Heinrich Himmler Documentary
Heinrich Himmler was born on 7 October 1900 in Munich, the son of a schoolteacher. He served in the German army at the end of World War One and then had a variety of jobs, including working as a chicken farmer. He became involved with the Nazi party in the early 1920s and took part in the ‘beer hall’ putsch of 1923. Himmler acted as the Nazi party’s propaganda leader between 1926 and 1930. In 1929, he was appointed head of the SS, Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard, and the following year was elected to the Reichstag.
After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Himmler became police president in Munich and head of the political police in Bavaria. He used his position to build a state within a state, expanding the SS and establishing its autonomy within the Nazi party and its dominance in Germany.