The SS In Nazi Germany 1925-1945

The SS in Nazi Germany 1925-1945 What drove them, who lead them and what was demanded of them?

“If I had known it I would have told my son, I’d rather shoot you than let you join the SS. But I didn’t know” – Wilhelm Keitel

The SS, otherwise known as the Schutzstaffel was founded in 1925 by Adolf Hitler. The SS started off as a bodyguard service for Adolf Hitler, they were to attend his mass public gatherings. The organization started off with a modest 8 members who were highly loyal to Hitler. Over the years the organization expanded their network of sub-divisions consisting of over 250 000 members. These sub-divisions would be focused on activities ranging from concentration camps to intelligence operations. The first leader of the SS

The SS was indirectly used by Himmler to display his irregular upbringing as a child in a sense that all of his decisions were indirectly influenced by his failed super ego, instead he naturally adopted Hitler’s super ego. Lack of a feeling of self-worth and distinct individuality, theoretically, led him to imbibe the prevailing values of the pre-war generation. The primary mission/goal of the SS was to fight against the so-called “inferior race”, known as sub-humans according to the Nazi racial policy. The Nazi ideologies of a so-called “inferior race” had been implanted in the brains of the young German population at the time. They thought they were being patriotic, and fighting towards a common goal, when in fact they were aiding one of the largest criminal organizations in the world to flourish. The SS were put in charge of controlling the concentration camps at the time, such as Dachau and Auschwitz. Himmler and the rest of Nazi Germany leaders promoted this “Aryan race”, but in fact most of them were the complete opposite. Himmler was a dull, pale man unlike the superior Aryan

Reinhard was described as an emotionless man with dark ambitions. He was extremely talented in fencing, horse riding, and music and was also a skilled pilot. Heydrich was responsible for the creation of the SS intelligence service. Unfortunately for Heydrich, Czech agents assassinated him in 1942 before he could succeed Himmler. The SS didn’t take this lightly, as they completely destroyed the Czech village of Lidice. All of the men were executed and all of the children who were not viable for the SS training were executed as well. All of the women were sent to concentration camps. From 1931 onwards Heydrich and Himmler worked to together to build up the power and reputation of the SS, although they were still under the wing of the SA, (Sturmabteilung). The SS was still just Hitler’s private echelon, whereas the SA were the ones who were doing all the dirty work. The SA were the ones who paved the way for Nazi electoral success, and were the ones who fought “in the streets”. If one compares the size of the SA to the SS there is a disparity, the SA were four and a half million, whereas the SS were only 250 000 by the start of the second world war, numbers of the SS were later cut down even more as Himmler believed the “elite” standards of the SS were being abused. Himmler was competing with Ernest Rohm, leader of the SA. In 1934 Himmler was appointed the head of the Gestapo