Heinrich Himmler was born on October 7, 1900 to a middle-class family in Munich, Germany. In his early life, he had a strong desire to join the army. But World War I ended soon after he came of age to join the military, and restrictions placed on the German army in the Treaty of Versailles dismissed any chance of a military career.
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Instead, Himmler turned his focus to agriculture, and began studying for his degree at the Technical University of Munich. While attending the university, Himmler joined a German-nationalist student group where he began to read racist and nationalistic literature. Due to the political climate of the interwar years, such material was popular among right-wing radical Germans. By the time Himmler obtained his degree in 1922, he was a fanatical nationalist.
In August 1923, Himmler joined the Nazi Party. Idolizing the party’s leader, Adolph Hitler, Himmler quit his job and devoted his career to the party. On November 9, 1923, Himmler marched alongside Hitler, Ernst Röhm, Hermann Göring, and other Nazi leaders in the Beer Hall Putsch. The failed coup placed Hitler temporarily in jail, and Himmler found work building his reputation within the Nazi Party. He gave many speeches that followed themes of the German race, the need for German expansion, and the struggle against enemies of Germany.
In 1929, Hitler appointed Himmler Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (SS.) At the time, the SS served as bodyguards for Hitler and other top Nazi leaders. As the newly appointed leader of the SS, Himmler sought to develop an elite faction of the Nazi Party. In 1929, the SS totaled 280 men. By the time the Nazis came to power in 1933, Himmler had grown the SS to 52,000. Himmler induced two new functions for the SS—internal security and guardianship over racial purity. In 1931, Himmler established the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service, or SD) to gather intelligence and monitor opponents within the Nazi Party, leaders of other political parties, and government officials. In 1934, the SD was distinguished as the sole political intelligence agency for Germany. Five years later, in September 1939, Himmler merged the SD with the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA.)
Following the Nazi's invasion of Poland, in 1939 Hitler appointed Himmler as the Reich Commissar for the Strengthening of the German Ethnic Stock. This new position authorized Himmler and the SS to have complete control over German resettlement in areas of occupied Poland and eventually the Soviet Union in 1941. Himmler had complete say over who was German, where ethnic Germans should live, and which populations should be moved out or destroyed to make room for resettled Germans. Himmler’s plan for resettlement would be conducted with the help of the Einsatzgruppen, also known as the SS’s mobile killing units. The Einsatzgruppen was tasked to initiate and participate in mass murder of Jews, government officials, Roma, and people with disabilities, no matter the age or gender.