All language subtitles for [English] Heinrich Himmler_ Architect of The Final Solution _ WW2 Documentary [DownSub.com].English

- [Narrator] It is too easy to cast

all the blame for the
Holocaust on one man,

Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany

and the man who has now
come to personify true evil.

However, no one man could truly achieve

such horrors on their own.

From the start of his political
career, he had allies,

people who would flock to his cause

and would ultimately help propel him

to a stage where he could inflict

such cruelty on the world.

There was Hermann Goring,

commander of the German
air force, the Luftwaffe,

Joseph Goebbels, the Third
Reich's minister for propaganda,

and Heinrich Himmler, the
head of the vaunted SS

and one of the chief
architects of the Holocaust

against the Jews and
anyone else who did not fit

his vision of a pure Germany.

In today's documentary,

we will delve into this
terrifying figure of history

and explore the career of a man who,

on both ideological and practical levels,

is literally responsible
for the deaths of millions.

This is the story of one of
the true monsters of history.

Welcome to "Wars of the World."

(dramatic music)

(pulsating music)

Early life.

Heinrich, or Heinrich in
German, was born in Munich

on October 7, 1900, into a conservative,

middle-class Bavarian family.

His father was a teacher,

while his mother devoted herself

to their Roman Catholic faith,

but both of them had close ties

to the then-ruling German monarchy,

with Heinrich, taking his
name from his godfather,

Prince Heinrich of Bavaria.

When it came to his schooling,

the young Heinrich Himmler
proved to have a keen intellect,

doing well in his academic studies

while he attended the cathedral school

in Salvatorplatz before attending

the grammar school in Landshut,

where his father was the deputy principal.

However such European
grammar schools of the day

emphasized that boys demonstrate

their prowess physically
as well as mentally,

and sadly for the young Himmler,

this was an area where he struggled.

He was prone to bouts of ill
health throughout his life,

especially concerning stomach pains

that inhibited his athletic performance.

In his first year at the
Salvatorplatz school,

he missed around 150 days due to illness,

prompting his father to take measures

to prop up his son's education,

such as lessons during summer holidays.

However, when he was well,

his classmates noted that he would

often exercise vigorously,

possibly in the belief
that it would fight off

such ailments from returning.

But nevertheless, they persisted
throughout his school days.

It is known that
Heinrich's father expected

a lot from all his children,

and it has long been speculated
that these stomach pains

were probably the result of stress

from this incredible paternal pressure.

His classmates often noted
that the young Himmler was

always rather awkward
in social gatherings,

but from his diaries,

which he began taking
meticulously from age 10,

we can see that he was a
keen observer of people.

He would write down
his thoughts on topics,

including Imperial
Germany's growing economic

and military power in the
lead up to World War I

and the relationship
between religion and sex,

which reflected his own
questions on sexuality

as he entered puberty.

Heinrich was too young
to join the German Army

When the First World War broke
out in the summer of 1914.

And he would have to wait one more year

to join his school cadet corps,

where he would be prepared
for eventual military service.

During this time, like
many boys of his age

and class, he heard the stories

of the glorious campaign
against Germany's enemies

and wished very much to be a part of it.

However, he was dismayed that in the towns

around his school, there
seemed to be less enthusiasm

for the war than he would have liked,

which possibly emphasized the naivete

of the young teenage Heinrich Himmler.

Even as that initial patriotic mania

that swept through Germany
during the early stages

of the war began to subside,

Himmler remained excited with the prospect

of earning himself glory,
commanding troops into battle,

and was envious of his older brother

who reached military age in July of 1915,

and immediately joined up.

Himmler seemed oblivious to the suffering

that was going on as a result of the war,

even when it began to
affect his own family.

The once-privileged Himmlers
saw their influence wane

as, like every other family
rich or poor in Germany,

they had to live under
the restrictions placed

on them, such as rationing.

Perhaps the biggest hit to the family was

when Prince Heinrich,
Heinrich Himmler's namesake

and godfather, was killed in battle,

which cut off the family's
access to the aristocracy

and severely limited their
future prospects and influence.

Yet, despite all of this,
Heinrich Himmler continued

longingly playing soldier
in the cadet corps

and then pretending to go into battle

with his friends in the
fields around the school,

where, as Heinrich recorded in his diary,

they achieved such imaginary feats

as capturing 1,000 Russian
soldiers almost single-handedly.

It would not be until late 1917

that he would finally join the German Army

as an officer candidate.

But the war would end in
November of the following year

without Heinrich completing his training.

Having missed out on the war,

he instead completed his
grammar school education

before attending Munich's
technical university,

where he studied agricultural techniques.

It was at this time that Heinrich Himmler

began writing in his diaries

on the topic of German-Jewish relations.

Antisemitism had long lingered
under the surface of German

society since the country's birth in 1871

but primarily took the
form of social isolation,

with there being very little

in the way of interaction between those

of the Jewish community
and the rest of Germany.

At the university,
Heinrich and his classmates

always separated themselves
from their Jewish classmates,

creating a perfect environment for Germans

to view the Jewish population as different

and not true Germans.

Thus, when the war was lost

and a scapegoat was needed,

many Germans reignited their antisemitism

and took to blaming the Jews.

In August of 1923,

Himmler's political ideologies
led him to the small,

but growing, National
Socialist German Workers Party.

Himmler had joined the Nazis.

The SA and the SS.

(dark music)

From the outset, the Nazi Party fell back

on the experiences of
the militaristic mindsets

that prevailed in its upper echelons.

Forming the blueprints for when they would

eventually come to power,

the Nazi Party adopted
uniformed departments

with specific roles.

One of the most significant
in the early days

was the Sturmabteilung,
or Storm Detachment,

but more commonly known by
the abbreviation of the SA.

The SA wore brown uniforms
to distinguish them

and adopted military ranks and discipline

while they conducted their duties

in providing security at
Nazi rallies and meetings.

