Himmler's Cigarette

"We had the moral right, we had the duty to our people, to destroy this people which wanted to destroy us. But we have not the right to enrich ourselves with so much as a fur, a watch, a mark, or a cigarette, or anything else."  

- Heinrich Himmler in his 1943 speech at Poznan to his senior SS officers

Chilling and bizarre. Himmler could excuse, praise, and, of course, order massive numbers of cold-blooded murders but taking a cigarette from the victims was, in his eyes, unacceptable because it was enough to start a pattern of corruption. 

He was not worried about harming the victims. He was worried about corrupting the murderers.

Rest assured that the event, as with most formal business meetings, had an agenda. When he finished speaking, refreshments were served.