During World War II, the German Schutzstaffel (SS-Protection Squad) represented one of the most complex political and military organizations ever known to the world. Much of our knowledge of the German SS comes from media depictions of “monolithic Black Corps of goose stepping Gestapo men”, however this is not an accurate depiction of the German SS organization (German SS 1). In reality, the German SS was a sophisticated bureaucratic structure that was comprised of three distinct entities, all interrelated but specific in their operations and aims: the Allgemeine-SS (General SS), the SS-Totenkopfverbande (SS Death’s Head Guard), and Waffen-SS (Armed SS).
The military formation of the SS, the Waffen-SS, is one of the most historically misunderstood groups because it is often associated with the politics and brutality of the Allgemeine-SS and SS-Totenkopfverbande but it was actually a front line combat group. When Hitler founded the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) in the 1920s, the group became known as the Nazi’s glorifying “violence, war, and military might” (SS-Organization 2). Because of such underlying ideology, most Nazi party organizations evolved into paramilitary organizations. The first of these groups was known as the Sturm Abteilung (SA – Storm Troopers). Hitler became the dictator of Germany in 1933. Upon assuming power he had the leadership of the SA killed, because the organization had become too large for him to control. It is out of the SA, the SS was born: “The SA had a smaller, more loyal offshoot group of Nazis under a man named Heinrich Himmler. This group was the Protection Squad or Schutzstaffel in German, abbreviated “SS.” The SS started out as a small offshoot of the SA, but by 1945 it was the most insidious and powerful Nazi apparatus in Germany and occupied Europe – often referred to as the ‘state within the state’” (SS-Organization 2).
The German...