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Nazism in relation to other concepts

2005-04-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Nazi sacred symbol – the swastika or gamma cross
The Nazi symbol is the right-facing swastika.

Nazism and religion
The relationship between Nazism and mysticism is one that has provoked both curiosity and controversy over the years, as has the relationship between Nazism and Christianity.
Hitler and other Nazi leaders clearly made use of both Christian and Pagan symbolism and emotion in propagandizing the Germanic public, and it remains a matter of controversy whether Hitler believed himself a Christian, a heathen, or something else entirely. Some historians have typified Hitler as a Satanist or occultist, whereas other writers have utilized Nazism's occasional outward use of Christian doctrine, regardless of what its inner-party mythology may have been. The existence of a Ministry of Church Affairs, instituted in 1935 and headed by Hanns Kerrl, was hardly recognized by ideologists such as Rosenberg and by other political decision-makers.
The nature of the Nazi Party's relations with the Catholic Church is also complicated. Many Catholic priests and leaders vociferously opposed Nazism on the grounds of its incompatibility with Christian morals. Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (1937) condemning Nazi ideology. Like political dissenters, many priests were sent to the concentration camps for their opposition, including the parson of Berlin Cathedral Bernhard Lichtenberg. (Some of these were Poles persecuted for their nationality.) Hitler was never excommunicated by the Catholic Church.
Nonetheless, since the 1960s it has been claimed by some that the Church hierarchy headed by Pope Pius XII remained largely silent in the face of Nazism, and allegations of the Pope's complicity are today commonplace; see for example John Cornwell's book Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII (although many works have since been published defending Pius's wartime record, e.g. Ralph McInerny's The Defamation of Pius XII.)
As Nazism continued to rule Germany, to many people it became a kind of religion in and of itself, sometimes called Esoteric Hitlerism, and sometimes associated with Ásatrú.

Nazism and fascism
The term Nazism is often used interchangeably with fascism, but this usage is controversial. Some use the word Fascism (spelled with a capital F), only to describe Italian Fascism, while generic fascism (spelled with a small f) may include many different movements, in many different countries.
Nazism and Italian Fascism both employed a similar style of propaganda, including military parades and uniforms, and the Roman salute. The ideologies of both ostensibly included an extreme nationalism and a rebirth of their own nation to some former, past state of national greatness. Both movements, when in power, also put in place totalitarian governments that pursued wars of expansion.
There were also many important differences between the two movements. For example, racism was central to Nazism but of less significance in Italian Fascism. Fascist Italy did not adopt anti-semitism until it followed Hitler's example.

Nazism and socialism
Because Nazism is an abbreviation for "National Socialism", and Nazi leaders sometimes described their ideology as a form of socialism, some people believe that Nazism was a form of socialism, or that there are similarities between Nazism and socialism. It has also been argued that the Nazi use of economic intervention, including central planning and some limited public ownership, is indicative of socialism.
Nazi leaders were opposed to the Marxist idea of class conflict and opposed the idea that capitalism should be abolished and that workers should control the means of production. For those who consider class conflict and the abolition of capitalism as essential components of socialist progress, these factors alone are sufficient to categorize "National Socialism" as non-socialist.
Nazi leaders made statements describing their views as socialist, while at the same time opposing the idea of class conflict espoused by the Social Democrats (SPD) and Communists (KPD). Established socialist movements did not view the Nazis as socialists and argued that the Nazis were thinly disguised reactionaries. Historians such as Ian Kershaw also note the links between the Nazis and the German political and economic establishment and the significance of the Night of the Long Knives in which Hitler purged what were at the time seen as "leftist" elements in the Nazi Party and how this was done at the urging of the military and conservatives.
Many of the traditional center and right political parties of the Weimar Republic accused the Nazis of being socialists citing planks in the Nazis' party program which called for nationalization of trusts and other socialist measures. However, the German National People's Party (DNVP), the most important party on the mainstream right, usually treated the Nazis as a respected potential member of coalition cabinet.
The Nazis came to power through an alliance with some conservative factions, though also experienced opposition from some others. Franz von Papen, a conservative former German Chancellor and former member of the Catholic Centre Party supported Hitler for the position of Chancellor. Events during the Papen chancellorship led to the Enabling Act which gave the Nazis dictatorial powers, passed with the support of conservative and centrist deputies in the Reichstag, over the opposition of Social Democrats and Communists. Other conservatives opposed Hitler, notably Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, who attempted to construct a center-right-led "cross front" that united anti-Hitler factions on the right and center-left in the Reichstag. Schleicher, having been forced from the Chancellorship by Papen, was assassinated by the Nazis on the Night of the Long Knives.
When the Nazis were still an opposition party some leaders, particularly Gregor Strasser, espoused anti-big business stances and advocated the idea of the Nazis as a workers' party. In spite of this, most workers continued to vote for the SPD or the KPD as late as the March 1933 elections held shortly after Hitler's appointment as chancellor.
Ideologically fascism and Nazism reject the most important aspects of Marxist theory. For instance, Hitler did not exalt the working class over the capitalist class as Marx prescribed. In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote 'the suspicion was whispered in German Nationalist circles that we also were merely another variety of Marxism, perhaps even Marxists suitably disguised, or better still, Socialists... We used to roar with laughter at these silly faint-hearted bourgeoisie and their efforts to puzzle out our origin, our intentions and our aims. ' Hitler despised Karl Marx as a Jew and condemned communism and Marxism as a Judeo-Bolshevist conspiracy pledging to block its rise in Germany arguing that the nation's downfall was due to Marxism and its Jewish influence. These actions prompted some prominent conservatives and capitalists to fund and support the Nazis because they saw them as a bulwark against Bolshevism.
There were ideological shades of opinion within the Nazi Party, particularly before their seizure of power in 1933, but a central tenet of the party was always the leader principle or Führerprinzip. The Nazi Party did not have party congresses in which policy was deliberated upon and concessions made to different factions. What mattered most was what the leader, Adolf Hitler, thought and decreed. Those who held opinions which were at variance with Hitler's either learned to keep quiet or were purged, particularly after 1933. Although this is in some respects comparable to the behavior of certain Communist dictatorships such as that of Stalin in the Soviet Union or Mao Zedong in China, it also presents a strong contrast to the collective leadership exercised in other Communist parties, more so to the more democratic organization of most European socialist parties.
In power, the Nazis jettisoned practically all of the socialistic aspects of their program, and worked with big business, frequently at the expense of both small business and the working classes. Gregor Strasser was murdered, as was Ernst Röhm while Otto Strasser was purged from the party. Independent trade unions were outlawed, as were strikes. In place of the unions, the Nazis created the German Labour Front (Deutschen Arbeitsfront (DAF)). The Nazis took other symbolic steps to co-opt the working classes' support, such as the introduction of May Day as a national holiday in 1933. These were described by socialists as superficial moves designed to win the allegiance of workers rather than grant them any material concessions at the expense of capital.
Industries and trusts were not nationalised, with the exception of private rail lines (nationalised in the late 1930s to meet military contingencies). The only private holdings that were expropriated were those belonging to Jews. These holdings were then sold or awarded to businessmen who supported the Nazis and satisifed their ethnic and racial policies. Military production and even film production remained in the hands of private industries whilst serving the Nazi government, and many private companies flourished during the Nazi period. The Nazis never interfered with the profits made by such large German firms as Krupp, Siemens AG, and IG Farben. Efforts were made to coordinate business's actions with the needs of the state, particularly with regard to rearmament, and the Nazis established some state-owned concerns such as Volkswagen. But these were functions of the new German expansionism rather than an implementation of socialist measures. Germany had moved to a war economy, and similar measures occurred in the western democracies during the First World War, and again once the Second World War had begun.
The Nazis engaged in an extensive public works program including the construction of the Autobahn system. As with the expropriation of rail lines, however, the Autobahn system was created with the purpose of facilitating military transport, and government investment in transport systems is common in almost all nations. Similarly, all political movements that have formed governments have used economic intervention of some form or another. The suggestion that economic intervention is left-wing ignores the tradition of intervention practiced by monarchies and oligarchies in Europe before the eighteenth century, and the intervention, including protectionism, subsidies and anti-trade union laws, practiced by right-wing parties in government in Europe and North America during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Since the fall of the Nazi regime, many theorists have argued that there are similarities between the government of Nazi Germany and that of Stalin's Soviet Union. In most cases, this has not taken the form of arguing that the Nazis were socialist, but arguing that both Nazism and Stalinism are forms of totalitarianism. This view was advanced most famously by Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism. However, most socialists argue that Stalin's system was not a truly socialist one, since it did not meet certain requirements that they see as essential for socialism - requirements such as a functional democracy, for example.
For more information see the article on Totalitarianism

Nazism and race
All forms of socialism focus on economic relationships as central in shaping society. In contrast, as can be seen in Mein Kampf, the central doctrine of Nazism is racism and the struggle between peoples. Nazis see the society divided not according to social classes, but according to races and peoples.
Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy among races; at the top was the Caucasian or ("Aryan") race (minus the Slavs, who were seen as below Aryan), then lesser races. At the bottom of this hierarchy were "parasitic" races, especially the Jews, which were perceived to be dangerous to society. Nazi theory said that because the nation was the expression of the race, the greatness of a race could be evaluated according to a race's ability and desire to acquire a large homeland. German accomplishments in science, weaponry, philosophy and art were interpreted as scientific evidence to support Nazi racist claims.
Primo Levi suggested another difference between socialism and Nazism: while both had their idea of what kind of parasitic classes or races society ought to be rid of, he saw the former to determine them by a social position (which people may change within their life), while the latter assign a place given by birth. In his view, revolutionary communists would accept one may be born the son of a wealthy capitalist to be acceptable as a productive member of society; according to Nazis, one born a Jew is a born parasite who must be disposed of. A counterexample may be found in Maoism in China, where at times during the Cultural Revolution the relatives of a "capitalist", even generations removed, were beaten, killed, or, at best, sent to a reeducation camp. Collective punishment is another way of describing this phenomenon. In support of Levi's contention, however, the Chinese Communists have had some members with "bourgeois" social origin, some of whom, such as Soong Ching-ling, achieved prominent positions in the People's Republic of China. Similarly there were a number of prominent Bolsheviks who came from wealthy backgrounds and were accepted in the movement despite this

Nazi or NSDAP

2005-04-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Nazism (also called National Socialism ) . The term is most often used in connection with the Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (the "Third Reich"). This ideology was held by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, commonly called NSDAP or the Nazi Party), which was led by its "Führer" Adolf Hitler.
Adherents of Nazism held that the German nation and the purported "Aryan" race were superior to other races. Nazism has been outlawed in modern Germany, although remnants and revivalists, known as "Neo-Nazis", continue to operate in Germany and abroad.
The term is derived from the word Nazi, which is used to label the supporters of the National Socialism. This term in turn was originally invented as tongue-in-cheek analogy to Sozi (a common and slightly pejorative abbrevetion for socialists in Germany), but became more popular and much more pejorative than the original.
Ideological theory
According to Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hitler developed his political theories after carefully observing the policies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was born as a citizen of the Empire, and believed that ethnic and linguistic diversity had weakened it. Further, he saw democracy as a destabilizing force, because it placed power in the hands of ethnic minorities, who he claimed had incentives to further "weaken and destabilize" the Empire.
The Nazi rationale was heavily invested in the militarist belief that great nations grow from military power, which in turn grows "naturally" from "rational, civilized cultures." Hitler's calls appealed to disgruntled German Nationalists, eager to save face for the failure of World War I, and to salvage the militaristic nationalist mindset of that previous era. After Austria's and Germany's defeat of World War I, many Germans still had heartfelt ties to the goal of creating a greater Germany, and thought that the use of military force to achieve it was necessary.
Many placed the blame for Germany's misfortunes on those whom they perceived, in one way or another, to have sabotaged the goal of national victory. Jews and communists became the ideal scapegoats for Germans deeply invested in a German Nationalist ideology.
Hitler's Nazi theory also claimed that the Aryan race is a master race, superior to all other races, that a nation is the highest creation of a race, and great nations (literally large nations) were the creation of great races. These nations developed cultures that naturally grew from races with "natural good health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits." The weakest nations, Hitler said, were those of impure or mongrel races, because they have divided, quarrelling, and therefore weak cultures. Worst of all were seen to be the parasitic Untermensch (Subhumans), mainly Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled and so called anti-socials, all of whom were considered lebensunwertes Leben (Life-unworthy life) owing to their perceived deficiency and inferiority. The role of homosexuals during the Holocaust is controversial among historians. Some, like the International Committee for Holocaust Truth and authors Scott Lively and Kevin E. Abrams in The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party ,defend the perspective that many homosexuals were involved in the inner circle of the Nazi party: Ernst Röhm of the SA, Horst Wessel, Max Bielas, and others. This perspective is denounced as hateful propaganda by most homosexual associations and groups, stirring heated debates and accusations of censorship and "hate-speech" from both sides.
People of Slavic descent were also seen as subhuman, but only marginally parasitic, because they had their own land and nations, though many of them lived in German countries such as Austria, which Hitler saw as an ethnic invasion of Germanic Lebensraum by foreign populations who would have incentive to force Austria's loyalty to their lands of ethnic and cultural origin.
According to Nazism, it is an obvious mistake to permit or encourage multilingualism and multiculturalism within a nation. Fundamental to the Nazi goal was the unification of all German-speaking peoples, "unjustly" divided into different Nation States. Hitler claimed that nations that could not defend their territory did not deserve it. Slave races he thought of as less worthy to exist than "master races." In particular, if a master race should require room to live (Lebensraum), he thought such a race should have the right to displace the inferior indigenous races. Hitler draws parallels between Lebensraum and the American ethnic cleansing and relocation policies towards the Native Americans, which he saw as key to the success of the US.
"Races without homelands," Hitler claimed, were "parasitic races," and the richer the members of a "parasitic race" are, the more "virulent" the parasitism was thought to be. A "master race" could therefore, according to the Nazi doctrine, easily strengthen itself by eliminating "parasitic races" from its homeland. This was the given rationalization for the Nazis' later oppression and elimination of Jews and Gypsies. Despite the popularity of Hitler and his living space doctrine, some Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS soldiers found the duty repugnant. Only a small fraction of them were actively involved in genocide.
Hitler extended his rationalizations into religious doctrine, claiming that those who agreed with and taught his "truths," were "true" or "master" religions, because they would "create mastery" by avoiding comforting lies. Those that preach love and tolerance, "in contravention to the facts," were said to be "slave" or "false" religions. The man who recognizes these "truths," Hitler continued, was said to be a "natural leader," and those who deny it were said to be "natural slaves." "Slaves," especially intelligent ones he claimed, were always attempting to hinder masters by promoting false religious and political doctrines.
The ideological roots which became German "National Socialism" were based on numerous sources in European history, drawing especially from Romantic 19th Century idealism, and from a biological misreading of Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on "breeding upwards" toward the goal of an Übermensch (Superhuman). Hitler was an avid reader and received ideas that were later to influence Nazism from traceable publications, such as those of the Germanenorden (Germanic Order) or the Thule society.
Hitler's theories were not only attractive to Germans. People in positions of wealth and power in other nations saw them as beneficial. Examples are Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and Eugene Schueller, founder of L'Oréal.

