During the war the vows of loyalty became even more intense. As Ruth
Bettina Birn has already indicated, many SS leaders were no longer satisfied
with assuring Himmler of their loyalty in general terms, but reinforced their
vow with the promise of the utmost commitment to duty and service.
42
Now it really was a case of loyalty unto death. Thus, in October 1944
Obergruppenfu
¨
hrer Benno Martin sent thanks for his promotion to this
rank by ‘announcing’ to Himmler that ‘I will carry out my duty to you and
to the idea of the SS to my last breath. Reichsfu
¨
hrer, you can be equally
certain of the commitment of my leaders and of the SS men and police
under my command.’
43
Hermann Fegelein, the former head of the main SS Cavalry School in
Munich and now commander of the 8th SS cavalry division, wrote Himm-
ler a letter in October 1943 on the latter’s birthday, in which he not only
vowed loyalty but claimed he was doing so because he owed the Reichs-
fu
¨
hrer his entire existence:
Just as previously when we played sports, now in wartime too we have ridden
undaunted, even in the most difficult times, assured in our hearts of victory under
your command and in obedience to your orders. The fallen comrades of your
cavalry units are testim ony to this; they died on the field of honou r, fulfilling your
saying: ‘We have to do more than our duty: as knights without fear or reproach.’ In
the heaviest fighting, in all seasons, summer or winter, we have served undaunted,
loyal and obedient, true to you, Reichsfu
¨
hrer, and to our word, carrying out
everything we promised in peacetime. [ . . . ] In my life you have been the great
patron, a strict superior officer, and an unfailingly helpful comrade. Together with
SS-Obergruppenf u
¨
hrer Ju
¨
ttner you have made me what I am today. I have often
had to carry out orders of yours that were heavy with responsibility and sometimes
looked as if they were suicide missions. But my men and I have come through them
all, through the mentality of our teams and through our precise way of think ing as
Prussians. By nature I have the impetus, but it is you who have taught me to be
conscientious and aware of my responsibilities, and ready to carry out my duty to
the letter, and I believe I can say today that I have always proved how sacred your
orders were to me. Perhaps, Reichsfu
¨
hrer, you could tell the Fu
¨
hrer that we feel
this in our hearts simply and in faith and with the instinct of the German soldier,
whose ancestors fought just like us for 2,000 years for the good of the Reich and
who, when necessary, also fell.
44
Friedrich Jeckeln, the Higher SS and Police Leader Ostland (the Baltic
States and Byelorussia) and Russia North, reported to Himmler in May 1944
that two of his children had died. His letter ends as follows: ‘My wife is
distraught. I can bear even heavy blows of fate and still be committed and
306 himmler’s leadership style