Schutzstaffeln (SS) Organization

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Figure 1.--

Organizationally, the Schutzstaffeln was a unit of the NAZI Party. As it came to control the police. it emerged as the most powerful NAZI-Party unit. And using tht power, Reichführer Himmler created a state within a state with not only police power, but evebntual social, seconomic, and military power. The SS was created a decade before Hitler and the NAZIs seized power. It began as a small SA detachment. The Party was small and relatively important until the Depression began (1929). This meant that the SS was small and poorly funded as well. The unit actually declines in size. When SS commander Erhard Heiden resigned, Hitler appointed Himmler to the position of Reichsführer-SS (January 1929). It was Himmler who rapidly expanded the SS. And this was made possible when as as a result of the Depression, the NAZI Party achieved electoral success in Reichstag (parlimentary) elections (1929-32) and then after Hitler was appointed chancelor (1933). The rapid expansion of the SS meant radical changes in the organization. The organizational history is thus quite complex. What we are primarily interested iin is the organization during World War II which of course the truly deadly phase of the SS and the creation of the Waffen SS which played an important role in the War. The SS as it developed was divided into two principal administrative units: the Allgemeine-SS and the Waffen-SS. The Allgemeine-SS also controlled two additional units: the Germanic-SS and at thee end of the War, a fourth branch, Auxiliary-SS. This basic organization was complicated by ability of the top leaders to bypass the normal organizational structure and chain of command. The most powerful men within the SS were those who had a personal and professional relationship with SS-Reichührer Himmler and/or SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich. Heydrich complicated the SS command structure because he not only had direct access to Hiler himself, but commands outsuide the SS, most notably Deputy Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. And importanbtly within the SS he directed the Reich Security Main Office (RHSA). The most important SS and Police Leaders were classified as regular leaders, higher leaders, and supreme leaders. They generally held the rank of SS-Gruppenführer or above and reported directly to Himmler.

NAZI Party Organization

The NAZI Party was organized on a hierarchial basis. At the top of the Party structure was German Führer Adolf Hitler. This was both a party and government post Hitler assumed in the death of President Hindenburg (1934). Hitler thus combined the Party leadership and Chancelor positions he already held with that of the presidency. His title at that time became Führer. Organizationally, the Schutzstaffeln was a unit of the NAZI Party. As it came to control the police. it emerged as the most powerful NAZI-Party unit. And using tht power, Reichführer Himmler created a state within a state with not only police power, but evebntual social, seconomic, and military power. The SS was created a decade before Hitler and the NAZIs seized power.

Beginnings

The SS began as a small SA detachment. The Party was small and relatively important until the Depression began (1929). This meant that the SS was small and poorly funded as well. The unit actually declines in size. When SS commander Erhard Heiden resigned, Hitler appointed Himmler to the position of Reichsführer-SS (January 1929). It was Himmler who rapidly expanded the SS. And this was made possible when as as a result of the Depression, the NAZI Party achieved electoral success in Reichstag (parlimentary) elections (1929-32) and then after Hitler was appointed chancelor (1933). The rapid expansion of the SS meant radical changes in the organization.

Ultimate Organization

The historical organizational history of the SS is quite complex. What we are primarily interested in is the organization during World War II which of course the truly deadly phase of the SS and the creation of the Waffen SS which played an important role in the War. The SS like the NAZI Party itself was organized on a hierarchial basis--the Führer principle. Thus at the top of the SS structure was Reichführer Himmler. And because of Himmler's unquestioning loyalty, his position was unassailanle. The SS as Himmler developed it was divided into two principal administrative units: the Allgemeine-SS and the Waffen-SS. The Allgemeine-SS also controlled two additional units: the Germanic-SS and at the end of the War, a fourth branch, Auxiliary-SS. These latter two units were also military units. The Allgemeine-SS is the unit that had all of the SS administrative units as well as the police command and concentration camps. It was within the Allgemeine-SS that the Holocaust was planned as well as Generalplan Ost to essentially remake the ethnic map of Europe by murdering tens if millions of people. Only the survival of the Red Army after Hitler launched Barbarossa prevented the SS from fully executing the Plan. Allgemeine-SS units included a range of study groups concerned with race and resettlement as well other issue of interest to Himmler. There was also an economic unit built around the Holocaust and slave labor from the comcentration camps.

Top Commanders

The basic SS organization was complicated by ability of the top leaders to bypass the normal organizational structure and chain of command. The most powerful men within the SS were those who had a personal and professional relationship with SS-Reichührer Himmler and/or SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich. The most important SS and Police Leaders were classified as regular leaders, higher leaders, and supreme leaders. They generally held the rank of SS-Gruppenführer or above and reported directly to Himmler. .

Himmler and Heydrich

SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich complicated the SS command structure because he not only had direct access to Hiler himself, but commands outsuide the SS, most notably Deputy Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. And importantly within the SS he directed the Reich Security Main Office (RHSA).







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Created: 12:18 AM 8/4/2013
Last updated: 12:18 AM 8/4/2013