Schutzstaffel

:For other uses of the abbreviation SS, see SS (disambiguation)

The SS during the Second World War

By 1944, the SS had become a vast and complex organization and was considered a "State within a State". The final structure and organization of the SS were as follows:

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SS and Police Leaders

The most powerful men in the SS were the SS and Police Leaders, divided into three levels being that of Regular Leaders, Higher Leaders, and Supreme Leaders. Such persons normally held the rank of SS-Gruppenfuhrer or above and answered directly to Heinrich Himmler in all matters pertaining to the SS in their area of responsibility. Thus, SS and Police Leaders bypassed all other chains of command. In Himmler?s grand dream of the SS, the SS and Police Leaders were eventually to become SS-Governors of the Lebensraum which would be ruled by SS-Lords, protected by SS-Legions, and worked and lived in by SS-Peasant Warriors.

Related Topics:
SS and Police Leader - Lebensraum

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Headquarters Offices

By 1944, the SS consisted of twelve main offices as listed below:

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• Hauptamt Persönlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS (Personal Staff of the Reich Leader SS)
• SS Hauptamt (Main Administrative Office of the SS)
• SS Führungshauptamt (Administrative and Supply Department of the Allgemeine and Waffen-SS)
• Hauptamt SS Gericht (Office of SS Legal Matters)
• SS Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt RuSHA (SS Office of Race and Settlement)
• SS Personalhauptamt (SS Personnel Office)
• Reichssicherheitshauptamt RSHA (Reich Central Security Office)
• Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei (Office of the Order Police)
• Wirtschafts und Verwaltungshauptamt WVHA (Economics and Administration Office)
• Hauptamt Dienststelle Heissmeyer (SS Education Office)
• Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle VOMI (Main Office for Ethnic Germans)
• Reichskommissariat für die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums (Reich Commissioner for Germanic Resettlement)

The organizations of the Gestapo, Sicherheitsdienst, Kriminalpolizei, and the Einsatzgruppen were under the overall command of the RSHA.

Related Topics:
Gestapo - Sicherheitsdienst - Kriminalpolizei - Einsatzgruppen

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General SS

The "General SS" referred to the regular SS formations in Germany that had been founded in the 1920s and 30s. By the close of the Second World War, the General SS consisted of the following branches:

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Allgemeine-SS

The Allgemeine-SS was a ?part time? group of SS personnel who composed mustering formations throughout Germany. The formations were divided into Standarten, organized into larger formations known as Abschnitts and Oberabschnitts. The Allgemeine-SS were considered more or less reservists and many Allgemeine-SS personnel served in other branches of the German military, the Nazi Party, or the Waffen-SS. For those who served in the Waffen-SS, it was standard practice to hold separate SS ranks for both the Allgemeine and the Waffen-SS.

Related Topics:
Allgemeine-SS - Nazi Party - SS rank

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SS Cavalry Corps

The SS-Cavalry Corps comprised several Reiterstandarten and Reiterabschnite which were equestrian riding groups founded to attract German upper class and nobility into the SS. In the 1930s, the SS Cavalry Corps was considered as a starting point for a military branch of the SS, but this idea was phased out with the rise of the SS-Verfügungstruppe which would later become known as the Waffen-SS. By 1941, the SS-Cavalry Corps was little more than a social club with most of the serious cavalry officers having transferred to combat units in the Waffen-SS.

Related Topics:
Equestrian - SS-Verfügungstruppe

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Germanic-SS

The Germanic-SS was a organization which was formed in conquered and allied countries to Germany. The Germanic-SS was a part time group, much like the Allgemeine-SS, that performed home service duties such as local security and Nazi indoctrination. Denmark and Belgium were the two largest participators in the Germanic-SS program. Germanic-SS members wore their own uniforms with a modification of SS rank titles and insignia. All Germanic-SS units answered to a central office in Germany, under the command of the Allgemeine-SS.

Related Topics:
Germanic-SS - Denmark - Belgium - SS rank

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Auxiliary SS

The Auxiliary-SS was an organization that arose in 1945 as a last ditch effort to keep concentration camps running to destroy evidence of the Holocaust. Auxiliary-SS members were not considered regular SS personnel, but were conscripted members from other branches of the German military, the Nazi Party, and the Volkssturm. Such personnel wore a distinctive tri-swastika collar patch and served as camp guard and administrative personnel until the surrender of Germany.

