Behind the Bastards – Part Five: How Heinrich Himmler Went From Nerdy Boy To Master of the SS

Podcast: Behind the Bastards
Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Robert Evans
Notable Guests/Speakers: Prop (co-host/commentator)
Episode Theme:
This episode explores the ascent of Heinrich Himmler from an awkward, occult-obsessed nerd to the architect of the SS – the core of Nazi terror. It traces his internal power struggles against rival Nazi factions, his strange motivations, and how he built the SS as the engine of party and state violence. The hosts draw contemporary parallels, highlight lesser-known aspects of Himmler’s psychology, and dissect how such meniose, toxic organizations form – and why they endure.

Main Topics & Episode Overview

1. Setting the Stage: Internal Power Struggles in the Nazi Party

• (06:39) Robert recaps the previous episode, emphasizing the Nazi Party's transition from violent street fighters (the SA) to seeking legitimacy through electoral success, which complicates internal dynamics.
  • Himmler's priority: Consolidate power inside the party before the public or ideological goals (“before you can do the weird occult Nazi shit of your dreams, you have to make sure that you stay in power.” – Robert, 07:15).
  • SA’s thuggish behavior versus Himmler's calculated, disciplined approach with the SS.

Notable Quote:

• “It does make me want to do, like, a reverse Ronald Reagan where I become president just to lock myself up in a mental institution, like…if my brain is fried like that motherfucker’s was, Joe’s has been melted long ago.” (A/Robert, 01:48)

2. Rise of Himmler: The SS Versus the SA

• (07:42–15:54) Detailed discussion of how Himmler positioned the SS as Hitler’s loyal “elite,” in contrast with the chaotic, unreliable SA.
  • Early 1930s: SS is the shield protecting Hitler from internal rivals.
  • Himmler leverages every opportunity to make himself indispensible.
  • The classic authoritarian dynamic: Loyal thugs needed for violence, but viewed as dangerous liabilities.

Notable Segment:

• The hosts compare the SA’s relationship to the Nazi Party to Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys relationship to contemporary far-right politics (10:32).

Notable Quote:

• “The SS is a much more, it's smaller, but it's more loyal. And so you have tighter comms…more efficient logistics…better in this kind of a fight…the SS wins the war within the party.” (A/Robert, 16:02)

3. The Time of Struggle and the SS’s Internal Culture

• (15:54–19:01) “Your honor means loyalty”: SS receives its motto as reward for loyalty; SS branding (“released a lot of merch,” 15:54).
• Himmler’s drive to make the SS both racially pure AND a special caste – inspired by medieval knights and occult societies.
• Uses Rome’s (SA chief) homosexuality to undermine him while publicly praising him—exploiting internal secrets for power.

Notable Quote:

• “I mean, [the SS motto is] the same in any gang, right?…You’re talking about just kind of two different competing ideas of how to have a gang.” (A/Robert, 16:02)

4. Recruitment, Loyalty, and Organizational Structure

• (24:30–39:44)
  • Creation of the SS intelligence service (SD) – headed by Reinhard Heydrich, whose role was exaggerated by Himmler’s lack of military knowledge.
  • Himmler’s recruitment method: Identify “fuckups” from the middle class, men with little to lose and a desperate desire for importance.
  • Finds people with secrets to exploit for loyalty, and a “burning need to feel important” (38:03).

Notable Quote:

• “Heinrich’s ideal recruits are fuck-ups…they’ve generally come from his echelon of society, middle class…but they haven’t succeeded. They’ve got very little going on but a burning need to feel important.” (A/Robert, 38:03)

• Himmler’s own physical and psychological awkwardness; other Nazis find him deeply nerdy, awkward, and unlikeable, but also non-threatening and thus safe to empower.

5. Himmler’s Political Maneuvering: The SS as State Power

• (49:14–61:12)
  • Following Hitler's rise to the chancellorship, critical internal struggle with Hermann Göring (head of Gestapo), leveraging political circumstances and Göring’s drug addiction.
  • Himmler’s method: Volunteer the SS for unpleasant new tasks (the concentration camps), carving out irreplaceable roles in state violence.
  • Early concentration camps are “indie bands” (56:16)—run haphazardly by local Nazi groups, SA, or police before centralization.
  • Himmler and Theodore Eicke professionalize and systematize the camps: The infamous Dachau model starts.

