The Germanic-SS (Germanische-SS)
was the collective name given to paramilitary groups
which arose in conquered and subject nations of Nazi
Germany between 1939 and 1945 and which were modeled
on designs of the German Schutzstaffel (SS). The Germanic SS was founded on principals identical
to the Allgemeine-SS and its purpose was considered
to be enforcement of Nazi racial doctrine and Anti-Semitic ideals.
The Germanic-SS typically engaged in
such duties as serving as local security police and
augmenting units of the Gestapo, SD, and other
commands of the RSHA. The group was most notorious in
the Netherlands where the Germanic-SS was employed to
a great extent in Jewish roundups for deporations to
Death camps.
After the close of World
War II, most
members of the Germanic SS were branded as traitors
to their countries and several independent war crimes
trials were conducted by the nations in which the Germanic-SS
had existed.
It should be noted that the Germanic-SS
was not the same as the Foreign Legions of the Waffen-SS,
although many Germanic SS members would join this sister
organization in the last years of the Second World War.
An underground Nazi organization also
existed in Switzerland,
known as the Germanische SS Schweiz. It had very few
members and was considered merely a splinter Nazi group
by Swiss authorities.
France did not maintain a Germanic-SS group, but the police
forces of the Vichy
Government assisted local SS authorities to a great
extent. The British
Free Corps was at first considered part of the Germanic-SS
but later became (at least on paper) a division of the
Waffen-SS Foreign Legions.