Related Topics:
The Holocaust - Nazi Party - Volkssturm

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Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was the operational military component of the SS and was considered a full branch of the German military. Within the Waffen-SS existed the crack divisions Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), SS Division Das Reich, and a number of lesser divisions.

Related Topics:
Waffen-SS - Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler - SS Division ''Das Reich''

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The Waffen-SS also maintained several "Foreign Legions" made up of personnel from conquered and allied countries to Germany. Such personnel wore distinctive national collar patch and preceded their SS rank titles with the prefix Waffen instead of SS. The racial restrictions were relaxed for these soldiers to the extent that Ukrainian Slavs and Turkic Tartar units were recruited. The latter units also sometimes contained a minority of Karaite Jews who the Nazis regarded as racially ambiguous. The Ukrainians and the Tartars had both suffered persecution under Stalin and their motive appeared to be hatred of Communism rather than belief in National Socialism.

Related Topics:
Foreign Legion - National collar patch - SS rank - Slav - Turkic - Karaite - Ukrainians - Tartars - Stalin - Communism

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Concentration Camp Service

After 1934, the running of Germany's Concentration Camps was placed under the total authority of the SS and an SS branch known as the Totenkopfverbande (SS-TV) was founded under Theodor Eicke. Known as the "Death's Head Units", the SS-TV was first founded as several regiments, based at each of Germany's major Concentration Camps, the largest of which was at Dachau. In 1938, the Totenkopfverbande expanded also into a military division, with the founding of the Totenkopf division which would, by 1941, become a full division of the Waffen-SS.

Related Topics:
1934 - Totenkopfverbande - Theodor Eicke - Dachau - ''Totenkopf'' division

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In 1939, with the start of the Second World War, the Totenkopfverbande began a large expansion which would eventually develop into three branches covering each of the Concentration Camp types that the SS operated. By 1944, there existed three divisions of the SS-TV, those being the staffs of the Concentration Camps Proper in Germany and Austria, the Labor Camp system in occupied territories, and the guards and staffs of the Extermination Camps in Poland that were involved in the Holocaust.

Related Topics:
1939 - Second World War - 1944 - Germany - Austria - Poland - The Holocaust

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In 1942, for administrative reasons, the guard and administrative staff of all the concentration camps became full members of the Waffen-SS. In addition, to oversee the large administrative burden of a extensive labor camp system, the Concentration Camps were placed under the command of the SS Wirtschaft und Vervaltungshauptamt (WVHA), also known as the Main SS Office for Economics and Administrative. Oswald Pohl commanded the WVHA while Richard Glücks served as the Inspector of Concentration Camps.

Related Topics:
1942 - Oswald Pohl - Richard Glücks

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By 1944, with the Concentration Camps fully integrated with the Waffen-SS and under the control of the WVHA, a standard practice developed to rotate SS members in and out of the camps, based on manpower needs and also to give assignments to wounded Waffen-SS officers and soldiers who could no longer serve in front line combat duties. This rotation of personnel is the main argument that nearly the entire SS knew of the Concentration Camps, and what actions were committed within, making the entire organization liable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Special Action Groups

The Einsatzgruppen were special units of the SS that were formed on an ?as-needed? basis under the authority of the Sicherheitspolizei and later the RSHA. The first Einsatzgruppen were created in 1938 for use during the Anschluss of Austria and again in 1939 for the annexation of Czechoslovakia. The original purpose of the Einsatzgruppen was to ?enter occupied areas, seize vital records, and neutralize potential threats?. In Austria and Czechoslovakia the activities of the Einsatzgruppen were mainly limited to Nazification of local governments and the establishment of new Concentration Camps. In 1939, however, the Einsatzgruppen were reactivated and sent into Poland to exterminate the Polish ?Upper Class?, so that there would be no leadership to form a resistance to German occupation. In 1941, the Einsatzgruppen reached their height when they were sent into Russia to begin whole sale extermination and genocide of ?undesirables? such as Jews, Gypsies and Communist leaders.

Related Topics:
Einsatzgruppen - Sicherheitspolizei - RSHA - 1938 - Anschluss - Czechoslovakia - 1939 - Poland - 1941 - Russia - Jew - Gypsies - Communist

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The Einsatzgruppen were formed under special orders of the SS and were headed by SD and Gestapo officers. To man the Einsatzgruppen the SS drew on SD and Gestapo personnel, Waffen-SS units, Ordnungspolizei Police Battalions, and certain units of the regular German military. The Einsatzgruppen also utilized local populations to provide additional security and manpower when needed. Thus, the activities of the Einsatzgruppen were spread throughout a large pool of personnel from different branches of the SS and German State.