Key elements of the Nazi ideology
National Socialist Program
Racism
Especially anti-Semitism, which eventually culminated in the Holocaust.
The creation of a Herrenrasse (Master Race = by the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life; A department in the Third Reich)
Anti-Slavism
Belief in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races.
Euthanasia and Eugenics with respect to "Racial Hygiene"
Anti-Marxism, Anti-Communism, Anti-Bolshevism
The rejection of democracy, with as a consequence the ending the existence of political parties, labour unions, and free press.
Führerprinzip (Leader Principle) Belief in the leader (Responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the ranks.)
Strong show of local culture.
Social Darwinism
Defense of Blood and Soil (German: "Blut und Boden" - represented by the red and black colors in the Nazi flag)
"Lebensraumpolitik", "Lebensraum im Osten" (The creation of more living space for Germans in the east)
Related to Fascism

Nazism and romanticism
According to Bertrand Russell, Nazism comes from a different tradition from that of either liberal capitalism or communism. Thus, to understand values of Nazism, it is necessary to explore this connection, without trivializing the movement as it was in its peak years in the 1930s and dismissing it as a little more than racism.
Many historiographers say that the anti-Semitic element, which does not exist in the sister fascism movements in Italy and Spain, was adopted by Hitler to gain popularity for the movement, as Anti-Semitic prejudice was very common among the masses in the German Empire at that time. It is claimed that mass acceptance required anti-Semitism, as well as flattery of the wounded pride of German people after the defeat of WWI. Others see anti-Semitism as central to Hitler's Weltanschauung (World view).
Many see strong connections to the values of Nazism and the irrationalist tradition of the romantic movement of the early 19th century. Strength, passion, lack of hypocrisy, utilitarianism, traditional family values, and devotion to community were valued by the Nazis and first expressed by many Romantic artists, musicians, and writers, as well as the Nazi elite, the ancient Greek habit of same-sex relations between the military and young boys praised notably in Plato's works, and favored by German sensualists such as Röhm, Bielas and Wessel. German romanticism in particular expressed these values. For instance, Hitler identified closely with the music of Richard Wagner (a noted anti-Semite, author of Das Judenthum in der Musik, and idol to the young Hitler). Wagner's most important operas, the Ring cycle, express Aryanist ideals, contain what some people interpret as anti-Semitic caricatures, and celebrate traditional Norse Aryan folklore and values.
The idealisation of tradition, folklore, classical thought, the leadership of Frederick the Great, their rejection of the liberalism of the Weimar Republic and the decision to call the German state the Third Reich (which hearkens back to the medieval First Reich and the pre-Weimar Second Reich) has led many to regard the Nazis as reactionary.

Ideological competition
Nazism and Communism emerged as two serious contenders for power in Germany after the First World War, particularly as the Weimar Republic became increasingly unstable.
What became the Nazi movement arose out of resistance to the Bolshevik-inspired insurgencies that occurred in Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused a great deal of excitement and interest in the Leninist version of Marxism and caused many socialists to adopt revolutionary principles. The 1918-1919 Munich Soviet and the 1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin were both manifestations of this. The Freikorps, a loosely organised paramilitary group (essentially a militia of former World War I soldiers) was used to crush both these uprisings and many leaders of the Freikorps, including Ernst Röhm, later became leaders in the Nazi party.
Capitalists and conservatives in Germany feared that a takeover by the Communists was inevitable and did not trust the democratic parties of the Weimar Republic to be able to resist a communist revolution. Increasing numbers of capitalists began looking to the nationalist movements as a bulwark against Bolshevism. After Mussolini's fascists took power in Italy in 1922, fascism presented itself as a realistic option for opposing "Communism", particularly given Mussolini's success in crushing the Communist and anarchist movements which had destabilised Italy with a wave of strikes and factory occupations after the First World War. Fascist parties formed in numerous European countries.
Many historians, such as Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest, argue that Hitler and the Nazis were one of numerous nationalist and increasingly fascistic groups that existed in Germany and contended for leadership of the anti-Communist movement and, eventually, of the German state. Further, they assert that fascism and its German variant, National Socialism, became the successful challengers to Communism because they were able to both appeal to the establishment as a bulwark against Bolshevism and appeal to the working class base, particularly the growing underclass of unemployed and unemployable and growingly impoverished middle class elements who were becoming declassed (the lumpenproletariat). The Nazi's use of socialist rhetoric appealed to disaffection with capitalism while presenting a political and economic model that divested "socialism" of any elements which were dangerous to capitalism, such as the concept of class struggle, "the dictatorship of the proletariat" or worker control of the means of production.

Support of anti-Communists for Fascism and Nazism
Various right-wing politicians and political parties in Europe welcomed the rise of fascism and the Nazis out of an intense aversion towards Communism. According to them, Hitler was the savior of Western civilization and of capitalism against Bolshevism. Among these supporters in the 1920s and early 1930s was the Conservative Party in Britain. During the later 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis were supported by the Falange movement in Spain, and by political and military figures who would form the government of Vichy France. A Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism (LVF) and other anti-Soviet fighting formations were formed.
The British Conservative party and the right-wing parties in France appeased the Nazi regime in the mid- and late-1930s, even though they had begun to criticise its totalitarianism. Some contemporary commentators suggested that these parties did in fact still support the Nazis.

Nazism and Anglo-Saxons
Hitler admired the British Empire as a shining example of expansionist Nordic genius. Racist theories had been developed in Britain and elsewhere during the 19th century to justify European imperial power. Nordicism and Aryanism arose from these developments. Especially important was the idea that North Europeans represented the highest branch of the Aryan peoples, who had in ancient times extended into India and created Indian culture (see Aryan invasion theory). Such Racist imperialist theories justified the idea that some races were innately superior, born to rule, while others were parasitic or inferior "savages." These concepts were often copied by the Nazis.
Similarly, in his early years Hitler also greatly admired the United States of America. In Mein Kampf, he praised the United States for its race-based anti-immigration laws and for the subordination of the "inferior" black population. According to Hitler, America was a successful nation because it kept itself "pure" of "lesser races." However, as war approached, his view of the United States became more negative and he believed that Germany would have an easy victory over the United States precisely because the United States, in his later estimation, had become a mongrel nation.

Economic practice
Nazi economic practice concerned itself with immediate domestic issues and separately with ideological conceptions of international economics.
Domestic economic policy was narrowly concerned with three major goals:
Elimination of unemployment
Elimination of hyperinflation
Expansion of production of consumer goods to improve middle- and lower-class living standards.
All of these policy goals were intended to address the perceived shortcomings of the Weimar Republic and to solidify domestic support for the party. In this, the party was very successful. Between 1933 and 1936 the German GNP increased by an average annual rate of 9.5 percent, and the rate for industry alone rose by 17.2 percent.
This expansion propelled the German economy out of a deep depression and into full employment in less than four years. Public consumption during the same period increased by 18.7%, while private consumption increased by 3.6% annually. However, as this production was primarily consumptive rather than productive (make-work projects, expansion of the war-fighting machine, initiation of conscription to remove working age males from the labor force), inflationary pressures began to rear their head again, although not to the highs of the Weimar Republic. These economic pressures, combined with the war-fighting machine created in the expansion (and concomitant pressures for its use), has led some to conclude that a European war was inevitable. (See Causes of war.)
Some economists argue that the expansion of the German economy between 1933 and 1936 was not the result of the Nazi party, but rather the consequence of economic policies of the late Weimar Republic which had begun to have an effect. In addition, it has been pointed out that while it is often popularly believed that the Nazis ended hyperinflation, that the end of hyperinflation preceded the Nazis by several years.
Internationally, the Nazi party believed that an international banking cabal was behind the global depression of the 1930s. The control of this cabal was identified with the ethnic group known as Jews, providing another link in their ideological motivation for the destruction of that group in the Holocaust. However, broadly speaking, the existence of large international banking or merchant banking organizations was well known at this time. Many of these banking organizations were able to exert influence upon nation states by extension or withholding of credit. This influence is not limited to the small states that preceded the creation of the German Empire as a nation state in the 1870s, but is noted in most major histories of all European powers from the 16th century onward.
It is important to note that the Nazi Party's conception of international economics was very limited. As the National Socialist in the name NSDAP suggests, the party's primary motivation was to incorporate previously international resources into the Reich by force, rather than by trade (compare to the international socialism as practiced by the Soviet Union and the COMECON trade organization). This made international economic theory a supporting factor in the political ideology rather than a core plank of the platform as it is in most modern political parties.
In an economic sense, Nazism and Fascism are related. Nazism shares many economic features with Fascism, featuring complete government control of finance and investment (allocation of credit), industry, and agriculture. Yet in both of these systems, corporate power and market based systems for providing price information still existed.
Rather than the state requiring goods from industrial enterprises and allocating raw materials required for their production (as in socialist/communist systems), the state paid for these goods. This allows price to play an essential role in providing information as to relative scarcity of materials, or the capital requirements in technology or labor (including education, as in skilled labor) inputs to produce a manufactured good. Additionally, the unionist (strictly speaking, syndicalist) veneer placed on corporate labor relations was another major point of agreement. Both the German and Italian fascist political parties began as unionist labor movements, and grew into totalitarian dictatorships. This idea was maintained throughout their time in power, with state control used as a means to eliminate the assumed conflict between management labor relations.

Effects
These theories were used to justify a totalitarian political agenda of racial hatred and suppression using all the means of the state, and suppressing dissent.
Like other fascist regimes, the Nazi regime emphasized anti-communism and the leader principle (Führerprinzip), a key element of fascist ideology in which the ruler is deemed to embody the political movement and the nation. Unlike other fascist ideologies, Nazism was virulently racist. Some of the manifestations of Nazi racism were:
Anti-Semitism, culminating in the Holocaust
Ethnic nationalism, including the notion of Germans' status as the Herrenvolk ("master race") and Übermensch
A belief in the need to purify the German race through eugenics - this culminated in the involuntary euthanasia of disabled people and the compulsory sterilization of people with mental deficiencies or illnesses perceived as hereditary
Anti-clericalism was also part of Nazi ideology, although it was never acted on as the Nazis often used the church to justify their stance and included many Christian symbols in the Third Reich.

Backlash effects
Perhaps the primary intellectual effect has been that Nazi doctrines discredited the attempt to use biology to explain or influence social issues, for at least two generations after Nazi Germany's brief existence.
The Nazi descendants have been mute in the post-war democracies, with some exceptions, when interviewed by psychologists and historians. In Norway, a group of descendants have taken the official stigmatizing appellation, "Nazi children", in order to break the silence and to protest against the continuous demonization of their families. Some historical revisionists disseminate propaganda which minimizes the Holocaust and other Nazi acts, and attempts to put a positive spin on the policies of the Nazi regime and the events which occurred under it. These revisionists are often, however, either aligned with, or in the employ of, neo-Nazis, and this fact itself often casts suspicion on their beliefs.

People and history

The most prominent Nazi was Adolf Hitler, who ruled Nazi Germany from 30 January 1933 until his suicide on 30 April 1945, led the German Reich into World War II. Under Hitler, ethnic nationalism and racism were joined together through an ideology of militarism to serve his goals.
After the war, many prominent Nazis were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.
A few scattered people, mostly not from Germany, converted to Nazism during or after World War II and contributed to further development of the ideology, especially in a spiritual or esoteric direction: Savitri Devi of India, Miguel Serrano of Chile, George Lincoln Rockwell of the United States.

The role of the nation

Nazi sacred symbol – the swastika or gamma cross
The Nazi symbol is the right-facing swastika The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). Black, white, and red were in fact the colors of the old North German Confederation flag (invented by Otto von Bismarck, based on the Prussian colors black and white, blended with the red and white of the medieval Hanse cities). In 1871, with the foundation of the German Reich, the flag of the North German Confederation became the German Reichsflagge (Reich's flag). Black, white, and red subsequently became the colors of the nationalists (e.g. during World War I and the Weimar Republic.
The Nazi state was founded upon a racially-defined "German Volk". This is a central concept of Mein Kampf, symbolized by the motto Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer (one people, one empire, one leader). The Nazi relationship between the Volk and the state was called the Volksgemeinschaft - a concept that defined a communal duty of citizens in service to the Reich. The term "National Socialism," arguably derives from this citizen-nation relationship, whereby the term socialism is invoked (socialism is traditionally defined as "the public ownership over the means of production") and is meant to be realized through the communal duty of the Volk to the Reich or German nation, the collective cause for which production is presumably in service of. The Reich, in turn, was a virulently nationalist ideology, a tendency which decisively defined its organizational thrust and overall immediate and long-term aims. In practice, the Nazis argued, this notion served to bring forth a nation-state as the locus and embodiment of the people's collective will, bound by the Volksgemeinschaft as both an ideal and an operating instrument, geared to serve the interests of the German people.
In comparison, many socialist ideologies oppose the idea of nations, which they see as artificial divisions that support the status quo and oppression. They argue that one crucial consequence of national divisions is that they lead to wars of aggression, waged for the interest of the ruling class.

Factors which promoted the success of Nazism
An important question about National Socialism is that of which factors promoted its success, not only in Germany, but also in other European countries (in the 1930s and early 1940s Nazi-type movements could be found in Sweden, Britain, Italy, Spain and even in the US) in the twenties and thirties of the last century? These factors may have included:
Economic devastation all over Europe after WWI
Lack of orientation of many people after the breakdown of monarchy in many European countries.
A perception that there was a disproportionate number of Jews in the German bourgeoisie (or upper class).
Perceived Jewish involvement in WWI of war profiteering
Appeal of socialism or socialist rhetoric to the German working class
Humiliation of Germany at the Treaty of Versailles
Rejection of Communism (particularly redistribution of wealth ) and the perception that socialism and Communism were Jewish-inspired and Jewish -led movements; hence the Nazi use of the term Judeo-Bolshevik
Hatred of the Jews
The Wall Street Crash of 1929

Nazi / Third Reich terminology in popular culture
The multiple atrocities and extremist ideology that the Nazis followed have made them notorious in popular discourse as well as history. The term "Nazi" has become a genericised term of abuse. So have other Third Reich terms like "Führer" (often spelled "fuhrer" or less often, but more correctly, "fuehrer" in English-speaking countries), "Fascist", "Gestapo" (short for Geheime Staatspolizei, or Secret State Police in English), "uber/ueber" (from Übermensch, superior person, Aryan as opposite to Untermensch) or "Hitler". The terms are used to describe any people or behaviours that are viewed as thuggish, overly authoritarian, or extremist.
In the context of the Western World, Nazi or fascist is also sometimes used by (generally Left-wing) opposition to malign political groups (such as the French Front National) advocating restrictive measures on immigration, or strong law enforcement powers.
Critics of Israel have recently taken to using comparisons with the Nazis in describing its treatment of Palestinians, particularly with regards to Israel's separation barrier on the West Bank. Some regard this usage as antisemitic.
The terms are also used to describe anyone or anything seen as strict or doctrinaire. Phrases like "Grammar Nazi", "Feminazi", "Open Source Nazi", and "ubergeek" are examples of those in use in the USA. These uses are offensive to some, as the controversy in the popular press over the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episode indicates, but still the terms are used so frequently as to inspire "Godwin's law".
More innocent terms, like "fashion police", also bear some resemblance to Nazi terminology (Gestapo, Secret State Police) as well as references to Police states in general.
It can also be found that German-sounding or German-looking spellings of English words are used to claim superiority in some area, or to create some impression of power or brutality. For example, to give English words a German touch, the letter 'C' is often replaced by 'K', like "kool" or "kommandos". A well known example of "germanization" of names are the names of heavy metal bands like Mötley Crüe, or MOTÖRHEAD. See Heavy metal umlaut.
Another similar effect can be observed in the usage of typefaces. Some people strongly associate the blackletter typefaces (e.g. fraktur or schwabacher) with Nazi propaganda (although the typeface is much older, and its usage, ironically, was banned by government order in 1941). A less strong association can be observed with the Futura typeface, which today is sometimes described as "germanic" and "muscular".

