Heinrich Himmler summary

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Heinrich Himmler, (born Oct. 7, 1900, Munich, Ger.—died May 23, 1945, Lüneburg), German Nazi police administrator who became the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. He joined the Nazi Party in 1925 and rose to become head of Adolf Hitler’s SS. He was put in command of most German police units after 1933, taking charge of the Gestapo in 1934, and established the Third Reich’s first concentration camp, at Dachau. He soon built the SS into a powerful network of state terror, and by 1936 he commanded all the Reich’s police forces. In World War II he expanded the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) until it rivaled the army; after 1941 he organized the death camps in eastern Europe. Shunted aside by Hitler’s entourage, Himmler, hoping to succeed Hitler, had negotiations with the Allies in the final months of the war over Germany’s surrender or its alliance with the Western Allies against the Soviet Union. Hitler ordered his arrest, but when he attempted to escape he was captured by the British and committed suicide by taking poison.

newspaper coverage of the Night of the Long Knives

Night of the Long Knives Summary

Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization’s leaders, including Ernst Röhm. Also killed that night were hundreds of other

Third Reich Summary

Third Reich, official Nazi designation for the regime in Germany from January 1933 to May 1945, as the presumed successor of the medieval and early modern Holy Roman Empire of 800 to 1806 (the First Reich) and the German Empire of 1871 to 1918 (the Second Reich). With the onset of the Great

army Summary

Army, a large organized armed force trained for war, especially on land. The term may be applied to a large unit organized for independent action, or it may be applied to a nation’s or ruler’s complete military organization for land warfare. Throughout history, the character and organization of

concentration camp Summary

Concentration camp, internment centre for political prisoners and members of national or minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation, or punishment, usually by executive decree or military order. Persons are placed in such camps often on the basis of identification