Hitler's most important helper. There are many clichés surrounding Heinrich Himmler (1900 - 1945): at times he is portrayed as a pedantic bureaucrat, at other times as a dogged ideologue and fanciful Germanophile. Peter Longerich provides a comprehensive overview of all the areas in which Himmler held responsibility and demonstrates the astonishing extent to which this man shaped the structures and destructive dynamics of the Nazi dictatorship. With this first well-researched biography of the "Reichsführer SS," the phenomenon of Himmler is unraveled. Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer SS, head of the German police, Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood, and ultimately Reich Minister of the Interior and commander of the replacement army, wielded a unique concentration of power in the Nazi state and epitomized terror, persecution, and extermination like few others. He was responsible for repression both domestically and abroad.