Notable Quotes:

• “[Being made chief of the camps] — my best career advice: Try to find a company doing something that you want to be doing that’s new, find what they’re not doing yet, and volunteer to do it. That’s what the SS did with camps.” (A/Robert, 54:52)
• “Dachau begins operating…The SS indulged in an orgy of violence which cost four Jewish prisoners their lives. Subsequent investigations revealed…the camp was ruled by arbitrary terror. The prisoners lived in continual fear for their lives.” (A/Robert, quoting Longrich, 59:28–65:07)

6. Consolidation of Power: Night of the Long Knives and Aftermath

• (67:32–71:03)
  • With the murder of rivals in the Night of the Long Knives, the SS (and Himmler) emerges as the state’s true enforcer.
  • “We were always the internal guard against the party, against people in the party who might be critical of Hitler.” (A/Robert, 68:47)
  • Himmler is now the top cop, head of all German police and the camps.

Notable Quote:

• “There are many people in Germany who are sickened when they see this black uniform. We understand that. And we do not expect to be loved by very many.” (Himmler, quoted by Robert, 68:35)

7. Occultism and Internal Dynamics: Himmler’s Weirdness

• (71:16–73:04)

  • As mainstream Nazi power consolidates, overt occultism gets pruned—Himmler and Rudolf Hess stand out in the upper echelons as the committed “magic guys.”
  • “People seem to get weird. They cool with all the murder and the power shit, but the magic, they…don’t like the magic.” (C/Prop, 71:48)

• Discussion of how Nazi leaders who tried to take credit for ideology before Hitler or who courted the media (or were simply too eccentric) get purged.

8. Contemporary Parallels and Reflections

• (73:04–74:34)
  • Discussion about modern authoritarians and lessons for the present.
  • “We needed to understand; there’s a lot of Himmler to explain … how this guy works and how he succeeded is really important for people to know as we watch what’s shaking out with the first attempts of the different people around Trump to establish a new order.” (A/Robert, 73:05)
  • Character flaws and how would-be tyrants succeed or fail: “Where Elon screwed up was like, you like the camera too much. You can’t be on the camera like that.” (C/Prop, 73:18)

Selected Memorable Quotes

• “You may have missed what we’re doing here at Nazi.” (A/Robert, 13:21)
• “He compensated for this insecurity by wearing an elaborate military style uniform and only associating with men who owed him everything and would play into his image as the tough knightly warrior…” (A/Robert, 40:14)
• “We were always the internal guard against the party, against people in the party who might be critical of Hitler.” (A/Robert, 68:47)
• “There are many people in Germany who are sickened when they see this black uniform. … We do not expect to be loved by very many.” (Himmler, quoted by Robert, 68:35)

Key Timeline & Timestamps

• 06:39 – Nazi electoral success; Himmler’s early power plays.
• 10:32 – Modern analogy: Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys.
• 15:54 – SS receives its loyalty motto.
• 24:30 – Himmler sets up the SD.
• 38:03 – “Himmler’s ideal recruits are fuck-ups.”
• 54:52 – SS moves into running concentration camps.
• 59:28 – Dachau model and systematized camp violence.
• 68:35 – Himmler embraces the SS’s feared reputation.
• 71:48 – Occultism becomes marginalized among top Nazis.
• 73:05 – Parallels to modern aspiring autocrats.

Tone & Style

• Wry, conversational, and darkly humorous: The hosts employ sarcasm and comedic riffing (“This is gang shit”; “Still Himmlering, baby. Jesus Christ.”)
• Candid and personal: Both hosts draw in pop culture and personal analogies, and break down both history and the psychology of its players.
• Deeply researched, sharp, and critical: The episode pulls on a broad base of historical scholarship while remaining accessible and unflinching.

Conclusion and Reflection

This episode meticulously traces Himmler’s transformation from an ideologically unremarkable, insecure failure to a bureaucratic-mystic who would mastermind the engines of Nazi genocide. Through party intrigue, shrewd organizational maneuvering, and exploiting the regime’s need for violence, Himmler made himself indispensable—despite, or perhaps because of, his personal oddness and lack of “charisma.” The hosts draw sharp contemporary analogies, warning how similar insecure men, organizations, and cultures can still take devastating, world-shaping power.

Next Episode Preview:
More on Himmler’s evolution and the SS’s ever-expanding reach, plus the shifting place of Nazi occultism and party rivalries.

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