Heinrich Himmler commits suicide (5-23-45)

Eighth Army HQ (May 24, 1945)

Press Statement

For Immediate Release
May 24, 1945

Reichsfuehrer of the SS Heinrich Himmler, chief of the German police and Reichs-Minister of the Interior, was arrested by troops of the British Second Army at Bremervoerde on May 21 and taken into the field security custody on May 22.

Himmler was traveling under the name of Hizinger and was disguised, with a black patch over the right eye and had shaven off his mustache.

With him were his two adjutants – one a big burly member of the SS.

Himmler and his party arrived under escort and unrecognized at a camp near Second Army headquarters where he asked through his adjutants for an interview with the camp commandant.

When the interview was granted, Himmler announced his identity which was confirmed by the chief officer at the camp and later, beyond any doubt, by counterintelligence officers from Second Army headquarters.

Himmler was immediately confined under armed guards, stripped and medically examined to find any hidden poison. During the final stage of this examination when the medical officer attempted to examine the prisoner’s mouth, he made a quick movement of his head and bit open a small glass vial containing cyanide of potassium which was concealed in his mouth.

He died in fifteen minutes at 11:04 p.m. May 23.

The glass vial had been hidden in Himmler’s mouth for some hours.

The Evening Sun (May 24, 1945)

Himmler commits suicide

Bites concealed vial of poison during examination

PARIS, France – With Heinrich Himmler a suicide, only the whereabouts of Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop among top-ranking Nazis remained a mystery tonight.

BRITISH SECOND ARMY HQ (Reuters) – Heinrich Himmler, most hated man in Europe, committed suicide at 11:04 last night at the headquarters of the British Second Army.

On May 21, a statement tonight disclosed, Himmler traveling under the name of Hizinger, and disguised with a black patch over the right eye and moustache shaved off, was arrested at Bremervoerde by troops of the British Second Army.

With him were his two adjutants.

Tonight, the body of this architect of the horror camps, chief of Hitler’s police and Minister of the Interior, lies in the red-roofed villa which is the army headquarters.

In British Army clothing

Grey-faced, bespectacled, the thin-lipped face is turned to the ceiling. The body is collarless, clothed in a British Army shirt, army slacks and socks.

Beside the body are a bucket and a cup and some splashes of water made while British Army doctors labored for fifteen minutes to save Himmler’s life after he had taken potassium cyanide.

The former head of the Gestapo kept a grim secret to the last. Although in British hands for two days, he was able to secrete an inch-long vial of the poison behind his gums until a medical examination.

The doctor asked him to open his mouth at this examination, looked inside and appeared to be satisfied. To make sure, the doctor brought Himmler nearer to a window and when he put a finger in the mouth to make a clear examination, Himmler made a quick movement with his head and bit quickly on a black spot which proved to be the stopper of the vial.

Dies in fifteen minutes

Himmler collapsed on the floor and died fifteen minutes later.

This was the statement issued here tonight:

Reichsfuehrer of the SS Heinrich Himmler, chief of the German police and Reichs-Minister of the Interior, was arrested by troops of the British Second Army at Bremervoerde on May 21 and taken into the field security custody on May 22.

Himmler was traveling under the name of Hizinger and was disguised, with a black patch over the right eye and had shaven off his mustache.

With him were his two adjutants – one a big burly member of the SS.

Himmler and his party arrived under escort and unrecognized at a camp near Second Army headquarters where he asked through his adjutants for an interview with the camp commandant.

Announces identity

The official statement continued:

When the interview was granted, Himmler announced his identity which was confirmed by the chief officer at the camp and later, beyond any doubt, by counterintelligence officers from Second Army headquarters.

Himmler was immediately confined under armed guards, stripped and medically examined to find any hidden poison. During the final stage of this examination when the medical officer attempted to examine the prisoner’s mouth, he made a quick movement of his head and bit open a small glass vial containing cyanide of potassium which was concealed in his mouth.

He died in fifteen minutes at 11:04 p.m. May 23.

The glass vial had been hidden in Himmler’s mouth for some hours.

