Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) was the Reich Leader (Reichsführer) of the formidable SS of the Nazi party from 1929 until 1945. Himmler oversaw a vast ideological and bureaucratic empire that defined him for many both inside and outside the Nazi party as the second most powerful man in Germany during World War II. Heinrich Himmler was viewed as the prime architect for the planning and implementation for the Holocaust due to the effect of his social view on the design and his role as Head of the SS and Security to implement the Final Solution.
Heinrich Himmler’s view of non-Aryan people, especially Jews was a significant factor in the planning of the Holocaust. Himmler was an avid believer in racial purity which first started in 1922 when Himmler was 22 where he began to see himself as a “True Aryan” (Longerich,
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Himmler was appointed Head of the SS in 1929 which at the time totalled 280 men, by the time the Nazis seized power in January 1933, the SS numbered more than 52,000. He was appointed Reichsführer SS and Chief of German Police on June 17, 1936 and with this amount of control in security and a huge amount of man power he was able to influence the implementation. This is shown in a statement from Franz Rademacher a Nazi official on July 2nd 1940 for the Madagascar proposal “… The security police are the only people who have the necessary experience in this area, they have the means of preventing escapes from the island. Moreover, they have the experience to enable them to impose the appropriate punishments that will be necessary in view of the hostile acts committed against Germany by the Jews” (Longerich, 2013). The manpower and influence that Heinrich Himmler had as Head of the SS and Security allowed him to implement the Holocaust