Heinrich Müller, the German secret police head, unleashed terror in occupied Europe in World War II.
It was almost the end of World War II for Berlin. The Russian army started to bombard Berlin with its artillery. Inside Hitler’s bunker were his close confidants who came to see him for one last time.
The bunker now had the who’s who of the Nazi Party. These Nazi leaders indiscriminately killed millions of people in the name of party ideology. Among them was a Nazi leader who had the least affiliate to the party ideology but killed people for personal satisfaction. He was Henrich Müller, or as others call him, Gestapo Müller.
Early Life
Heinrich Müller was born in Munich. He associated himself with the Schutzstaffel (SS), the paramilitary arm of the Nazi Party.
Müller was known for his disciplined and strict approach to issues and was promoted to a higher position and became a close confidant of Heinrich Himmler, the head of SS. Nazi leaders wanted to establish an internal police system to terrorize the general public like the Fascists under Mussolini, or the Soviet Cheka under Lenin. The Cheka evolved into Stalin’s NVKD which became the Cold War era KGB.
The Gestapo became that terror organization. Gestapo reigned terror in the minds of the German people. Gestapo can arrest anyone without an explanation and subject them to inhuman tortures.
Müller was made the head of the Gestapo and yielded unlimited power. He asked many to call him Gestapo Müller as they were many other Müllers in the Nazi party.
Head Of the Gestapo
Müller had a special hatred towards Jews and aimed his Gestapo to quench his hatred. Interestingly Müller didn’t subscribe to the Nazi Party ideology and was never keen to promote it.
In many cases, Müller had mocked the party policy in private. Müller attached himself to the party only for its anti-Semitic ideology. After the annexation of Austria, Müller established a Gestapo unit there, rounded up Jews, and handed them over to the SS, who sent them to concentration camps.
Müller used the Gestapo to terrorize neighborhoods and force them to point out on locals harboring Jews. Some made false accusations on neighbors for personal gains. Müller expanded Gestapo in the countries occupied by Germany like France, Poland, etc. The Gestapo was a significant player in Kristallnacht when in 1938, the Nazi party unleashed rampant violence on the Jewish population.
The End
When Reinhard Heydrich, the second in command to SS, was shot in Antwerp, Heinrich Himmler sent Müller to investigate the murder.
Müller, with the use of force and bribery, was able to track down the resistance members. Müller was part of the “Final Solution,” where the Nazi Party tried to exterminate millions of Jews in concentration camps across Europe.
When the Red Army closed down on Berlin, Müller was among the few top Nazi officials in the Fuhrer bunker with Hitler. Later Müller and some of the Nazi command tried to escape from Berlin.
The Allied prosecutors investigated Müller’s war crimes in his absence. Müller’s trail went cold with some evidence pointing that he might have ended up in South America.
There were conspiracy theories that he was captured by USSR and taken to Moscow. Possibly to join the KGB or its East German subsidiary the Stasi. Müller’s whereabouts still lure, and he is not the only Nazi official who escaped justice.
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