I have watched 'Nazi Hunters' on the Yesterday channel and i was intrigued by the mindset of Himmler in the final days of the War.
What on earth was he actually thinking in regard to Himmler imagining that he would be welcomed by the Allies?
Apparently even the Flensburger Kabinett shunned him as they would have seen him as a massive liability i suspect.
Any Feldgrau.Net contributors that can elaborate on this particular subject.
Many thanks in advance.
Himmler. The final days.
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Re: Himmler. The final days.
General consensus seems to be that one of his deepest-set characteristics was 'incredible naivety'. That and indecisiveness, which might explain why he threw on an eye patch and a borrowed uniform in May '45 rather than put his negotiating abilities to the test!
"And I will show you where the Iron Crosses grow!"
Re: Himmler. The final days.
I completely agree with that analysis, Rolf.
There was a meeting with representative of the World Jewish Congress in Stockholm in April 1945 & Himmler met with Hilel Storch to discuss openings for negotiations- but these came to nothing.
http://www.deathcamps.org/reinhard/himmlercap.html
Interesting points;
"On 6 May Himmler received a written order dismissing him from all offices. From that moment on Himmler was no longer Commander-in-Chief of the German Reserve Army, Chief of Police, and Reichsführer-SS. The newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Count Schwerin von Krosigk, advised Himmler "to drive straight to Montgomery's HQ and say that you are Heinrich Himmler and that you want to take full responsibility for everything the SS has done."
SS-Sturmbannführer Werner Grothmann who was in Himmlers final flight party; "He (Grothmann) talked with John Toland twice in 1971, and said about Himmler that he was a coward to choose the easiest way to avoid the culpability of the SS, and others had been left with the responsibility for the young soldiers and professionals.
He stated:
"I said to Himmler that it was his responsibility to inform the Allies that the Waffen-SS and the guards in the KZs were different organizations, and he couldn´t leave the rest of the organization in the easy way that the others can't take (i.e. suicide)."
It seems astounding that this person could have imagined that several months of desperate backtracking could save his skin.
There was a meeting with representative of the World Jewish Congress in Stockholm in April 1945 & Himmler met with Hilel Storch to discuss openings for negotiations- but these came to nothing.
http://www.deathcamps.org/reinhard/himmlercap.html
Interesting points;
"On 6 May Himmler received a written order dismissing him from all offices. From that moment on Himmler was no longer Commander-in-Chief of the German Reserve Army, Chief of Police, and Reichsführer-SS. The newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Count Schwerin von Krosigk, advised Himmler "to drive straight to Montgomery's HQ and say that you are Heinrich Himmler and that you want to take full responsibility for everything the SS has done."
SS-Sturmbannführer Werner Grothmann who was in Himmlers final flight party; "He (Grothmann) talked with John Toland twice in 1971, and said about Himmler that he was a coward to choose the easiest way to avoid the culpability of the SS, and others had been left with the responsibility for the young soldiers and professionals.
He stated:
"I said to Himmler that it was his responsibility to inform the Allies that the Waffen-SS and the guards in the KZs were different organizations, and he couldn´t leave the rest of the organization in the easy way that the others can't take (i.e. suicide)."
It seems astounding that this person could have imagined that several months of desperate backtracking could save his skin.