Heydrich calculated the number of Jews to be killed at 11 million, and told the attendees that Hitler had placed Himmler in charge of the plan.

Accordingly, Himmler placed himself in a position of subservience to Hitler, and was unconditionally obedient to him.

* 1943 – Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put " on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps ".

* November 15 – Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies and " part-Gypsies " be put " on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps.

Originally an adjunct to the SA, the Schutzstaffel ( SS ) was placed under the control of Heinrich Himmler in part to restrict the power of the SA and their leaders.

Himmler then ordered, on November 15, 1943, that Romanies and " part-Romanies " were to be put “ on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps .”

According to an agreement between Himmler and Jean-Marie Musy, a pro-Nazi former Swiss president, the group was released after $ 1. 25 million was placed in Swiss banks by Jewish organizations working in Switzerland.

His research attracted the attention of the Nazi government and in particular of Heinrich Himmler, who made him archaeologist in the SS.

He was the eyes and ears of his master and the manner in which he presented a matter to Himmler was often of decisive importance.

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.

Frick did not have the muscle to take on Göring by himself so he allied with Himmler.

With Frick's support, Himmler ( pushed on by his right hand man, Reinhard Heydrich ) took over the political police of state after state.

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.

Also on that date, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia.

Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD: Security Service ").

Fearful of an internal overthrow, the forces of Himmler and the Gestapo were unleashed on the opposition.

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

This event would set Himmler on a life of politics.

Darré was a firm believer in the superiority of the Nordic race, and his philosophy was a major influence on Himmler.

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

Also on that date, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia.

Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of the SD.

He sent Göring to Berlin on 29 June, to meet with Himmler and Heydrich to plan the action.

Frick acquiesced, and on 17 June 1936 Hitler appointed Himmler as Chief of German Police and decreed the unification of all police forces.

On 4 October 1943, during a secret meeting with top SS officials in the city of Poznań ( Posen ), and on 6 October 1943, in a speech to the party elite — the Gau and Reich leaders — Himmler referred explicitly to the " extermination " ( German: Ausrottung ) of the Jewish people.

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.

Since the Reserve Army consisted of two million men, Himmler hoped to draw on these reserves to fill posts within the Waffen-SS.

Himmler seldom left the train, only worked about four hours per day, and insisted on a daily massage and a lengthy nap afterwards.

Himmler and Hitler met for the last time on 20 April 1945 — Hitler's birthday — in Berlin, and Himmler swore total loyalty to Hitler.

Himmler declared himself the provisional leader of Germany, telling Bernadotte on 23 April that Hitler would be dead within the next few days.

In the testament, completed on 29 April — one day prior to his suicide — Hitler declared both Himmler and Göring to be traitors.

He wrote a letter on 6 May — two days before German Instrument of Surrender — formally dismissing Himmler from all his posts.

Himmler and two aides were stopped at a checkpoint on 21 May and detained.

In 1938 Himmler ordered the return of all death's head rings ( German: Totenkopfringe ) of dead SS-men and officers.

In 1938 Himmler ordered the return of all rings of dead SS-men and officers to be stored in a chest in Wewelsburg Castle.

After all further awards of the ring were halted in 1944, Himmler ordered all the remaining rings blast-sealed inside a mountain near Wewelsburg Castle.

All rings were to be returned to Himmler upon the bearer's death or when they left the SS, to be kept at Wewelsburg as a kind of individual memorial to the holder.

By January 1945, 64 % of the 14, 500 rings made had been returned to Himmler.

He answered to Heydrich ; Heydrich answered only to Himmler and Himmler answered only to Hitler.

1939 photograph ; shown from left to right are Franz Josef Huber, Arthur Nebe, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Müller ( Gestapo ) | Heinrich Müller.

As facilitator and overseer of the concentration camps, Himmler directed the killing of some six million Jews, between 200, 000 and 500, 000 Romani people, and other victims ; the total number of civilians killed by the regime is estimated at eleven to fourteen million people.

Late in World War II, Hitler charged Himmler with the command of the Army Group Upper Rhine and the Army Group Vistula ; he failed to achieve his assigned objectives and Hitler replaced him in these posts.

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

Himmler joined the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) in August 1923 ; his Party number was 14, 303.

Upon the resignation of SS commander Erhard Heiden in 1929, Himmler assumed the position of Reichsführer-SS with Hitler's approval ; he still carried out his duties at propaganda headquarters.

Thereafter, Himmler and Heydrich took over the political police of state after state ; soon only Prussia was controlled by Göring.

Himmler and Heydrich wanted to extend the power of the SS ; thus, they urged Hitler to form a national police force overseen by the SS, to guard Nazi Germany against its many enemies at the time — real and imagined.

By January 1943, Himmler reported that 629, 000 ethnic Germans had been resettled ; however, most resettled Germans did not live in the envisioned small farms, but in temporary camps or quarters in towns.

Himmler modified a variety of existing customs to emphasize the elitism and central role of the SS ; an SS naming ceremony was to replace baptism, marriage ceremonies were to be altered, a separate SS funeral ceremony was to be held in addition to Christian ceremonies, and SS-centric celebrations of the summer and winter solstice were instituted.

As second in command of the SS and then Reichsführer-SS, Himmler was in regular contact with Hitler to arrange for SS men as bodyguards ; Himmler was not involved with Nazi Party policy-making decisions in the years leading up to the seizure of power.

Himmler was not a member of Hitler's inner circle ; the two men were not very close, and rarely saw each other socially.

Margarete, by then living in Gmund with her daughter, learned of the relationship sometime in 1941 ; she and Himmler were already separated, and she decided to tolerate the relationship for the sake of her daughter.

The alliance was shaky at best, mainly because during this period Himmler was still cooperating with Bormann to gain more power at the expense of Göring and most of the traditional Reich administration ; Göring's loss of power had resulted in an overindulgence in the trappings of power and his strained relations with Goebbels made it difficult for a unified coalition to be formed, despite the attempts of Speer and Göring's Luftwaffe deputy Field Marshal Erhard Milch, to reconcile the two Party comrades.

This second version of the SS, sometimes known as the " Pre-Himmler SS ", existed from 1925 to 1929 ; the more recognizable SS under Heinrich Himmler then came into being.

In that year Himmler extended the black colour to include breeches, boots, belts, and armband edges ; and in 1932 they adopted the all-black uniform, designed by Prof. Diebitsch and Walter Heck.

On April 20, 1934, ( as a prelude to the Night of the Long Knives ), Göring transferred the Gestapo to Himmler, who was also named chief of all German police forces outside Prussia ; two days later Himmler named Heydrich the head of the Gestapo.

In the summer of 1937, Wolfgang Willrich, a member of the SS, lampooned Benn in his book Säuberung des Kunsttempels ; Heinrich Himmler, however, stepped in to reprimand Willrich and defended Benn on the grounds of his good record since 1933 ( his earlier artistic output being irrelevant ).

He also claimed that Hitler had no knowledge of the Holocaust ; while not denying its occurrence, Irving claimed that Heinrich Himmler and his deputy Reinhard Heydrich were its originators and architects.

Variant 8, another version sung in Australia ; note that ' Himmler has something sim ' lar ' is changed to ' then-Prime Minister Robert Menzies, he's in a frenzies ':