"Holy sites"
As, especially after World War II, Nazism became for many of its followers a spiritual path akin to a religion, it naturally had some sites of pilgrimage, which one might call "holy sites".
Berchtesgaden, home of the Berghof.
Braunau am Inn, birthplace of Adolf Hitler.
Leonding, where the parents of Adolf Hitler were buried.
Linz, where Hitler went to school.
Feldherrnhalle, site of, the end of, the failed Munich Putsch
Landsberg am Lech, where Hitler was imprisoned.
Nuremberg, site of the enormous Nazi rallies.
Wewelsburg, headquarters of the SS.

Horst Wessel nazi hymn in english

2005-04-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

Flag high, ranks closed,The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.Comrades shot by the red front and reactionmarch in spirit with us in our ranks.
The street free for the brown battalions,The street free for the Storm Troopers.Millions, full of hope, look up at the swastika;The day breaks for freedom and for bread.
For the last time the call will now be blown;For the struggle now we all stand ready.Soon will fly Hitler-flags over every street;Slavery will last only a short time longer.
Flag high, ranks closed,The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.Comrades shot by the red front and reactionmarch in spirit with us in our ranks.
http://www.anesi.com/east/horstw.htm

1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler

2005-04-14T02:13:00.000-07:00

1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
Lineage The pre-SS formations:Stabswache (SA Control), 1923Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler (SA Control), 1923The formation of the SS:Stabswache, 1925Schutzstaffel, 1925The Leibstandarte units:SS-Stabswache Berlin, 1933SS-Sonderkommando Berlin, (Also, SS-Sonderkommando Zossen and Jüterbog), 1933Adolf Hitler-Standarte, 1933Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, 1933Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 1934Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (mot.), 1938SS-Division Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler, 1941SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 19421.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 1944
Traditions:
This unit was given the title of "Adolf Hitler" in honor of the units standing and position, within the politcal hierarchy of the Third Reich, and because of it long standing as Hitler's elite personal body guard a function that the foundational elements of this unit served in the early days of the rise of the NSDAP, before it eventually evolved into a full sized Division.
Campaigns:
Saar/Rhineland Occupation 1935 Austrian Occupation 1938 Czechoslovak Occupation 1939 Poland 1939 Western Campaign 1940 Balkan Campaign 1941 Eastern Front 1941-1942 Western Front 1943 Eastern Front 1943 Italian Campaign 1943 Eastern Front 1943 Western Front 1944 Eastern Front 1945.
History:
Long before the NSDAP came to power in 1933, during the formative years of its existence, the elite of the party had formed special units whose sole purpose was to guard and protect those in command. The first record of any such unit was in the early days of the party when men of the 19th Trench Mortar Company, under the leadership of Ernst Röhm, acted as a body guard unit during the first demonstrations and speeches by Hitler and other party members. This first grouping of men eventually was formed into the Sturmabteilung, or SA, which quickly began to grow. From the very beginning, Hitler viewed the SA as a potential threat as well as a useful tool. As a means to offset the growing power and potential threat of the SA, Hitler ordered the formation of special unit to be made up of loyal followers that would protect the NSDAP leadership. This special unit was formed with Julius Schreck and Joseph Berchtold as its members, and was named the Stabswache.
Although this new formation was a unique and separate cadre, it was still under the ultimate control of the SA. From its initial formation, the Stabswache was designed to be separate from the SA, even if still under its control. To this end the basic uniform and insignia of the Stabswache were designed especially for the men of the unit, consisting at this time, of the very first use of the Totenkopf or Death's Head, on the caps of the men, as well as a number of other specific elements, unique to the Stabswache. Soon after formation, the Stabswache was renamed as the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler. On November 9th, 1923, the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler, along with the SA and other NSDAP formations, took part in the attempted Putsch in Munich against the Weimar Republic. The Putsch failed and Hitler was jailed along with many other members, and the NSDAP was banned. The Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler was officially disbanded, as were all the formations of the NSDAP. The SA would continue to exist after the NSDAP was disbanded though, although under a new name, the Frontbahn, which was led by Ersnt Röhm while much of the rest of the leadership was in prison. Under Röhm's leadership, the SA began to grow substantially, from about 2,000 members before the abortive Putsch in November of 1923, to nearly 30,000 soon after. When Adolf Hitler was released from jail in December of 1924, a rift had formed between Hitler and Ernst Röhm over the direction and the future of the SA. This rift would eventually lead to the murder of Röhm during the figurative beheading of the power structure of the SA in 1934, during the "Night of the Long Knives" in which a number of SA leaders were eliminated. As a result of this move, the SA, a once powerful paramilitary political force in the NSDAP structure, was rendered impotent. This move would, in 1934, give the SA's rival at the time, the SS (At this point in our story still unformed), the go-ahead to take center stage of the political and paramilitary aspects of the NSDAP, and by very extension, of the German Nation. Soon after Hitler was released in 1924, a new unit was formed along the same lines as the original Stabswache and Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler. This new formation was once again named the Stabswache, but it was not formed under control of the SA, but as a completely separate unit. The new Stabswache was to consist of ultra devoted followers that could be relied upon under any circumstances to protect the NSDAP leadership and Hitler himself. Shortly after the formation of the new Stabswache, it was renamed as the Schutzstaffel. With the formation of the Schuzstaffel in 1925 there existed two competing and separate paramilitary political organizations within the NSDAP, The SA and the SS. It is from this point that the history of the Leibstandarte truly begins. After the formation of the SS in 1925 it experienced a great deal of growth. The expansion of the SS is a highly complex and very detailed topic though, and this is not the focus of our study of the Leibstandarte formations.
With a basic understanding of the initial formations of the various body guard and protection units up to 1925, ending in the creation of the SS itself, and of the difference between the SA and the SS, we are prepared to enter into a discussion of the formation and growth of the actual Leibstandarte units of the SS.
In 1933, 8 years after the initial formation of the SS, it had grown to nearly 50,000 members. It was at this point in the history of the Schutzstaffel, in the Sping of 1933, that a move was made to form an elite unit within the already elite SS. This elite of the elite was to be a new, special body guard unit, formed from hand picked SS men, to act as the special body guard of Hitler, and to be responsible only to his wishes. This new unit was named the SS-Stabswache Berlin. Shortly after its formation, later in 1933, it was redesignated as the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin.
Two other SS-Sonderkommando units were formed in the early summer of 1933, SS-Sonderkommando Zossen and SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog. These two Sonderkommandos functioned as training cadres for the SS, as well as in the role of auxiliary police units until that function was later dissovled. Both units were later absorbed into the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin in 1933, at which time, its designation was changed once more to the Adolf Hitler-Standart.On November 8/9th, 1933, the 10th anniversary of the failed Munich Putsch, the entire Adolf Hitler-Standarte took part in a mass oath taking rally, in honour of those killed in the 1923 uprising. The rally took place at the location of the Feldherrnhalle, erected on the spot where many of the party members had been killed during the Putsch. During this rally, each member personally swore his life to the Führer. Also during this rally, the unit was again renamed, this time as the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.In 1934, by order of Himmler, the initials "SS" were added to the Leibstandarte's title, thus becoming the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Then, in late June of 1934, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was called into serious action for the first time. As a result of a the political situation that had been growing within the NSDAP over Ernst Röhm and his stated desire for a second revolution in Germany, with the ultimate creation of a true "People's Army" in place of the regular armed forces, a move was made to remove the problematic heads of the SA. This action culmintated in what is known as Die Röhm Affäre and the Night of the Long Knives.For its part in the move to quell the real and imagined threat within the ranks of the SA, two companies of the LSSAH were organized under the control of Otto Reich and Jürgen Wagner. They were transfered from their barracks in Berlin to the countryside, and then to Munich, arriving there on the afternoon of the 30th of June. From there, a small group of men from the 2 companies present were sent to the Stadelheim prision to take part in the death by firing squad of a group of SA men who had been arrested and charged with treason and attempting to overthrow the State. The orders given to these men and the men of the LSSAH were followed without question, as they were expected to do by Hitler and leaders of the SS. Most of the men of the LSSAH, actually remained in their barracks in Berlin during this time, only 2 Kompanies being sent to Munich, but during the time of the Röhm Affair, other small groups of men were selected from those still in barracks, to take part in the killing of other various accused. When the Röhm Affair was officially over on the 13th of July, 1934, around 177 people had been executed and the SS had become a independent organization, no longer subordinate to the SA, and the wishful and seemingly problematic SA leader, Ernst Röhm, had been eliminated.
On the 26th of February, 1935, a small group of LSSAH men were sent into the Saarland as an advanced group, and soon after, on the 28th of February, the 5./I.Btl, 6./I.Btl, 7./II.Btl, and 8./II.Btl, along with the Bataillone stabs, were sent into the Saarland to take part in the festivities marking the recent return of the Saarland to Germany. Later on the 1st of March, other units of the LSSAH joined the rest of their unit in the Saarland.After the Polish Campaign, the LAH was pulled back into Germany for rest and refitting. The LAH then took part in the Western Campaign, first against the Low Countries and then against France. The LAH was initially in Army Reserve, while one of its motorcycle battalions linked up with the Fallschirmjager troops that had jumped into Rotterdam. After a lull in action for the LAH, it fought against the shrinking beach-heads of the evacuating British Army at Dunkirk, but were only able to maintain pressure against their lines.
During the second phase of the Campaign in France, the LAH was once again organized as an independent regiment, this time under 14 Armee Korps (mot). 14th Armee Korp initially attacked south from a bridge-head at Amiens, but was stopped by severe French resistance. After limited successes and little advance, the 14th Armee Korp was withdrawn and transferred 75 miles to the East. This time the attack was very successful and the 14th Armee Korps rapidly advanced, crossing the Seine River, and moving to cut the retreat of numerous French units at Loire. After the Armistice was signed ending the Campaign in the West, the 14th Armee Korps continued down the French coast to the border with Spain, securing the rest of occupied France.After the Campaign in France ended, the LAH was stationed in France for rest and refitting. Initially, the LAH was going to be given a partial lead role in the planned invasion of England. To prepare for the upcoming invasion, the LAH trained extensively in amphibious warfare. In August 1940, the LAH was raised to brigade status, although its title did not reflect this change.The invasion of England was cancelled, and in March of 1941, the LAH was moved to Rumania where it was to take part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece. Now under the 40th Armee Korps, the LAH first broke into Yugoslavia, met the retreating Italians (Who the Germans were now rescuing), and then moved into Greece. The LAH then used a number of flanking manouvres that continuously pushed the British further south into Greece, literally chasing them through Greece in 18 days. The LAH then crossed the Gulf of Corinth in fishing boats rather than follow the British to Thermopylae and managed to meet the retreating Allies on the Peloponnesus. By the end of April, the British had been forced into another situation like that at Dunkirk, this time at Kalamata, where they barely managed to retreat to the Island of Crete.After the successful Campaign in Yugoslavia and Greece, the LAH was refitted and brought up to Divisional status, but only in name, and then attached to the 54th Armee Korps for the invasion of the Soviet Union. The LAH was part of Army Group South, and as such, did not itself see combat until it was used to assault the Tarter Ditch blocking the way into the Crimea. Next, LAH was transferred to Panzer Group 1 to take part in the massive encirclement of the Kiev Pocket. Still under Panzer Group 1, the LAH then took part in the drive on Rostov. The LAH took Rostov but was forced out by Soviet counter-attacks, pushing the LAH back across the Mius River where it set up defensive positions. In the summer of 1942, the severely mauled LAH was pulled back to Paris to refit, and was upgraded to a Panzer-Grenadier Division in name, although it had the strength of a full Panzer Division at the time. In 1943, the LAH was again recalled to the East Front where it took part in the massive battles for the recapture of Kharkov and in the largest tank battle in History during the epic struggle for Kursk in the Kursk Salient. After being stopped by fierce Soviet resistance in the Battle for Kursk, the LAH was pulled out and moved to Italy to be used in anti-partisan operations. Re-equipped and renamed as a full Panzer Division the LAH was sent to rescue the crumbling situation on the Eastern Front. Another massive Soviet Winter offensive then managed to encircle the LAH, and a counter-attack by the II. SS-Panzer-Korps rescued the nearly destroyed LAH from certain death. Once again, the LAH was moved to France for rest and refitting.After the D-Day invasion by the Allies on the Normandy coast in June, 1944, the LAH was committed in August to fighting in Caen, Falaise and Argentan. Continuously pushed back, the LAH was brought back behind the Siegfried Line in Germany. Parts of the LAH where then committed to the Battle for Aachen.
In December, 1944, the LAH was attached to the I SS Panzer Korps for the Attack in the Ardennes region of France. Highly successful in that attack, elements of the LAH Panzer Division, namely Kamfgruppe Peiper, punched nearly all the way to the Meus River, being stopped only by blown bridges, lack of supplies and Allied Air power. After the failed attempt to punch through the Ardennes in France, the LAH was moved one last time to the East to confront the Soviets, this time in Hungary, and took part in the last official German offensive of the war in an attempt to rescue the besieged forces in Budapest. Failing that, the LAH was pulled back to Austria to await the coming Soviet onslaught. Soon after, the LAH moved itself into position in Austria to surrender itself to the Americans.

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When the tanks succeed, victory follows.General der Panzertruppen Heinz Guderian
When in doubt, attack.SS-Rotternfuhrer Max Durchfahrtshohe
Strength of character and inner fortitude are decisive factors. The confidence of the man in the ranks rests on the man's strength of character.General Erich von Manstein
Obstacles do not exist to be surrendered to, but only to be broken.Fuhrer Adolf Hitler
In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.Field Marshall Erwin Rommel
There are no desperate situations, there are only desperate people.General der Panzertruppen Heinz Guderian
"Klotzen, nicht Kleckern."Boot 'em, don't splatter 'em.General der Panzertruppen Heinz Guderian

Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler 1st SS Panzer Division

2005-04-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

The Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler started life in the early days of the NSDAP as Adolf Hitler's personal, elite bodyguard. As the Waffen (or 'armed') SS increased in size throughout the 1930s and into the war years, so the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler evolved into a full sized division, the 1st SS Panzer Division, a detachment of which was always close to Hitler. The Leibstandarte also provided many officers and NCOs for its younger sibling division, the 12th SS Division Hitlerjugend, formed in 1943.
The Leibstandarte
The unit's title of "Adolf Hitler" was in honour of its importance in the political hierarchy of the Third Reich. Their original formation, as the Stabswache and then the Stoßtrupp Adolf Hitler, was intended to be a loyal and separate unit from the SA, and they were issued with unique uniforms and insignia, including the first use of the Totenkopf ("Death's Head") on uniform caps.
The unit took part in the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler's first and failed attempt to take power. After his release from prison in 1924, another new unit was formed, the soon to be named Schutzstaffel, which loosely translates to 'protection force'. And so the SS was born.
From this point onwards there were now two completely separate paramilitary organisations within the NSDAP; the SA and the SS. By 1933 the SS had grown in size to 50,000 members, and from this an elite collection of men was hand-picked to act as a personal bodyguard to Hitler. It would be renamed three times before becoming known as the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. It was first known as the SS-Stabswache Berlin, before being redesignated as the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin. Two more units were formed (SS-Sonderkommando Zossen and SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog) which acted as training and police units for the SS. These were absorbed into the main unit later in 1933, and it was all again renamed the Adolf Hitler-Standarte. During the rallies in honour of the 10th anniversary of the Putsch on November 8/9th, 1933, the unit took part and was finally renamed the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.
The friction between the SA, the SS and the German army came to a head in 1934, and the SA was completely usurped as a force during the Night of the Long Knives, when several key members were executed, including its leader Ernst Röhm. Around 177 people were executed, and the Leibstandarte played a key role, always following orders from Hitler without question. With the SA removed, the SS became the sole political protector of the Nazi party in Germany.
In 1941 men from the Leibstandarte formed the SS Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. It was the first division in the Waffen-SS Order of Battle. Over the next two years, the Division became first a Panzer-Grenadier and then a full-blown Panzer division. In 1943 a junior division, the SS Division Hitlerjugend, was formed and acquired many officers and NCOs from Leibstandarte veterans.
Combat Record
The Leibstandarte saw action throughout the war, more often than not finding itself in the most important sectors. Not only were they part of the occupation of the Rhineland of Austria and Czechoslovakia, they also saw action in almost every major Wehrmacht operation. Like the other elite SS units (most notably the 2nd SS Division Das Reich and later, the 12th SS Division Hitlerjugend) Hitler took great interest in the placement of these units on the battlefield and their roles in the war on a strategic scale. They were used as 'fire squads' and often tipped the scale of battle in Germany's favour. A key example is the Battle of Kursk, when the Leibstandarte, having made the most impressive gains of all the German units involved, and on the verge of a breakthrough of the Russian defences, was withdrawn by Hitler and sent to occupy Italy. In his view, he needed not only military units, but units that were tied ideologically to fascism. The SS weren't just fighting units, they embodied the spirit of Nazism, and for this reason Hitler had nothing but the highest expectation of them and often demanded more of them than was humanly possible.
Despite fighting loyally for six years, and often achieving the impossible, Hitler eventually turned on the Leibstandarte. After withdrawing from the failed Operation Frühlingserwachen, Hitler demanded the unit return their sacred Adolf Hitler cuffbands. Sepp Dietrich was so disgusted by this command that it was apparently not passed down to the men, although some rumours abound that the cuffbands were returned to Hitler in a chamber pot.
A full list of major operations that the Leibstandarte participated in:
Occupation of the Saar region of the Rhineland, 1935
Anschluss with Austria, 1938
Occupation of Czechoslovakia, 1939
Polish campaign, 1939
Invasion of Western Europe, 1940
The Balkans Campaign, 1941
Operation Barbarossa (Eastern Front), 1941-2
Western Front, 1943
Eastern Front, 1943, most notably Operation Citadel (the battle at Kursk)
Occupation of Italy, 1943
Eastern Front, 1943
Western Front, from the Normandy landings to the Ardennes, 1944
Eastern Front, including the abortive Operation Frühlingserwachen, 1945

2005-04-14T01:39:00.000-07:00

Heinrich Himmler (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. As Reichsführer-SS, he led the SS, all of its combined offices, and was one of the key figures in the organization of the Holocaust.
Early life
A young Heinrich Himmler
Born near Munich, Bavaria, Germany, into a middle class family, he was the son of a Bavarian schoolmaster and attended Landshut High School. After graduation, Himmler was appointed an Officer Cadet in 1918 and joined the 11th Bavarian Regiment for service in World War I. Shortly before Himmler was due for commissioning as an officer, however, the war ended and Himmler was discharged from the military without ever seeing combat.
In 1919, a year after World War I had ended, Himmler began studying agriculture at a technical college in Munich. During his time as a student, he was an active member of several student clubs. At the same time, he became active in the Freikorps, private armies of right-wing ex-German Army men resentful of Germany's loss of the First World War. Himmler joined the Reichkriegsflagge and, in 1923, applied to join the Nazi Party, which were recruiting Freikorps members as potential members of the new Nazi stormtrooper units known as the Sturmabteilung.
Early Nazi Party
In 1923 Himmler was a Feldwebel (Sergeant) in the Reichkriegsflagge, carrying the Imperial German Battle Ensign in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi Party's failed attempt at a revolution in overthrowing the government of Bavaria.
Between 1923 and 1925, with the Nazi party seemingly a failed cause, Himmler devoted himself to other interests, putting his agricultural diploma to work by becoming a poultry farmer. His time as a chicken farmer was unsuccessful, however, and Himmler returned to the re-founded Nazi Party in late 1926. In 1927 he married Margaret Boden.
The Nazi Party quickly put Himmler to work as the Vice District Leader and Deputy Gauleiter of Upper-Bavaria and also as secretary to the Oberste SA-Führer Franz Pfeffer von Salomon. Himmler was subsequently commissioned as an SA-Sturmführer in 1926 and, later that year, he was appointed as an Oberführer, becoming SS-Gauführer (District Leader) in a small SA sub-unit known as the Schutzstaffel, or SS. In 1927, Himmler became the vice commander of the SS when he accepted the assignment as Deputy Reich Leader of the SS.
Rise in the SS
Heinrich Himmler as an SA-Oberführer and Reichsführer-SS
Between 1927 and 1929, Himmler devoted himself increasingly to his duties as Deputy-Reichsführer-SS. Upon the resignation of SS Commander Erhard Heiden, Himmler was appointed as the new Reichsführer-SS in January 1929. At the time Himmler was appointed to lead the SS, it numbered only 280 members and was considered a mere battalion of the much larger SA. Himmler himself was only considered an SA-Oberführer, but after 1929 Himmler simply referred to himself as the "Reichsführer-SS".
By 1933, when the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany, Himmler's SS numbered 52,000 members, and the organization had developed strict membership requirements ensuring all members were of Hitler's "Aryan" "Herrenvolk" (i.e. master race). Now a Gruppenführer in the SA, Himmler next began a massive effort to separate the SS from SA control; he introduced black SS uniforms to replace the SA brown shirts in the fall of 1933. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer und Reichsführer-SS and became an equal to the senior SA commanders who, by this time, loathed the SS and the power it held.
Both Himmler and another of Hitler's right hand men, Hermann Göring, agreed the SA and its leader Ernst Röhm were beginning to pose a real threat to the German Army and the whole Nazi leadership of Germany itself. Röhm had strong socialist views and believed that, although Hitler had successfully gained power in Germany, the 'real' revolution had not yet begun, leaving some Nazi leaders believing Röhm was intent on using the SA to administer a coup.
With some persuasion from Himmler and Göring, Hitler began to feel threatened by this prospect and agreed Röhm must die.
Hitler delegated the task of administering Röhm's demise to Himmler and Göring who, along with Reinhard Heydrich, Kurt Daluege and Walter Schellenberg, carried out the execution of Röhm and numerous other senior SA officials in what became known as The Night of the Long Knives on June 30, 1934. The very next day, Himmler's title of Reichsführer-SS became an actual rank, and he was appointed to the position while the SS became an independent organization of the Nazi Party.
Consolidation of power
In 1936, Himmler gained further authority as the SS absorbed all of Germany's local law enforcement agencies into the new Ordnungspolizei, considered a headquarters branch of the SS. Germany's secret police forces were also under Himmler's authority in the prescence of the Sicherheitspolizei, which would in 1939 expand into the much larger Reichsicherheitshauptamt. The SS was also developing its military branch, known as the SS-Verfügungstruppe, which would later become known as the Waffen-SS.
Himmler and the Holocaust
After the Night of the Long Knives, the SS-Totenkopfverbände was given the task of organising and administering Germany's regime of concentration camps and, after 1941, the extermination camps of Poland. The SS, through its intelligence arm the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), was charged with finding Jews, Roma, homosexuals, communists and any other culture or race deemed by the Nazis to be either Untermenschen (sub-human) or in opposition to his regime, and placing them in concentration camps. Himmler now became one of the main architects of the Holocaust, using elements of mysticism and a fanatical belief in the racist Nazi ideology to justify the mass murder and genocide of millions of victims.
The Second World War
In 1944, Himmler was granted still further power as the result of a bitter rivalry between the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and the Abwehr, the intelligence arm of the Wehrmacht.
The involvement in the July 20, 1944, plot against Hitler of many of the Abwehr leaders, including its head, Admiral Canaris, prompted Hitler to disband the Abwehr and make the SD the sole intelligence service of the Third Reich. This increased Himmler's already considerable personal power.
In late 1944, Himmler became commander of army group Oberrhein (Upper Rhine), which was fighting the oncoming United States 7th Army and French 1st Army in the Alsace region on the west bank of the Rhine. Himmler held this post until early 1945 when he was switched to command an army group facing the Red Army to the East. As Himmler had no practical military experience as a field commander, he was quickly relieved of his field commands and appointed Commander of the Home Army. At the same time, he was appointed as the German Interior Minister and was considered by many to be a candidate to succeed Hitler as the Führer of Germany.
Betrayal, capture, and death
Heinrich Himmler in 1945
By 1945, Himmler's Waffen-SS numbered 800,000 members, with the Allgemeine-SS (at least on paper) hosting a membership of nearly two million. However, by the spring of 1945 Himmler had lost faith in German victory, probably partially due to his discussions with his masseur Felix Kersten and Walter Schellenberg, and came to the realization that if the Nazi regime was to have any chance of survival it would need to seek peace with Britain and the United States. Toward this end, he contacted Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden at Lübeck, near the Danish border, and began negotiations to surrender in the West. Himmler hoped the British and Americans would fight their Russian allies with the remains of the Wehrmacht. When Hitler discovered this, Himmler was declared a traitor and stripped of all his titles and ranks. At the time of Himmler's denouncement, he held the positions of Reich Leader-SS, Chief of the German Police, Reich Commissioner of German Nationhood, Reich Minister of the Interior, Supreme Commander of the Volkssturm, and Supreme Commander of the Home Army.
Himmler next turned to the Americans as a defector, contacting the headquarters of Dwight Eisenhower and proclaiming he would surrender all of Germany to the Allies if he was spared from prosecution as a Nazi leader. In a final example of Himmler's mental state at this point, he sent a personal application to General Eisenhower stating he wished to apply for the position of "Minister of Police" in the post war government of Germany. Eisenhower, however, refused to have anything to do with him, and Himmler was subsequently declared a major war criminal.
Attempting to evade arrest, Himmler disguised himself as a member of the Gendarmerie, but was captured on May 22nd in Bremen, Germany, by a British Army unit. In captivity he was soon recognized. Himmler was scheduled to stand trial with other German leaders as a major war criminal at Nuremberg, but committed suicide in Lüneburg by swallowing a cyanide capsule before interrogation could begin. His last words were, "I am Heinrich Himmler!"
Feared by many, but respected by some of his colleagues, many historians have argued Himmler was more made by those who worked under him rather than by his own designs, although others note how he visited the concentration camps much more frequently than his job would have required, urging the SS men to increased atrocities and personally witnessing many mass shootings—very unlike Hitler, who never visited even one of the camps in his entire career. He was survived by his wife and daughter Gudrun (Burwitz) (b. 1929), who still lives in Germany to this day.

