German Death Camps

Heinrich Himmler - architect of the Holocaust

Ostatnia aktualizacja: 17.08.2017 12:30
Heinrich Himmler, Dachau, 8.05.1936
Heinrich Himmler, Dachau, 8.05.1936Foto: Bundesarchiv/CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1900–1945. One of the main leaders of the Nazi Germany - Reichsführer of the SS, Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood, Reich Minister of the Interior. Creator of the SS terror machine that brutally crushed resistance against the German occupation in the conquered countries of Europe. A criminal responsible for the deaths of millions of people.

On his orders, the "model" Dachau concentration camp was set up in 1933. It served as a prison for the opponents of Hitler and his regime.

"If Hitler were to say I should shoot my mother, I would do that and be proud of his confidence" - he said.

In October 1939, he commenced the process of forced deportation of Poles and Jews from the Polish territories that had been annexed to the Third Reich. In the spring of 1940, he ordered the establishment of the Auschwitz camp; a year later, he had gas chambers constructed in the camp. In December 1941, he ordered Reinhard Heydrich to "develop the most effective and the quickest possible method for destroying the Jewish community in Europe".

In June 1943, he ordered the closure of all Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland. Towards the end of the war, he was trying to cover up the Holocaust, ordering that the major concentration camps be disassembled and razed to the ground. Fearing punishment, he committed suicide by taking poison.