Later, they adopted a
more aggressive role,

actively attacking
opposing political groups,

in particular those in support

of Germany adopting communism.

And the often public brawls that resulted

left an impression on the general public

that the SA were nothing more
than a criminal gang or mob.

Having missed out on fighting in the war,

Himmler was attracted to
the military environment

of the SA and so signed up to join them.

But just like in the military,

there were elite units within their ranks.

And one of these was the Saal-Schutz,

which translates into hall security.

But its members were known as the SS.

The SS had the important
task of providing security

for party meetings at their
headquarters in Munich.

But like the SA at-large, its role evolved

as the Nazi Party's fortunes rose

and then fell in
spectacular fashion in 1923,

when Hitler attempted to seize power

in the failed Beer Hall Putsch.

The unit was largely disbanded

while Hitler was briefly in prison

but was reestablished upon his release.

Hitler now wanted a bodyguard unit

to assume direct
responsibility for his safety,

as he suspected there
were opponents to him

throughout the party, in
particular amongst the SA.

It was soon renamed the Schutzstaffell,

or Protection Squadron, in 1925.

And a new member was
absorbed into its ranks,

Heinrich Himmler.

The SS was initially
commanded by Julius Schreck,

a trusted friend of Hitler.

But within a year, he was
replaced by Joseph Berchtold,

one of the founders of the SA.

However, he swiftly became frustrated

by having to come under command of the SA.

And so he delegated many of his duties

to his second in command Erhard Heiden.

Heiden eventually replaced
Berchtold in March of 1927

and appointed Himmler as his own deputy

at a crucial time in the SS's history,

as the force was in decline,

thanks to it being overshadowed
by its parent organization.

It was also around this time
that Himmler met his wife,

Margarete Boden, and
after a brief relationship

where they exchanged
letters with one another,

they married in July of 1928.

Margarete was seven
years older than Himmler,

but they had similar interests.

She was also a known antisemite,

as in one of her letters to her husband

she made negative remarks
about a Jewish doctor

before describing all
Jews as being the same.

Himmler's excellent organizational skills,

coupled with Heiden's strict discipline,

meant that the SS were saved from oblivion

by proving their worth to Hitler,

and perhaps more
importantly, their loyalty.

To achieve this, Himmler
oversaw the establishment

of an intelligence agency within the SS

to monitor groups such as the Freemasons,

the communists, and the Jewish
political groups of Germany,

all of whom were
potential stumbling blocks

in the Nazi's rise to power.

Himmler eventually dictated
every detail of the SS's

day-to-day operation, right
down to their uniforms,

which distinguished them from
the brown shirts in the SA.

But they were not yet
the famous black ones.

In January of 1929, Himmler's
work was recognized by Hitler,

and he was appointed
as Heiden's replacement

after it was announced
he was standing down.

In official documentation,

Hitler stated that
Heiden was leaving the SS

for reasons related to his family.

However, it has long been suspected

that Himmler either deliberately

or unintentionally gained
favor with Hitler over Heiden.

Either way, Himmler was
now the Reichsfuhrer-SS

on the eve of the party's
great breakthrough

in German politics.

Nazis in power.

(tense music)

The best political weapon
is the weapon of terror.

Cruelty commands respect.

Men may hate us,

but we don't ask for their love;

only for their fear.

Himmler.

On September 14, 1930, the
German people went to the polls.

Hitler's trial following
the Beer Hall Putsch

had catapulted him and the
Nazi Party into the limelight.

This, coupled with his
famously hypnotic personality

and their message of
restoring Germany's prestige

following the humiliating
terms of the Versailles Treaty

after World War I, meant
that their support base grew

exponentially in the late 1920s.

During these elections,
the number of seats

the Nazis occupied in
the German Reichstag rose

from 12 to 107.

However, this was still not
enough to legally take power.

Nevertheless, they were now
a formidable political force.

But this new-found power
brought with it new problems

for the Nazi leadership.

The SA essay demanding
that some of its leaguers

occupy the newly won seats,

but Hitler refused,
leading to resignations

of senior SA figures in protest.

The frustrations of the SA with the party

they were formed to protect only worsened

and was often vented on the SS men,

especially when it was discovered

that Himmler had ordered his
SS intelligence personnel

to start monitoring SA meetings.

Over the coming months,

the SA openly turned on the party,

and the SS found itself
protecting Nazi leaders

from other Nazis.

Himmler would later claim
that the SA rank and file

were loyal Nazis, but
they had been corrupted

by a power-hungry cabal at
the top of the SA leadership.

The crisis only seemed to end

when Hitler appointed himself

the official head of both the SA and SS,

which appeared to bring
the former back into line.

However, the whole affair
left a deep impression

on the future German leader.

It taught Hitler that the SA
could not be wholly trusted,

while Himmler and the SS were
of unquestioning loyalty.

Himmler hoped that the
experience would finally free

the SS from the shackles
of being subordinate

to the SA and even declared as much

at the height of the crisis.

But following the
appointment of Ernst Rohm

to handle the day-to-day
running of the SA,

Rohm issued a formal order
that solidified Himmler's

subordinate status to him.

Himmler would not be content with this

and was determined to
distance his elite SS

from the SA in every way possible.

He enforced special rules of conduct

that were aimed at perpetuating the view

that the SS were akin to medieval knights,

being of nobility and honor,

compared to the often
less reputable lifestyles

of the SA members,

many of whom displayed
more disreputable traits,

such as drunkenness,
womanizing, and homosexuality.

All of which were considered
big taboos by the Nazis.

Rohm himself was a gay man.

Although he managed to
hide this from other Nazis

by dismissing rumors as mere propaganda

by opposition groups.

For his part, Rohm
tried to repair the rift

between the SA and SS

by clearly defining each
department's duties.

And when these duties would cross over,

authority would fall

to the highest ranking member of either.