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History of the SS
Origins
The predecesor to the SS was first formed in 1923 as a company of the Sturmabteilung (SA) tasked with protecting senior leaders of the Nazi Party at rallies, speeches and other public events. Commanded by Emil Maurice, and known as the Stabswache (Staff Guard), the original group consisted of 8 men and was modeled after the Erhardt Naval Brigade, a violent Freikorps of the time.
After the failed 1923 Putsch by the Nazi Party, the SA and the Stabswache were abolished, yet returned in 1925. At that time the Stabswache was reestablished as the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler tasked with the personal protection of Hitler at Nazi Party functions and events. That same year, the Stosstrupp was expanded to a national level, and renamed as the Schutzstaffel. The new SS was delegated to be a protection company of various Nazi Party Leaders throughout Germany.
Development
Between 1925 and 1929, the SS was considered merely a battalion of the Sturmabteilung and numbered no more than 280 personnel. On January 6, 1929 Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as the leader of the SS and, by the end of 1932 the SS had 52,000 members; by the end of next year, it had over 209,000 members. Himmler's expansion of the SS was based on models from other groups, such as the Knights Templar, Jesuit Order, and the Italian Black Brigades.
Before 1932, the SS wore the same uniform as the SA, except for a black tie and a black cap with a Totenkopf death's head symbol on it. Later they adopted a black uniform and then, just before the war, a dove grey uniform. The Waffen ("armed") SS wore a field grey uniform similar to the Reichsheer. Towards the end of the war Waffen-SS units wore camouflage uniforms that were the predecessors to most of today's battle dress uniforms such as Marpat.
Their motto was "Meine Ehre heißt Treue ("My honor is loyalty.") The SS rank system was unique in that it did not copy the terms used in the Wehrmacht, but instead used the ranks of the SA.
Heinrich Himmler, together with his right-hand man Reinhard Heydrich, consolidated the power of the organisation. In 1931 Himmler gave Heydrich the assignment to build an intelligence service inside the SS, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). By the time World War II began the number of members rose to 250,000 and the Waffen-SS was formed in December 1940 to fight alongside the Wehrmacht, Germany's regular military. The SS also received control of the Gestapo in 1934 and, that same year, Adolf Hitler had given the SS jurisdiction over all concentration camps.
Fall of the SS
Upon the suicide of Adolf Hitler, and the assumption of Karl Dönitz as the new President of Germany, one of the first official acts of the new government was to abolish the SS. Just prior to Hitler’s death, the organization had become a “headless horseman” in that several senior SS Generals (Heinrich Himmler among them) had been denounced by Hitler as traitors for attempting to negotiate with the Allies to surrender. In addition, in the last months of 1945, the SS began suffering mass desertions in particular from the concentration camps and security organizations such as the Gestapo and SD. This was due in part to the fact that many SS members saw that the end was near, and deserted their posts rather than risk capture and trial as war criminals.
On September 30, 1946, the judges of the Nuremberg Trials (Tribunal) sentenced the SS-organization, declaring it a criminal organization. The judges underpinned this sentence by stating that "the SS was used for purposes which were criminal, involving the persecution and the extermination of the Jews, brutalities and killings in concentration camps, excesses in the administration of occupied territories, the administration of the slave labour programme and the maltreatment and murder of prisoners of war" (IMT, 1946, Vol. XXII, p.516, in: Höhne, 1969, p.3). The sentence continued by declaring that suspicion of crime was to be attached to all persons "who had been officially accepted as members of the SS... who came or remained members of the organization with knowledge that it was being used for the commission of acts declared criminal by Article 6 of the [London War Crimes] Charter" (IMT, 1947-1949, Vol. XXII, p.517 in: Höhne, 1969, p.3). According to Höhne, 50,000 of the one million SS-men had committed crimes, such as involvement in the Holocaust (page 537 of the German version).
Postwar Activity
According to Simon Wiesenthal, towards the end of World War II a group of former SS officers went to Argentina and set up a Nazi fugitive network code-named ODESSA, (an acronym for Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, "Organization of the former SS members") with ties in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Vatican, operated out of Buenos Aires. ODESSA allegedly helped Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Erich Priebke and many other war criminals find refuge in Latin America. The writer Gitta Sereny who interviewed SS-men considers the story about ODESSA untrue and attributes the escape of notorious SS-men to post war chaos, to an individual bishop in the Vatican, and to the lack of means of the Vatican to check the stories of the people who came to them for help.
SS leaders
Julius Schreck (1925–1926)
Joseph Berchtold (1926–1927)
Erhard Heiden (1927–1929)
Heinrich Himmler (1929–1945)
Karl Hanke (1945)
Early organization
1925–1928
In early 1925, the SS consisted of a single company of 8 men which served as a personal bodyguard to Adolf Hitler. By September of that year, all local offices of the NSDAP were ordered to create bodyguard units of no more than 10 men a piece. By 1926, six SS-Gaus had been established to oversee all such units in Germany. The SS-Gaus, in turn, answered to an SS-Headquarters Unit which was known as the SS-Oberleitung. The SS-Oberleitung answered to the office of the SA Chief of Staff, clearly establishing that the SS was a subordinate unit of the Sturmabteilung.
Between 1926 and 1928, the SS command Gaus were as follows:
SS-Gau Berlin Brandenburg
SS-Gau Franken
SS-Gau Niederbayern
SS-Gau Rheinland-Süd
SS-Gau Sachsen
1929–1931
In 1929, the SS-Oberleitung was expanded and reorganized into the SS-Oberstab with five main offices, as listed below:
Abteilung I: Administration
Abteilung II: Personnel
Abteilung III: Finance
Abteling IV: Security
Abteilung V: Race
At the same time, the SS-Gaus were expanded into three SS-Oberführerbereiche as listed below
SS-Oberführerbereiche Ost
SS-Oberführerbereiche West
SS-Oberführerbereiche Süd
Each SS-Oberführerbereiche contained several SS-Brigaden which were, in turn divided into regiment sized SS-Standarten.
1931–1933
In 1931, as the SS began to increase its membership to over one hundred thousand, the organization was again restructured beginning with the SS-Oberleitung which was replaced by the SS-Amt, divided into five sections as follows:
Section I: Headquarters Staff
Section II: Personnel Office
Section III: Administration Office
Section IV: SS Reserves
Section V: SS Medical Corps
In addition to the SS-Amt, the SS-Rassamt (Race Office) and Sicherheitsdienst Amt (Office of the SD) were established as two separate offices on an equal footing with the Headquarters Office.
At the same time that the SS Headquarters was being reorganized, the SS-Oberführerbereichen were replaced with five SS-Gruppen, listed as follows:
SS-Gruppen Nord
SS-Gruppen Ost
SS-Gruppen Süd
SS-Gruppen Südost
SS-Gruppen West
The lower levels of the SS remained unchanged between 1931 and 1933; however it was during this time that the SS began to establish its independence from the Sturmabteilung (SA) which the SS was still considered merely a sub-organization and answerable to the SA Chief of Staff.
1933–1934
Following Adolf Hitler’s assumption to power in Germany, the SS became regarded as a state organization and a branch of the established government. The Headquarters Staff, SD, and Race Office became full time paid employees as did the leaders of the SS-Gruppen and some of their command staffs. The rest of the SS were considered part time volunteers and in this concept, the Allgemeine-SS came into being.
By the fall of 1933, Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard (previously SS-Standarten 1 situated in Munich) had been called to Berlin to replace the Army Chancellery Guard as protectors of the Chancellor of Germany. By the start of 1934 the SS guard in Berlin had taken on the name of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), and would later become the first division in the Order of Battle of the Waffen-SS.
1934–1936
Following the Night of the Long Knives, the SS again underwent a massive reorganization. The SS-Gruppen were renamed as SS-Oberabschnitt and the former SS Headquarters and command offices were reorganized into eight SS-Hauptamt. The SS-Hauptamt offices would eventually grow from 8 to 12 by 1944 and remained unchanged in their names until the end of the Second World War and the fall of the SS.
On April 20, 1934 (as a prelude to the Night of the Long Knives), the SS took control of the Gestapo which had previously been a state office of Prussia. The Gestapo was placed under the command of the new Sicherheitspolizei which was a combined office of both the Gestapo and SD. The Sicherheitspolizei would eventually become part of the much larger RSHA in 1939.
By the summer of 1934, the SS had taken control of all concentration camps from the SA and a new organization, the SS-Totenkopfverbande (SS-TV) had been established as the SS Concentration Camp service. The original SS-TV was organized into six Wachtruppe at each of Germany’s major Concentration Camps. The Wachtruppe were expanded in 1935 into Wachsturmbann and again in 1937 into three main SS-Totenkopfstandarten. This structure would remain unchanged until 1941, when a massive labor and death camp system, in the occupied territories necessitated the concentration camps to be placed under the Waffen-SS into three main divisions of Labor Camps, Concentration Camps, and Death Camps.
The early Waffen-SS can trace its origins to 1934 in the SS-Verfügungstruppe. Established as a military company of the SS, the Verfügungstruppe grew into three SS Divisions which would, along with the Leibstandarte, become part of the Waffen-SS in 1941.
1936–1939
In 1936, the SS absorbed all of Germany’s regular police forces and formed the Ordnungspolizei and the Kriminalpolizei. These two organizations would later be folded into the RSHA just prior to the start of the Second World War.
In 1939, from the existing Totenkopfverbande, was formed the SS Division Totenkopf comprised of former members of the Concentration Camp service. The Totenkopf division would later become a division of the Waffen-SS.
Austrian-SS
The Austrian branch of the SS developed in 1934 as a covert force to influence the Anschluss with Germany which would occur in 1938. The early Austrian SS was led by Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Arthur Seyss-Inquart. The Austrian SS was technically under the command of the German SS and Heinrich Himmler, but very much acted independently concerned with Austrian affairs.
Austrian SS men were organized under the same manner as the Allgemeine-SS but operated as an underground organization, in particular after 1936 when the Austrian government declared the SS an illegal organization. The Austrian SS used the same rank system as the regular SS, but rarely used uniforms or identifying insignia. Photographic evidence indicates that Austrian SS men typically would wear a swastika armband on civilian clothes, and then only at secret SS meetings.
After 1938, when Austria was annexed by Germany, the Austrian SS was completely incorporated into the regular SS. Most of the Austrian SS was folded into Oberabschnitt Donau with a new concentration camp at Mauthausen opened under the authority of the SS Death’s Head units.
Cultural differences between Austrian and German SS men were ever-present to the end of the Second World War, even though in theory the two countries contributed to a single SS. The issue came to a head in 1944 when Austrian SS commanders were responsible for heavy losses in the first days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and charged with negligence. Jürgen Stroop, the Higher SS and Police Leader in Warsaw, overturned several court martial sentences since it was felt that Austrian members of the SS might rebel against the German officers who had passed the sentences.
Other notable figures of the Austrian SS include Amon Goeth who was portrayed in the film Schindler's List. Goeth had joined the Austrian SS in 1930 and was an underground member to 1938, after which he entered the Concentration Camp service.
The SS and the Second World War
By 1944, the SS had become a vast and complex organization and was considered a "State within a State". The final structure and organization of the SS was as follows

SS and Police Leaders
The most powerful men in the SS were the SS and Police Leaders, divided into three levels being that of Regular Leaders, Higher Leaders, and Supreme Leaders. Such persons normally held the rank of SS-Gruppenfuhrer or above and answered directly to Heinrich Himmler in all matters pertaining to the SS in their area of responsibility. Thus, SS and Police Leaders bypassed all other chains of command. In Himmler’s grand dream of the SS, the SS and Police Leaders were eventually to become SS-Governors of the Lebensraum which would be ruled by SS-Lords, protected by SS-Legions, and worked and lived in by SS-Peasant Warriors.
Headquarters Offices
By 1944, the SS consisted of twelve main offices as listed below:
Hauptamt Personlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS (Personal Staff of the Reich Leader SS)
SS Hauptamt (Main Administrative Office of the SS)
SS Führungshauptamt (Administrative and Supply Department of the Allgemeine and Waffen-SS)
Hauptamt SS Gericht (Office of SS Legal Matters)
SS Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt RuSHA (SS Office of Race and Settlement)
SS Personalhauptamt (SS Personnel Office)
Reichssicherheitshauptamt RSHA (Reich Central Security Office)
Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei (Office of the Order Police)
Wirtschafts und Verwaltungshauptamt WVHA (Economics and Administration Office)
Hauptamt Dienststelle Heissmeyer (SS Education Office)
Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle VOMI (Main Office for Ethnic Germans)
Reichskommissariat für die Festigung des deutschen Volksturms (Reich Commissioner for Germanic Resettlement)
The organizations of the Gestapo, Sicherheitsdienst, Kriminalpolizei, and the Einsatzgruppen were under the overall command of the RSHA
General SS
The "General SS" referred to the regular SS formations in Germany that had been founded in the 1920s and 30s. By the close of the Second World War, the General SS consisted of the following branches.
Allgemeine-SS
The Allgemeine-SS was a “part time” group of SS personnel who composed mustering formations throughout Germany. The formations were divided into Standarten, organized into larger formations known as Abschnitts and Oberabschnitts. The Allgemeine-SS were considered more or less reservists and many Allgemeine-SS personnel served in other branches of the German military, the Nazi Party, or the Waffen-SS. For those who served in the Waffen-SS, it was standard practice to hold separate SS ranks for both the Allgemeine and the Waffen-SS.

