Create account Log in Article Talk Read Edit View history Schutzstaffel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "SS" redirects here. For other uses, see SS (disambiguation). Navigation The Schutzstaffel (German pronunciation: [ˈʃʊtsˌʃtafәl] ( listen), translated to Protection Main page Protection Squadron Squadron or defence corps, abbreviated SS—or with stylized "Armanen" sig runes) Contents Schutzstaffel was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP). It Featured content began at the end of 1920 as a small, permanent guard unit known as the "Saal- Current events Schutz" (Hall-Protection)[1] made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for Nazi Random article Party meetings in Munich. Later in 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit which had by Donate to Wikipedia then been reformed and renamed the "Schutz-Staffel". Under Himmler's leadership (1929–45), it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the largest and most [2] Interaction powerful organizations in the Third Reich. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under SS insignia (sig runes) Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during Help World War II (1939–45). The SS, along with the Nazi Party, was declared a criminal About Wikipedia organization by the International Military Tribunal, and banned in Germany after 1945. Community portal Recent changes Contents Contact page 1 Background SS flag 1.1 Special ranks and uniforms Toolbox 1.2 Ideology 1.3 Merger with police forces What links here 1.4 Personal control by Himmler Related changes 2 History Upload file 2.1 Origins Special pages 2.2 Development Permanent link 2.3 Early SS disunity Page information 3 Before 1933 Data item 3.1 1925–28 Cite this page 3.2 1929–31 3.3 1931–33 Print/export 4 After the Nazi seizure of power Adolf Hitler inspects the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler on 4.1 1934–36 Create a book arrival at Klagenfurt in April 1938. Heinrich Himmler is standing 4.2 1936–39 Download as PDF slightly behind Hitler's right side. 5 During World War II Printable version Agency overview 5.1 SS and police leaders Formed April 4, 1925 5.2 SS offices Languages 5.3 Allgemeine-SS Preceding Sturmabteilung agencies 5.4 Waffen-SS Stabswache Afrikaans 5.5 Germanic-SS Alemannisch Dissolved May 8, 1945 5.6 Auxiliary-SS (Superseding Sturmabteilung (formerly ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺑﻳﺔ 6 SS units and branches Aragonés agency 6.1 Concentration camps Az әrbaycanca Jurisdiction Nazi Germany 6.2 Security services Беларуская German-occupied Europe 6.3 Death squads Беларуская Headquarters SS-Hauptamt, Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, (тарашкевіца) 6.4 Special action units Berlin Български 6.5 SS and police courts 52°30′26″N 13°22′57″E Bosanski 6.6 Special protection units Employees 1,250,000 (c. February 1945) Brezhoneg 7 SS special purpose corps Ministers Adolf Hitler, Führer Català 7.1 SS Cavalry Corps responsible Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer Чӑвашла 7.2 SS Medical Corps Agency Julius Schreck, Reichsführer-SS Cebuano 7.3 SS Women's Corps executives (Reich Leader of the SS) Česky 7.4 SS Scientific Corps (1925–26) Cymraeg 8 Other SS groups Joseph Berchtold, Reichsführer-SS Dansk 8.1 Austrian-SS (1926–27) Erhard Heiden, Reichsführer-SS Deutsch 8.2 Contract workers (1927–29) Eesti 9 ODESSA and Postwar activity Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer-SS 10 See also Ελληνικά (1929–45) 11 Notes Español Karl Hanke, Reichsführer-SS Esperanto 12 References (April–May 1945) 13 Further reading Euskara Parent Agency NSDAP External links 14 ﻓﺎﺭﺳﯽ Child agencies Allgemeine SS Français Waffen-SS (SS-Verfügungstruppe) Frysk Background [edit] SS-Totenkopfverbände Galego RSHA – Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) and 한국어 The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Hrvatski Führer's body guard, the Nazi Party's "Protection Squadron" and a force that, fielding Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) Page 1 / 16 Bahasa Indonesia almost a million men (both on the front lines and as political police), managed to exert Part of a series on Íslenska as much political influence in the Third Reich as the Wehrmacht, Germany's regular armed forces. Italiano According to the Nuremberg Trials, as well as many war crimes investigations and trials conducted since Nazism then, the SS was responsible for the vast majority of Nazi war crimes. In particular, it was the primary עברית ქართული organization which carried out the Holocaust.