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Heinrich Himmler
28 quotes
“I still lack to a considerable degree that naturally superior kind of manner that I would dearly like to possess.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary entry (November 1921), quoted in The Hidden Files (1992) by Derek Raymond
“In the course of history periods of capitalism and socialism alternate with one another; capitalism is the unnatural, socialism the natural economic system.... The National Socialists and the Red Front have the same aspirations. The Jews falsified the Revolution in the form of Marxism and that failed to bring fulfilment.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Potsdam (13 October 1926), quoted in Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 92-93.
“Anyone who thinks of homosexual love is our enemy. We reject anything which emasculates our people and makes it a plaything for our enemies, for we know that life is fight, and it is madness to think that men will ever embrace fraternally.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 14 May 1928
“I know there are some people in Germany who become sick when they see these black uniforms, we understand the reason for this, and do not expect we shall be loved by all that number of people; those who come to fear us in any way or at any time must have a bad conscience towards the Fuhrer and the nation. For these persons we have established an organisation called the Security Service.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From his treatise "The Security Squadron as an Anti-Bolshevik Battle Organisation", (1936)
“We shall unremittingly fulfill our task, to be the guarantors of the internal security of Germany, just as the Wehrmacht guarantees the safety of the honor, the greatness, and the peace of the Reich from the outside. We shall take care that never more in Germany, the heart of Europe, can the Jewish-Bolshevistic revolution of subhumans be kindled internally or by emissaries from abroad. Pitilessly we shall be a merciless executioner's sword for all these forces whose existence and doings we know... whether it be today, or in decades, or in centuries.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Security Squadron as an Anti-Bolshevik Battle Organisation" (1936), p. 29
“It is vital we rid ourselves of [homosexuals]; like weed we must pull them up, throw them on the fire and burn them. This is not out of a spirit of vengeance, but of necessity; these creatures must be exterminated.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (18 February 1937)
“We won't waste much time on the Jews. It's great to get to grips with the Jewish race at last. The more that die the better; hitting them represents a victory for our Reich. The Jews should feel that we've arrived. We want to put half to three quarters of all Jews east of the Vistula. We will crush these Jews wherever we can. Everything is at stake. Get the Jews out of the Reich, Vienna, everywhere. We have no use for Jews in the Reich. Probably the line of the Vistula, behind this line no more. We are the most important people here.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (25 November 1939), as quoted in Ismail K Merchant, by Richard L. Rubenstein, John K. Roth Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legac (2003), p. 160
“One rejects as un-German and impossible the Bolshevist method of physical extermination of a people.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The secret memorandum Reflections on the Treatment of Peoples of Alien Races in the East (25 May 1940)
“I hope to see the very concept of Jewry completely obliterated.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (23 March 1941) Quoted in Benno Müller-Hill Murderous Science" (1998), p. 48
“...the curse of the great to have to walk over corpses.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Also translated as: It is the curse of the great man to step over corpses. From the Memoirs of Felix Kersten sometime after the execution of 200 Jews near Minsk in August 1941, as quoted in The Face Of The 3rd Reich, Pa…
“I don't want to hear anymore of your difficulties. For an SS officer there are no difficulties; his duty is always to remove difficulties himself as soon as they arise. How you do it is for you to figure out, not me.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Addressing Rudolf Höss (possibly in July 1942) during a visit to Birkenau prisoner-of-war camp (Kriegsgefangenenlager), where the inmates' and guards' deficient living conditions were pointed out, from Höss's autobiogra…
“[We have] the moral duty toward our race to kill this [Jewish] race that wanted to kill us.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Posen speech to SS generals (4 October 1943)
“However, in their centuries-long history the Poles were never able to create such an organization that could be called a state.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A speech given to the rulers of the General Government in Cracow (18 November 1943), translated from Polish from Stanisław Płoski, Okupacja i ruch oporu w dzienniku Hansa Franka 1939-1945, vol. II (Warsaw, 1972), p. 322
“Anti-Semitism is exactly the same as delousing. Getting rid of lice is not a question of ideology, it is a matter of cleanliness. In just this same way anti-Semitism for us has not been a question of ideology but a matter of cleanliness.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Harold Kaplan Conscience and Memory: Meditations in a Museum of the Holocaust (1994), p. 29