However, within months, the
SS again found itself having

to suppress SA dissenters
during a virtual repeat

of the crisis a year earlier.

The rift had only grown as
Himmler outlined his plans

for the SS to become more than

just an elite bodyguard unit,

but the very best of Nazi society itself,

when they eventually seized power.

He explained that the SS would
become a premier military

fighting unit in combat

while its members in everyday life

would embody national
socialism in all aspects,

including their genetic purity.

But this would not be
confined solely to members.

Any future wives would have
to meet the same stringent

criteria, or the SS man
in question would have

to be dismissed.

As Germany sunk into the Great Depression,

more and more flocked to the Nazi cause,

seeing them as their savior

on their promises of restored greatness,

with Himmler being elected
to the Reichstag in 1930.

The SA more than doubled to over

a quarter of a million men in 1931 alone.

But while the SS also grew,

it was actually at a slower rate

than Rohm or Hitler would have liked

because of Himmler's
stringent entry requirements.

Himmler was little concerned, however,

since he believed that his men,

who rose to just 10,000
in the same period,

were of such a high caliber
that they could achieve

feats far beyond anything
the SA was capable of.

At the same time, Himmler
founded a department

given the task of safeguarding
the racial purity of the SS,

while members soon began to adopt

their now-familiar black
uniforms for the first time.

Meanwhile, the SA continued their war

in the streets against the
communists and anti Nazis.

It should be noted that the
SA and SS were by no means

the only political parliamentary force

at work in Germany at the time,

but their uniformity and
effectiveness elevated

their public perception.

In early 1932, with the
Nazi Party still making

gains politically, although not enough

to legally seize power,

the SA engaged in violent street battles

with pro-communist groups,
leading to many deaths.

This prompted the newly
elected government,

under President Paul Von Hindenburg,

to outlaw both the SA
and SS in April of 1932.

But this did little to
stop their function.

And deaths continued,
leading many to speculate

that Germany would soon
be plunged into civil war.

Finally, on January 30, 1933,

after much political
turmoil and negotiation,

Adolf Hitler legally became
chancellor of Germany.

Both the SA and SS,
which were now agencies

of Germany's federal government,

carried out torchlit parades

through Germany in
celebration of their triumph.

(pulsating music)

Nazi Germany.

Almost overnight, the world
seemed to change for Germany.

For Heinrich Himmler,
the Nazis coming to power

finally allowed him to mold his beloved SS

into the new aristocracy of Nazi Germany,

the purest and the best

of their ideologically driven society.

But it was not enough to
simply dictate how the men

of the SS and their families should look,

act, and even think.

They had to be protected
from the outside threats

to their Nazi elites, be
they racial or political.

And for his part, Himmler had to make sure

that his SS was still of use to Hitler

given Hitler's newfound power.

Therefore within months,

Himmler found himself looking
for a suitable location

at which he could imprison
such threats to Hitler,

and by association, the SS.

In March of 1933, he inspected
an unused munitions factory

north of Munich, and decided
it could be reconstituted

as a prison camp for political prisoners.

The camp would take its name
from the nearby medieval

township known as Dachau.

It would become the first
Nazi concentration camp.

Many of the prisoners
themselves would be forced

to build the facilities at Dachau,

with the original aim for it being

to hold around 6,000 inmates.

Both Himmler and his
deputy, Reinhard Heydrich,

seized more and more control
of the country's police forces.

And this allowed them to round up anyone

who opposed Nazi rule,

and in doing so prevent
the feared civil war

and cement Nazi authority.

An arson attack on the Reichstag building,

which Hitler decreed was part
of a communist takeover plot,

resulted in President
Hindenburg restricting

many civil liberties,
declaring a national emergency,

which only relaxed legal restrictions

on Himmler's crackdowns.

One of those arrested was Erhard Heiden,

Himmler's former commander in the SS,

who had been accused of
colluding with Jewish businessmen

and being a, as the Nazis termed
it, practicing homosexual.

He was murdered on orders from Himmler.

At Dachau, Himmler
appointed Theodore Eicke

as the commander of the prison,

who was himself a convicted criminal

but also a dedicated Nazi.

Under Eicke's leadership,
Dachau became the blueprint

for how future concentration
camps would be run.

But while the mass
exterminations in gas chambers

had not yet begun, deaths at the camp

from violence and disease were frequent.

Shortly after the Nazis came to power,

Hermann Goring established a
new secret police organization

from the remanence of existing ones.

Dubbed the Gestapo, an abbreviation

of the German words for secret police,

the organization was tasked

with exposing opponents of the new regime

and gathering intelligence
on anti-Nazi groups.

On April 20, 1934,
Hitler appointed Himmler

to take command of the organization,

since he and the SS were
by now wholly involved

in the protection of the new order.

So it seemed a logical decision.

Hitler was pleased with Himmler's work

and soon promoted him, making
him the equivalent rank

to anyone in the SA.

But this did not please
the leaders of what should

still have been the SS's
parent organization.

In fact, the SA leadership
was growing frustrated

once more, feeling left
out in the new order,

compared to how close Himmler
and the SS were to Hitler.

It did not help that Hitler
himself did not wholly trust

the SA anymore after
their revolts in 1933.

And that the SA was still
seen by the wider public

as a group of thugs, starting fights,

and even riots in the streets,

which embarrassed Hitler
and caused friction

with President Hindenburg.

By early 1934, the SA's
leader, Ernest Rohm,

was making more and
more demands of Hitler,

which included the SA
taking over the army,

which was still under the constraints

of the World War I peace agreement,

the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler knew he did not yet possess

the political capital for such an act.

And so the SA were becoming a problem

that had to be taken care of,

and he knew just the
man to help him do it.

Himmler and his SS once
again served Hitler's will.

And beginning on June 30th,

they began making arrests
of leading SA men,

who were then either
shot or sent to prison.