Related Topics:
SD - Gestapo - Ordnungspolizei

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The ultimate authority for the Einsatzgruppen, which answered directly to Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler, were the SS and Police Leaders who oversaw all Einsatzgruppen activities and reports in their given area. At the close of the Second World War a number of SS and Police Leaders, who had overseen activites in Eastern Europe and Russia, simply disappeared (General Richard Glücks for example), were executed for war crimes, or committed suicide before capture. As far as the lower ranks, a large number were killed in combat, were executed by inmates when/if they could get their hands on them, were captured in combat and executed (on the eastern front) or imprisoned and died in Russian camps. The rest of the lesser ranks simply returned to the chaos that was post-war Germany or other countries, and thus were not formally charged (due to the large numbers of them- the SS) and simply returned to civilian life.

Related Topics:
Heinrich Himmler - Adolf Hitler - SS and Police Leader - Second World War

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Order Police

In 1936, the SS absorbed the regular German police forces and incorporated all local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies into the Ordnungspolizei. SS-Oberstgruppenführer Kurt Daluege became commander of the Ordnungspolizei (known as the Orpo) and Heinrich Himmler became Chief of the German Police. By 1944, the Orpo had also absorbed minor law enforcement agencies such as the Postal Police, Railway Security Police, Water Protection Police, and even night watchmen who were considered state employees. The Ordnungspolizei had a separate system of Orpo ranks and it was possible for Orpo members to hold dual status in both the SS and the Orpo. In 1944, all Orpo Police Generals gained equivalent Waffen-SS rank so that they would be treated as military officers, instead of police officials, if captured by the Allies. The Orpo also maintained a military division, considered part of the Waffen-SS as well as a number of Police Regiments which performed security duties under the authority of the RSHA.

Related Topics:
1936 - Ordnungspolizei - Oberstgruppenführer - Kurt Daluege - Orpo rank - Waffen-SS - RSHA

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SS Medical Corps

The SS Medical Corps was a unique branch of the SS that can trace its origins to 1930 with the expansion of the part-time mustering formations of the SS, known as the Allgemeine-SS. Within each SS-Sturmbann (battalion), there existed one company of SS personnel whose duty was to serve as medical support personnel to the rest of the SS battalion.

Related Topics:
1930 - Allgemeine-SS

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Known as the Sanitätsstaffel, these formations were originally small units under the command of local SS leaders. After 1931, however, the SS formed a headquarters office known as Amt V, which was the central office for SS medical units. At this same time, a special SS unit was formed known as the Röntgensturmbann SS-HA, or the Hauptamt X-Ray Battalion. This formation comprised 350 full time SS personnel who toured Germany offering X-ray diagnostics to any SS member. While the Röntgensturmbann was an independent office, the local Sanitätsstaffel were under dual command of both the SS Medical Office (Amt V), and the leaders of the various SS-Sturmbann and Standarten.

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When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the SS was reorganized and an office of the SS Surgeon General was established. Commanding by an SS-Obergruppenführer, the SS Surgeon General was a member of the personal staff of the Reichsführer-SS, with the SS Medical Corps, as a whole, losing the status of a headquarters office. This was an important development in changing the nature of service for members of the SS Medical Corps.

Related Topics:
1933 - Obergruppenführer - Reichsführer-SS

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By 1935, the SS Medical Corps was considered an ?auxiliary duty? and all members of the medical corps were also attached to regular SS formations. To denote medical corps status, the SS authorized a serpent crest to be worn on the collar patches of SS unit insignia. Since SS Medical Corps members could now serve in any branch of the SS, this expansion allowed medical professionals to join every SS office and participate in a variety of duties.

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Between 1935 and 1938, the SS Medical Corps began to develop a sinister reputation beginning with SS doctors serving in concentration camps and engaging in a variety of human medical experimentations. SS doctors were also called upon, in 1936, to assist with Germany?s euthanasia program against the mentally disabled and physically handicapped.

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When the Second World War began in 1939, the SS Medical Corps extended itself in the Armed wing of the SS which would, by 1941, be known as the Waffen-SS. Waffen-SS doctors were highly trained both I medical skills and combat tactics with many such doctors receiving high combat awards.

