Adolf Hitler founded the Schutzstaffel (SS)
in April of 1925, as a group of personal bodyguards. As time went on,
this small band of bodyguards grew from 300 members in 1925 to 50,000
in 1933 when Hitler
took office. The man responsible for this growth was Heinrich
Himmler, who commanded the SS from 1929 until its disintegration
in 1945. Between 1934 and 1936,
the SS gained control of Germany's police forces and expanded their
responsibilities. Because of these new responsibilities, the SS divided
into two sub-units: the Allgemeine-SS (General SS), and the Waffen-SS
(Armed SS). Combined, these two organizations consisted of over 250,000
troops by 1939.
The General SS dealt with local police matters and
with "racial matters." The main component of the General SS
was the Reichssicherheitshauptamt ("RSHA," Reich Security
Central Office in German). The RSHA itself was divided into four sub-groups,
including the well-known Gestapo,
headed by Heinrich Müller.
The RSHA also dealt with foreign espionage and counterintelligence.
The Armed SS consisted of three main groups. The first
was the Leibstandarte, Hitler's personal bodyguard. The second was the Totenkopfverbände (Death's-Head Battalions), which was in
charge of the death and concentration
camps. The third group was the Verfügungstruppen (Disposition
Troops), an elite combat unit known for its extreme fighting tactics,
which was mixed in with Germany's regular army. Because of the distasteful
nature of their duties, members of the SS were schooled for many years
in racial hatred, and were encouraged to harden their hearts to human
suffering.
Unlike the SA ("Sturmabtelung," German
for Assault Division, also known as "Brownshirts), who were considered
to be a separate paramilitary organization working for the good of the
State, the SS was under Hitler's total control. Easily recognizable
by the lightning-shaped "S" insignia on their black uniforms,
they soon became known as the purest of all Germans. To facilitate this,
Himmler demanded that each officer prove the racial history of his family
dating back to 1700. As the SS grew and became more complex, it matured
into the spine of the Nazi regime.