New light may illuminate aspects of Nazi atrocities against Jews and others with the discovery today of SS Chief Heimrich Himmler’s secret diaries. The diaries were found on the bottom of an Austrian lake.
The newspaper Der Stern has been exploring the bottom of Lake Toplitz for several weeks. Today divers came up with Himmler’s personal files, his diaries and identity cards. Part of the material deals with the fate of Jews. Bundles of counterfeit English five-pound notes were also found. They were counterfeited by Nazi engravers during the war.
The salvaged possessions will be handed over to the Austrian Ministry of Interior. The contents of Himmler’s papers were not published although it was indicated that revealing information was found. Himmler headed the SS, was chief of the Nazi Security organization, and, at the end of the war, commanded all soldiers and police inside the German Reich. He committed suicide after the British captured him.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