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It was also during World War II that SS doctors reached their height with human medical experiments, the most notorious of which occurred at Dachau concentration camp and also at Auschwitz. Such experiments ranged from vivisections, sterilization experiments, infectious disease research, freezing experiments, as well as many other excruciating medical procedures often performed without anesthetic. This period of time also saw the work of one of the most notorious SS doctors in history, Doctor Joseph Mengele, who served as Head Medical Officer of Auschwitz and was responsible for daily gas chamber selections as well as brutal experiments on human twins.

Related Topics:
Dachau concentration camp - Auschwitz - Vivisection - Sterilization - Anesthetic - Joseph Mengele - Twins

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In 1945, after the surrender of Germany, the SS was declared an illegal criminal organization by the Allies. SS doctors, in particular, were marked as war criminals due to the wide range of human medical experimentation which had been conducted during the Second World War as well as the role SS doctors had played in the gas chamber selections of the Holocaust. Relatively few SS doctors, however, were ever brought to justice with such figures as Joseph Mengele escaping to South America while still other SS doctors returned to civilian practice in Germany under assumed names or, in some cases, even their original identities.

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SS and Police Courts

Background

Since the SS was, by its very nature, a criminal organization, situations arose early in the Nazi regime of SS activities coming into conflict with German law. The first recorded instances, of SS personnel charged with breaking the law through the performance of their duties, was in 1934 at the Dachau concentration camp when the local town magistrate charged several SS guards with murder after several prisoners were executed without cause or trial.

Related Topics:
1934 - Dachau concentration camp

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The SS response to the German legal establishment was to petition the Reich Ministry of Justice to pass an act which removed the SS, and all of its members, from the jurisdiction of the civilian courts. This effectively placed the SS ?above the law? and its members could break regular German law without fear of penalty.

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For those SS personnel who committed acts which were, even by SS standards, illegal the SS established a series of SS and Police Courts to deal with such offenders. The SS and Police Courts were the only authority which could try SS personnel for criminal behavior and were under the authority of the Hauptamt SS Gericht.

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Court types

The different SS and Police Courts were as follows:

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• SS und Polizei Gericht: Standard SS and Police Court for trial of SS officers and enlisted men accused of minor and somewhat serious crimes
• Feldgerichte: Waffen-SS Court for court martial of Waffen-SS military personnel accused of violating the military penal code of the German Armed Forces.
• Oberstes SS und Polizei Gericht: The Supreme SS and Police Court for trial of serious crimes and also any infraction committed by SS Generals.
• SS und Polizei Gericht z.b.V.: The Extraordinary SS and Police Court was a secret tribunal that was assembled to deal with highly sensitive issues which were desired to be kept secret even from the SS itself.

The one exception to the SS and Police Courts jurisdiction involved members of the Allgemeine-SS who were serving on active duty in the regular Wehrmacht. In such cases, the SS member in question was subject to regular Wehrmacht military law and could face charges before a standard military tribunal.

Related Topics:
Allgemeine-SS - Wehrmacht

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Legality of the Holocaust

In 1946, it was revealed to the surprise of many that the SS and Police Courts had never had to deal with a case involving the legality of the Holocaust. Since many SS personnel claimed no culpability for war crimes, using the defense that they were "only following orders", the question was raised had anyone in the SS ever been charged, tried, or executed for refusing to carry out an illegal order.

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It was then discovered that any such case, brought before an SS and Police Court, would have to have established which order had been disobeyed and what kind of order it was. SS Judges have themselves admitted that the mass murder of Jews and the shooting of women and children was against German law and that no SS member could be held accountable for refusing to obey orders which were clearly illegal.

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In all such cases, therefore, any SS person who refused to commit atrocities was simply transferred to another branch of the SS or sent to front lines in the Waffen-SS. In all of the SS records, reviewed between 1946 and 1950, there was not one case discovered where an SS member was killed for refusing to carry out an illegal order associated with the Holocaust.

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Helferin Corps

The SS-Helferin Korps, translated literally as ?Helper Corps?, comprised women volunteers who joined the SS as auxiliary personnel. Such personnel were not considered actual SS members, since SS membership was closed to women.

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The Helferin Korps maintained a simple system of ranks, mainly SS-Helfer, SS-Oberhelfer, and SS-Haupthelfer. Members of the Helferin Korps were assigned to a wide variety of activities such as administrative staff, supply support personnel, and female guards at Concentration Camps.

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