Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was born in Munich on 7 October 1900. His father, Joseph, was a secondary school teacher. Heinrich had two brothers, Gebhard, born on 29 July 1898 and Ernst, born on 23 December 1905. As a student Himmler did well at school. Towards the end of 1917 he began officer training with the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. Himmler never managed to see action during the First World War; this would remain a source of irritation to him for the rest of his life. Having left the army Heinrich Himmler became a student of agriculture at the Munich Technische Hochschule in 1919.
In 1920 Himmler met Captain Ernst Röhm. Röhm recruited Himmler to the NSDAP and introduced him to Adolf Hitler. Having successfully completed his studies Himmler found employment as an agriculturist in Schlessheim. Himmler took part in the unsuccessful Beer-Hall