In 1941, Heinrich Himmler took time out from organizing the Final Solution to write to his 12-year-old daughter, Gudrun: “In life, one must always be decent, courageous and kind-hearted.” ...

It was Heinrich Himmler’s — one of the chief architects of the Holocaust — personal copy of Adolf Hitler’s Volume I of “Mein Kampf,” replete with Himmler’s own annotations.

Heinrich Himmler’s last journey was different. Before, wherever he had travelled, death followed him like a shadow—and the shadow fell on many, at Maidanek. Oswiecim, Buchenwald. “You find ...