In prison, Rohm was
visited by Theodore Eicke,

who gave him a pistol
with a single round in it,

instructing him to kill himself.

When he refused, demanding Hitler come

and personally shoot him, Eicke

and his deputy opened fire and killed him.

The SA was now destroyed,

tarnished with leaders labeled
as traitors and executed.

Their exact number who died in the event

now remembered as the Night
of the Long Knives is unclear,

as during the operation, many
SA men were shot on sight,

such as Edmund Heines,
who was discovered in bed

with an 18-year-old SA
man when the SS entered.

The official figure is 85,

but some historians argue
that it was much, much higher.

The rank and file of the SA
now had to find new lives

in Nazi Germany, while
the power and prestige

of Himmler's SS seemed to only grow.

And this allowed them to concentrate more

on what they viewed as the cleansing

of Germany's undesirables,

such as communists, homosexuals,
and, of course, Jews.

Purging the undesirables.

(dark music)

By the time the Nazis had come to power,

their hatred for the Jews had become akin

to a runaway train,

which no one in or outside
of the Nazi Party could stop.

Hitler, Himmler, and all
their followers were convinced

of Jewish betrayal and
the sabotage of Germany

achieving victory in World War I.

Therefore, they wasted
little time in stamping out

this group of so-called undesirables.

In January of 1933, Germany's
total population was

in the region of 67 million people,

excluding Germans who lived
outside of the fatherland

in the newly redrawn map
of Europe after 1918.

Of this number, the
Jewish population numbered

just 523,000 or naught point
83 percent of the population.

It is needless to say that to the Nazis

the Jews were nothing more
than a convenient scapegoat

for their cause.

An ethnic minority who
could be used to focus

the anger and resentment
of post-war Germany,

without them having the
sufficient numbers to resist.

While certainly there
was this element to it,

we also have to remember
the protective measures

Himmler put in place for his SS

to truly gauge the Nazi
mindset concerning the Jews.

For Himmler and other senior Nazis,

there was a clear distinction

between a Jewish man and a German man,

with the Jewish man being
the inferior specimen.

Worse still for Himmler, in his mind,

the inferior Jewish blood
could potentially pollute

a true SS man's bloodline.

Hence the stringent hereditary checks

before becoming a member
of this elite social class.

It was unbridled, unadulterated racism

in its purest and most primal form.

This racism was so severe

it led to a level of paranoia

that we today would call simple insanity.

It is recognizing this fact that there was

almost an immediate mass emigration

of Jewish peoples from Germany

after January 1933.

Approximately 37,000, in
fact, within just six months,

but that still left over half a million

to threaten the prospect of
a racially pure Nazi Germany.

The Nazis began by organizing boycotts

of Jewish shops and businesses.

While the first formal
restrictions were largely

administrative, Jewish civil
servants lost their jobs

amidst the Law for the Restoration

of the Professional Civil Service,

which also covered the removal of Germans

who were seen as having
unfavorable opinions

of Hitler and the Nazis.

Other professions soon followed,

including lawyers, judges, doctors,

and other healthcare professionals.

While a law concerning the
overcrowding of German schools

allowed Nazis to exclude
Jewish children from attending.

Eventually, the Nazis began clamping down

on Jewish culture itself,

preventing them from attending
gatherings and celebrations,

as well as the ritual
slaughter of certain animals

in accordance with Jewish dietary laws.

If any Jews broke these
laws or were found trying

to conceal their heritage,

they would often find Himmler's Gestapo

knocking down their door.

And the punishments were
becoming increasingly severe.

Eventually, in 1935,

the Nazis passed a law for the protection

of German blood and German honor,

which aimed to prevent intermarriage

between Jewish people and German people.

Because, remember, the Nazis
did not view someone born

in Germany, raised in Germany,

educated in Germany, and having
worked their entire lives

in Germany as German if they were Jewish.

They combined this law with
the Reich Citizenship Law,

which declared that only those
of German or related blood

were eligible to be Reich citizens.

Combined, these were known
as the Nuremberg Laws.

It could be argued that Himmler
wanted to go even further

by essentially arranging
marriages for his men

with women who had the
right genetic traits

to produce desirable offspring.

However, in the early years,

despite the Nazi Party's efforts to purge

the Jewish people from German culture,

it was often the German people
who gave the most resistance.

In fact, as well as combating communists,

anti-Nazis, and Democrats,

the Gestapo under Himmler
found itself investigating

opposition groups found
within the Catholic Church,

especially after Pope
Pius XI denounced Nazism

for its treatment of Jewish people.

The Gestapo also had to contend
with teachers who opposed

the new education laws,
professionals who came

to the defense of their Jewish colleagues,

and middle-class men and
women who wanted Germany

to return to a more pre-war,
aristocratic society.

Himmler's men broke up numerous groups

throughout 1934 and
'35, including a handful

that were discovered to have been plotting

Hitler's assassination, which
no doubt only reinforced

Hitler's belief that as
long as he had Himmler

by his side, he would be
safe from his enemies.

Many of those arrested by
the Gestapo were placed

in what was euphemistically
called protective detention,

where they would be held until
they could join the growing

number of inmates at one of
the equally growing number

of concentration camps.

If arrested by the Gestapo,

there was very little legal protection.

Given the ruthless efficiency

with which Himmler's
men operated in Germany

and the consequences of
arrest by the Gestapo,

terror became the most effective tool

at Himmler's disposal in forging

and protecting the ideal Nazi Germany.

In the belief of
establishing such a nation,

he viewed anyone opposed to it in any way,

including the Germans, as the enemy.

As he would say in 1936.

"I know there are some people in Germany

who become sick when they
see these black uniforms.

We understand the reason for this

and do not expect that we shall be loved

by all that number of people.

Those who come to fear us in any way

or at any time must have a bad conscience

towards the fuhrer and the nation.

For these persons have established

an organization called
the Security Service."

