Analysis of main Nazi leaders.

‘ Hitler is simply pure reason to incarnate.’

Joseph Goebells

1. Goebells knew the power of controlling what people thought. He was a very embittered man.
2. He attended Heidelberg University. He did not serve in the First World War as he was disabled by a clubbed foot. He got a job in a bank to maintain having the status of middle-class.
3. Goebells was one of the most important and influential people in Germany as he served as Hitler’s minister of propaganda. He was elected to the Reichstag in 1928 and 1930.
4. Poison dwarf!
5. He had a good relationship with Hitler who believed he was the only senior Nazi leader to have stayed with him until the end, which was true where he waited outside of Hitler’s office in a secret 30 roomed bunker under Berlin whilst the Fuhrer and Eva Brown shot themselves.
6. On May 1st, he gave poison to his six children and then shot his wife followed by himself after making a promise that as soon as Hitler was gone, he would go too.
7. ‘ If you tell a lie, then tell a big one.’

‘ When the Fuhrer speaks it is like a divine service.’

‘ The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it.’

‘ Hitler is there. Great joy. He greets me like an old friend. And looks after me. How I love him! What a fellow! Then he speaks. How small I am. He gives me his photograph. With a greeting to the Rhineland. Heil Hitler! I want Hitler to be my friend; his photograph is on my desk.’

Heinrich Himmler

1. He was thorough and efficient. He believed the more power he got; the more he saw the opportunity to fulfill his beliefs. He was an excellent organizer.
2. He served in the German Army during World War 1. Afterwards, he became a salesman for a fertilizer company. He joined the Nazi party and was propaganda leader. Between 1925 and 1929, he was an unsuccessful chicken farmer.
3. He had several changing roles in the party. He served as Hitler’s personal bodyguard. In 1930, he was elected to the Reichstag as Nazi deputy. He was head of the SS and was appointed Commander of the unified police forces in 1936. He helped to organize the Final Solution and had a large input into the organization of the Holocaust.
4. None.
5. Hitler had a professional relationship with Hitler. He had a good relationship as his loyalty to Hitler was never questioned.
6. Himmler disguised himself and tried to make his way to Switzerland. It is believed he had stashed vast sums of gold. His fake identity was noticed, and he was caught by British troops and arrested in May 1945. On May 23rd he committed suicide by biting on a concealed cyanide pill issued to all of the senior Nazi figures.
7. ‘ I know that there are many in Germany who feel sick when they see this black uniform; we can understand that.’

Herman Goering

1. Wary of others imposing his power. He had increasingly strange behaviour and was a drug addict. He became very lazy.
2. He fought in World War 1 and was the last commander of the legendary Richthofen Fighter Squadron. Afterwards, he studied at Munich University and joined the Nazi Party in 1922. He spent time in Sweden from 1924 to 1928, and was elected to the Reichstag in Germany in 1928. He was then appointed speaker of the Reichstag in 1932.
3. During his time in the Nazi Party Goering had taken on many positions. He was appointed Prime Minister and Interior Minister for Prussia. He was also given control of Germany’s air force.
4. None.
5. His relationship with Hitler was stable; however he became addicted to drugs and became lazy and fat, which angered many Nazis.
6. Goering surrendered tot the Americans in May 1945 and was put in prison. He was sentenced to be hanged. Goering was due to be executed on October 15th 1946. Just hours before he committed suicide by taking cyanide.
7. ‘ I am what I have always been- the last Renaissance man, if I may be allowed to say so.’

‘ If the Catholic Christian is convinced that the Pope is infallible in all religious and ethnical matters, so we National Socialists declare with the same ardent conviction that for us too, the Fuhrer is absolutely infallible in all political and other matters. It is a bless9ing for Germany, that in Hitler the rare union has taken place between the most acute logical thinker and truly profound philosopher and the iron man of action, tenacious to the limit.’

Reinhard Heydrich

1. Excellent organizer, devoted to his work.
2. Heydrich was in charge of the political police. He was a skilled musician and an Olympic class fencer. Heydrich had served in the Navy before 1932.
3. He joined the SS in 1932. He was appointed head of the SS Security Service. He was later appointed head of the Gestapo and criminal police. In 1941, he was appointed Protector of Bohemia and Moravia and in the following year chaired the Wannsee meeting.
4. None.
5. Strong relationship with Hitler. He looked on Heydrich as his natural successor.
6. Heydrich was killed by British trained Czech partisans as he was driven to work in May 1942. One of the assassins was traced to the village of Lidice which was to pay a terrible price for having one of its townsfolk involved in this killing. Hitler ordered that everything should be killed in Lidice, even pets, and that it should be removed from all future maps of Europe that were printed. The legacy of Heydrich lasted after his death.
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