[2] Commissioned an SS-Untersturmführer on 14 October 1929, he advanced up the ranks, commanding company and battalion size units for the next two years.

On 7 August 1932, he succeeded SS-Gruppenführer Kurt Daluege as the commander of SS-Abschnitt (District) III, also based in Berlin and overseeing six SS-Standarten.

In 1933 he was in charge of the newly opened prison called Columbia-Haus in the Tempelhof area of the city where hundreds of the regime's opponents were imprisoned.

This was followed in March 1935 by a posting as a special duties officer in SS-Oberabschnitt (Main District) "Ost" in Berlin until April 1936.

[3] Also in January 1937, Henze was appointed Acting Police President of Kassel in northern Hesse, a position that was made permanent in October.

Thus, he was the leader of security forces in the city when the Kassel Synagogue was attacked and its contents burned on 7 November 1938, in one of the first events of the anti-Jewish pogrom known as Kristallnacht.

"[4] Also active in politics, Henze was elected as a member of the Prussian Landtag on 24 April 1932 and served until its abolition in January 1934.

On 12 November 1933, he was elected as a deputy to the Reichstag from electoral constituency 2 (Berlin), serving until the fall of the Nazi regime.