The Nazis continued their crackdowns

on Jewish people within their borders,

including thousands of Jews being forced

into refugee camps in Poland.

Those who tried to get back into Germany

were reportedly shot by border guards.

After 17-year-old Polish
Jew Herschel Grynzpan

shot a German official in France,

the resentments towards the
Jewish people in Germany

that the Nazis had been fostering

finally erupted in November of 1938,

as Germans attacked
Jewish shops and homes,

while the police only interfered

if German property was ever put at risk.

Now remembered as the
Night of Broken Glass,

it served as a final warning
to the remaining Jews

in Germany that antisemitism
in Hitler's Reich

was not a passing phase.

In addition to purging Germany,

Himmler and several other
leading Nazis also took

to researching for historical
and anthropological evidence

of the Germanic peoples'
genetic superiority.

Himmler's authority included
the Ahnenerbe Organization,

which conducted numerous
archeological digs across Europe.

Often the findings of the
group were interpreted

in such a way by the group
that they would prove

that the German people were examples

of the so-called master
race and had been held back

by the impact of the impure peoples,

further solidifying the
racism in Nazi Germany

for anyone who did not meet Nazi criteria.

Himmler and the SS were
especially interested

in the medieval world,

but this was not at the expense

of Himmler's own religious belief,

something he insisted the
men of the SS embrace.

However, he found his new
order coming into conflict

with the Christian world

and in many ways began to form
his own religion for the SS.

He would state,
categorically in fact, quote,

"I have not tolerated an
atheist in the ranks of the SS.

Every member has a deep faith in God,

in what my ancestors
called in their language

waralda, the ancient one,

the one who is mightier than we are.

Himmler and the SS at war.

(somber music)

While the bulk of the
German people's attention

on the role of Himmler and the SS

throughout the mid-1930s was focused

on their security roles,

when, of course, they weren't
being Nazi poster boys

for propaganda purposes,

the SS was slowly adopting another role

that was focused on the threat

from outside Germany's boundaries.

Eventually known as the Waffen-SS,

this small military arm
can trace its origins back

to a 120-man unit known as
the Sonderkommando Berlin,

formed in March of 1933.

This number would swell several times over

by the end of the first year.

And all members pledged
their support to Adolf Hitler

above all others, even if
it should cost their lives.

Himmler was eager to
have his SS men proving

their worth on the front
lines of the future

battlefields that most in Germany knew

would eventually come

given the Nazi drive for
Germany's restoration

as a superpower.

Having them fighting Germany's enemies

also played into Himmler's
ideas of the SS being

the modern equivalent to ancient knights,

as well as concepts surrounding

German citizenship and manhood.

Not being a true military
unit upon conception,

Himmler had to initially go to the army

for training and equipment.

This bred resentment
amongst the army leadership,

who viewed the Waffen-SS as rivals,

particularly during the
period before Hitler abolished

the military restrictions
imposed on Germany

in the Treaty of Versailles.

These concerns would prove justified,

as in the coming war, the
Waffen-SS would possess

some of the most modern
equipment in the German Army.

As the 1930s drew on,

Hitler began expanding Germany's borders

back to pre-war boundaries,

such as in the Ruhr and Czechoslovakia,

while the Western Allies milled
around with their response.

Himmler's SS units joined the regular army

as they entered these countries,

and he hoped they would get to prove their

superiority in battle.

But the resistance never came.

By the summer of 1939,

Hitler confided in his top
aides, such as Himmler,

his next goal, the invasion of Poland.

By this point, it was obvious to all

that such open hostility
against a neighboring country

would spark another major European war

with Britain and France.

While the Soviet Union threat
had been neutered by Berlin,

at least for the foreseeable future

thanks to clandestine secret meetings

in which they carved up Eastern Europe.

In an effort to justify the invasion,

not just to the world but
the German people themselves,

Himmler and his second
in command Heydrich,

conceived an operation which would provide

them with just such an excuse.

Dubbed Operation Himmler,
SS soldiers dressed up

in replica Polish Army uniforms

and staged a number of border skirmishes

with Germany's border forces.

Despite Polish denials that
they had anything to do

with these skirmishes, the German people

were suitably motivated for war

when the German army crossed into Poland

on September 1, 1939.

While the invasion did spark
war with Britain and France,

the Western Allies could do
little to stop Poland's fall,

which took just one month to complete

with the Soviet union invading the east

of the country as per their
agreement with Germany.

For Himmler personally, the
absorption of this new land

into the greater German Reich

expanded the scope of his operations

in maintaining the
security and, of course,

purity of the German people.

From their paranoid, insane,
racially motivated perspective,

Poland was infested with undesirables

that needed to be cleansed

if the German people were to
develop their new territory

for the good of Nazi Germany.

Unlike in the proceeding years,

there were fewer places for Poles and Jews

to be deported to,

and so the only option
was for them to be housed

in ghettos and concentration camps.

But even then, some were
going to have to be removed

from the equation to allow such places

to cope with the Nazi demand.

For this role, Himmler turns

to the SS Einsatzgruppen or task force.

Under Himmler's instruction,

the Einsatzgruppen began their
killings almost immediately.

Lands earmarked for German
development were cleansed

of Poles, Jews, Romany
peoples, intellectuals,

and anyone with a physical
or mental disability.

How they were to be killed

Himmler left up to his men's initiative.

But the most common
method was by shooting.

The Einsatzgruppen were by no means alone

in these atrocities.

Such was the scale of killing
that they had to enlist

the help of the regular
German Army and air force,

the Luftwaffe, and even Polish
collaborators to assist them.

Ordinary German soldiers
joined in the shootings

while German pilots strafed
and bombed large pockets

of refugees, many of whom
were crowding the roads

trying to flee the onslaught.

However, the German military was not

as enthusiastic as their SS counterparts,

with army generals
writing to Hitler asking

that their men be spared these duties,

as it was damaging their morale.

