German Leaders Of The Nazi Era/Himmler

"Heinrich Himmler"

Himmler was born in Munich (German: "München"), in the German state of Bavaria. He was only taken into the military near the end of World War One; thus his military career was very limited, something he "may" have tried to atone for later in his leadership role in the Nazi Party. After joining the Nazis, he became a "storm trooper," the organization being called the "Sturmabteilung" (Storm or Assault Detachment), or simply "SA," for short. A special section of the SA was charged with providing Hitler and Nazi leaders with protection at rallies. It was relatively small and was called the "Schutzstaffel" (Defense Staff or Section), or "SS," for short, and Himmler became a member and officer of the special force. Around this time Himmler became a chicken farmer to help earn a living. Himmler eventually became the commander of the "SS," a few years before Hitler took power, when it was still a part of the "SA," but even then he changed the uniforms from the typical "brown shirt" uniforms of the stormtroopers, to a black uniform. About a year and a half after becoming chancellor, Hitler purged the "SA" by having many of its leaders executed or imprisoned. To do so, he used the "SS" to carry out the killings and arrests; after which, the "SS" became a separate organization in its own right, with Himmler in charge. Within a few years, Hitler gave control of the German police to Himmler, too, although he had already gotten control of the "Gestapo" (Secret State Police), which had developed in the German state of Prussia by Göring.

Himmler was heavily involved in the study of the ancient Germanic tribe rituals and medieval Germany, as well as his belief in the "racial" superiority of the "Aryan," and especially the "Nordic" element of the Indo European peoples. As such, there was a lot of paganism and genetics involved in Himmler's "SS," as well as mysticism and the occult. You may have seen old film footage of Nazi parades with personnel dressed in the garb of knights and such, and this was all part of this retreat to the distant, distant past. Liking history is one thing, but taking it to the level of Himmler and the Nazis was another matter entirely. Much of it was pretty wacky stuff, in my opinion, but that's what can happen when you try to take people back to times long since gone, as fascism, in its various guises, attempted to do. The great leaders of history have led people forward, not backward, at least not back to long ago centuries.

The Nazis mirrored the German government in organization; that is, the party had corresponding positions and departments to the German government, which, in theory at least, was separate from the Nazi Party, although to me, the aim was to gradually blend the two together to completely Nazify every aspect of German life. It is important to remember, the German Army maintained a certain independence of the Nazis until Paul von Hindenburg, the old field marshal and President of Germany (and thus the supreme military commander) died in August 1934. At that time, Hitler combined his position as chancellor with that of the presidency, and had army members swear an oath to him PERSONALLY, not to Germany!!! As part of the "mirroring" of traditional German government and institutions, Himmler set up a small, at first, military element of the SS, which became the Waffen SS, or "armed SS." This was an SS counterpart to the German Army.* He set rigid standards for this super elite force, although during the war, the rigorous standards declined dramatically, but the Waffen SS expanded tremendously, with about one million men going through its ranks, including notable numbers of Albanian and Bosnian Muslims, Frenchmen, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Dutchmen, Flemings, Walloons,** Estonians, Latvians, Italians, Russians, and Indians. The military quality of the various Waffen SS units varied considerably, but there is no question that the core units were exceptional, although it must be remembered that many an atrocity can be traced to these units too. Fanatical Nazi ideology together with virulent anti-semitism and anti-communism, combined to provide the foundation for no restraint murder for some Waffen SS members.

Himmler bears much responsibility for the terror implemented by his SS. The guards for the concentration camps and the execution units (the "Einsatzgruppen") that followed in the wake of the German military, to murder Jews, communists, intellectuals, and any other potential opponents, came from the SS. The symbol of the SS was a "death's head," that should tell you something right there!***

After the failed attempt against Hitler's life,**** centered in the German Wehrmacht, Hitler trusted no one outside of his Nazi faithful. He put Himmler in charge of the German Replacement Army ("Ersatz Heer"), where many of the conspirators had held positions. Later still, with the collapse of the German front in Poland in January/February 1945, Hitler put Himmler in command of the army group trying to halt the Soviet offensive, thus giving Himmler a chance to fulfil his early dreams of commanding military forces. It was a disaster! The inexperienced Himmler made matters worse, and the Soviets came to within about 40 miles or so of Berlin, before they halted from exhaustion, lack of supplies, and stiffening German resistance. Himmler was replaced.

