Heinrich Mueller

Heinrich Mueller

Heinrich Mueller, the son of poor Catholic parents, was born in Germany on 28th April, 1901. He fought in the First World War where he won an Iron Cross while fighting against the Russian Army on the Eastern Front.

After the war Mueller joined the Bavarian police where he specialized in collecting information about members of the German Communist Party. A supporter of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), he was recruited by Reinhard Heydrich in 1934 to take over the running of the Gestapo.

In 1939 Mueller was put in charge of the Secret Political Police. This involved tracking down potential opponents including socialists, communists, liberals and Jews.

After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich Mueller worked closely with his replacement, Ernst Kaltenbrunner. He also played an important role under Adolf Eichmann in the Final Solution.

When it became clear that Germany would lose the Second World War Mueller began to plan his escape. Heinrich Mueller disappeared in April, 1945, and was never brought to justice.

Primary Sources

(1) Heinrich Mueller, head of the Secret Political Police, order sent to all regional and local commanders of the state police (9th November 1938)

(1) Operations against Jews, in particular against their synagogues will commence very soon throughout Germany. There must be no interference. However, arrangements should be made, in consultation with the General Police, to prevent looting and other excesses.

(2) Any vital archival material that might be in the synagogues must be secured by the fastest possible means.

(3) Preparations must be made for the arrest of from 20,000 to 30,000 Jews within the Reich. In particular, affluent Jews are to be selected. Further directives will be forthcoming during the course of the night.

(4) Should Jews be found in the possession of weapons during the impending operations the most severe measures must be taken. SS Verfuegungstruppen and general SS may be called in for the overall operations. The State Police must under all circumstances maintain control of the operations by taking appropriate measures.

(2) James Douglas-Hamilton, Motive for a Mission (1971)

Hitler read Albrecht Haushofer's report when he was still uncertain as to how Hess was being received in Britain, and he had no means of checking its truthfulness or accuracy. He thus decided to take no hasty and irrevocable action. Instead he merely gave orders that Haushofer was to be sent to the Prince Albrecht Strasse Gestapo Prison in Berlin, so that he could be interrogated by SS Gruppenfiihrer Mueller.

In the Gestapo Prison Albrecht was relatively well treated. His father, who had been arrested and then released after a short time, was allowed to visit him. The most unpleasant aspect of his imprisonment was the interrogations by Mueller. Haushofer had nothing in common with the head of the Gestapo. The latter was a coarse, ruthless and brutal man who had an instinctive distrust for a man like Albrecht Haushofer with his finely tuned intellectual mind. Mueller continually accused him of sending Hess to Britain, but was not intelligent enough to unravel the web of Albrecht's subtle activities. In no way was he able to incriminate Albrecht, although he regarded him with loathing and suspicion.