Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was a leading member of the Nazi Party, commander of the Gestapo and Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel. He also served as the right-hand man of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler until 1945.
Biography[]
Heinrich Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Adolf Hitler's entourage. Castle Wewelsburg was Himmler's SS training school which was attended by Helmut von Mephisto.[2]
At some point, Joseph Goebbels brought in Himmler and his SS to assist agents in an operation without Hitler's knowledge to acquire an Imperial Fasces from the time of Julius Caesar to keep it out of the hands of Benito Mussolini.[3]
After hiring Indiana Jones to find the Ark of the Covenant in 1936, US Army Intelligence major Eaton provided information on prominent Nazis which included Himmler. He made reference to Himmler's anti-semitism and word that the man held delusions of being tenth-century German king Heinrich I.[4]
Himmler was present with Hitler at the Berlin book-burning rally at the Institute of Aryan Culture in 1938 where Indiana Jones was attempting to retrieve his father's Grail Diary to prevent the Nazi ally Walter Donovan from finding the Holy Grail for Hitler.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Heinrich Himmler was portrayed uncredited by the late Ronald Lacey in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.[1] Lacey had previously played Gestapo agent Arnold Ernst Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark.[5] Himmer was one of Lacey's final roles in his film career before his death in 1991, so director Steven Spielberg brought him back to the series as Himmer as a "kind gesture" due to Lacey's illness.[6] Lacey's friend Michael Sheard, who played Adolf Hitler in the film, had played Himmler several times in his career.
Although Himmler didn't appear in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,[7] he is briefly visible in one of the teaser trailers for the film (when the narration points out that Indiana Jones faced the armies of evil) as some footage of the Berlin bookburning rally scene from Last Crusade was included.[8]
In Rob MacGregor's unpublished novelization of the Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings video game, it would have been revealed that Himmler appointed Magnus Völler as the director of the Verteidigung Germanisches Altertum ("Defense of German Antiquities") unit within the Schutzstaffel, as a means to expand on Völler's background.[9] The game itself has no references at all to Himmler.[10]
Appearances[]
- Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth (Mentioned only)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade novel
- Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings novel (Cancelled) (Mentioned only)
- Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Mount Sinai (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Mount Sinai
- ↑ Indiana Jones Artifacts
- ↑ Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook
- ↑ Raiders of the Lost Ark
- ↑ Michael Sheard interview at TheRaider.net
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull teaser trailer
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings novel
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