As the end of the Nazi Reich approached, Himmler began to plan to save his own skin, as if such a mass murderer could make a deal with ANY respectable person or group. He tried to use Jews remaining in SS custody as a bargaining chip, but the Allies were not interested in deal making with this despicable son-of-a-bitch. Shortly before committing suicide, Hitler was informed of Himmler's attempts to negotiate a peace deal through neutral Sweden. Hitler went ballistic, and ordered that Himmler be arrested and then executed immediately, but the order was never carried out. Himmler shaved off his moustache, put a patch over his eye, put on the uniform of a dead policeman, and carried phony identification papers. He was picked up by the British in northern Germany, who did not know he was Himmler at first, but he bit into a capsule of poison after being recognized and while being examined. If there was a rival to Hitler for nuttiness and nastiness, it was Heinrich Himmler.

* The German Airforce, the Luftwaffe, was heavily influenced by the Nazis early on, as Göring was made its commander-in-chief, and it owed its expansion (against the provisions of the Versailles Treaty) to Hitler and the Nazis. The German Navy ("Kriegsmarine") was more traditional, but also owed its gradual expansion to Hitler. Remember, for men rising through the ranks in all branches of the military because of this, they had to feel a major degree of loyalty to Hitler for their newly elevated positions, only cementing them more closely to the regime.

** Walloons are from the French speaking part of Belgium, and Flemings are from the Flanders part of Belgium, where the Germanic (not German) language there, once classified as a separate Flemish language, has in more recent times been classified by linguists as a dialect of Dutch. Being Germanic, it is closely related to English.

*** For information on Nazi terror and murder, please check out this link, it is extraordinary: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/holo.html

**** The conspirators had hoped to kill all of the top Nazi leadership; Hitler, Göring and Himmler, but the three were rarely together to provide such an opportunity.

WORD HISTORY:
Fly-This is the noun form, most commonly used for the "insect." It goes back to Old Germanic "fleugjon" ("flying insect"), which was derived from the Old Germanic verb form "fleuganan,"^ which meant "to fly." This had come from Indo European "pleu," which meant "to flow," as the "p" sound had become "f" in the Old Germanic spinoff. The Germanic noun gave Old English "fleoge," which at first seems to have applied to flying insects in general, but gradually became more specific to those pesky little critters that love to participate in picnics and barbecues. Later in English it became "flie," before the modern spelling, and the plural ended in "n," before the gradual change to "s." The idea of "wings flapping" gave rise in the 1800s to the flaps on tents being called a "fly," which shortly thereafter came to be applied to clothing, more specifically to pants, a term still in use today. Common throughout the close relatives of English, the other Germanic languages: German has "Fliege," Low German Saxon has "Fleeg," some Low German dialects have "Fläje," Dutch has vlieg, Swedish has fluga, Danish and Norwegian have "flue" and Icelandic has "fljúga."

^ For the history of the verb form, see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/10/german-leaders-of-nazi-erahess.html

The German Question, Part One Hundred Forty-Nine

Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Three/B
"The Greatest Shame of German History"

Not long after the Nazis took power, the first concentration camps were set up. They were prison camps, often for political prisoners like communists, or opponents of the regime, real or perceived. Since German Jews were seen by the Nazis as enemies of the state, some Jews were also incarcerated in these camps during the earlier years of Nazi rule. Prisoners led a wretched existence, often doing forced labor, where they were mistreated and malnourished. Some were executed for any number of reasons. When the war started, the first country to fall, Poland, contained a large Jewish population, although initially, a good number of these people lived in what became the Soviet annexed areas, as much of this territory had belonged to the former Russian Empire, where Jews had been more concentrated in western Russia.* When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, special execution units, called "Einsatzgruppen" (literally "action groups")** followed right behind the army forces to round up and execute Jews, Communist officials, and anyone perceived as a potential threat to the German occupation. Tens of thousands of men, women and children were executed throughout the western regions of the Soviet Union.

In Germany, German Jews had dwindled in number since the 1933 appointment of Hitler as chancellor. Many had emigrated, although some did not go far enough, as they crossed into other European countries soon to be taken over by the Nazis. Still others had been put into concentration camps or had already been killed by the time of the early war years. With the occupation of Poland and large areas of the Soviet Union, the Nazis then had control over millions of European Jews, and they planned their destruction, as a businessman would plan to increase production in his factory. It is absolutely mind boggling, and no matter how much actual newsreel footage I've seen over the years, or how many books and articles I've read, it is still difficult to get my mind around these terrible events. And by the Germans! (Although often aided by non-Germans.) Nothing I write here can even scratch the surface of this disturbing subject, which is about sheer evil.