SS Cavalry Corps
The SS-Cavalry Corps comprised several Reiterstandarten and Reiterabschnite which were equestrian riding groups founded to attract German upper class and nobility into the SS. In the 1930s, the SS Cavalry Corps was considered as a starting point for a military branch of the SS, but this idea was phased out with the rise of the SS-Verfügungstruppe which would later become known as the Waffen-SS. By 1941, the SS-Cavalry Corps was little more than a social club with most of the serious cavalry officers having transferred to combat units in the Waffen-SS.
Germanic-SS
The Germanic-SS was a organization which was formed in conquered and allied countries to Germany. The Germanic-SS was a part time group, much like the Allgemeine-SS, that performed home service duties such as local security and Nazi indoctrination. Denmark and Belgium were the two largest participators in the Germanic-SS program. Germanic-SS members wore their own uniforms with a modification of SS rank titles and insignia. All Germanic-SS units answered to a central office in Germany, under the command of the Allgemeine-SS.
Auxiliary SS
The Auxiliary-SS was an organization that arose in 1945 as a last ditch effort to keep concentration camps running to destroy evidence of the Holocaust. Auxiliary-SS members were not considered regular SS personnel, but were conscripted members from other branchs of the German military, the Nazi Party, and the Volkssturm. Such personnel wore a distinctive tri-swastika collar patch and served as camp guard and administrative personnel until the surrender of Germany.
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was the operational military component of the SS and was considered a full branch of the German military. Within the Waffen-SS existed the crack divisions Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), SS Division Das Reich, and a number of lesser divisions. The Waffen-SS also maintained several "Foreign Legions" made up of personnel from conquered and allied countries to Germany. Such personnel wore distinctive national collar patch and preceded their SS rank titles with the prefix Waffen instead of SS.
Concentration Camp Service
After 1934, the running of Germany's Concentration Camps was placed under the total authority of the SS and an SS branch known as the Totenkopfverbande (SS-TV) was founded under Theodor Eicke. Known as the "Death's Head Units", the SS-TV was first founded as several regiments, based at each of Germany's major Concentration Camps, the largest of which was at Dachau. In 1938, the Totenkopfverbande expanded also into a military division, with the founding of the Totenkopf division which would, by 1941, become a full division of the Waffen-SS.
In 1939, with the start of the Second World War, the Totenkopfverbande began a large expansion which would eventually develop into three branches covering each of the Concentration Camp types that the SS operated. By 1944, there existed three divisions of the SS-TV, those being the staffs of the Concentration Camps Proper in Germany and Austria, the Labor Camp system in occupied territories, and the guards and staffs of the Extermination Camps in Poland that were involved in the Holocaust.
In 1942, for administrative reasons, the guard and administrative staff of all the concentration camps became full members of the Waffen-SS. In addition, to oversee the large administrative burden of a extensive labor camp system, the Concentration Camps were placed under the command of the SS Wirtschaft und Vervaltungshauptamt (WVHA), also known as the Main SS Office for Economics and Administrative. Oswald Pohl commanded the WVHA while Richard Glücks served as the Inspector of Concentration Camps.
By 1944, with the Concentration Camps fully integrated with the Waffen-SS and under the control of the WVHA, a standard practice developed to rotate SS members in and out of the camps, based on manpower needs and also to give assignments to wounded Waffen-SS officers and soldiers who could no longer serve in front line combat duties. This rotation of personnel is the main argument that nearly the entire SS knew of the Concentration Camps, and what actions were committed within, making the entire organization liable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Special Action Groups
The Einsatzgruppen were special units of the SS that were formed on an “as-needed” basis under the authority of the Sicherheitspolizei and later the RSHA. The first Einsatzgruppen were created in 1938 for use during the Anschluss of Austria and again in 1939 for the annexation of Czechoslovakia. The original purpose of the Einsatzgruppen was to “enter occupied areas, seize vital records, and neutralize potential threats”. In Austria and Czechoslovakia the activities of the Einsatzgruppen were mainly limited to Nazification of local governments and the establishment of new Concentration Camps. In 1939, however, the Einsatzgruppen were reactivated and sent into Poland to exterminate the Polish “Upper Class”, so that there would be no leadership to form a resistance to German occupation. In 1941, the Einsatzgruppen reached their height when they were sent into Russia to begin whole sale extermination and genocide of “undesirables” such as Jews, Gypsies and Communist leaders.
The Einsatzgruppen were formed under special orders of the SS and were headed by SD and Gestapo officers. To man the Einsatzgruppen the SS drew on SD and Gestapo personnel, Waffen-SS units, Ordnungspolizei Police Battalions, and certain units of the regular German military. The Einsatzgruppen also utilized local populations to provide additional security and manpower when needed. Thus, the activities of the Einsatzgruppen were spread throughout a large pool of personnel from different branches of the SS and German State.
The ultimate authority for the Einsatzgruppen, which answered directly to Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler, were the SS and Police Leaders who oversaw all Einsatzgruppen activities and reports in their given area. At the close of the Second World War most of the SS and Police Leaders, who had overseen activites in Eastern Europe and Russia, were either executed for war crimes or committed suicide before capture.
Order Police
In 1936, the SS absorbed the regular German police forces and incorporated all local, state, and federal law enforcement agenices into the Ordnungspolizei. SS-Oberstgruppenführer Kurt Daluege became commander of the Ordnungspolizei (known as the Orpo) and Heinrich Himmler became Chief of the German Police. By 1944, the Orpo had also absorbed minor law enforcement agencies such as the Postal Police, Railway Security Police, Water Protection Police, and even night watchmen who were considered state employees. The Ordnungspolizei had a separate system of Orpo ranks and it was possible for Orpo members to hold dual status in both the SS and the Orpo. In 1944, all Orpo Police Generals gained equivalent Waffen-SS rank so that they would be treated as military officers, instead of police officals, if captured by the Allies. The Orpo also maintained a military division, considered part of the Waffen-SS as well as a number of Police Regiments which performed security duties under the authority of the RSHA.
SS Medical Corps
The SS Medical Corps was a unique branch of the SS that can trace its origins to 1930 with the expansion of the part-time mustering formations of the SS, known as the Allgemeine-SS. Within each SS-Sturmbann (battalion), there existed one company of SS personnel whose duty was to serve as medical support personnel to the rest of the SS battalion.
Known as the Sanitätsstaffel, these formations were originally small units under the command of local SS leaders. After 1931, however, the SS formed a headquarters office known as Amt V, which was the central office for SS medical units. At this same time, a special SS unit was formed known as the Röntgensturmbann SS-HA, or the Hauptamt X-Ray Battalion. This formation comprised 350 full time SS personnel who toured Germany offering X-ray diagnostics to any SS member. While the Röntgensturmbann was an independent office, the local Sanitätsstaffel were under dual command of both the SS Medical Office (Amt V), and the leaders of the various SS-Sturmbann and Standarten.
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the SS was reorganized and an office of the SS Surgeon General was established. Commanding by an SS-Obergruppenführer, the SS Surgeon General was a member of the personal staff of the Reichsführer-SS, with the SS Medical Corps, as a whole, losing the status of a headquarters office. This was an important development in changing the nature of service for members of the SS Medical Corps.
By 1935, the SS Medical Corps was considered an “auxiliary duty” and all members of the medical corps were also attached to regular SS formations. To denote medical corps status, the SS authorized a serpent crest to be worn on the collar patches of SS unit insignia. Since SS Medical Corps members could now serve in any branch of the SS, this expansion allowed medical professionals to join every SS office and participate in a variety of duties.
Between 1935 and 1938, the SS Medical Corps began to develop a sinister reputation beginning with SS doctors serving in concentration camps and engaging in a variety of human medical experimentations. SS doctors were also called upon, in 1936, to assist with Germany’s euthanasia program against the mentally disabled and physically handicapped.
When the Second World War began in 1939, the SS Medical Corps extended itself in the Armed wing of the SS which would, by 1941, be known as the Waffen-SS. Waffen-SS doctors were highly trained both I medical skills and combat tactics with many such doctors receiving high combat awards.
It was also during World War II that SS doctors reached their height with human medical experiments, the most notorious of which occurred at Dachau concentration camp and also at Auschwitz. Such experiments ranged from vivisections, sterilization experiments, infectious disease research, freezing experiments, as well as many other excruciating medical procedures often performed without anesthetic. This period of time also saw the work of one of the most notorious SS doctors in history, Doctor Joseph Mengele, who served as Head Medical Officer of Auschwitz and was responsible for daily gas chamber selections as well as brutal experiments on human twins.
In 1945, after the surrender of Germany, the SS was declared an illegal criminal organization by the Allies. SS doctors, in particular, were marked as war criminals due to the wide range of human medical experimentation which had been conducted during the Second World War as well as the role SS doctors had played in the gas chamber selections of the Holocaust. Relatively few SS doctors, however, were ever brought to justice with such figures as Joseph Mengele escaping to South American while still other SS doctors returned to civilian practice in Germany under assumed names or, in some cases, even their original identities
SS and Police Courts
Background
Since the SS was, by its very nature, a criminal organization, situations arose early in the Nazi regime of SS activities coming into conflict with German law. The first recorded instances, of SS personnel charged with breaking the law through the performance of their duties, was in 1934 at the Dachau concentration camp when the local town magistrate charged several SS guards with murder after several prisoners were executed without cause or trial.
The SS response to the German legal establishment was to petition the Reich Ministry of Justice to pass an act which removed the SS, and all of its members, from the jurisdiction of the civilian courts. This effectively placed the SS “above the law” and its members could break regular German law without fear of penalty.
For those SS personnel who committed acts which were, even by SS standards, illegal the SS established a series of SS and Police Courts to deal with such offenders. The SS and Police Courts were the only authority which could try SS personnel for criminal behavior and were under the authority of the Hauptamt SS Gericht.
Court Types
The different SS and Police Courts were as follows:
SS und Polizei Gericht: Standard SS and Police Court for trial of SS officers and enlisted men accused of minor and somewhat serious crimes
Feldgerichte: Waffen-SS Court for court martial of Waffen-SS military personnel accused of violating the military penal code of the German Armed Forces.
Oberstes SS und Polizei Gericht: The Supreme SS and Police Court for trial of serious crimes and also any infraction committed by SS Generals.
SS und Polizei Gericht z.b.V.: The Extraordinary SS and Police Court was a secret tribunal that was assembled to deal with highly sensitive issues which were desired to be kept secret even from the SS itself.
The one exception to the SS and Police Courts jurisdiction involved members of the Allgemeine-SS who were serving on active duty in the regular Wehrmacht. In such cases, the SS member in question was subject to regular Wehrmacht military law and could face charges before a standard military tribunal.
Legality of the Holocaust
In 1946, it was revealed to the surprise of many that the SS and Police Courts had never had to deal with a case involving the legality of the Holocaust. Since many SS personnel claimed no culpability for war crimes, using the defense that they were "only following orders", the question was raised had anyone in the SS ever been charged, tried, or executed for refusing to carry out an illegal order.
It was then discovered that any such case, brought before an SS and Police Court, would have to have established which order had been disobeyed and what kind of order it was. SS Judges have themselves admitted that the mass murder of Jews and the shooting of women and children was against German law and that no SS member could be held accountable for refusing to obey orders which were clearly illegal.
In all such cases, therefore, any SS person who refused to commit atrocities was simply transferred to another branch of the SS or sent to front lines in the Waffen-SS. In all of the SS records, reviewed between 1946 and 1950, there was not one case discovered where an SS member was killed for refusing to carry out an illegal order associated with the Holocaust.
Helferin Corps
The SS-Helferin Korps, translated literally as “Helper Corps”, comprised women volunteers who joined the SS as auxiliary personnel. Such personnel were not considered actual SS members, since SS membership was closed to women.
The Helferin Korps maintained a simple system of ranks, mainaly SS-Helfer, SS-Oberhelfer, and SS-Haupthelfer. Members of the Helferin Korps were assigned to a wide variety of activities such as administrative staff, supply support personnel, and female guards at Concentration Camps.
SS future visions
Historical analysis of SS records and documents of its senior members has provided historians with a picture of what the SS could have become, had Germany won the Second World War. Heinrich Himmler’s ultimate dream was to evolve the SS into a ruling class replacing the old Prussian aristocracy.
Himmler saw the eastern lands of Russia, which Germany would surely conquer, as a vast open area for the SS state to establish itself. The SS and Police Leaders would rule the land, the Waffen-SS would serve as the Army to defend the territory, and those who lived and worked the land would be "peasant-warriors" of the Allgemeine-SS. Himmler had even drawn up plans, to be enacted after Germany won the Second World War, for the construction of twenty eight SS cities in the Lebensraum of the East. The master of all SS cities was to be at Wewelsburg, where Himmler planned to complete and expand the SS Wewelsburg castle into a capital city for the SS. The city was to be completed by 1955.
On a more practical scale, SS leaders had already devised, as early as 1943, plans for what the SS would be after the conclusion of World War II. The Waffen-SS would return home to serve as a political army to enforce the will of the Nazi Party. Such activities would include strike breaking, riot suppression, and functions resembling modern day National Guard units. There are also indications that Waffen-SS commanders, as early as 1940, had proposed efforts to create Waffen-SS air and naval units. Had Germany won the Second World War, the Waffen-SS would almost certainly have extended itself into every branch of the German military. Whether or not the Waffen-SS would have eventually replaced the Wehrmacht will never be known. However, some historians have stated that this is unlikely given the tremendous actions against the Sturmabteilung, in 1934, when SA leaders had attempted a similar course of action.
Heinrich Himmler also openly stated in 1944 that the SS would become the sole law enforcement and police agency of Germany and that, by 1950, local Allgemeine-SS units would serve a dual function as racial and political enforcers in German communities and serve as the local police force. This did not sit well with Ordnungspolizei commanders, who wanted to preserve their integrity as police units and did not favor abolishing the Orpo in favor of an SS police force.
The Concentration Camp service of the Totenkopfverbande, the most fearsome part of the SS, was to continue unabated in completing the work of the Holocaust. Himmler and other SS leaders foresaw a "Jew-free Europe" by 1948 at the latest, and it is certain that the regular activities of the Concentration Camps, such as the imprisonments of political and social undesirables, would have continued with as usual. A great "What-if" of history is whether or not the SS could have kept the Holocaust a secret which had been a primary aim during the years of extermination and genocide. Many theories abound that the SS would have "turned against their own" and begun killing anyone who had knowledge of the Holocaust, including all SS members who had served in Death camps and the senior leaders who had overseen the Holocaust. The alternative history novel Fatherland is based on this concept.
Theories also exist that Himmler did not see Jews as the only race deemed worthy of extermination. Documents from 1943 and 1944 indicate Himmler had discussed privately, with certain top SS leaders and perhaps even Hitler, the idea of continuing the Holocaust to include blacks and orientals. These ideas were obviously kept very quiet, since Japan at the time was a major ally of Germany.
History has been spared of knowing how many of the SS dreams would have come true had Germany triumphed in the Second World War. The goals of the SS remain today a memory and, some say, a warning for future generations.

Totenkopf

2005-04-14T01:17:00.000-07:00

Totenkopf is the German word for "Death's Head", and is used to describe a military insignia featuring a skull above crossed bones. It is distinguished from the similar traditions of the skull and crossbones and the Jolly Roger by the fact that the bones are positioned directly behind the skull and the lower jaw bone is absent.
Today the symbol and its name are mostly associated with Nazi Germany, particularly the SS and Waffen-SS. However, the use of the symbol as a military insignia began with the cavalry of the Prussian army under Frederick the Great.
Frederick formed Husaren-Regiment Nr.5 (von Ruesch), a Hussar regiment commanded by Colonel von Ruesch. These Hussars adopted a black uniform with a Totenkopf emblazoned on the front of their Mirletons, and wore it on the field in the War of Austrian Succession and in the Seven Years War.
In 1808, when the regiment was reformed into Leib-Husaren Regiments Nr.1 and Nr.2, the Totenkopf remained a part of the uniform.
However, Prussia was not the only nation to use the Totenkopf. The Kingdom of Sweden's Hussar Regiments wore it in the Prussian Style, on the front of the Mirleton.
During the Napoleonic Wars, when Frederick Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg was killed in battle, his troops changed the colour of their uniforms to black, with a Totenkopf on their Shakos in mourning their dead leader. The deaths head continued to be used throughout the Prussian and Brunswick Armed forces until 1918.
The Totenkopf was used throughout the inter-war period, most prominently by the Freikorps. In 1933 it was in use by the regimental staff and the 1st, 5th, and 11th squadrons of the Reichwehr's 5th Cavalry Regiment.
When the NSDAP came to power, they simply adopted the Totenkopf from the historical tradition and used it for their own purposes (as they did with the Swastika), leaving it marked with a stigma that has continued to the present.

3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf

2005-04-14T00:53:00.000-07:00

The SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) — the Death's Head Formations — were made up of Nazi Germany's concentration camp guards. During World War II the SS-TV also provided troops for the first combat unit of the Waffen-SS, the Totenkopf Division, which eventually evolved into one of Nazi Germany's most formidable combat formations.
The SS-TV was established by Standartenführer Theodor Eicke to provide the personnel for the manning of the concentration camps, such as Dachau (where the first unit was established), Sachsenhausen and Oranienburg, the town north of Berlin where the Eicke's office had been established.
Following the Night of the Long Knives, a purge ordered by Adolf Hitler of potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung, or S.A. in June 1934, Eicke, who had played a major role in that affair, was appointed the Inspector of Concentration Camps and Commander of SS guard formations (Inspekteur der Konzentrationslager und Führer der SS Wachverbände); he was also promoted to the rank of SS-Gruppenführer. On March 29, 1936, the Reichsführer-SS officially designated these units as the SS-Totenkopfverbände
Formation and Fall Gelb
The SS Division Totenkopf ("Death's Head") was formed in October 1939. The Totenkopf was formed from concentration camp guards and men from the SS-Heimwehr Danzig. The division was officered by men from the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), many of whom had seen action in Poland. The division was commanded by SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke.
Having missed the Polish campaign, Totenkopf was held in reserve during the initial assault into France and the Low Countries in May 1940. They were committed on May 16th to the Front in Belgium. The Grenadiers of the division fought fanatically, suffering heavy losses.
Within a week of this initial commitment the division's first war crime had already been committed. At Le Paradis 4th Kompanie, I Abteilung, commanded by SS-Obersturmführer Fritz Knöchlein, machine-gunned 97 out of 99 British officers and men of the Royal Norfolk Regiment after they had surrendered to them; two survived. After the war, Knöchlein was tried and convicted for war crimes. He was sentenced to death and hung.
Totenkopf fought in the later stages of the French campaign, seeing its only real action against colonial troops at Tarare. The French surrender found the division located near the Spanish border, where it was to stay, resting and refitting, until April 1941
Barbarossa – Demjansk Pocket
in April 1941, the division was ordered East to join Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb’s Army Group North. Totenkopf saw action in Lithuania and Latvia, and by July had breached the vaunted Stalin Line. The division then advanced by Demjansk to Leningrad where it was involved in heavy fighting from July 31st to August 25th.
During Autumn and Winter of 1941, the Soviets launched a number of operations against the German lines in the Northern sector of the Front. During one of these operations, the Division was encircled for several months near Demjansk in what would come to be known as the Demjansk Pocket. Totenkopf suffered so greatly during these battles that it was re-designated Kampfgruppe Eicke because of its reduced size. In April 1942, the division broke out of the pocket and managed to reach friendly lines.
The remnants of the Division were pulled out of action in late October, 1942 and sent to France to be refitted. While in France, the Division took part in Case Anton, the takeover of Vichy France in November 1942. For this operation, the division was supplied with a Panzer regiment and redesignated SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf. The division remained in France until February, 1943, when their old commander, Theodor Eicke, resumed control.
Kharkov - Kursk - Battles on the Mius
In Early February 1943 Totenkopf was transferred back to the Eastern Front as part of Erich von Manstein’s Army Group South. The division, as a part of SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser’s II SS Korps, took part in the 3rd Battle for Kharkov, blunting the Soviet General Konev’s offensive. During this campaign, Theodor Eicke, while flying above enemy lines in a Fiesler Storch spotter aircraft, was shot down and killed. The division mounted an assault to break through enemy lines and recover their commander’s body, and thereafter Eicke’s body was buried with full military honours. Hermann Priess succeeded Eicke as commander
II SS Korps, including Totenkopf, was then shifted north to take part in Operation Citadel, the great offensive to reduce the Kursk salient. It was during this period that The 3.SS-Panzerregiment received a company of Tiger 1 heavy tanks. (9./SS-Panzerregiment 3). Totenkopf, along with the Leibstandarte and Das Reich, took part in the huge armoured engagements around Prokhorovka. After several weeks of heavy fighting, the Operation was called off and Totenkopf, suffering from heavy losses in the battle, was switched to defensive operations.
Along with Das Reich, the division was reassigned to General der Infanterie Karl-Adolf Hollidt’s 'new' 6th Army in the Southern Ukraine. The 6th Army was tasked with eliminating the Soviet bridgehead over the Mius River.
Totenkopf was involved in heavy fighting over the next several weeks. During the July-August battles for Hill 213 and the town of Stepanowka, the division suffered heavy losses, and over the course of the campaign on the Mius it suffered more casualties than it had during Operation Citadel. By the time the Soviet bridgehead was eliminated, the division had lost 1500 men dead and the Panzer regiment was reduced to 20 tanks.
The Totenkopf was then moved North, back to Kharkov. Along with Das Reich and Wiking, Totenkopf, took part in the battle to prevent the Soviet capture of the city. Despite the losses inflicted on the Soviet forces (over 1000 Red Army tanks were destroyed), Kharkov fell.
The division then took part in the fighting withdrawal to the Dniepr river and remained in heavy defensive fighting for the rest of the year.
In October 1943, the division was reformed as 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf, with its two Panzergrenadier regiments giving the honorary titles Theodor Eicke and Thule.
The Retreat – Warsaw – Budapest
Totenkopf was involved in a fighting retreat as the Eastern front crumbled thorough the first half of 1944. It was involved in the fighting around Krivoi-Rog and Cherkassy early in the year, then transferred to SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille’s 6th SS Panzer Korps near Warsaw. The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking was also a part of this corps.
After The Soviet Operation Bagration and the destruction of Army Group Centre the German lines had been pushed back over 300 miles, to the outskirts of Warsaw. With the advent of the Warsaw Uprising, Totenkopf was sent in to help reclaim the city. It was then involved in heavy fighting, first against the Polish Home Army and then against Soviet units. Totenkopf eventually pushed the Soviets out of the outskirts of the city and the situation seemed stable for the time being.
At the end of 1944 Totenkopf was moved with the IV SS Panzer Korps south to help rescue encircled German and Hungarian troops in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Totenkopf and Wiking launched an assault aimed at the city centre. It reached as far as the Budapest Airport, but was ordered to fall back as part of a ruse to encircle Soviet units north of the city. The division had been on the verge of rescuing 45,000 trapped Germans, but when the High Command realised that the Soviets would not fall for their trap, and ordered a renewal of Totenkopf’s offensive, the Soviet defense had stiffened and the trapped Germans and Hungarians had to be abandoned to their fate.
The division was pulled back to the west, and after a fighting withdrawal from Budapest to Vienna, the division surrendered to the Americans on May 9th 1945. The Americans promptly handed Totenkopf back to the Soviets, and many Totenkopf soldiers died in Soviet Gulags.
Totenkopf War Crimes
Above all the Germanic SS Divisions, Totenkopf has the blackest history with regard to war crimes.
The division's original cadre was drawn from the SS-Totenkopfverbande (concentration camp guards), as opposed to the other Germanic SS Divisions which were formed from the SS-Verfugungstruppe. While the SS-VT had been trained by such brilliant military leaders as Paul Hausser, Felix Steiner and Georg Keppler; the SS-TV was trained and led by fanatical Nazis like Theodor Eicke, Max Simon and Helmut Becker. Eicke imbedded into his men a ruthless nature, and During the training period in Dachau, the troops commonly spent time guarding inmates at the nearby concentration camp. The three SS-TV Standartes which were to form the Totenkopf division saw action in Poland, where they were involved in numerous War Crimes.
By the time Totenkopf went into action, it was filled with highly indoctrinated and ruthless men, some of whom were already war criminals. The spate of war crimes in France and in Russia in 1941-2 left the Totenkopf with a reputation for criminal activities.
Only several days into the Fall Gelb campaign, Totenkopf men were implicated in War Crimes. 14./III.Bat/Totenkopf Infanterie Regiment-2 executed 97 British troops of the Norfolk Regiment at the town of Le Paradis. The commander, SS-Obersturmführer Fritz Knöchlein, had accused the Norfolks of using dum-dum ammunition and therefore being in violation of the Geneva Convention. After the war, Knöchlein was found guilty of war crimes and hanged.
However, it must be remembered that the division had experienced virtually a complete turnover in personnel by the end of 1942. The high casualty rates meant that, by late 1943, virtually none of the original cadre were left. The reputation, however, lingered, and in 1945, when the division was turned over by the americans to the Soviets, both innocent and guilty Totenkopf men were sent to their deaths in the Gulags, or shot without trial.
From the first crime at Le Paradis, only several days into the French Campaign, the Totenkopf proved time and time again that it operated outside the rules of war. Also note that at the time of the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane, Heinz Lammerding, and ex-Totenkopf officer, was in command of Das Reich.
Next, the Division was sent south to help rescue the encirled German units in Budapest. Totenkopf launched an assualt taking it all the way to the Budapest airport, but was pulled back in an action that was hoped would result in the destruction of Soviet units to the North of the Budapest. The Division was on the verge of rescuing some 45,000 Germans trapped in the city, and the Soviets proved stiff once again, as no Soviets units were trapped as was hoped.From there, the Division was pushed back West, fighting battles west of Budapest, and then in Vienna. The Division surrenderd to the Americans on May 9th, 1945, and handed over to the Soviets.
Lineage

