of affect. His character structure was of the obsessive-compulsive schizoid type, meaning withdrawn emotionally from the external world and existing in a repressed internal psychic world. He used his diary to guard against feelings rather than to express them. The period 1919-22 was marked by acute identity diffusion. His sexual, social, vocational, and religious identities were in flux. The diary shows gender role confusion, a desire to emigrate from Germany, vacillation between animal husbandry and a bourgeois vocation, and strong conflict on the issue of dueling, which contravened his Roman Catholic faith. Himmler, as an adolescent, was a conventional rather than pathological anti-Semite. He acquired virulent [[anti-Semitism]] after 1919 because of his identification with nationalistic [[xenophobic]] paramilitary groups. He joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925. Himmler became a professional bureaucrat par excellence. As Reichsführer-SS, he carried out the most sadistic orders without any show of feeling. Thus the flat, cold, emotionally colorless, adolescent Himmler became a writing desk murderer as an adult - a consistency that relates the child to the man.<ref>Peter J. Loewenberg, "The Unsuccessful Adolescence of Heinrich Himmler." ''American Historical Review'' 1971 76(3): 612-641. Issn: 0002-8762 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762(197106)76%3A3%3C612%3ATUAOHH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D Fulltext: in Jstor] and Werner T. Angress and Bradley F. Smith,  "Diaries of Heinrich Himmler's Early Years." ''Journal of Modern History'' 1959 31(3): 206-224. Issn: 0022-2801 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2801(195909)31%3A3%3C206%3ADOHHEY%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23 Fulltext: in Jstor ]</ref><ref name="Weale, 2010">Weale, (2010)</ref>

He attended the Technical College in Munich and enlisted with the reserve battalion of the Eleventh Bavarian Infantry Regiment in late 1917. He served during [[World War I]] as a clerk and was disappointed he did not see any combat service before the war ended in November 1918. He joined the ranks of a nationalistic paramilitary group known as the Reichskriegsflagge (Imperial War Flag) in 1919. Its leader was future chief of the Nazi SA storm troopers, [[Ernst Röhm]]. This paramilitary group was closely affiliated with the [[Nazi Party]]. Himmler also joined the Nazi Party in August 1923. He took part in the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] of November 1923. After the failure of the Putsch to seize power, Himmler returned home after losing his job over taking part in the event. Soon after, he became a propaganda assistant in the Nazi Party, serving under Gregor Strasser in Bavaria. He then was promoted to being charge of the party office in the area. In 1925, Himmler joined the SS and by January 1929 he was appointed the fourth leader of the SS. He went on to become its longest and most influential leader. When he took over, it was made up of only 280 men and considered an elite bodyguard unit.<ref>Weale, (2010); Gerwarth (2011)</ref> He also served as a Poultry Farmer after World War I but before World War II, which evidently led to his Lebensborne idea due to thinking he can breed the superior race of humans in a similar manner to the pure white chickens at his farm.<ref name="Stolen Nazis: The Tragic Tale" />

He attended the Technical College in Munich and enlisted with the reserve battalion of the Eleventh Bavarian Infantry Regiment in late 1917. He served during [[World War I]] as a clerk and was disappointed he did not see any combat service before the war ended in November 1918. He joined the ranks of a nationalistic paramilitary group known as the Reichskriegsflagge (Imperial War Flag) in 1919. Its leader was future chief of the Nazi SA storm troopers, [[Ernst Röhm]]. This paramilitary group was closely affiliated with the [[Nazi Party]]. Himmler also joined the Nazi Party in August 1923. He took part in the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] of November 1923. After the failure of the Putsch to seize power, Himmler returned home after losing his job over taking part in the event. Soon after, he became a propaganda assistant in the Nazi Party, serving under Gregor Strasser in Bavaria. He then was promoted to being charge of the party office in the area. In 1925, Himmler joined the SS and by January 1929 he was appointed the fourth leader of the SS. He went on to become its longest and most influential leader. When he took over, it was made up of only 280 men and considered an elite bodyguard unit.<ref name="Weale, 2010; Gerwarth 2011">Weale, (2010); Gerwarth (2011)</ref> He also served as a Poultry Farmer after World War I but before World War II, which evidently led to his Lebensborne idea due to thinking he can breed the superior race of humans in a similar manner to the pure white chickens at his farm.<ref name="Stolen Nazis: The Tragic Tale" />

==Nazi Germany==

==Nazi Germany==

When Hitler came to power in January 1933, Himmler controlled the "Schutzstaffel" ("Protection Squadron"; SS) which at the time was a 50,000-man sub-branch of the Nazi Party. In March Himmler became the Polizeipräsident in Munich. In April 1933 the political and intelligence sections of the Prussian police were combined into one unit and named the "Geheime Staatspolizei" (the [[Gestapo]]). It was under the control of then Prussian Ministry of Interior, [[Hermann Goering]]. During 1933-34, Himmler and his second in command, [[Reinhard Heydrich]] took over the political police departments in each German state until only Prussia was left. On April 20, 1934, Goering handed over the Gestapo to Himmler for use in the purge of the [[SA]]. Himmler appointed SD (Security Service) chief Heydrich, the director of the Gestapo.