“Ich bin Heinrich Himmler.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am Heinrich Himmler.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last words. Quoted in Willi Frischauer Himmler, the Evil Genius of the Third Reich (1953), p. 257
“The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love; only for their fear.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Alberto Rivas Visions of Reality - A Study of Abnormal Perception and Behavior (2007), p. 162
“In the brief monthly reports of the Security Police, I only want figures on how many Jews have been shipped off and how many are currently left.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Ernst Kaltenbrunner, as quoted in Gerald Fleming Hitler and the Final Solution (1987), p. 137
“[T]he curse of the great to have to walk over corpses.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As cited in Joachim Fest The Face Of The Third Reich (1999), Part 2
“I must really say that he is a veteran Communist, this Herr Josip Broz, a consistent man. Unfortunately he is our enemy. He really has earned his title of Marshal. When we catch him we shall do him in at once; you can be sure of that; he is our enemy. But I wish we had a dozen Titos in Germany... The man had nothing at all. He was between the Russians, the British and Americans for a ride and to shit on them in the most comical way. He is a Moscow man … He has never capitulated.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As cited in Jasper Ridley Tito: A Biography (Constable and Company Ltd., 1994).
“My honor is my loyalty.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Himmler formulated this as the watchword of the Schultzstaffel (SS), an organization that eventually became a vast organization ranging from the staff of the concentration camps to the Gestapo and SD, to the Waffen-SS, …
“A consequence of the over-privileged woman is that in America no man any more dares to look at a girl, since otherwise he will be brought before the marriage court and made to pay for it. In America homosexuality is absolutely a defensive measure for the men because they have fallen into such slavery to the women. The women can behave like an axe there: she just starts hacking away on something. She is never rebuked: the best example of tyranny by women! There is no danger among us, however, that the chivalry of the man be overplayed and exploited by the other side, since the women in Germany by habit and education are not inclined to do that.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (18 February 1937)
“It is a war of ideologies and a struggle of races. On one side stands National Socialism: ideology, founded on the values of our Germanic, Nordic blood. It is worth the world as we want to see: beautiful, orderly, fair, socially, a world that may be, still suffers some flaws, but overall a happy, beautiful world filled with culture, which is precisely Germany. On the other side stands the 180 million people, a mixture of races and peoples, whose names are unpronounceable, and whose physical nature is such that the only thing that they can do - is to shoot without pity or mercy. These animals, which are subjected to torture and ill-treatment of each prisoner from our side, which do not have medical care they captured our wounded, as do the decent men, you will see them for yourself. These people have joined a Jewish religion, one ideology, called Bolshevism, with the task of having now Russian, half [located] in Asia, parts of Europe, crush Germany and the world. When you, my friends, are fighting in the East, you keep that same fight against the same subhumans, against the same inferior races that once appeared under the name of Huns, and later - 1,000 years ago during the time of King Henry and Otto I, - the name of the Hungarians, and later under the name of Tatars, and then they came again under the name of Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Today they are called Russian under the political banner of Bolshevism.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Heinrich Himmler speaking in Stettin to soldiers of the SS (13 July 1941)
“I also want to talk to you, quite frankly, on a very grave matter. Among ourselves it should be mentioned quite frankly, and yet we will never speak of it publicly. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30th, 1934 to do the duty we were bidden, and stand comrades who had lapsed, up against the wall and shoot them, so we have never spoken about it and will never [p. 65] speak of it. It was that tact which is a matter of course and which I am glad to say, is inherent in us, that made us never discuss it among ourselves, never to speak of it. It appalled everyone, and yet everyone was certain that he would do it the next time if such orders are issued and if it is necessary. I mean the evacuation out of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish race. It's one of those things it is easy to talk about - "The Jewish race is being exterminated", says one party member, "that's quite clear, it's in our program - elimination of the Jews, and we're doing it, exterminating them." And then they come, 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. Of course the others are vermin, but this one is an A-1 Jew. Not one of all those who talk this way has witnessed it, not one of them has been through it. Most of you must know what it means when 100 corpses are lying side by side, or 500 or 1000. To have stuck it out and at the same time - apart from exceptions caused by human weakness - to have remained decent fellows, that is what has made us hard. This is a page of glory in our history which has never been written and is never to be [p. 66] written, for we know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves, if - with the bombing raids, the burdens and the deprivations of war - we still had Jews today in every town as secret saboteurs, agitators and trouble-mongers. We would now probably have reached the 1916/17 stage when the Jews were still in the German national body.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Posen speech to SS generals (4 October 1943)