Some 65,000 civilians were killed

in this initial orgy of blood,

much to the satisfaction of Himmler.

By 1940, the killings were scaled back,

but the Nazi leadership had
decreed that Poland would be

cleansed entirely of the Jews,

although how was still unclear.

In the meantime, the SS began rounding up

the survivors and herding them

into squalid ghettos in Polish cities.

As for Polish leaders and
soldiers who were being held

by the SS until it was
decided what to do with them,

they were held at a Polish Army barracks

that had been taken over and
turned into a prisoner camp.

Its name was Auschwitz.

Before long, the war spilled
over into Western Europe

and the Waffen-SS were
finally locked in a duel

with formidable opponents,

exactly what Himmler
had dreamed of to prove

his supermen's worth.

On May 10th, the SS joined in the assault

on then-neutral Holland,

overpowering the Dutch border guards

and allowing the German Army
to flood into the country,

bypassing France's main defensive line.

A week later, they were
successful in repelling

an Anglo-French tank assault
at the battle of Arras,

despite their anti-tank
guns proving wanting

against the thick armor of British tanks.

One of the most prestigious
of the Waffen-SS was

the unit Liebstendarte Adolf Hitler,

formed out of Hitler's personal bodyguards

and eventually growing to become

the most elite army division.

On May 28, 1940 members

of the second battalion Liebstendarte

herded 80 Allied soldiers into a barn

near the village of Wormhoudt.

Once inside, the SS men
threw in a few hand grenades,

which detonated, killing most instantly.

A handful of survivors were left

to simply die from their wounds,

but some were eventually saved from death

by regular German Army medics

who came across the carnage.

By the summer of 1940,

most of mainland Western Europe
was under German occupation.

And this meant Himmler and his men,

especially the Gestapo, were
now having to protect Germany

from occupied lands.

Lands which would grow
again in the coming year

as the war expanded.

Once again, the usual crackdowns

began against the undesirable elements,

while more and more concentration
camps were assembled

to house the growing numbers of prisoners

in the Nazi's clutches.

But Hitler knew the advantages
of enlisting collaborators

to the Nazi cause and authorized Himmler

to begin recruiting new SS members

from the occupied lands,

providing, of course,
they met the physical

and genetic requirements.

In order to form these
new foreign battalions,

Himmler relaxed the
background requirements needed

to become a member of the SS,

but it was still something
of a feat to be accepted.

Nevertheless, over 40,000 Belgians

and 20,000 French, among
others, would serve

in the Waffen-SS.

At the very height of the war,

after Hitler had withdrawn
from his agreement

with the Soviets and launched
Operation Barbarossa,

over half of the entire
Waffen-SS would be non-Germans,

but every unit would still be
commended by German officers.

As the Germans pushed
into the Soviet Union,

the Waffen-SS recruited many nationalists

and anti-Soviet groups into their ranks

from countries like Ukraine.

A unique unit was the Tiger Legion,

one comprised of some
4,500 Indian nationalists

who joined the SS to fight the British

when India was still
under the British Empire.

One of the smallest foreign units,

but also one of the most notorious,

was the British Free Corps,

made up of 54 ex-British
Army soldiers captured

in combat who were
recruited on the promise

they would be fighting communism.

Only 54 men would serve in this unit,

but they will have enormous
propaganda value to the Germans.

After the war, the surviving
members were pursued

by British authorities,

with one member, John Amery,
being hung for high treason.

When the SS joined in the invasion

of the Soviet Union in 1941,

Hitler promised that no one
fighting for the German Army

would ever have to
answer for their actions

in fighting the Soviets

because in his mind, no war in the east

could ever be fought
along civilized lines.

Essentially, the SS and
the German Army were given

a free hand to murder, loot, and rape.

But for Himmler, the invasion saw his work

towards cleansing Europe increase.

The old methods were too inefficient,

and he had to find
alternative and faster methods

to orchestrate his plans of genocide.

(somber music)

The Jewish question.

Himmler said, on the topic
of antisemitism, quote,

"Antisemitism is exactly
the same as delousing.

Getting rid of lice is not
a question of ideology,

it is a matter of cleanliness.

In just this same way, antisemitism for us

has not been a question of ideology

but a matter of cleanliness."

Less than a month after the start

of the invasion of the Soviet Union,

Himmler was appointed by Hitler to assume

full and exclusive
responsibility for security

and race resettlement operations

in the occupied Soviet Union.

This included the physical annihilation

of the Jewish population.

Like in Poland in 1939,

large swaths of land were to be cleansed

of undesirables for their eventual use

by the German people to power
the greater German Reich.

However, not all of the local population

were killed or displaced.

In fact, Himmler was keenly aware

that there were individuals in these lands

that had desirable traits for Germany,

specifically regarding
children who had not yet

been corrupted by their
parents' own ideology.

He said, "Obviously in
such a mixture of peoples,

there will always be
some racially good types.

Therefore, I think that it is our duty

to take their children with us,

to remove them from their environment,

if necessary by robbing or stealing them.

Either way, we win over any good blood

that we can use for ourselves

and give it a place in our people.

Or we destroy that blood."

The Einsatzgruppen
immediately went to work

on shooting thousands of people

and burying them in mass graves,

but it was a time-consuming affair.

Another method that saw
wide use were gas vans.

These were vans with airtight compartments

in the back where carbon monoxide

from the vehicle's engine would be fed in,

suffocating the victims inside.

Gas vans had been in use since 1939

to euthanize sick and infirm
patients in Polish hospitals.

But again, this method could not murder

in the numbers needed to be effective

for Hitler's ambitions.

Himmler traveled into
occupied Soviet territory

in late 1941 to observe his men at work

in eradicating the Jewish population.

According to
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Wolff,

his unit was inspected by Himmler

at one of their so-called
special actions outside Minsk.

Recounting the experience later, he said,

"And there an open grave had been dug,

and they had to jump into
this and lie face down.

