SS Leaders
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Heinrich Himmler was born 7 October 1900 in Munich to a middle-class Bavarian family. His father was Joseph Gebhard Himmler, a secondary-school teacher and principal. His mother was Anna Maria Himmler (maiden name Heyder), a devout Catholic and attentive mother. Heinrich had an older brother, Gebhard Ludwig Himmler, and a younger brother, Ernst Hermann Himmler.
Heinrich was named after his godparent, Prince Heinrich of Wittelsbach of the royal family of Bavaria, who was tutored by Gebhard Himmler.
Educated at secondary school in Landshut, Himmler served as an officer cadet in the 11th Bavarian Regiment at the end of WW1, although he saw no active service.After working briefly as a salesman for a fertilizer manufacturing firm, Himmler joined the Nazi party and in November 1923 participated in the Beer-Hall Putsch as a standard bearer at the side of Ernst Röhm.
Influenced by Nazism and by the Artamans, an obscure sect advocating a Teutonic rural life, he turned to racism and romantic Teutonism. He later joined the SS in 1925, and by 1927 had been appointed deputy Reichsführer-SS, a role he began to take very seriously.
Read more about Himmler [Here]
The HolocaustResearchProject
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