“One basic principle must be the absolute rule for the S.S. men. We must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood and nobody else. What happens to a Russian and a Czech does not interest me in the least. What the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type we will take, if necessary by kidnapping their children and raising them here with us. Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our culture: otherwise it is of no interest to me. Whether ten thousand Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch interests me only in so far as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished. We shall never be tough and heartless where it is not necessary, that is clear. We, Germans, who are the only people in the world who have a decent attitude towards animals, will also assume a decent attitude towards these human animals. But it is a crime against our blood to worry about them and give them ideals, thus causing our sons and grandsons to have a more difficult time with them. When somebody comes up to me and says: 'I cannot dig the anti-tank ditch with women and children, it is inhuman, for it would kill them,' then I have to say: 'You are the murderer of your own blood, because if the anti-tank ditch is not dug German soldiers will die, and they are the sons of German mothers. They are our own blood....' Our concern, our duty, is our people and our blood. We can be indifferent to everything else. I wish the S.S. to adopt this attitude towards the problem of all foreign, non-Germanic peoples, especially Russians....”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Posen speech to SS generals (4 October 1943)
“The Slav is never able to build anything himself. In the long run, he's not capable of it. I'll come back to this later. With the exception of a few phenomena produced by Asia every couple of centuries, through that mixture of two heredities which may be fortunate for Asia but is unfortunate for us Europeans — with the exception, therefore, of an Attilla, a Ghenghis Khan, a Tamerlaine, a Lenin, a Stalin — the mixed race of the Slavs is based on a sub-race with a few drops of blood of our blood, blood of a leading race; the Slav is unable to control himself and create order. He is able to argue, able to debate, able to disintegrate, able to offer resistance against every authority and to revolt. But these human shoddy goods are just as incapable of maintaining order today as they were 700 or 800 years ago, when they called in the Varangians, when they called in the Ruriks.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Posen speech to SS officers (4 October 1943)
“Some information and observations of recent date have led me to draw up plans that I would like to bring to your attention. This concerns Jehovah’s Witnesses. . . . How are we going to govern and pacify Russia when . . . we will have conquered vast areas of its territory? . . . All forms of religion and the pacifist sects must be supported . . . , among all the others the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is well-known that the latter have characteristics incredibly positive for us: Apart from the fact that they refuse military service and anything to do with war . . . , they are incredibly reliable, do not drink, do not smoke; they are relentless workers and of rare honesty. For them the spoken word stands. These are ideal characteristics . . . , enviable qualities.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In one of his letters to Gestapo chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner (21 July 1944) cited in Awake! magazine, 1993, 4/22, article: What Hope for an End to War?
“[T]o put an end to the epidemics, we were forced to burn the bodies of an incalculable number of people who were destroyed by the disease. So we were forced to build crematoria, and on this account they are loosing a bond for us. "He also stated that he punished the culprit if the atrocities occurred in the camps." On the Einsatzgruppen: "The war on the Eastern front made the demands more difficult for our soldiers. A terrible climate, never-ending distances, an enemy population and constantly apparent partisans. Just because it was difficult, the troops prevailed. So they were forced to destroy entire villages if there was resistance and gunfire from such a village. Russians are not ordinary enemies, we can not understand their mentality. In the most desperate situations, they would refuse to capitulate. If, because of these difficulties in the East, the Jewish people suffered large casualties, it must be remembered that the German people also suffered severely.”
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a meeting with Norbert Masur, a representative of the World Jewish Congress (20 April 1945)