SS-Totenkopf-Division
(1939 - 1942)
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf
(1942 - 1943)
3. SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf
(1943 - 1945)
Commanders

SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke
(1 Nov 1939 - 7 July 1941)
SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp
(7 July 1941 - 18 July 1941)
SS-Obergruppenführer Georg Keppler
(18 July 1941 - 19 Sep 1941)
SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke
(19 Sep 1941 - 26 Feb 1943)
SS-Obergruppenführer Herman Priess
(26 Feb 1943 - 27 Apr 1943)
SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Lammerding
(27 Apr 1943 - 15 May 1943)
SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon
(15 May 1943 - 22 Oct 1943)
SS-Obergruppenführer Herman Priess
(22 Oct 1943 - 21 June 1944)
SS-Brigadeführer Hellmuth Becker
(21 June 1944 - 8 May 1945)
Chief of Staff
SS-Oberführer Cassius Freiherr von Montigny
(? Oct 1939 - 24 May 1940)
SS-Sturmbanführer Paul Geisler
(24 May 1940 - 5 June 1940)
SS-Brigadeführer Kurt KnobLauch
(5 June 1940 - 20 Dec 1940)
SS-Obersturmbannführer Heinz Lammerding
(20 Dec 1940 - 26 Apr 1943)
SS-Sturmbannführer Rudolf Schneider
(27 Apr 1943 - ? June 1943)
SS-Sturmbannführer Baldur Kelelr
(? June 1943 - 1 Oct 1943)
SS-Obersturmbannführer Erich Eberhardt
(22 Oct 1943 - 1 Mar 1945)
Quartermaster

SS-Sturmbannführer Paul Geisler
(? Oct 1939 - ? Jan 1941)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Rudolf Schneider
(15 Jan 1941 - 9 Nov 1942)
SS-Sturmbannführer Heinz Hufebach
(9 Nov 1942 - 22 Jan 1944)
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Marin Weidlich
(1 Sep 1944 - 1 Mar 1945)
Area of operations

Germany
(Nov 1939 - May 1940)
Belgium & France
(May 1940 - June 1941)
Eastern front, northern sector
(June 1941 - Oct 1942)
France
(Oct 1942 - Feb 1943)
Eastern front, southern sector
(Feb 1943 - July 1944)
Eastern front, central sector & Poland
(July 1944 - Dec 1944)
Hungary & Austria
(Dec 1944 - May 1945)
Manpower strength

June 1941
18.754
Dec 1942
21.186
Dec 1943
15.415
June 1944
21.115
Dec 1944
15.400
Knight's Crosses Awarded
47

Order of battle
SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 5 Thule
SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 6 Theodor Eicke
SS-Panzer Regiment 3
SS-Panzer Artillerie Regiment 3
SS-Panzer-jager-Abteilung 3
SS-Sturmgeschutz-Abteilung 3
SS-Flak-Abteilung 3
SS-Werfer-Abteilung 3
SS-Panzer-achrichten-Abteilung 3
SS-Panzer-Aufklarungs-Abteilung 3
SS-Panzer-Pionier-Batallion 3
SS-Dina 3
SS-Feldlazarett 3
SS-Kriegsberichter-Zug 3
SS-Feldgendarmerie-Trupp 3
SS-Feldersatz-Battillon 3

12th SS Hitlerjugend

2005-04-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

In early 1943, plans were put into motion to form a twelfth division of the Waffen-SS. Unlike some divisions which had been formed previously, it was not to be made up of foreigners, ethnic Germans, or a mixture of the two. After three years of war and now facing a serious manpower shortage, the Waffen-SS fell upon a vast, highly acceptable and all-German pool of recruits........ the Hitlerjugend.Recruiting started in the spring of 1943 and by mid summer the required number of recruits had been assembled at the Belgian military training area at Beverlo. The young volunteers of the division belonged to the age group born in 1926 and were 16-17 years old during the training. The officers of the new division came principally from the 1. SS Panzer Division ,,Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler''(LAH) and from other divisions of the Waffen-SS. There were also about fifty army officers among them who had originally been in the officer corps of the Hitlerjugend. As the LAH and other replacement units of the various arms of service could not provide sufficient amounts of NCO's, young volunteers, after completing their basic training, were trained in the Waffen- SS NCO school in Lauenburg or in NCO courses within the Division and after successfully completing these, were employed as NCO's.Under the guidance of very capable officers, the Division carried out very thorough training. Most of the training was combat training in the field. Special emphasis was placed on firearms training in realistic combat conditions. In January 1944 the Division began to train as a body but it still struggled to find sufficient amounts of tanks and other vehicles. While waiting for the new vehicles, the Division used many captured French and Italian vehicles, mainly trucks and motorcycles. This problem was soon taken care of as the required number of German vehicles began to arrive. In early April 1944 the Division left Belgium and moved into the reserve area in Normandie between Vitmoutiers and Rouen. It was here that Generaloberst Heinz Guderian, inspector of the armored troops came to observe the Division in large scale exercises. Guderian was pleased and the 12. SS Panzer Division ,,Hitlerjugend'' was declared fully operational and was to await the expected allied invasion of France.On June 6th, 1944 the Allied Armies landed on the beaches of Normandie beginning the liberation of Europe. After hours of confusion Panzer group West finally issued the following orders to the 12th SS at 3:05 pm:To 12th SS Panzer Division: Division to move forward immediately north of the axis Alencon- Carrouges- Flers into the area around Evrecy. The division subordinated initially to the LXXXIV Army Corps.Assignment: Operating on the left flank of the 21st Panzer Division, throw the enemy west of the Orne into the sea and destroy him.
By 4:30 PM the 20,540 men of the Division were on the march from their various positions in Normandie with the intent on carrying out this order and smashing the Allied Armies on the beaches north-west of Caen. Traveling at night, the elements of the 12th SS were able to reach the front by early morning June 7th with relatively little hassle from enemy aircraft. After the forward reconnaissance units, the first elements of the Division to reach Caen were the 25th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment under SS-Standartenfuhrer Kurt Meyer (Panzermeyer), the 2nd Battalion of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment (Prinz), and the 3rd Battalion of the 12th SS Panzerartillerie Regiment (Bartling). Meyer took up his command post in the Abbey Ardenne which was situated north-west of Caen and had large towers which provided an excellent view of the battlefield. From the Abbey, Meyer derived a plan for the counterattack of his kampfgruppe (battlegroup). The attack was planned for 4:00 PM and called for all three infantry battalions to attack abreast with the support of the five panzer kompanies and the artillery from the 3rd Battalion.The situation changed rapidly however and Meyer was forced to change his plans because of increasing enemy pressure in the area. About 2:00 PM the forward elements of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division were pressing south down the main road from Villons-Les- Buissons to Carpiquet where they planned to capture the airfield there. As the Canadian Armor and infantry passed through Authie towards Franqueville they were stunned by a violent counter-attack by the 12th SS Panzer Division. Sweeping through Authie and Buron, the III Battalion of the 25th Regiment and the 5th and 6th Panzer Kompanies annihilated C company of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and badly mauled the rest of the battalion. The 12th SS also managed to destroy 28 Canadian Tanks and numerous other vehicles before pulling back to the Northern fringe of Authie.At 3:00 PM the II Battalion attacked from it's positions south of St. Contest with limited success which was hampered by the loss of it's commander SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Hans Scappini. At 4:15 PM the I Battalion (Waldmuller) attacked with the support of the 8th Panzer Kompanie (Siegel). The Kampfgruppe reached Cambes where it was engaged by the right flank of the 3rd British Infantry Division. After destroying numerous enemy tanks and inflicting heavy losses, the Battalion pulled to the southern fringe of the village and entrenched itself in defensive positions.The elements of Panzermeyer's Kampfgruppe had stopped the enemy cold by 6:00 PM. But because of the withering Allied naval gunfire and his mounting casualties, he was forced to call off the attack and his whole regiment was ordered to dig in on the line they had gained.During the early morning hours of June 8th, the 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment under SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Wilhelm Mohnke began to arrive at it's jump off positions to the West of Meyer's Kampfgruppe. They were given the order to attack and secure the villages of Norrey-en-Bessin, Bretteville-l'Orgueilleuse, Putot- en-Bessin, and Brouay. The Regiment went into battle without tank support and faced the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division which was already dug into position in these villages.At 3:00 am on June 8th, the I Battalion (Krause) advanced from Cheux towards Norrey-en-Bessin where they took over a group of buildings to the North-West called Cardenville and continued the advance. However the Canadian artillery was too strong and the Battalion was forced to dig in short of Norrey on the high ground along the Mue River. The II Battalion (Siebken) attacked Putot-en- Bessin around 6:00 am. In a violent sweep, the grenadiers soon had A,B,and C Companies of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles totally surrounded and nearly wiped them out as they tried to retreat under the cover of smoke. With the village now in German hands the Canadians counterattacked about 9:30 pm with an infantry battalion, an armored squadron and several companies of a machine gun battalion. The numerically superior enemy with tank support forced the SS to pull to the southern fringe of the village and dig into positions there. The III Battalion (Olboeter) moved into action about 8:00 am and attacked the village of Brouay and the woods to the south-west with little hassle from the enemy. The village was found unoccupied and the grenadiers dug into defensive positions in this area.To the west, the 12th SS Reconnaissance Battalion under SS- Sturmbannfuhrer Gerhard Bremer was given the task of holding the division's left flank. under increasing pressure the battalion was forced to pull back into line across Cristot to Brouay where it was linked to the 3rd Battalion of the 26th Regiment on the right and to the Panzer Lehr Division on the left.The main body of the Division was now on the defensive on the line it had gained in the first hours of it's counter-attacks on June 7th and 8th. The Allies had been dealt a serious setback, since their D-Day objective was to capture Caen and the Carpiquet Airfield there. In fact, the Allies, despite the advantage of naval gunfire, control of the skies, and numerically superior tanks and personnel were not able to capture Caen for 33 days mainly because of the fanatical fighting qualities of the 12th SS Panzer Division.Along the line of the 12th SS, the Canadian held village of Norrey-en-Bessin was protruding into the German lines like an enemy finger. The 12th SS was determined to take the village and establish a solid line from Bremer's reconnaissance battalion on the left to Waldmuller's 1st battalion to the extreme right. To accomplish this, an attack was planned for the night of June 8th to take Bretteville and would use the Reconnaissance Company of the 25th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment and the 1st and 4th Kompanies (Panthers) from the I Battalion (Jurgensen) of the 12. SS Panzer Regiment which had just arrived at the front.With Kurt Meyer leading in his BMW and side car (Meyer had promised his recon company that he would join them in their baptism of fire) the column rolled from Rots towards the objective of Bretteville and fought all night in and around the village. Although the attack was initially a success, the Germans were forced to call off the attack because of stiff Allied resistance and lack of support from the infantry of Mohnke's 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment who were unable to advance.Two more times the 12th SS would try to crack the Allied hold on Norrey-en-Bessin without success mainly because of the tenacious fighting of the Regina Rifle Regiment who held the town. Further attacks on this village were postponed because of enemy attacks coming from this vicinity.On June 14th the Divisional Commander of the 12th SS, SS- Brigadefuhrer Fritz Witt was killed by naval gunfire at his headquarters in Venoix. The Division was then handed over to SS- Standartenfuhrer Kurt Meyer and the 25th Regiment went to SS- Obersturmbannfuhrer Milius.The rest of June consisted of some stinging defeats for the British and Canadian Armies as they unsuccessfully tried to take the positions of the 12th SS. During the four weeks after the invasion the 12th SS was always at the focal point of the fighting for Caen and successfully repelled all attempts of the Allies to take the city despite superior numbers and complete air supremacy. This, however drained the 12th SS of the much needed manpower for the planned counter-attack toward the sea and it never did happen. By the first week of July the Allies had massed such an amount of men and material outside of Caen that the 12th SS had no choice but to withdraw south of the city to take up new positions. The Allies finally moved into Caen on July 9th, 33 days after the invasion.On July 19th the 12th SS was in action again. This time it was the British-Canadian Operation Goodwood that drew them into the fighting. By July 20th the attack had been stopped near Vimont and the 12th SS remained in line there for the next two weeks. The 12th SS was then pulled out of the line and formed the reserve of the I SS Panzer Corps. Being the only mobile reserve in the area, the 12th SS was turned into a fire brigade and was continually hurled into the breaches of the line to seal off breakthroughs of greatly superior enemy forces. During the first weeks of August, the 12th SS played a decisive role in halting two separate offensives of the First Canadian Army. Operation Totalize and Tractible were stopped in their tracts between Caen and Falaise by the typical tenacious combat techniques of the 12th SS. In Operation Totalize, the remaining 60 tanks of the Division were faced by 600 tanks of the Allied Armies! In some cases grenadiers tied explosives to their bodies and jumped onto the enemy tanks, destroying the tank and themselves. Operation Tractible was the last drive towards Falaise and the 12th SS managed to stop it on the last ridge before the city. The next day the Canadians broke into Falaise from the west and in an act of defiance, 50-60 SS Grenadiers fought to the last man in the cities Ecole Superieure.Withdrawing to the west, the Division was placed on the northern side of the pocket now being formed around Chambois. Meyer was given the order from the 7th Army to hold the northern side of the pocket open allowing as many German troops out as possible. It was about this time that SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Max Wunsche was captured by the British. He had just been awarded the Oakleaves to the Knights Cross in recognition for SS PZ RGT 12's actions in Normandie. In a period of two months, his unit had destroyed no fewer than 250 enemy tanks. On August 20th the 12th SS Panzer Division pulled out of the Falaise pocket and crossed the Seine river ending their campaign in Normandie.After a short time to rest and refit, the Division was at the front again. This time the 12th SS was covering the German withdrawal from France. On September 6th, near the franco-Belgian border, SS-Oberfuhrer Kurt Meyer was captured by the Americans as the rest of the Division fought with the advancing GI's trying to enter Belgium.In November, the Division was transferred to Germany where it linked up with it's Replacement Battalion at Nienburg 60 KM south of Bremen. At this time the 12th SS took on the much needed replacements, tanks, and equipment. Most of the personnel came from the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe. After the capture of Kurt Meyer, the Division was under the command of SS- Obersturmbannfuhrer Hubert Meyer until it arrived in Germany. In November, SS-Standartenfuhrer Hugo Kraas took command of the Division and it was assigned to the 6th Panzer Army under Sepp Dietrich.On December 16th, 1944 the 12th SS took an active role in the Ardennes Offensive. Starting on the northern sector, the Division was given the right flank of the 6th Panzer Army to protect as it moved forward towards Malmedy. Stiff Allied resistance forced the Division to swing left and follow the path of the Leibstandarte. By New Years Day 1945 the 12th SS was one of the many German units forming the ring around Bastogne. The German front was under heavy pressure from the flanks of the salient and the troops, including those of the HJ Division were forced to withdraw. By January 18 the German armies had returned to the positions they had held before the offensive had begun.There would be no time for rest because on January 20th the entire 6th Panzer Army was ordered to the east. The plan was to attack Russian elements who had surrounded Budapest and had trapped German units there. Before the end of the month, the Division was transferred by rail to Hungary. Being in Army group South it was one of the first to arrive. In early February, before the attack was launched, HJ and elements of the Leibstandarte attacked and successfully destroyed a Russian bridgehead which had been established on the River Gran. On March 6th the main operation started and the 12th SS advanced along the northern side of Lake Balaton. After limited success, the attack bogged down in the Spring mud at Danube.By the middle of March, the 12th SS was on the retreat heading for Austria. By April 13th, the Division was forced west of Vienna passing Odenburg and Hirtenburg and finally arriving near Linz and the Americans. On May 8th the division crossed the demarcation line near the town of Enns and entered American captivity. Proud and defiant until the end, they refused to comply with the American order that their vehicles be draped with white flags as a token of surrender.

