Heinrich Muller (Gestapo)

Heinrich Müller
Heinrich Müller
Nickname(s)	"Gestapo Müller"
Born	28 April 1900 Munich, Bavaria, German Empire
Died	May 1945 (assumed) Berlin (assumed)
Allegiance	German Empire  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Munich Police 1919–33 Gestapo 1933–45
Years of service	1914–18, 1933–45
Rank	SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei
Commands held	Chief of the Gestapo 1939–45
Battles/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords Iron Cross 1st Class with 1939 Clasp Iron Cross 2nd Class with 1939 Clasp Bavarian Military Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords Golden Party Badge Sudetenland Medal Anschluss Medal Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918

Heinrich Müller (28 April 1900; date of death unknown, but evidence points to May 1945) was a German police official under both the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. He became chief of the Gestapo, the political secret state police of Nazi Germany, and was involved in the planning and execution of the Holocaust. He was known as "Gestapo Müller" to distinguish him from another SS general named Heinrich Müller. He was last seen in the Führerbunker in Berlin on 1 May 1945 and remains the most senior figure of the Nazi regime who was never captured or confirmed to have died.

Müller was born in Munich on 28 April 1900 to Catholic parents. His father had been a rural police official. Müller attended a Volkshochschule and completed an apprenticeship as an aircraft mechanic before the outbreak of the First World War. During service in the last year of World War I as a pilot for an artillery spotting unit, he was decorated several times for bravery (including the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class, Bavarian Military Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords and Bavarian Pilots Badge). After the war ended, he joined the Bavarian Police in 1919 as an auxiliary worker. Although not a member of the Freikorps, he was involved in the suppression of the communist risings in the early post-war years. After witnessing the shooting of hostages by the revolutionary "Red Army" in Munich during the Bavarian Soviet Republic, he acquired a lifelong hatred of communism. During the years of the Weimar Republic he was head of the Munich Political Police Department, having risen quickly through the ranks due to his spirited efforts.