Col. Gordushin, Lt. Col. Levlev and Capt. Cutchin, commissioners of Marshal Zhukov, for the control of fulfilment of the terms of the German surrender, saw the body at 6:15 p.m. today, and have been given the relevant photographs and reports, the statement concluded.

Officer tells of arrest

The senior intelligence officer at Gen. Sir Miles Dempsey’s headquarters, who conducted correspondents to the body of Himmler, told the story of how Himmler was taken.

Shortly before 9 o’clock last night, he said, officers from a nearby camp telephoned to say that they had Himmler under arrest.

The intelligence officer hardly believed the report, but he motored at once eight miles down the road and found what was undoubtedly Himmler with two adjutant officers.

Himmler was sitting at a table being questioned by British officers the two adjutants. One of them, a typical roughneck of the SS, sat at his side.

Military policemen who stopped them when they were crossing a bridge at Bremervoerde had no idea that they had collared the most hunted man in Europe.

Himmler’s disguise was most effective, but as he produced suspicious looking papers the British police decided he should be questioned further and passed him over to a field security detachment.

Himmler and the other two men were then taken to a British camp where important personages requiring interrogation are detained.

Still unrecognized, he was again questioned and but by for still further questioning.

Asks for interview

Last evening the trio arrived at a camp near Gen. Dempsey’s headquarters. It was on arrival that Himmler asked for an interview with the camp commander.

Taking off the black patch over his eye, but still wearing his glasses he said, “I am Heinrich Himmler.”

When a senior intelligence officer reached the house where the men were detained Himmler was stripped, although he objected and was offered as clothing a British battledress or alternatively a pair of trousers, a vest and shirt and blankets to cover himself.

Himmler chose the trousers and blankets after some hesitation, was separated from his two adjutants for some time and then taken into the intelligence officers’ car to be driven to Second Army headquarters.

Throughout this time, he was not seen to put anything in his mouth, although on the way a colonel who was sitting with him in the back of biting his nails and rubbing his check.

Gives location to British

After the car had traveled several miles the chief intelligence officer took the wrong turn in a village and turned round to ask the colonel in the back where they were.

Himmler appeared quite at ease and answered, “You are on the road to Lueneburg.”

Himmler was brought to the villa and was again stripped for the fourth time, in order to make quite certain he was not concealing poison on his person.

The medical officer examined his toes, fingers, hair, ears, armpits and every part of the body where poison could possibly be hidden and then asked Himmler to open his mouth.

It was then that Himmler bit the poison vial.

The Gestapo chief was unconscious within a minute and dropped a huddled mass on the floor.

Stomach pumps are useless

Stomach pumps were immediately brought into action and Himmler was held face downward over a bucket but to no avail.

The poison had paralyzed the nerve centers instantaneously and in a quarter of an hour Himmler was dead.

Kärntner Nachrichten (May 25, 1945)

Himmler verübt Selbstmord

Nach der Gefangennahme durch die britische 2. Armee

Heinrich Himmler, der ehemalige deutsche Reichsführer und Chef der Gestapo, der persönlich verantwortlich war für den Tod durch Erschießung, Folterungen, Vergiftungen oder Hunger von Millionen Männern, Frauen und Kindern aus allen Ländern Europas, hat Selbstmord verübt.

Soldaten der englischen 2. Armee hatten ihn auf einer Landstraße gefangengenommen. Er war verkleidet und trug eine schwarze Binde über einem Auge. Die Soldaten brachten ihn in das Hauptquartier. Als er dort untersucht wurde, gelang es ihm, eine kleine Phiole mit Blausäure zu zerbeißen. Trotz allen sofort unternommenen ärztlichen Bemühungen starb Himmler 15 Minuten später.

So entging Himmler der Zukunft, die ihn erwartete. Was wäre sein Schicksal gewesen? Vor einem alliierten Gerichtshof wäre ein Verbrechen nach dem anderen enthüllt worden, die er angeordnet hate und die den Abscheu der gesamten zivilisierten Welt erregt hatten. Auf ihn wartete ein sicherer Tod auf dem Galgen oder vor einem Kommando.