The overall plan for the extermination of European Jews was under the control of Heinrich Himmler's "SS."*** In various parts of Europe, but especially in Poland, camps were set up with the purpose of using Jews (Gypsies were also a major target of Nazi racial theories) for labor purposes, but with the ultimate aim of killing them; that is, if they hadn't already been worked to death. Those deemed unfit for work were killed, often within just a short time after their arrival at a camp. The organization for transporting Jews from across Europe to these death camps came under one SS officer, Adolf Eichmann (he had the right first name, if you get my point).**** Of all of the camps set up in Germany and throughout Europe during Nazi rule, "Auschwitz" was the most notorious, and millions died there. Rooms were made to look like shower areas, but once inside, victims were locked in, and poison gas canisters were dropped inside, killing everyone. The bodies were then burned in huge ovens, "crematoria." Any and all valuables were confiscated from these helpless people. Even when dead, gold or silver fillings were extracted.

Amidst all of the hatred and death, there were still some acts of heroism, and if you haven't seen "Schindler's List," please do so; you will never forget it. Above all, DON'T BE A RACIST OR A HATER!

* This area was known as the "Pale" in Russia. It was the western part of the Russian Empire where Jews were permitted to settle and live on a permanent basis beginning in the late 1700s. Most Russian Jews were not permitted to live east of the Pale (in interior Russia) for any major period of time, but there were exceptions.

** The "Einsatzgruppen" were part of the "SD," the initials of the "Sicherheitsdienst" ("Security Service), which was a branch of the SS.

*** Himmler was a Bavarian, born in Munich, and he joined the Nazi Party in the early 1920s.

**** Eichmann was born in Germany, but his family moved to Linz, Austria when he was just a child. Interestingly, besides the shared first name, Hitler, who was considerably older than Eichmann, had lived in and around Linz as a child, too, and he always considered the city to be his home town, so much so, that he had grand plans to make Linz into one of the primary cities of Nazism, if they had won the war.

WORD HISTORY:
Camp (noun and verb)-This is another one of those words with an uncertain ancient history. What is known is, it goes back to Latin "campus,"^ with the general meaning "open area or field," which then progressed to "field of military contest, battlefield." Old Germanic borrowed the word as "kampan," with this "contest, battle" meaning. This then gave Old English "camp," but with that same "contest" meaning. This also gave Old High German "champf," which then later became "Kampf," meaning "battle, struggle," still in use today, and it is part of the title of Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf," covered earlier in this series on "The German Question." The same word also gave German the verb form "kämpfen," meaning "to fight." English "camp" then got a bit of a twist in meaning via French "camp" (also from the Latin source) in the 1500s, this being a "field used for military training and lodging," which then later in English also came to be applied to non-military situations, and both military and non military senses are still used today.^^ The "contest" meaning died out in English. The verb form, as in, "we'll camp by the river," came from the noun during the 1500s. So here we have English and German with essentially the same word, "camp/Kampf," and both from the same source, but with different meanings; the German word retaining much of the original "contest" notion. By the way, Italian has "campo," obviously from its Latin roots, and it means "field." 

^ "Camp" is related to "campaign" and to "champion" (also the shortened form "champ"), Latin-derived words borrowed by English from French, and to "campus," a word English borrowed directly from Latin.  

^^ Generally, the modern meaning in English means, "a place in the rural countryside, often, but not always, near a lake, river or stream, where people congregate for some temporary purpose, like hunting, fishing, vacationing, recreation, or some educational or instructional purpose, often with tents, cabins, huts or other type of basic shelter. This meaning came from an older meaning in English based around "a place to temporarily stay ("put up/set up camp") to provide shelter to sleep and to fix food around a fire, called a campfire." 

The German Question, Part One Hundred Seventeen

Hitler Rules Germany, Part One/C
"Consolidation of Power/Hitler Gets Full Power"

The Nazis banned German labor unions, and in their place, they established the "German Labor Front" ("Deutsche Arbeitsfront"). The Labor Front set policies for workers and employers, and strikes were forbidden. Labor front officials also arranged special low cost tours and cruises for worker vacations.