And when a certain number
had already been shot,

they had to lie on the
people who had been shot.

And Himmler had never
seen dead people before,

and in his curiosity, he
was leaning over this pit,

a sort of triangular hole and looking in.

While he was looking in,

Himmler had the deserved bad luck,

from one or another of those
that had been shot in the head,

that he got a splash
of brains on his coat.

And I think it also
splashed onto his face.

And he became very green and pale.

He wasn't actually sick,

but he was heaving and swaying

and stumbled back from this pit.

Then I led him away."

In December of 1941,

Hitler tasked Himmler and the SS

with the final solution to
all the Jews of all of Europe,

their total and utter eradication.

Hitler, Himmler, and Heydrich
concocted their plans

to either gas, shoot,

or work their Jewish prisoners to death

until they were nothing more than a memory

on the continent.

After briefing leading Nazi figures

at conference in Wannsee,

Heydrich was traveling in an open-top car

in occupied Prague when
he was assassinated

by Czech resistance fighters
under British control.

In retribution for this killing,

Hitler and Himmler
settled on razing the town

of Lidice to the ground.

During the Lidice massacre,

199 men were shot, 195 women deported

to concentration camps, and 81 children

eventually killed in gas vans,

while another eight were
adopted by German families.

Finally, in Heydrich's honor,

Himmler dubbed the stepping up

of the extermination of the
Jews Operation Reinhard.

Himmler's organizational
skills were again put

to good use for the Nazi cause

as he plotted the
extermination of Jewish people,

Romany people, Slavs, homosexuals,

and anyone deemed inferior.

In Poland, four extermination camps,

Auschwitz being the most famous,

began their killings
using the gas Zyklon B

with incredible efficiency by mid-1942.

Under Operation Reinhard,

almost 2 million Jews were murdered

up until November of 1943 in Polish camps.

There was never even a hint of remorse

or regret from Himmler,

emphasizing the true cruelty
and insanity of Nazi ideology.

On the contrary, he viewed the
task as not only necessary,

but even noble, as he would say

while the killings were taking place,

"It is one of those things
that is easily said.

The Jewish people is being exterminated.

Every party member will
tell you perfectly clear,

it is part of our plans.

We are eliminating the
Jews, exterminating them.

Altogether We can say we have carried out

this most difficult task
for the love of our people.

And we have suffered no defect within us,

within our soul, within our character."

For some of the unfortunate
souls within his grasp,

an even crueler fate befell them,

being used in Nazi
medical experimentation.

SS doctors treated the
prisoners at extermination camps

as genetic material for
their twisted experiments

for the betterment of the German people.

As well as investigating diseases

and their possible cures,

their experiments were designed
to push the very limits

of human endurance, such
as extreme heat or cold.

It is a curious contradiction
in their ideology

that Nazi doctors, who
had gone to such efforts

to prove the genetic
inferiority of peoples

such as the Jews, would use
them for such experimenting,

since by their own definitions,

they were not people to the Nazis.

But while Himmler was
cleansing the interior

threats to the Reich, the Waffen-SS

and the rest of the
German people were focused

on the exterior threat as 1944 loomed

and the beginning of
the end finally began.

(somber music)

The beginning of the end.

Hitler's leadership through
much of the early period

of the war could be described
as one gamble after another.

On several occasions,

he came into conflict with
his most trusted generals

over Germany's war plans.

The two most significant
being the invasion

of the Soviet Union and
the declaration of war

on the United States.

However, German forces
were able to achieve

what was previously thought unthinkable

on numerous occasions,

thanks to superior tactics and weaponry.

But once America, Britain,
and the Soviets were

fully engaged in the war,
things began to change

thanks to the incredible industrial output

of weapons and war
material the Allied powers

were able to achieve compared to Germany.

By 1944, it was the sheer
weight of enemy numbers

that looked set to doom the Nazis.

But Hitler remained convinced
that Germany's new weapons

then in development, such
as the ME262 jet fighter,

would keep the balance in their favor.

But his generals were not so confident.

Many in the German
leadership viewed Hitler

now as a problem because
of his interference

at the strategic level,

something that only
worsened after June 6, 1944,

when the Western Allies invaded Normandy.

A plot was thus devised to
kill Hitler with a bomb.

On July 20th, Hitler
was attending a briefing

when an explosive device detonated

under a thick wooden table that absorbed

much of the blast.

And in doing so, spared Hitler.

The German leader was furious

about the betrayal and equally

by Himmler's failure to uncover the plot

before the assassination
attempt could be made.

Needing to save face,
Himmler's Gestapo sprung

into action, arresting over 5,000 people

from Germany's upper echelons.

Around 4,900 of these people were executed

for being associated with the plots,

including one of Germany's top generals,

the Desert Fox Erwin Rommel,

who took his own life
rather than be executed

so the Nazis could conceal his death

as him finally succumbing to his wounds.

Any lack of faith Hitler had in Himmler

after the assassination attempt

seemed to be repaired by these reprisals.

And Himmler gained yet even more power

in the Third Reich.

Hitler placed Himmler in
charge of the army reserve

and made him responsible
for prisoners of war

before appointing him commander in chief

of Army Group Upper Rhine
by the end of the year.

Himmler was now a frontline
military commander,

protecting the Reich from its enemies.

An ambition he had harbored
since he was a boy,

but while he was an effective
man in the offices of power,

this did not translate to him
being a good military leader.

He frequently butted heads
with more experienced generals,

leading to delays in operations,

which the Allies successfully exploited.

Himmler was also tasked
by the Fuhrer to create

the Volkssturm, or People's Storm.

Akin to Britain's Home Guard,

the Volkssturm recruited the young

and the elderly into militias

to help repel the invasion of Germany.

Quote, "Our opponents have
to learn to understand

that every kilometer of our country

will cost streams of blood.