Niemand auf der ganzen Welt wird um Himmler trauern. Er besaß keine Freunde. Er hatte mehr erbitterte Feinde als irgendwer in der Weltgeschichte. Viele Menschen aller Nationen, deren Angehörige, Freunde oder Kameraden auf Himmlers Befehl in unsagbarer Weise starben, mögen versucht sein, zu bedauern, dass er einen so schnellen und leichten Tod gehabt hat. Aber Rachegelüste angesichts eines Leichnams sind gemein und sinnlos. Das Beste für die Menschen ist, Himmler zu vergessen. Und jeder möge seinerseits sein Bestes tun, um in seiner eigenen Seele und in der Gemeinschaft, der er angehört, das Böse zu zerstören, das Heinrich Himmler verkörpert hat.

Huh… I thought cyanide meant instant death. So… that could only mean that the cyanide was old and he died very painfully.

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L’Aube (May 25, 1945)

Himmler s’est suicidé

Heinrich Himmler, ancien chef de la Gestapo et maitre de fait de la politique allemande au moment de l’invasion du Reich par les Alliés, s’est donné la mort.

Arrêté le 21 mai à Bremervoerde, où il se trouvait sous le nom de Hizinger, Himmler a été conduit au Quartier Général de la 2e armée britannique. C’est là qu’il s’est suicidé mercredi à 23 h. 04, en avalant du cyanure de potassium. Il est mort en moins d’un quart d’heure.

Le corps de Himmler a été présenté jeudi à 18 h. 50 aux représentants du maréchal Joukov. Des documents et des photographies relatifs à la mort du Reichsführer des SS leur ont été remis.

One can only hope it was painful. Does cyanide grow old? No clue.

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St. Petersburg Times (May 25, 1945)

Hangman Himmler dies by poison to cheat Allies

LONDON, England (UP) – Heinrich Himmler, chief of the Gestapo and symbol of all that was bestial in Nazism, committed suicide by poison Wednesday night in a villa at Lueneburg in northwestern Germany where he had been held secretly since his capture by British troops at Bremervoerde Monday.

Himmler died wearing only his socks. He had been stripped for examination. The examining doctor, looking for concealed poison, put his finger in Himmler’s mouth. Himmler jerked back and bit on a tiny vial of cyanide of potassium he had concealed in his mouth.

British Second Army headquarters announced Himmler’s death and Supreme Allied Headquarters confirmed it.

The death of German war criminal No. 2, second only to Adolf Hitler, left only Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop at large among the top-ranking Nazis, assuming that Hitler and Paul Joseph Goebbels died in Berlin.

Dispatches from Second Army headquarters said Himmler and his two adjutants were captured at Bremervoerde, west of Hamburg and northeast of Bremen, by a British detachment.

Himmler was disguised and was using the name of Hizinger, dispatches said. He was wearing pearl-colored horn-rimmed eyeglasses instead of his usual nose glasses. He had shaved off his little mustache and wore a black patch over one eye.

Apparently, Himmler since his arrest had concealed in his mouth, when others were around, a tiny vial of cyanide of potassium.

Himmler was taken to Lueneburg, southeast of Hamburg, and held at a villa in greatest secrecy, dispatches said.

Wednesday night, it was said, a physician examined Himmler and asked him to open his mouth.

The doctor wanted to be sure Himmler had no poison. He looked into Himmler’s mouth and appeared to be satisfied, dispatches said. But on second thought he asked Himmler to get nearer a light. The doctor put his finger in Himmler’s mouth to make a closer examination. Himmler jerked back his head, bit on the vial, dropped to the floor and died 15 minutes later at 11:04 p.m. despite the doctor’s efforts to save him, it was said.

Yesterday, Himmler’s body lay on the floor of the villa, at British Second Army headquarters in Lueneburg, half covered by a blanket, according to dispatches.

Sgt. Maj. Edward Austin saw Himmler die. He told his story to a BBC correspondent:

Before I arrived, I didn’t know it was Himmler. I was told only that I was to guard an important Quisling. He came into the room – not the arrogant figure we all used to know. He wore an army shirt and a pair of drawers and had a blanket wrapped around him. I recognized him immediately. I pointed to a couch and said in German: “That’s your bed. Get on to it.”

He looked at me and at an interpreter and said: “He doesn’t know who I am.”

