 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Gebhard Ludwig Himmler" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Gebhard Ludwig Himmler (29 July 1898 – 22 June 1982) was a GermanNazifunctionary,mechanical engineer and older brother ofReichsführer-SSHeinrich Himmler.
Gebhard Ludwig Himmler was born on 29 July 1898 inMunich, the first son of a schoolmaster who later became a headmaster (Oberstudiendirektor), Joseph Gebhard Himmler (born 17 May 1865 inLindau; died 29 October 1936 in Munich), and Anna Maria Heyder (born 16 January 1866 inBregenz; died 10 September 1941 in Munich).[1] His siblings wereHeinrich Himmler (born 7 October 1900 in Munich; who committed suicide in British custody, 23 May 1945 inLüneburg) andErnst Hermann Himmler (born 23 December 1905 in Munich; died 2 May 1945).
On 3 November 1902 the family moved to Passau, where Joseph Gebhard Himmler taught Greek and Latin at the Königlich humanistisches Gymnasium.[2]
From 1904 to 1906 he attended the cathedral school on theFrauenplatz in Munich.[3] From 1906 to 1908 he went to theAmalienschule and from 1909 to 1916 to theWilhelmsgymnasium. In 1916, because he was still working on hisAbitur, he was exempted from conscription in theBavarian Army. In March, 1917 he took hisAbitur early and passed.
He was a member of theStudentenverbindung, AGV München, where he got to knowRichard Wendler, later to become his brother-in-law. On 18 September 1926 he married Mathilde Hilde Wendler, whom he had met at a ball held by the Apollo students' association. The couple had three daughters: Irmgard (born 21 October 1927), Anneliese (born 16 October 1930) and Heide (born 13 March 1940 inGmund am Tegernsee).
In 1917, Himmler passed an officer training course and, in May 1917, joined16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment inPassau. In summer that year he participated in an exercise atGrafenwöhr, passed aFahnenjunker course and, subsequently, a machine gunner's course inLagerlechfeld. On 9 April 1918, Himmler arrived inLorraine on theWestern Front and then took part in theBattle of Château-Thierry, 65 km east fromParis, as a runner between battalion and regimental headquarters.
In 1919, after the end of the war, Himmler and his brother, Heinrich, left the Munich citizens' militia, theEinwohnerwehr, to join the 21st Rifle Brigade (Schützenbrigade 21) of theparamilitaryFreikorps underFranz Ritter von Epp. In early 1923, Himmler joined theBund Reichskriegsflagge underErnst Röhm, who took part in theBeer Hall Putsch in November 1923.
From 15 January 1919 to July 1923, he took a course inmechanical engineering at theTechnical University of Munich. From July 1923 to the introduction of theRentenmark currency, Himmler worked for the BavarianHypo-Bank. In 1924 he worked in the construction office of the engineering firm, Fritz Neumeyer AG, in the Munich quarter ofFreimann [de]. From January 1925 he was an assistant teacher at the municipal vocational and technical school for precision engineering on Munich'sDeroystraße; from April 1925 he was appointed as a teacher (Studienrat) there and taught technical drawing, physics and instrumentation.
On 30 January 1933, Himmler was appointed headmaster of the vocational school onDeroystraße in Munich and on 1 November 1935 he became headmaster of the Oskar von Miller Polytechnic, a higher education establishment specializing in technology.
In May 1933 Himmler joined theNazi Party (member no. 1.117.822)[4] and theVerein für das Deutschtum im Ausland. In order to avoid the appearance of being an opportunist, at his request the lower Nazi membership number of his wife was transferred to him. Before 30 January 1933, Himmler became the head of the Bavarian vocational schools association. This was transferred in 1933 into theNational Socialist Teachers League (NSLB). Himmler became deputy and, subsequently, head of the Gau Students Association (Gaufachschaftsleiter) for theGau of Upper Bavaria.
From his appointment as director of the vocational school inDeroystraße, Himmler devoted himself to numerous honorary offices in the Nazi regime and was largely exempted from teaching. He trained as an officer and continued to work with the NSLB. From early 1936, he worked in the head office for technology in the Nazi Party, theHauptamt für Technik in der NSDAP, and in the Nazi Federation for German Technology (NS-Bund Deutscher Technik), led byFritz Todt and to which, until 1938, almost all technical-scientific associations, such as theAssociation of German Engineers (VDI), were connected.[5]
The VDI defined the guidelines for the award of the title "engineer". Himmler helped to shape this corporate representative body and exercised the state's political power in a discriminatory and party-political manner.[6]
On 1 August 1939, Himmler was called up and assigned to the 19th Bavarian Infantry. He was deployed with his company to Czechoslovakia on the Polish border.
After the start of theSecond World War on 1 September, he participated in theInvasion of Poland. The 19th Infantry was part of the14th Army. At the end of the fighting, on 16 and 17 September, the regiment was located west ofLemberg (now Lviv), but was transferred to the Lower Rhine in October 1939.
Himmler enjoyed the protection ofFritz Todt, who ensured that, in December 1939, he was posted to Department E IV of theReichserziehungsministerium in Berlin. On 12 July 1940, he was promoted from principal (Oberstudiendirektor) to director (Ministerialrat). From June 1940, Gebhard and Hilde Himmler lived with their family inHähnelstraße in the Berlin district ofFriedenau. From August 1943, Himmler lived with his brother, Ernst, inRuhleben in Berlin. In 1944, Wilhelm Heering (born 1877),[7] director (Ministerialdirigent) at theReichserziehungsministerium, retired, and Himmler became his successor.
Until 1946, his family lived atHaus Lindenfycht inGmund am Tegernsee withMargarete Himmler; during renovation work at the private villa she looked after prisoners at the subcamp ofKZ Dachau.[8] On 30 January 1944, Himmler became an SS-Standartenführer (SS-Nr. 214.049)[4] and, on 30 March 1944, was promoted to SS-Standartenführer der Reserve in theWaffen-SS and was employed as inspector of Waffen-SS schools.
Himmler was taken prisoner by the British Army nearKappeln on theSchlei. In early March 1946, he was interned at the Emil Köster Leather Factory inGadeland; later, he was transferred toBad Fallingbostel on theLüneburg Heath. In 1948 he was moved to an internment camp inUngererstraße in Munich.
Following his release in 1948, he worked on the manufacture ofcapacitors inHoffmannstraße in Munich. Karl Hudezeck (1934–1945, headmaster of theWittelsbacher-Gymnasium München) gave him adenazification certificate for the Nazi era. At adenazification panel he was assessed as Category II - Follower (belastet).
In the European-Afghan Cultural Office in Munich, Himmler, as director (Ministerialdirigent a. D.) and engineer, worked as a study adviser and arranged internships for Afghan students. He was barred from working for the government and he was disqualified from his pension, but he successfully appealed this in 1959.[9] He died in Munich on 22 June 1982, aged 83.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
