Upon realizing that the war was lost, Himmler attempted to go into hiding.

In November 1918 — while Himmler was still in training — the war ended with Germany's defeat, denying him the opportunity to become an officer or see combat.

After the war, Himmler completed his grammar-school education.

Himmler inspects a prisoner of war camp in Russia, circa 1941

Himmler continued his plans to colonise the east, even when many Germans were reluctant to relocate there, and despite negative effects on the war effort.

As head of the Reserve Army, Himmler was now responsible for prisoners of war.

In the last days of the war, when it became clear that Hitler planned to die in Berlin, Himmler left his long-time superior to try to save himself.

With Hitler preoccupied with the war, Himmler focusing on the " final solution to the Jewish question " in eastern Europe, and with Hermann Göring ’ s position declining with the failure of the German Air Force ( Luftwaffe ), Goebbels sensed a power vacuum in domestic policy and moved to fill it.

This trio – Goebbels, Himmler and Speer – became the real centre of German government in the last year of the war, although Bormann used his privileged access to Hitler to thwart them when he could.

Goebbels saw Himmler as a potential ally against Bormann and in 1944 is supposed to have voiced the opinion that if the Reichsführer-SS was granted control over the Wehrmacht and he, Goebbels, granted control over the domestic politics, the war would soon be ended in a victorious manner.

He was one of the main architects of the Holocaust during the early war years, answering only to, and taking orders from, Hitler, Göring, and Himmler in all matters that pertained to the deportation, imprisonment, and extermination of Jews.

Unlike the other SS antagonists, Deathshead does not believe in the occult and would prefer to arm the Nazi war machine using advanced technology, but has been ordered to provide his creations to Operation Resurrection by Himmler himself.

These uniforms were rarely worn after the war began, however, as Himmler ordered that the all-black uniforms be turned in for use by others.

Himmler worsened his own position when he attempted to hold a military command during the last months of the war and proved totally incompetent as a field commander.

Even so, Göring was reported to have disliked Himmler to the last days of the war and even turned down honorary SS rank since he did not want to be subordinate to Himmler in any way.

After the war began, Himmler ordered the uniforms to be turned in and many were then sent west to be used by Germanic-SS units such as the ones in Holland and Denmark.

This last activity had been expressly forbidden by Heinrich Himmler, as he had wanted this property to be contributed to the German war effort.

After which Ernst Kaltenbrunner was named Chief by Himmler on 30 January 1943, and remained there until the end of the war.

Himmler had at least one conversation with a known oppositionist when, in August 1943, the Prussian Finance Minister Johannes Popitz, who was involved in Goerdeler's network, came to see him and offered him the support of the opposition if he would make a move to displace Hitler and secure a negotiated end to the war.

It is possible that Himmler, who by late 1943 knew that the war was unwinnable, allowed the plot to go ahead in the knowledge that if it succeeded he would be Hitler's successor, and could then bring about a peace settlement.

Wolfgang G. Schwanitz notes that in his memoirs Husseini recalled that Heinrich Himmler, in the summer of 1943, while confiding some German war secrets, inveighed against Jewish " war guilt ", and, speaking of Germany ’ s persecution of the Jews said that " up to now we have exterminated ( in Arabic, abadna ) around three million of them ".

Towards the end of the war Himmler ordered that Wewelsburg castle should become the " Reichshaus der SS-Gruppenführer " ( Reich-House of the SS-Gruppenführer ).

In 1941, just prior to Operation Barbarossa, Himmler selected Nebe to command Einsatzgruppe B behind Army Group Center in the east.

Whether or not Himmler ’ s vision was plausible, and if the more rational elements of the Nazi government would have permitted an SS nation in the east, remains speculative.

Auschwitz II – Birkenau was designated by the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, Germany's Minister of the Interior, as the place of the " final solution of the Jewish question in Europe ".

The new Volkssturm was also to become a nation-wide organization, with Heinrich Himmler, as Replacement Army Commander, responsible for armament and training.

Heinrich Himmler was the chief architect of the plan, and the German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler termed it " the final solution of the Jewish question " ().

Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler knew Gemma was Fiorello's sister and ordered her held as a political prisoner.

Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of SS national leader, Heinrich Himmler who in 1936 was appointed Chief of German Police ( Chef der Deutschen Polizei ) by Hitler.

In this, he ran into conflict with Heinrich Himmler, who was police chief of the second most powerful German state, Bavaria.

Göring, concerned that Diels was not ruthless enough to use the Gestapo effectively to counteract the power of the Sturmabteilung ( SA ), handed over its control to Himmler on 20 April 1934.

In this role, Himmler was still nominally subordinate to Frick, but the de facto power was now in the hands of Himmler, who as Reichsführer-SS, answered only to Hitler.

After Heydrich's 1942 assassination, Himmler assumed the leadership of the RSHA, but in January 1943 Ernst Kaltenbrunner was appointed Chief of the RSHA.

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 ) was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel ( SS ), a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) of Nazi Germany.

Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and one of the persons most directly responsible for the Holocaust.

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was born in Munich on 7 October 1900 to a conservative Roman Catholic middle-class family.

His father was Gebhard Himmler, a teacher, and his mother was Anna Maria Himmler ( née Heyder ), a devout Roman Catholic.

Heinrich was named after his godfather, Prince Heinrich of Bavaria of the royal family of Bavaria, who was tutored by Gebhard Himmler.

Himmler was antisemitic by the time he went to university, but not exceptionally so ; students at his school would avoid their Jewish classmates.

After the Polish campaign, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler sought to expand the Waffen SS with foreign military volunteers for the " crusade against bolshevism ".

In February / March 1945 the SS Reichsführer, Heinrich Himmler, established the Harz Fortress to defend central Germany from the western allies.

He kept blubbering that he was responsible to Himmler and Himmler alone, not Hitler ... He refused to defend himself.