Each city block, each
village, each farmstead,

every ditch, every bush,
every forest will be defended

by men, boys, old men, and, if
need be, by women and girls."

Himmler.

Meanwhile, the Nazi elite
that Himmler had created

continued their desperate fight

against the enemy on all fronts.

In December 1944, the Germans launched

their last great offensive of the war

aimed at the Ardennes Forest in Belgium.

Spearheading the assault would be

the Sixth SS Panzer Division,

who would use poor
weather to deny the Allies

their powerful air cover,

but whose battle plan relied
on capturing Allied supplies

to keep the advance going.

The offensive began on December 16th

and achieved great success
on the first few days

of what history now remembers
as the Battle of the Bulge.

On the second day of the offensive,

SS men rounded up 84
American prisoners of war

and massacred them near the
town of Malmedy, Belgium.

Eventually, the weather would clear

before the SS could capture
the Allied supply stocks,

and Allied aircraft blasted
them back to their lines.

By February of 1945,

Himmler was beginning to
reel from the pressures

of all the duties he had
absorbed by this point,

particularly his military ones,

as he commanded troops
on the Eastern Front

against the Soviets.

His inability to deliver
on his promises of victory

to Hitler finally saw
the pair's relationship

start to break down.

In all honesty, Germany's

situation was so dire at this point,

that not even the
experienced German generals

could do much to change Germany's fate.

On the Eastern Front especially,

German soldiers began uttering words

to the effect of, "Enjoy
the rest of the war,"

emphasizing the reprisals
they could all expect

at the hands of the Soviet soldiers

when the peace came.

Himmler's nerves began to fail him.

And soon he began
experiencing all the ailments

that had troubled him as a boy,

leading to him being
taken to a sanatorium,

which was run by an old
school friend of his.

While recuperating there,

Himmler concluded that
Germany's only chance was

to negotiate a peace
settlement with the Allies.

After leaving the sanatorium,

which was itself on the
verge of being overrun

by the Soviets, Himmler met with Hitler

in his Berlin bunker on April 20th,

declaring his loyalty to the fuhrer

and wishing him a happy birthday.

It would be the last time the
two men would meet in person.

The next day, Himmler
did what must have seemed

unthinkable just five years earlier.

He met with a Swedish representative

of the World Jewish Congress,

Sweden having been neutral
throughout the war,

and negotiated the release

of some 20,000 concentration
camp prisoners.

During the talks, Himmler
downplayed the exterminations,

claiming that many of
the deaths the world were

increasingly becoming aware of as Germany

shrank away from its occupied territories,

were down to diseases at the camp.

Something that would eerily foreshadow

the claims of Holocaust
deniers for years afterwards.

Of course, this was nonsense,

and Himmler and the
Nazi Party's meticulous

records of their own crimes
serve as irrefutable proof

of the murders they committed.

Over the next few days,

Himmler would meet with
more Swedish delegates,

until on April 28th, the BBC
broadcasted what was going on.

Hitler was again furious.

The once unquestioned faith Hitler had

in Himmler was shattered,

and Hitler described
Himmler's negotiations

as the single greatest act
of treachery in history.

(tense music)

Death of a devil.

Hitler wanted Himmler arrested.

But just two days later,

the fuhrer shot himself,

sparing Himmler for a short
while longer at least.

Hitler appointed Admiral Karl
Donitz as his replacement,

while stripping Himmler
of his position and title.

Himmler offered his services to Donitz

as second in command
of his new government,

wanting to negotiate peace
with the Western Allies,

who he thought would
then join what was left

of the German Army in waging a war

against the Soviet Union.

And while it was true that America

and Britain did not trust
the Soviets and vice versa,

they had nonetheless
carefully negotiated a plan

for ending the war without
the two sides fighting

one another by mistake or intentionally.

Himmler's views were
fanciful and unrealistic.

And he was denied a role
in Donitz's government,

which was now suing for
a unilateral ceasefire.

On the night of May 8,
1945, Germany surrendered,

and the war in Europe was over.

All that was left for
Himmler to do now was try

and evade capture and
certain death for the crimes

his men had carried out in
his and the fuhrer's name.

Himmler was generally
ill-prepared for life on the run,

save for a forged paybook under the name

of Sergeant Heinrich Hitzinger.

He and a few others fled
blindly across Germany,

but they had no final destination planned

at any time since their
own country was now broken

in half by two huge invading armies.

On May 21st, Himmler and
two others were stopped

and detained at a checkpoint set up

by former Soviet prisoners,

making the prospect of them
discovering who he really was

a terrifying one for Himmler,

who had been responsible
for their conditions

during their imprisonments.

The Soviets transferred Himmler

to the British 31st
civilian interrogation camp

near Luneburg on May 23rd,

where duty officer
Captain Thomas Selvester

began a routine interrogation.

Himmler finally admitted who he was,

and he was soon transferred
to the headquarters

of the second British Army.

Upon arrival, a British doctor conducted

a medical exam on him,

but when he attempted
to examine the inside

of Himmler's mouth, the
senior Nazi refused.

Despite repeated requests,

Himmler still would not open his mouth.

And so the doctor decided
to force the matter.

Instead Himmler bit into a
hidden potassium cyanide pill

and collapsed onto the floor.

Just 15 minutes later, he was dead.

He was soon buried in an
unmarked grave near Luneburg

with the location being unknown,

thus preventing it becoming a shrine

for surviving or even future Nazis.

Like much of the story of Nazi Germany,

Himmler has become the source
of fascination for historians

the world over as they try
to understand the mentality

behind why Himmler and the SS
carried out their atrocities.

Legends have emerged of things

such as Himmler's
fascination with the occult

and have been blown up
in importance by some

and in many cases overshadow reality.

But perhaps this is to be expected.

Perhaps it is easier for
us to imagine some occult

fascination than for us to comprehend

that it was simply another human being

that orchestrated and
committed such horrors.