article_snippet: The son of a school teacher, Himmler was born in Munich on October 7, 1900, and went on to become the architect of the Holocaust and one of the Nazi party's most dreadful chiefs.
article_snippet: Himmler became president of the Gestapo (Secret State Police)
article_snippet: once the Nazis had come to power in 1933, and set up the very first Nazi concentration camp, Dachau, the same year.
article_snippet: Himmler was obsessed with the idea of the Germans as the Aryan race and racial purification and encouraged Aryans to only breed with each other in special programmes Himmler set up.
article_snippet: During the Second World War, after Hitler had successfully invaded Poland, Himmler was able to force more than a million Poles and 300,000 Jews out of the west of the country.
article_snippet: In 1941, Himmler was present at the shooting of 100 Jews by firing squad in Minsk.
article_snippet: Himmler deciding that having to witness such killings might affect the mental health of Himmler S.S. men, and declared that alternative methods of genocide be found.
article_snippet: In 1942 Himmler was charged with control of 'the final solution to the Jewish problem' - the Holocaust.
article_snippet: Himmler was given control of the concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and by spring that year it was greatly expanded to include gas chambers. 
article_snippet: In total, close to six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
article_snippet: When it became clear that the Nazis were going to lose the war, Himmler attempted to bargain with the Allies, and Adolf Hitler's consequently stripped Himmler of all Himmler duties.