When Hitler came to power in January 1933, Himmler controlled the "Schutzstaffel" ("Protection Squadron"; SS) which at the time was a 50,000-man sub-branch of the Nazi Party. In March Himmler became the Polizeipräsident in Munich. In April 1933 the political and intelligence sections of the Prussian police were combined into one unit and named the "Geheime Staatspolizei" (the [[Gestapo]]). It was under the control of then Prussian Ministry of Interior, [[Hermann Goering]]. During 1933-34, Himmler and his second in command, [[Reinhard Heydrich]] took over the political police departments in each German state until only Prussia was left. On April 20, 1934, Goering handed over the Gestapo to Himmler for use in the purge of the [[SA]]. Himmler appointed SD (Security Service) chief Heydrich, the director of the Gestapo.

At first Ernst Röhm's SA ("brownshirts"), with 2.9 million members, was a much larger and more powerful part of the Nazi Party than Himmler's SS.  That suddenly changed in June 1934 as a result of a power struggle between the SA, which had a more radical vision than Hitler would tolerate, and a coalition of Himmler, Goering, the army and big business who wanted the SA eliminated from power. The army feared the SA would absorb it into its ranks or become a people's army. Himmler and Heydrich prepared the list of Röhm's SA associates who were executed or imprisoned in the "[[Night of the Long Knives]]" which took place between June 30 and July 2, 1934. Hitler had Röhm killed, as well. As a result, Himmler and his SS gained enormously; the SS was now its own separate branch and Himmler reported only to Hitler.<ref>The SA lost most of its members and all of its power. Evans (2005), pp. 31-41; Kershaw (1998) 1: pp. 499-522</ref><ref>Weale, (2010); Gerwarth (2011)</ref>

At first Ernst Röhm's SA ("brownshirts"), with 2.9 million members, was a much larger and more powerful part of the Nazi Party than Himmler's SS.  That suddenly changed in June 1934 as a result of a power struggle between the SA, which had a more radical vision than Hitler would tolerate, and a coalition of Himmler, Goering, the army and big business who wanted the SA eliminated from power. The army feared the SA would absorb it into its ranks or become a people's army. Himmler and Heydrich prepared the list of Röhm's SA associates who were executed or imprisoned in the "[[Night of the Long Knives]]" which took place between June 30 and July 2, 1934. Hitler had Röhm killed, as well. As a result, Himmler and his SS gained enormously; the SS was now its own separate branch and Himmler reported only to Hitler.<ref name="Weale, 2010; Gerwarth 2011"/><ref>The SA lost most of its members and all of its power. Evans (2005), pp. 31-41; Kershaw (1998) 1: pp. 499-522</ref>

On June 17, 1936, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of German police in the Ministry of Interior. With this appointment, Himmler consolidated his power over all police and security forces throughout Germany. That same year, he formed the (Sicherheitspolizei or SiPo) (Security police). The SiPo was made up of two sub-branches, the Kriminalpolizei (national criminal police) and the Gestapo, under Heydrich's overall command. The first official concentration camp was set up by Himmler in March 1933. By 1936 Himmler's SS opened 17 concentration camps for political prisoners (these were different from the death camps opened after 1941).<ref>Evans (2005), pp. 50-55, 84; Burleigh (2000), pp. 178-97</ref><ref>McNab (2009)</ref>

On June 17, 1936, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of German police in the Ministry of Interior. With this appointment, Himmler consolidated his power over all police and security forces throughout Germany. That same year, he formed the (Sicherheitspolizei or SiPo) (Security police). The SiPo was made up of two sub-branches, the Kriminalpolizei (national criminal police) and the Gestapo, under Heydrich's overall command. The first official concentration camp was set up by Himmler in March 1933. By 1936 Himmler's SS opened 17 concentration camps for political prisoners (these were different from the death camps opened after 1941).<ref>Evans (2005), pp. 50-55, 84; Burleigh (2000), pp. 178-97</ref><ref>McNab (2009)</ref>

==Finale==

==Finale==

As the Allied forces penetrated into Germany from east and west, Himmler opened negotiations for a separate peace with the U.S. and Britain. After this move failed, Himmler fled in disguise as Hitler disowned him. On May 21, 1945, Himmler, disguised as a common German soldier, was captured by the British. Two days later, during a routine interrogation, Himmler removed his eyepatch, put on his spectacles and told the British officer who he was. He then committed suicide by biting down onto a concealed [[cyanide]] capsule;<ref>Weale, (2010)</ref> a sensible course of action, as he would certainly have been executed after the [[Nuremburg trials]] for his actions.

As the Allied forces penetrated into Germany from east and west, Himmler opened negotiations for a separate peace with the U.S. and Britain. After this move failed, Himmler fled in disguise as Hitler disowned him. On May 21, 1945, Himmler, disguised as a common German soldier, was captured by the British. Two days later, during a routine interrogation, Himmler removed his eyepatch, put on his spectacles and told the British officer who he was. He then committed suicide by biting down onto a concealed [[cyanide]] capsule;<ref name="Weale, 2010"/> a sensible course of action, as he would certainly have been executed after the [[Nuremburg trials]] for his actions.

He was buried in an unmarked grave. There are no monuments, and indeed everything he built was systematically eradicated.

He was buried in an unmarked grave. There are no monuments, and indeed everything he built was systematically eradicated.