Heinrich Himmler

By: Peter Longerich, Jeremy Noakes - translator, Lesley Sharp - translator

Narrated by: Bruce Mann

Heinrich Himmler was an unremarkable-looking man. Yet he was Hitler's top enforcer, in charge of the Gestapo, the SS, and the so-called Final Solution. We can only wonder, as biographer Peter Longerich asks, how could such a banal personality attain such a historically unique position of power? How could the son of a prosperous Bavarian Catholic public servant become the organizer of a system of mass murder spanning the whole of Europe?

In the first comprehensive biography of this murderous enigma, Longerich answers those questions with a superb account of Himmler's inner self and outward acts. Masterfully interweaving the story of Himmler's personal life and political career with the wider history of the Nazi dictatorship, Longerich shows how skillfully he exploited and manipulated his disparate roles in the pursuit of his far-reaching and grandiose objectives. Himmler's actual strength, he writes, consisted in redrawing every two or three years the master plans for his sphere of power. Himmler expanded that sphere with ruthless efficiency. The author emphasizes the centrality of Himmler's personality to the Nazi murder machine - his surveillance of the private lives of his men, his deep resentments, his fierce prejudices - showing that man and position were inseparable.

©2011 Peter Longerich (P)2022 Tantor

Really?

Narration terrible and bland I assumed it was AI not human. Where do I begin? Every time the name “Gestapa” was used i wanted to scream. - the book itself gets bogged down in minutia and long-windedness, jumps all over as far as chronology goes, and is a regurgitation of common knowledge of Himmler. If you do buy it listen to 30 min summary at end and get what the book is about.

Fascinating!

I found this piece on the architect of the Final Solution to be well-researched and informative. Learning about Himmler's formative years was highly enlightening and absolutely gives the reader the context in which a man like Himmler could develop the mentality that he did, despite coming from a comfortable middle-class background (albeit with influential connections). Longerich's dive into the workings and ideologies of the SS and Gestapo are *very* in-depth and a bit dull and complicated at times, but it also makes sense since Himmler was the leader of both infamous organizations. If you, dear reader, are reading this then you have doubtless seen previous reviews that were critical of the "psycho-babble." In this regard there are two things to point out: First, this is typical of Peter Longerich (having read his biography on Joseph Goebbels). Second, I would argue that a psychological perspective is actually very helpful when writing or reading a biography on individuals as infamous as Himmler.

Unfortunately, the narration is very flat and monotone, which made navigating the sections where Longerich dives into his thorough analysis of the Gestapo and SS very dull and difficult to get through.

Ugh the narrator

As a ww2 buff I have read many biographies of nazi s and understand the dry nature of the material. I’m still trying to understand how the narrator could have a flat affect but manage to sound sing-song. Just listened to Goebbels by same author but much better narrator

Too much psychological mumbo-jumbo

Please just tell us what happened, as a good historian should, and we'll figure out if the guy is nuts or not. A lot of waste here. Narrator sounds like a robot.