17. SS Division Götz von Berlichingen

2005-04-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

History of the Real 17. SS Division
It is little wonder that one of the elite SS Panzer-Grenadier Divisions of World War II was named for Götz von Berlichingen. His reputation as a warrior and a defender of liberty made him a national folk hero. There was even a play about him by Göthe, the famous German playwright.
A Beginning
The order to create the 17. SS Panzer-Grenadier Division was issued in the middle of 1943. It was not formally activated until very early in 1944 in Thouars, France. It was to be one of the last significant ceremonies for the creation of such a division and many SS "luminaries" including both Sepp Dietrich and Heinrich Himmler were in attendance. Such was the timing of its creation that the "GvB" would be in battle with the Allies in just three short months when D-Day finally came.
A Hero
Götz von Berlichingen was born in the castle at Jagsthausen in Götzenburg in the year 1480, and began campaigning at an early age. During the siege of Landshut (Bavarian War of 1504) he lost his hand to a cannon ball in the fighting. Undismayed by the loss of his hand, Götz, designed what was, almost assuredly, one of the first prosthetics in use for the period, an iron hand, and the future symbol of the 17. SS.
Götz's fame comes from an incident that occured when Götz was being beseiged by an enemy. He was ordered to surrender in the name of the Emporor. Here is an account based on the actual incident: In Act 3, Scene 23 of the play Götz von Berlichingen by Göthe, the Hauptmann who is beseiging Götz sends a messenger who urges him to surrender. Götz's answer goes: "Who do you think you're talking to? Am I some robber? Tell your captain: I respect His Imperial Majesty as always, but as for your captain, tell him he can kiss my ass! (Er kann mich im Arsch lecken, which is a bit cruder than the English translation). It is said that Götz's reply always brings down the house.
Götz Died in 1563 and his grave at the Schoental Monastery is marked by a knight kneeling before a cross with the inscription, "Götz, the magnanimous hero, rests here in the depth of the grave. Among the honorable ones, his name was always mentioned. For with great valor, he fought bloody battles..."
Order of Battle
The order of battle for the 17. SS Division was for two regiments of Grenadiers, the 37. and 38., each composed of three motorized battalions, an Artillerie-Regiment, and the usual services. The growing shortages in manpower in Germany slowed the raising of the division, but as of 1 June 1944, its strength was 17,321 men of all ranks. Although deficient in weapons and equipment, the 17. was considered ready to undertake operations. In that respect the U.S. official history Cross-Channel Attack records that the division was so poorly outfitted that four of its six grenadier battalions had only improvised transport, some of which was Italian in origin, and that the other two Grenadier battalions were mounted on bicycles. The Panzer-Bataillon had no tanks, but there were 37 self-propelled guns on establishment.
Normandiefront
The "GvB" Division formed part of the high command reserve but once released began its move toward the beachhead led by the Aufklärungs-Bataillon (reconnaissance battalion), which reached the Tessy area during 8 June. Some of the bicycle-mounted Grenadier units took so long to reach the combat zone that they were effectively out of the battle until the second half of the month.
The Aufklärungs-Bataillon took up position in the sector held by the German 352. Division, in the Trévières-Littry area, and one of its patrols, sent out on 10 June, clashed with units of the British 7th Armoured Division. The main force of the 17. SS Division, suffering from the fuel shortages that bedevilled German operations on every front, was stranded in and around Vers with the result that by 11 June, only advance parties had reached the designated divisional assembly area to the southwest of Carentan.
Fuel supplies rushed to the division made some units mobile, and the advance continued to a point north of Périers, where the German 6. Fallschirmjäger (Parachute Infantry) Regiment was holding the line. On 11 June, the commander of the "GvB" Division, Werner Ostendorff, went forward to contact Oberst (Colonel) August von der Heydte, the Fallschirmjäger-Regiment's commander, in Carentan, where a fierce battle was raging. Allied superiority on the ground and in the air soon forced the 6. Fallschirmjäger-Regiment out of the town. That seriously depleted regiment was then placed under the command of the "GvB" Division. It is interesting to note that the veteran soldier v.der Heydte, had a low opinion of the 17. SS. In his memoir Muss ich sterben will ich fallen, he records how its Ia (chief assistant, operations) dismissed demands for closer liaison with the remark, "We don't do things that way!" and later, how SS officers gave conflicting orders. For their part, the senior commanders of the 17. SS tried in vain, to have v.der Heydte court-martialed for giving up Carentan.
It was very clear that the German forces in that sector would be unable to undertake a concerted attack to recapture the town, for even as late as 12 June, the 17. SS Division had control of only two-thirds of its effectives. A check showed that there was a serious shortage of ammunition for the heavy weapons whose fire was needed to support the Panzer-Grenadier and paratroop assaults. The attack set for 13 June, which was already encountering difficulties, had these compounded when the promised Luftwaffe support was cancelled without warning. Under a very meagre covering barrage of artillery, the men of the "GvB" opened their first attack against two American airborne divisions (82nd and 101st) as well as the 2nd Armoured Division.
The ground across which the German units advanced was swamp covered with bushes, and the whole area was defended tenaciously by the American troops. Fighting continued for weeks with few advances made by the Panzer-Grenadiers, who were then forced onto the defensive. On 16 June, Ostendorff was badly wounded. He was replaced by Standartenführer Otto Baum, who led the division from 16 June to 30 July. On 18 June, the 17. SS, holding the Périers-Neumesnil sector, was relieved from the line by the 353. Division. It should be noted that Wehrmacht communiques singled out the "GvB" for special praise for its role in the fighting around St. Lo.
Rest and Refit
The "GvB" was spared the destruction of the Falaise Gap that destroyed nineteen German divisions when it was sent to Paris and than on to Merzig in the Saarland. It was during this time that the division was hurriedly rebuilt from its own survivors and those survivors from other units.
Endkampf
Götz v.Berlichingen was to spend almost the entire remainder of the year 1944 defending Metz. It should be noted that it was tough German resistance around Metz that stopped the drive of the Americans across France, and the role played by the men of the "GvB" in the defense of Metz was significant indeed. Weakened by the repeated attacks over a two-month period with very few replacements, the "GvB" was sent on at the end of November 1944 to Saarbruecken at Ormesheim. Again, the division was removed from the line for a refit.
1945 began with the men of the 17. SS Panzer-Grenadier Division holding a line from Achen, Bettweder, Urbach and Nussweder, south of Zweibruecken. The American response to the Ardennes offensive left a vacancy in the lines of the American and French armies near Alsace-Lorraine. The "GvB" played a major role in the attack (Unternehmen Nordwind) before the Americans again attacked with their seemingly limitless supplies of men and materiel.
In March 1945, the "GvB" was fighting around Zweibruecken when they were the target of specially prepared leaflets dropped by the U.S. 7th Army. The leaflets stated that they should surrender and that the war was over for Hitler's Germany.
The remainder of the spring was for the men of the "GvB" one defeat after another as they sought to stein the tide of the allied assaults into the heart of Germany. On April 20, the men of the "GvB" were engaged in the defense of Nuremberg, scene of the incredible pre-war rallies for the Party. The division fought in and around Munich in the last days of April, then headed south. Significantly, the next town on the division's itinerary was to be Bad Tölz the home of the SS Junkerschule.
Surrender and Appraisals
"GvB" finally surrendered to the Americans on May 7, 1945 and was then sent into captivity Munich on May 21st.
The 17. SS Panzer-Grenadier Division "Götz v.Berlichingen" had existed for 17 months, and had fought without respite for 11 of them. It was the only SS division to have fought exclusively on the western front and its name and deservedly earned tough reputation do not appear to have been tarnished by any involvement in war crimes.
This cannot be said of some of GvB's enemies--the American Army, specifically the "Rainbow Division" on more than one occasion rounded up officers and men of the division and machine gunned them without mercy. Of course, to the Victor goes the spoils, and so there were never any follow-ups or investigations of these heinous acts and not one man of the aforementioned American Division was ever punished with so much as a day's restriction.
It is not known for certain whether the men of "GvB" adopted the motto of the man whom they were named for. But it is likely that there was a pervasive air of arrogance and the attitude of Götz for their enemies and the untenable situation they fought through. They will be forever remembered as the "Kiss my Ass" division.
17. SS Assignments

Date Corps Army Army Group Area

12.43 - 4.44 forming 1. Armee D France

5.44 Reserve - OKW France

6.44 II. Fallsch. Korps 7. Armee B Normandy

7.44 LXXXIV 7. Armee B Normandy

8.44 LXXX 1. Armee B Champagne

9.44 - 10.44 XIII. SS 1. Armee G Saarpfalz

11.44 LXXXII 1. Armee G Saarpfalz

12.44 XIII. SS 1. Armee G Saarpfalz

1.45 Reserve 1. Armee G Saarpfalz

2.45 - 3.45 XIII. SS 1. Armee G Saarpfalz

4.45 XIII. SS 1. Armee G Franken

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The Schutzstaffel (German for "Protective Corps," often abbreviated SS) was an elite paramilitary unit of the German Nazi party. It was formed from the ranks of the SA in 1925 to be Adolf Hitler's personal guard and to guard NSDAP meetings. On January 6 1929 Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as the leader of the SS, which then had only 280 people among its ranks. With Hitler's approval Himmler built up the SS and by the end of 1932 the SS already had 52,000 members. After only a year the SS had over 209,000 members.
Before 1932 the SS wore the same uniform as the SA, except for a black tie and a black cap with a skull symbol on it (Totenkopf, "death's head"). Later they adopted a black uniform and then, just before the war, a field grey uniform. The German public admired the discipline of the SS especially when compared with the SA who committed random violence. Its motto was "My honour is loyalty" (Original German: "Meine Ehre heißt Treue."). The SS rank system was unique in that it did not copy the terms used in the Wehrmacht.
Heinrich Himmler, together with his right-hand man Reinhard Heydrich, consolidated the power of the organisation. In 1931 Himmler gave Heydrich the assignment to build an intelligence service inside the SS, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD).
By the time World War II began the number of members rose to 250,000 and the Waffen-SS was formed in December 1940 to fight alongside the Wehrmacht, Germany's regular military. The SS also received control of the Gestapo in 1936.
The SS evolved into a highly effective and deadly force during World War II. At its peak, its name and reputation for efficient and terrifying violence was enough to strike fear into the heart of anyone. Hitler gave the SS jurisdiction over all concentration camps and allowed them to oversee the day-to-day control of all countries conquered by Germany during the war.
Towards the end of World War II, a group of former SS officers went to Argentina and set up a Nazi fugitive network code-named ODESSA (an acronym for Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen) with tentacles in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Vatican, operated out of Buenos Aires, which helped Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Erich Priebke and many other war criminals find refuge in Latin America. Some historians however consider the story about Odessa greatly exaggerated by sensationalist journalists.
On September 30th, 1946, the judges of the Nuremberg Trials (Tribunal) sentenced the SS-organization, declaring it a criminal organization. The judges underpinned this sentence by stating that: "The SS was used for purposes which were criminal, involving the persecution and the extermination of the Jews, brutalities and killings in concentration camps, excesses in the administration of occupied territories, the administration of the slave labour programme and the maltreatment and murder of prisoners of war" (IMT, 1946, Vol. XXII, p.516, in: Höhne, 1969, p.3). The sentence continued by declaring that suspicion of crime was to be attached to all persons "who had been officially accepted as members of the SS...who came or remained members of the organization with knowledge that it was being used for the commission of acts declared criminal by Article 6 of the [London War Crimes] Charter" (IMT, 1947-1949, Vol. XXII, p.517 in: Höhne, 1969, p.3).
See also: Praetorian Guard, Secret Service, Theodor Eicke, Einsatzgruppen
SS Leaders
• Julius Schreck (1925-1926)
• Joseph Berchtold (1926-1927)
• Erhard Heiden (1927-1929)
• Heinrich Himmler (1929-1945)
• Karl Hanke (1945)