Editing Heinrich Himmler (section)

== Capture and death ==
[[File:Himmler Dead.jpg|thumb|upright|Himmler's corpse after his suicide by [[cyanide poisoning]], May 1945]]

Rejected by his former comrades and hunted by the Allies, Himmler attempted to go into hiding. He had not made extensive preparations for this, but he carried a forged paybook under the name of Sergeant Heinrich Hizinger. On 11 May 1945, with a small band of companions, he headed south to [[Friedrichskoog]], without a final destination in mind. They continued on to [[Neuhaus (Oste)|Neuhaus]], where the group split up. On 21 May, Himmler and two aides were stopped and detained at a checkpoint in [[Bremervörde]] set up by former Soviet POWs. Over the following two days, he was moved around to several camps{{sfn|Longerich|2012|pp=734–736}} and was brought to the British 31st Civilian Interrogation Camp near [[Lüneburg]], on 23 May.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|pp=1, 736}} The officials noticed that Himmler's identity papers bore a stamp which British military intelligence had seen being used by fleeing members of the SS.{{sfn|Corera|2020}}

The duty officer, Captain Thomas Selvester, began a routine interrogation. Himmler admitted who he was, and Selvester had the prisoner searched. Himmler was taken to the headquarters of the [[Second Army (United Kingdom)|Second British Army]] in Lüneburg, where a doctor conducted a medical exam on him. The doctor attempted to examine the inside of Himmler's mouth, but the prisoner was reluctant to open it and jerked his head away. Himmler then bit into a hidden [[potassium cyanide]] pill and collapsed onto the floor. He was dead within 15 minutes,{{sfn|''Bend Bulletin''|1945}}{{sfn|Longerich|2012|pp=1–3}} despite efforts to expel the poison from his system.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=1141}} Shortly afterward, Himmler's body was buried in an [[unmarked grave]] near Lüneburg. The grave's location remains unknown.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2007|p=248}}