This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Schutzstaffel / SS (NSDAP, Germany)

Protection Guard

Last modified: 2005-09-17 by santiago dotor
Keywords: germany | historical | nationalsocialist | nsdap | ss | schutzstaffel | vexillum | swastika | cross: swastika (black) | disc (white) | text: german | deutschland erwache | schreck: julius | garland (gold) | eagles: 4 (gold) | hitl |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors




See also:


Other sites:


Introduction

The Schutzstaffel (SS) was founded as Adolf Hitler's bodyguard and was [initially] a part of the SturmAbteilung (SA). When Heinrich Himmler was made Reichsführer-SS in 1929 the SS began to grow in numbers and in power. The SS remained loyal and played an important part when [SA Chief] Ernst Röhm and other leaders of the SA were executed during the night of the long knives in 1934. As a reward for its loyalty the SS was made an independent organization and in 1936 [1937?] the SS was made responsible for all police activity in the Third Reich.

  • Allgemeine-SS [General SS]: The non-armed part of the SS. This included for example the Geheime Staatspolizei [Secret State Police] (Gestapo), the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Ordnungspolizei (OrPo), the Kriminalpolizei (KriPo) and the guards of the concentration camps.
  • Waffen-SS [Armed-SS]: The armed forces of the SS. They were founded as SS-Verfügungstruppen [SS-Readily Available Troops] (SS-VT) in 1934 and were renamed Waffen-SS in 1940 when Hitler decided that it, during the war, should be under the command of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), i.e. the the supreme command of the regular armed forces. In 1944 the number of soldiers in the Waf