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From student diaries to the command of the SS, David Irving traces Heinrich Himmler’s private life and rise to power. The main narrative ends with the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Dispatched from our US stock via USPS.
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Student diaries and family letters sit beside SS orders in David Irving’s account of Heinrich Himmler. Drawing on private papers, official records and interviews, Irving traces the Bavarian schoolmaster’s son through agricultural studies, nationalist politics and the failed Munich putsch to leadership of the SS and German police.
Family correspondence and Marga Himmler’s diary accompany the expansion of the SS, its racial rules and its rivalries. The narrative covers Heydrich’s intelligence service, the 1934 purge, concentration camps and antiquarian projects, alongside Himmler’s marriage, daughter Gudrun and relationship with Hedwig Potthast. Later chapters turn to Austria, the Munich crisis, Kristallnacht and preparations for the invasion of Poland.
The sustained chronological account ends in September 1939. An opening chapter alleges that Himmler was murdered in British custody in 1945, while a brief epilogue looks ahead to the wartime years. Irving’s interpretation of the cited material includes apologetic and Holocaust-denying claims about Nazi persecution.
Illustrated hardcover with black-and-white and colour photographs, including images from Himmler’s albums. This listing is for the standard hardcover shown, without a collector’s slipcase or personal inscription. The 2022 Collector’s Special with slipcase is listed separately.
Dispatched from our US stock via USPS. This stock is available for delivery to US addresses.
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Author profile
David Irving is a renowned British historian and author of over 30 books. Known for his meticulous primary source research, he has spent decades in archives across the globe, unearthing diaries, documents, and first-hand accounts that have reshaped our understanding of the Second World War and its key figures.
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