The diary extracts contain chilling details of the SS leader's daily life, including family commitments and lunches at notorious concentration camps.
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Pages from the diary of Heinrich Himmler reveal shocking details of the Nazi’s daily routine, including a “comradely” lunch at Dachau concentration camp, the scene of over 40,000 murders.
The extracts – dated 1938, 1943 and 1945 – were discovered in military archives in the Russian city of Podolsk, and reportedly show how Himmler plotted the atrocities he committed, alongside honouring his familial obligations.
Damian Imoehl, who helped track down the documents for the German newspaper Bild, told the Times of London “The most interesting thing for me is this combination of doting father and cold-blooded killer.”
Himmler reportedly enjoyed a two-hour long massage to begin his days and made sure to set aside time for his wife, his young daughter, and his mistress.
“He was very careful about his wife and daughter, as well as his affair with his secretary. He takes care of his comrades and friends,” Imoehl said. “Then there is the man of horror. One day he starts with breakfast and a massage from his personal doctor, then he rings up his wife and daughter in the south of Germany and after that he decides to have 10 men killed or visits a concentration camp.”
Himmler was captured after the Nazi regime fell, but committed suicide before he could stand trial.