Croatian Himmler's Memoires
Memoari hrvatskog Himmlera
Eugen Dido Kvaternik - sjećanja i zapažanja 1925-1945. - prilozi za hrvatsku povijest
More...Eugen Dido Kvaternik - sjećanja i zapažanja 1925-1945. - prilozi za hrvatsku povijest
More...Keywords: intelligence service; archives; OSS; Office of Strategic Services; US on Terezín; Red Cross; Terezín; Holocaust;
The author presents documents about Terezín that he discovered in US archives. These documents deal with, among other things, the visit of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Terezín. They also show us the perspective of the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, on Terezín. Aronson concludes that the American documents, which are not all accessible to the scholarly public, are as valuable as the well-known European documents.
More...Keywords: Second World War; Transylvania; transylvanian saxons; edition; source
The author expresses his suspicion that the publication of the curriculum vitae of Andreas Schmidt, leader of the german ethnic group in Romania during World War II, in Johann Böhms book about the german ethnic group in Romania before and after 1945 is a case of plagiarism. To substantiate this accusation, the author confronts Böhms edition from 2006 with his own publication of Schmidts CV, published in 2005.
More...Keywords: Transylvania; Transylvanian saxons; National-socialism; source
The contribution presents the publication of a recently discovered Curriculum Vitae of Andreas Schmidt, leader of the national-socialist transylvanian-saxon "Volksgruppe" (ethnic group) in Romania. He wrote this CV as part of an application to get the admission of the Nazi SS to marry, even though he wasn't formally a member of the SS until January 1945. The fact that he voluntarly submitted this application shows how servile he was towards the SS. But the CV presents the self-image Schmidt wanted to present about himself. The contribution consists of a short introduction, a critically comented publication of the CV and one image (reproduction of the first page).
More...Alexandra Richie. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2013. 738 pages including illustrations and index. ISBN: 978-0-374-28655-2.
More...Keywords: Warsaw ghetto; Heinrich Himmler; SS Main Economic and Administrative Office;
On 16 February 1943 Heinrich Himmler gave the order to demolish the Warsaw ghetto and deport its remaining Jewish population, all this in an attempt to complete the process of the destruction of Jews. The liquidated ghetto territory was to be turned into a park, half the size of New York’s Central Park. The invoice for the demolition and cultivation of rubber root (one of Himmler’s ‘exotic projects’) was made out to the Ministry of Finance by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office despite the failure of those two enterprises. It remains unknown whether the enormous amount due (150 million RM, that is, the equivalent of a minimum 500–600 million in today’s dollars) was paid in full out or what happened with the valuables and other material salvaged during the demolition. The text discusses the course of the demolition and deportation ordered by Himmler and the history of the invoice.
More...Keywords: criminal law; SS; german police; 1939-1945
Following the launch of WWII, the Reichsfuehrer of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, significantly reinforced his position within the power hierarchy of Nazi Germany. One of his most important measures was the introduction of an independent criminal code and judiciary for the SS and the police on 17 October 1939. The result was that the Wehrmacht and the Reich’s Ministry of Justice could no longer prosecute crimes committed by SS or police officers. In addition, the SS leadership planned to draw up a special code that would acquire general validity as the basis for the Nazi rule of law. Himmler deliberately built up absolute power over the exercise of the SS and police criminal code, enabling him to do as he pleased. He turned the court apparatus into a means of maintaining internal discipline, stripping it of all the attributes of a justice system. In practice the SS criminal code was conceived in such a way that it was not derived from general legal principles; rather it was guided by ideological requirements and was to serve as an instrument for maintaining discipline in the ranks of the SS. The introduction of the SS and police’s own judicial system was one of the most striking signs of the emancipation of the Third Reich’s repressive apparatus from the state administration, party organs and the army. With the growth of Himmler’s power, numerous other organisations began gradually falling under the judicial jurisdiction of the SS and the police; by the end of the war, millions were governed by it. The SS criminal code was aimed at achieving a total Nazi vision with precedence over civilian and military judicial authorities, which also became more radical in the course of the war.
More...review of: ------------------ Walter Schellenberg, Memoiren, Köln 1959, (London 1956)
More...Keywords: father‑daughter relationship; Himmler; legacy; painting; Sippenhaftung
The work Daddy #3 (2012) by Italian artist Giulia Andreani, inspired by a photographic archive, represents Heinrich Himmler with his daughter Gudrun. By means of adapting the photographic image into painting, the artist evokes the burden, sometimes heavy to carry, of family legacies. Moreover, Daddy #3 reveals Andreani’s interest in the woman artist figure, and in the issue of artistic heritage. The painting, which provokes one to ponder the political uses of the image of the family, can also be seen as one of the rare works of art representing an emotional relationship between a father and his daughter.
More...Keywords: Sudeten;Czechoslovakia; 1938;llgemeine SS regiments
Immediately after the occupation of the Czechoslovak border region in October 1938, ten Allgemeine SS regiments were built there. Together, it had about 20,000 men, and was the largest component of the SS represented in the occupied territory. Membership was mainly formed by former prominent members of Sudeten German-American organizations. After the outbreak of World War II, most of the Allgemeine SS personnel were called to the Wehrmacht or the armed services of the SS. Its organization in the Czechoslovak border region before this period is discussed in the following studies.
