--- title: Heinrich Himmler's Diaries Document Brutal Holocaust Actions description: Extracts from Heinrich Himmler's diaries document the horrific activities of the Nazi, who masterminded the Holocaust canonical: https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-02T10:20:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:58:34.151Z article:section: History og:title: Extracts From Heinrich Himmler's Gruesome Diaries Published og:description: They document the horrific activities of the Nazi, who oversaw the Holocaust og:url: https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt640ef10836a02ef8/6988a0b9bc6cfca4363de157/henrich-himmler.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Henrich Himmler poses in Germany in 1945. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Extracts From Heinrich Himmler's Gruesome Diaries Published twitter:description: They document the horrific activities of the Nazi, who oversaw the Holocaust twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt640ef10836a02ef8/6988a0b9bc6cfca4363de157/henrich-himmler.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Heinrich Himmler's Lost Diaries Reveal Everyday Horrors of the Holocaust ## Video: Former Nazi Guard Charged with 170,000 Counts of Accessory to Murder [Watch (HLS stream): Former Nazi Guard Charged with 170,000 Counts of Accessory to Murder](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7wFGyZ8Y.m3u8) (0:42)  _Published 2016-04-29. 94-year-old Reinhold Hanning is being held accountable for his role in the killing of Auschwitz prisoners from 1942 to 1944._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Aug 2, 2016 10:20 AM UTC  Henrich Himmler poses in Germany in 1945. Henrich Himmler poses in Germany in 1945.Keystone-France—Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Aug 2, 2016 10:20 AM UTC Extracts from [Heinrich Himmler](http://time.com/3906954/himmlers-copy-of-hitlers-mein-kampf/?utm%5Fsource=feedburner&utm%5Fmedium=feed&utm%5Fcampaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29)‘s newly-discovered diaries have revealed the grisly everyday routine of the mastermind of the Holocaust in the depths of World War 2. The diaries were thought to have been lost after they were seized by the Red Army, [The London _Times_](http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/evil-and-banality-in-himmler-s-diaries-x552fqzgf) reports. They document the horrific activities of the Nazi head of the SS, responsible for the systematic murder of millions of Jews in the Holocaust, as he went about his daily business. The documents include details such as [Himmler](http://time.com/2840/himmler-letters-nazis-play-cute/) ordering the murder of thousands following a massage from his doctor and nearly fainting when he was splattered with the brains of a Jewish victim killed in a mass shooting near Minsk, are documented, [_MailOnline_](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3718052/Diary-Nazi-mass-murderer-SS-monster-Heinrich-Himmler-s-war-journals-discovered-buried-archive-Russia.html) reports. Himmler’s diaries were discovered in the archive of the Russian ministry of defence in Podolsk near Moscow earlier this year, where they had remained for seven decades. Extracts from the service diaries – which were written in 1938, 1943 and 1943 and contain more than one thousand pages – have been published for the first time in the German newspaper _Bild_ as part of a serialization. The discovery of the diaries come two years after photographs, love letters and even a recipe book belonging to Himmler [were found in Israel](http://world.time.com/2014/01/26/top-nazis-previously-unseen-letters-and-photographs-published-in-german-newspaper/). \[London [_Times_](http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/evil-and-banality-in-himmler-s-diaries-x552fqzgf)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/"},"headline":"Heinrich Himmler's Lost Diaries Reveal Everyday Horrors of the Holocaust","datePublished":"2016-08-02T10:20:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:58:34.151Z","description":"Extracts published from Heinrich Himmler's gruesome diaries","url":"https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/","keywords":["World War 2","russia","Holocaust","Nazi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt640ef10836a02ef8/6988a0b9bc6cfca4363de157/henrich-himmler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt640ef10836a02ef8/6988a0b9bc6cfca4363de157/henrich-himmler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Henrich Himmler poses in Germany in 1945.","caption":"Henrich Himmler poses in Germany in 1945.","creditText":"Keystone-France—Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/world-war-2/","name":"World War 2"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/","name":"Heinrich Himmler's Lost Diaries Reveal Everyday Horrors of the Holocaust"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Former Nazi Guard Charged with 170,000 Counts of Accessory to Murder","description":"94-year-old Reinhold Hanning is being held accountable for his role in the killing of Auschwitz prisoners from 1942 to 1944.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7wFGyZ8Y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-29T17:43:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7wFGyZ8Y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/","duration":"PT42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4434721/heinrich-himmler-diaries-holocaust/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```