“Yes, I do,” I said. “You are Heinrich Himmler. But, still, that’s your bed. Get undressed.”

He tried to stare me down but I stared back and eventually he looked down.

He started to take off his drawers and went to the couch.

A doctor and a colonel came in and started a routine inspection, looking for poison which we suspected he had on him. We looked in his clothes, all over his body, under his arms, in his ears, behind his ears, in his hair. At last we asked him to open his mouth.

He opened his mouth and rolled his tongue around his teeth. The doctor wasn’t satisfied. He asked Himmler to come near the light and open his mouth. The doctor put two fingers in his mouth and had a good look inside. Himmler clamped down his jaws on the doctor’s fingers and crushed a vial he had held in his mouth for hours.

The colonel and I instinctively jumped to him. The doctor hauled him onto the couch and tried to make him spit out the poison, and the colonel and I held him. We worked on him 15 minutes, trying all methods of artificial respiration. He died and we threw a blanket over him.

A senior intelligence officer at the headquarters of Gen. Sir Miles Dempsey, commanding the Second Army, told the story of Himmler’s arrest.

Two British soldiers were guarding a bridge at Bremervoerde. They were engaged in a security check on passing civilians. The soldiers stopped three men in civilian clothing – “Herr Hizinger” and his two thug-like companions, really bodyguards. “Hizinger” produced papers which aroused the suspicion of the soldiers.

The papers identified “Hizinger” as a discharged member of the German Army field security police. There he made a fatal mistake. The guards knew discharge papers were no longer being issued to German troops. But for the papers, Himmler might have escaped.

The three men were put under close arrest. They were passed on to British field security police. At the camp to which they were taken, Himmler remained unrecognized. He was held for interrogation. Through one of his “adjutants,” he asked for an interview with the camp commandant. The commandant consented.

He arrived at the detention place and “Herr Hitzinger,” stepping up to him, announced: “I am Heinrich Himmler.”

The chief counter-intelligence officer was called. He confirmed that the man was Himmler and his decision was checked as correct by counter-intelligence officers from Dempsey’s headquarters.

Himmler was stripped, much against his will, and searched thoroughly – it was thought. No other civilian clothes were available and Himmler was given his choice of remaining stripped, wearing British battledress or wrapping himself in blankets. He chose the blankets. He was separated from his hard-looking “adjutants.”

Himmler was taken in an intelligence officer’s car to Lueneburg, where a house was set aside for him.

Last night, a doctor was called to make another and more thorough examination – the fourth since Himmler’s arrest, dispatches said.

He had lived a little more than four hours after he disclosed his identity, an Allied headquarters dispatch said.

Two Red Army aides of Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, commanding the First White Russian Army, examined Himmler’s body tonight. They were given photographs of him and a full report of his capture and death.

Himmler was 45, a pasty-faced man of clerkish appearance except for his cruel mouth. He was called Hitler’s hatchet man and Hangman Himmler. Of all the Nazis, he was one of the most cold-blooded and ruthless. It had been reported often that he was a rival of Hitler for power, but the best reports indicated that he was a loyal follower.

Himmler joined the German Army in the last war, in 1917, and was made a lieutenant. After the war, he studied agriculture and political economy. He was a pioneer Nazi and in 1920 he started a little black book, which| he kept up carefully, listing his enemies and those of the Nazis, as well as prominent men all over Europe.

The list grew longer and with the years Himmler accumulated a voluminous file of information on thousands of men and women.

Himmler was an inconspicuous little man, round-faced, with a little mustache and wearing nose glasses which gave him the appearance of a shop clerk. But he was a terrible enemy, cold, cruel, merciless. He and his SS troops and Gestapo operatives led the blood purge of 1934, in which the Nazis murdered hundreds of their own leading men.

Himmler had succeeded in remaining in hiding for 15 days before the British got him. He was last reported at Flensburg, in the Schleswig-Holstein isthmus leading to Denmark, May 6. A high command delegation was leaving to sign the Reims surrender next day. It was over for Himmler. He asked high command leaders what to do. They advised him to fly to the south and try to join the Germans who were expected to continue resistance in the mountains. He disappeared from Flensburg at that time.