More...W dniach 28–30 maja 2014 roku w Toruniu odbyła się międzynarodowa konferencja pt. „Ponadnarodowa „milicja” Himmlera: Lokalna współpraca z oddziałami SS i policji w kontekście II wojny światowej”, zorganizowana przez trzy europejskie ośrodki uniwersyteckie – Instytut Historii i Archiwistyki UMK w Toruniu, Imre Kartѐsz Kolleg w Jenie oraz UCD Centre for War Studies w Dublinie.
More...Keywords: Himmler; Third Reich; women; mother; wife
The aim of this article is to present the figure of Margarete “Marga” Himmler – the wifeof Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. In the beginning, information about Marga’sbackground and education has been presented. Afterwards, issues mentioned in the titleof the article have been described – the marriage with Heinrich Himmler, her approachto maternity and relations with children – her own daughter and adopted son. In the end,Marga’s attitude to National Socialism has been described.
More...Keywords: Holocaust; trauma; postmemory; Marianne Hirsch
The book presents various aspects of literary representations of post-Holocaust trauma in texts of Polish and German literature. The phenomena of transgenerational memory transmission or – as Marianne Hirsh puts it – "postmemory" are an important element of the author’s reflections.
More...Keywords: Review; Martin Winstone; The Dark Heart of Hitler’s Europe; Nazi Rule in Poland; General Government;
Review of Martin Winstone: The Dark Heart of Hitler’s Europe. Nazi Rule in Poland under the General Government. Tauris. London u. a. 2015. XI, 306 S., Ill. ISBN 978-1-78076-477-1. (£ 20,–.). Reviewed by William W. Hagen.
More...Keywords: James R. Dow; Heinrich Himmler’s Cultural Commissions; Programmed Plunder; Italy and Yugoslavia;
Book-Review: James R. Dow, Heinrich Himmler’s Cultural Commissions. Programmed Plunder in Italy and Yugoslavia. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2018, 280 strani, 28 črno-belih fotografij. Reviewed by Klemen Kocjančič.
More...Keywords: refugees; European policy towards refugees; migration;
First a tragedy, then a comedy, at the third time a tragedy again, and so it could go on forever, but it will not because at a certain point we, that is, humanity will also go extinct, after having exterminated so much — every time I think about Europe, my thinking ends up at this point, and this is no place and no solution, therefore I shall at least try to articulate myself clearly (having not yet found a way to adopt an orphaned refugee child).
More...Keywords: George Lepre; Himmler's Bosnian division; Waffen SS Handschar Division; 1943-1945;
Review of: Mario Jareb - GEORGE LEPRE, HIMMLER'S BOSNIAN DIVISION. THE WAFFEN SS HANDSCHAR DIVISION 1943-1945, Schiffer Military History (Schiffer Publishing Ltd.), Atglen, PA, SAD, 1997., 378 str.
More...Keywords: Carpathian Germans of Slovakia; Waffen-SS; Concentration camps; Heinrich Himmler; Franz Karmasin; Gottlob Berger;
The recruitment and military service of Carpathian Germans in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War is one of the still little researched questions in the history of this community in 20th century Slovakia. More than 8,200 men enlisted in the armed units of the SS in three phases: illegally, quasi voluntarily and finally as obligatory military service. Not all of them enlisted on the basis of their actual personal convictions. Some men found themselves against their will in places where crimes against humanity were committed. The study is devoted to the recruitment mechanism and analyses the motivation of the men of the German minority to join the Waffen-SS. It also focuses on their service in some Waffen-SS units and in concentration camps. The last part does not avoid the question of criminal responsibility after 1945.
More...Keywords: Heinrich Himmler; Third Reich; Schutzstaffel; SS; Engagement and Marriage Order; racial elite; population segregation; World War II
Adolf Hitler’s protective squadrons (Schutzstaffel), commonly known as the SS, owed its dynamic development to Heinrich Himmler, who during the Third Reich transformed it into an elite formation. The SS became both an instrument of executive power and a political and military power base for the National Socialist regime. Since Himmler was appointed the Reichsführer, the SS became the most crucial project for him as on this very formation he based his concept of the racial family community which he meticulously implemented over the years. Proclaiming the theory that “humans can be successfully bred just as animals are”, Himmler dreamed of building a racially pure society with genetic traits most valued by the National Socialist power. To carry out this project Himmler, vested with the power of the Reichsführer, introduced a range of various directives; only candidates who met racial criteria set by Himmler could enter the ranks of the SS. These rigorous requirements later extended also to candidates for future wives of the SS men. Over the next years all these criteria were to guarantee a construction of racially elitist kinship of families as well as the genetic continuity of the most desirable traits. Himmler did not just claim the right to issue marriage permits to his subordinate SS men, but he also began to interfere with their family lives, expecting couples to produce a specified number of offspring to the community of the SS. He also demanded the SS families to adapt to specific social roles. This paper aims to describe theoretical and practical prerogatives of Heinrich Himmler’s actions to build the racial elite of the German nation based on the power of the SS. In this study I also attempt to answer the question whether Himmler’s directives were actually observed and, to what extent these practical guidelines proved to be effective; how they influenced the number of marriages concluded by SS men and the number of children born in these relationships.
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