[3] As a part of its race-centric functions, the SS oversaw the Kiswahili isolation and displacement of Jews from the populations of the conquered territories, seizing their assets Kurdî and transporting them to concentration camps and ghettos where they would be used as slave labor Latina (pending extermination) or immediately killed. Latviešu Initially a small branch of the Sturmabteilung ("Brownshirts" or stormtroopers, abbreviated as SA), the SS Lietuvių grew in size and power due to its exclusive loyalty to Adolf Hitler, as opposed to the SA, which was seen Magyar Organizations as semi-independent and a threat to Adolf Hitler's hegemony over the party. Under Himmler, the SS Македонски National Socialist German selected its members according to the Nazi ideology. Creating elite police and military units such as the (Workers' Party (NSDAP ﻣﺻﺭﻯ Waffen-SS, Adolf Hitler used the SS to form an order of men claimed to be superior in racial purity and (Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo ﻣﺎﺯِﺭﻭﻧﯽ ability to other Germans and national groups, a model for the Nazi vision of a master race. During World Nederlands Sturmabteilung (SA) War II, SS units operated alongside the regular Heer (German Army). However, by the final stages of the 日本語 Schutzstaffel (SS) war, the SS came to dominate the Wehrmacht in order to eliminate perceived threats to Adolf Hitler's Hitler Youth (HJ) Norsk bokmål power while implementing his strategies, despite the increasingly futile German war effort. Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Norsk nynorsk Leibesübungen (NSRL) Oʻzbekcha Chosen to implement the Nazi "Final Solution" for the Jews and other groups deemed inferior (and/or League of German Girls (BDM) enemies of the state), the SS was the lead branch in carrying out the killing, torture, and enslavement of Polski National Socialist Women's League Português approximately 12 million people. Most victims were Jews or of Polish or other Slavic extraction. However, (NSF) Ripoarisch other racial/ethnic groups such as the Roma made up a significant number of victims, as well. Română Furthermore, the SS purge was extended to those viewed as threats to "race hygiene" or Nazi ideology— History Русский including the mentally or physically handicapped, homosexuals, and political dissidents. Members of labor Early timeline Shqip organizations and those perceived to be affiliated with groups (religious, political, social, and otherwise) Hitler's rise to power Machtergreifung Simple English that opposed the regime, or were seen to have views contradictory to the goals of the Nazi government, German re-armament Slovenčina were rounded up in large numbers; these included clergy of all faiths, Jehovah's Witnesses, Freemasons, Nazi Germany Slovenščina Communists, and Rotary Club members. Religion in Nazi Germany Српски / srpski Foreseeing defeat, a significant number of SS personnel organized their escape to South American Night of the Long Knives Srpskohrvatski / nations. These escapes are said to have been assisted by an organization known as ODESSA, an Nuremberg Rally српскохрватски acronym of the German phrase Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, which translates as the Anti-Comintern Pact Suomi Organization of Former Members of the SS. Many others were captured and prosecuted by Allied Kristallnacht Svenska World War II authorities at the Nuremberg Trials for war crimes, and absconding SS criminals were the targets of police Tagalog Tripartite Pact forces in various Allied nations, post-war West and East Germany, Austria, and Israel. The Holocaust தமி ţğĂ The Nazis regarded the SS as an elite unit, the party's "Praetorian Guard", with all SS personnel Nuremberg Trials [3][4] Türkçe (originally) selected on the principles of racial purity and loyalty to the Nazi Party. In the early days of Neo-Nazism Українська the SS, officer candidates had to prove German ancestry to 1750. They also were required to prove that Ideology (non-racial) [citation needed] Tiếng Việt they had no Jewish ancestors . Later, when the requirements of the war made it impossible Fascism .to confirm the ancestry of officer candidates, the proof of ancestry regulation was dropped ייִדיש Gleichschaltung 中文 In contrast to the black-uniformed Allgemeine SS (the political wing of the SS), the Waffen-SS (the military Hitler's political views wing) evolved into a second German army aside the Wehrmacht (the regular national armed forces) and Mein Kampf Edit links operating in tandem with them; especially with the Heer (German Army). Militarism National Socialist Program Special ranks and uniforms [edit] New Order Propaganda Main article: Uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel Proletarian nation The SS was distinguished from other branches of the German military, the National Socialist Party, and Relationship between fascism and German state officials by its own rank structure, unit insignia, and uniforms. The all-black SS uniform was democracy designed by SS-Oberführer Prof. Karl Diebitsch and graphic designer SS-Sturmhauptführer Walter Heck. Religious aspects Syncretic Politics [5] These uniforms were rarely worn after the war began, however, as Himmler ordered that the all-black Symbolism uniforms be turned in for use by others. They were sent east where they were used by auxiliary police Women in the Third Reich units and west to be used by Germanic-SS units such as the ones in Holland and Denmark.[6] In place of the black uniform, SS men wore uniforms of earth-grey (Erdgrau) or Army field-grey (grey-green) with Racial ideology distinctive insignia.