Heinrich Himmler - Historical Views

Historical Views

Albert Speer notes that though Himmler seemed pedantic and insignificant on the surface, he was a good decision maker, had a talent for selecting highly competent staff, and successfully inserted the SS into every aspect of daily life. Historian Peter Longerich observes that Himmler's ability to consolidate his ever-increasing powers and responsibilities into a coherent system under the auspices of the SS led him to become one of the most powerful men in the Third Reich.

Historian Wolfgang Sauer says that "although he was pedantic, dogmatic, and dull, Himmler emerged under Hitler as second in actual power. His strength lay in a combination of unusual shrewdness, burning ambition, and servile loyalty to Hitler." Historian Peter Padfield opined that "Himmler ... appeared the most powerful man under Hitler. It is impossible to say whether he was in practice, and meaningless to ask, since he was never prepared to use his power directly to change the course of events ... "

Historian John Toland relates a story by Günter Syrup, a subordinate of Heydrich. Heydrich showed him a picture of Himmler and said, "The top half is the teacher but the lower half is the sadist." Historian Adrian Weale comments that Himmler and the SS followed Hitler's policies, without question or ethical considerations. Himmler accepted Hitler and Nazi ideology, and saw the SS as a chivalric Teutonic order of new Germans. Himmler adopted the doctrine of Auftragstaktik ("mission command"), whereby orders were given as broad directives, with authority delegated downward to the appropriate level to carry them out in a timely and efficient manner. Weale states that the SS ideology gave the men a doctrinal framework, and the mission command tactics allowed the junior officers leeway to act on their own initiative to obtain the desired results.

According to British war cabinet minutes released in 2006, Winston Churchill advocated Himmler's assassination. In response to Himmler's attempts to open peace overtures with the Allies in 1945 through Count Bernadotte, Churchill enquired if they should negotiate with Himmler 'and bump him off later. 'Quite entitled to do so', said Churchill. This suggestion met with some support from the British Home Office.

Historian Ian Kershaw observes that many Nazis seemed to have a "psychological block" at the end of the regime, refusing to recognise their responsibility for the barbaric actions that occurred during the Third Reich. They lacked self-awareness, and the moral value system had completely collapsed. In 2008 the German news magazine Der Spiegel described Himmler as one of the most brutal mass murderers in history, and the architect of the Holocaust. Wartime cartoonist Victor Weisz depicted Himmler as a giant octopus, wielding oppressed nations in each of his eight arms.