Now that the Nazis had achieved their "revolution" of gaining power, a split in the party began to become more obvious. Remember, the Nazi Party had both "Socialist" and "Worker" in its full name, "The National Socialist German Workers Party," and the true "socialist" wing of the party wanted that part of the party's ideology to be implemented in German society. As part of this continued "revolution," there was talk of the Nazi Stormtroopers,* which by then had a couple of million active members, actually taking over the German military. The army was extremely conservative, and such talk made German military leaders very uneasy. The head of the Stormtroopers was Ernst Röhm (also spelled "Roehm"), and he coveted the notion of his becoming the head of the German military. By that time too, the Stormtroopers were also making many in the public nervous, as they bullied or assaulted civilians known, or thought to be, Nazi opponents. The rowdy and often crude behavior of many in the SA made the more conservative elements of the government, as well as businessmen, protest to Hitler.

Hitler was only somewhat interested in the "socialist" aspects of the party, and he knew he needed the support of the German military if he were to remain in power, and then to begin a reversal of the Versailles Treaty. In late June of 1934, Hitler and the most trusted part of the "SA," a branch known as the "Schutzstaffel," began a purge of the "SA" and certain party leaders, claiming a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The "Schutzstaffel," which simply means "defense, or protection staff," was responsible for Hitler's protection dating to when he gave speeches in numerous beer halls in Germany. Although little known at that time, it would become all too familiar in the years ahead under its better known initials, the "SS." How many people were killed during the purge is not really known, but certainly dozens, and perhaps hundreds. Röhm was killed, as was former German Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and his wife, and former Nazi leader Gregor Strasser, who had been more inclined to the socialist side of the party. Hitler's dramatic action against members of his own party showed everyone that he was in charge, and that he would not hesitate to act ruthlessly. With the Stormtroopers subdued, conservative forces, including President von Hindenburg, approved the action. (The Stormtroopers lost their overall prominence in the Nazi movement, but the organization remained to provide "muscle" and for ceremonial purposes at Hitler's public speeches and at Nazi rallies. Many prominent Nazis held some high ranking position within the Stormtroopers, although these positions were often more "honorary" in nature. The organization never again held the power it had had up until the purge.)

On August 2, 1934 Paul von Hindenburg, nearing age 87, died. Hitler's last obstacle was gone. He now took over the presidency, combining it with the chancellorship. The German military had to swear an oath to Hitler personally, not to Germany. Hitler was now truly the Führer of Germany.

* The Stormtroopers were actually a Nazi organization called the "Sturmabteilung" (storm or assault detachment), or "SA" for short.

WORD HISTORY:
Fuehrer-This word came into English during the first half of the 1930s because it was the title used by Hitler for himself, and it simply means "leader;" obviously patterned after Mussolini's title, "Il Duce," "the leader." Since English does not use the umlaut; that is, the two dots over certain vowels to indicate a variation in pronunciation from the standard vowel, we spell the word with the "ue," which can also be used in German, but much more commonly in German it is "Führer," with the "u" with umlaut being the equivalent of "ue." For those learning German, the word is masculine, making it "Der Führer." The word goes back to Indo European "per/por," with the basic idea being "go/going, passage/pass over." This gave the Old Germanic spinoff "faranan," with the meaning "travel, go."^ From the idea of "traveling/going," came the further development of "lead;" that is, "travel takes; that is, leads you somewhere," and this gave Old Germanic a variation of "faranan," which was "forijana," with the meaning "to lead." This then gave Old High German "fuoren/fuoran," and then later "vueren," then modern "führen," and the noun was derived from this verb. Low German Saxon has "föhren," with several related meanings, including "to lead."

^ This is the source of numerous English words, for example: "fare," "the charge you pay to travel" or also "a person who pays for travel, most often in a taxi;" "farewell," which means "travel well;" that is, "have a good/safe trip;" "fare," as in "how are you faring?" (Literally, "how are you going along"); "wayfarer" ("someone who travels"), "seafarer" ("one who travels by sea"), and "ferry" ("a boat that transports people, usually for pleasure travel"). The other Germanic languages have various forms of the Old Germanic word too, for example, German has "fahren," the cognate equivalent to English "fare," and the German verb means "to travel, to drive," and the noun "Fahrer," which means "driver," "Fähre," "ferry (boat)," "Fahrrad" meaning "bicycle," and the phrase "Fahrrad fahren," "bicycle riding, ride a bike."