Hitler's SS Death's Head Division

Sydnor makes clear that he believes the SSTK were an essential part of the rise of National Socialism under Hitler and that the Division represented the spirit of Nazism. He writes, for example, that there is an increasing interest in the SSTK "because, institutionally, and for most of the history of the Third Reich, the SS Death's Head Division occupied a strategic intersection amid the moving traffic of Hitlerian criminality" (xii).

The theme of the book is that the SSTK was not only the spirit of Hitler's Nazi policy, but also its very backbone. In his conclusion, Sydnor writes of "'the executive instrument of the Fuhrer's will'---the wartime SS, the single most important institution of the Hitlerian age" (350). The book, then, is a record of the origins

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Eicke's more severe disciplinary action---sending the SSTK offender to a concentration camp not as a guard but as an inmate (62). The fear of such punishment ensured that the members of the SSTK followed every order to the letter, including the most brutal of orders. The development, growth, and acquisition of new powers and functions by the SSTK from that point on could not have occurred unless Hitler and Himmler had wanted it to. And, indeed, the SSTK figured specially in the Nazi leaders' plans (64). Part of the reason the SSTK increased in importance to the National Socialist movement during the war years was the relentless salesmanship of Eicke. He simply inundated the high command with promotional pitches for the SSTK, including an important tour for a general which resulted in both an increased reputation for the Division as well as a steady increase in support and supplies. However, it was not until the battle of France that the role of the SSTK and its ability to perform in battle became more clear: The performance of SSTK . . . did . . . compel the German generals to agree with Himmler that armed SS units . . . could fight alongside the army in the most sensitive and important sectors of the front. . . . In additio
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Waffen SS, SSTV SSTK, National Socialist, Reich Sydnor, SSTK Sydnor, SSTK Division, Third Reich, Himmler Germany, Hitler's Nazi, SSTK Eicke's, sydnor writes, third reich, national socialism, ultimate purpose, sstv sstk, sydnor writes eicke, sstk increased, purpose war, camp guard, sstk essential, sstk sydnor, ss death's head, third reich stood, ultimate purpose war,
Approximate Word count = 1462
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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