Thought to have been missing for 71 years, around 1,000 pages ofHeinrich Himmler's office diary have been recently discovered in a Russian military archive.
The entries, which are beingpublished by a German newspaper and in turn translated by the British press, contain personal insights into the life of the head of the SS in Nazi Germany.
In the excerpts, Himmler can be found to have started his days with two-hour massages with a doctor, followed by his murderous duties that shocked the world.
"The most interesting thing for me is this combination of doting father and cold-blooded killer," said Damian Imoehl, a journalist who assisted in finding the diary pages.
"One day he starts with breakfast and a massage from his personal doctor, then he rings up his wife and daughter ... and after that he decides to have 10 men killed," Imoehl told The Times of London.
Intricate details into the daily horrors of the Holocaust remain scant or casual, either intentionally or because of the fact that he may have had a void in his emotions.
For instance, on October 4, 1943, he recorded "17.30: speech to SS officers." The speech he gave, however, ended up being an explicit proclamation of what he called "the extermination of the Jewish race."
To illustrate this point further, on the day of the failed assassination plot of Hitler, otherwise known as Operation Valkyrie, all that was written about the incident was "13.45: Wolf's Lair — talk with the Fuhrer," followed by "15.00: Lunch with General Field Marshal Keitel."
The "Wolf's Lair" after the bomb. Wikimedia Commons via German Federal Archives
Also included in these meticulous pages were vague entries that merely stated "in transit." Analysts point to the fact that he may have been meeting with his mistress, whom he affectionately nicknamed "Bunny."
Himmler, who was eventually captured by British forces at the end of World War II, ended up committing suicide by biting on a cyanide capsule hidden in his tooth.
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