Himmler

Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler in 1938
Reichsführer-SS
In office 6 January 1929 – 29 April 1945
Leader	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Erhard Heiden
Succeeded by	Karl Hanke
Chief of German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior
In office 17 June 1936 – 29 April 1945
Leader	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Karl Hanke
Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of German Nationhood
In office 7 October 1939 – 29 April 1945
Leader	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Director of the Reich Main Security Office (acting)
In office 4 June 1942 – 30 January 1943
Preceded by	Reinhard Heydrich
Succeeded by	Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Reich Minister of the Interior
In office 24 August 1943 – 29 April 1945
Chancellor	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Wilhelm Frick
Succeeded by	Wilhelm Stuckart
Personal details
Born	Heinrich Luitpold Himmler 7 October 1900 Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany
Died	23 May 1945(1945-05-23) (aged 44) Lüneburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
Political party	National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
Spouse(s)	Margarete Boden (m. 1928)
Relations	Gebhard Ludwig Himmler (older brother) Ernst Hermann Himmler (younger brother)
Children	Gudrun (born 8 August 1929 in Munich) Helge (born 15 February 1942) Nanette Dorothea (born 20 July 1944 at Berchtesgaden)
Alma mater	Technische Universität München
Profession	Agronomist
Cabinet	Hitler Cabinet
Religion	Neo pagan
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	German Empire
Service/branch	Bavarian Army
Years of service	1917–18
Rank	Fahnenjunker
Unit	11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	World War I

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (German: [ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈluˑɪtˌpɔlt ˈhɪmlɐ]; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) of Nazi Germany. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler briefly appointed him a military commander and later Commander of the Replacement (Home) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the administration of the entire Third Reich (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung). Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and one of the people most directly responsible for the Holocaust.

As a member of a reserve battalion during World War I, Himmler did not see active service. He studied agronomy in college, and joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925. In 1929, he was appointed Reichsführer-SS by Hitler. Over the next 16 years, he developed the SS from a mere 290-man battalion into a million-strong paramilitary group, and, following Hitler's orders, set up and controlled the Nazi concentration camps. He was known to have good organisational skills and for selecting highly competent subordinates, such as Reinhard Heydrich in 1931. From 1943 onwards, he was both Chief of German Police and Minister of the Interior, overseeing all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo (Secret State Police). Himmler had a lifelong interest in occultism, interpreting Germanic neopagan and Völkisch beliefs to promote the racial policy of Nazi Germany, and incorporating esoteric symbolism and rituals into the SS.