Allgemeine SS

The Allgemeine SS (German for "General SS", literally "Universal SS") was the biggest SS branch in terms of members. It was established in the autumn of 1934 to distinguish certain SS members from the Waffen-SS.

Starting in 1939 units similar to the SS were formed in neighbouring countries, which were consolidated under the Leitstelle der germanischen SS ("Directing Center of the Germanic SS") from 1940.

Hierarchy

The ranks of the Allgemeine SS, Waffen-SS, and SS-Totenkopfverbände were traditionally based upon those of the SA. Thus there were distinctly separate hierarchical subdivisions of the SS. Therefore a Brigadeführer ("Brigadier General") of the Allgemeine SS might only be ranked as a Rottenführer ("Lance Corporal") in the Waffen-SS. If this same SS member were an architectural engineer, then the SS-Hauptämter ("SS Main Offices") would issue a third rank of Sonderführer ("Lead Technical Specialist"). Accordingly, in 1944 the Allies began to separate all higher ranked SS and police officials ("Höherer SS und Polizeiführer") bearing the Allgemeine rank of Brigadeführer or higher from regular POWs if captured.

Early Years

The SS was created on April 4, 1925 and subordinated to the SA on November 1, 1926. It was thus a subunit of the SA and the NSDAP. It was considered to be an elite organization by both party members and among the general population.

The main task of the SS was the personal protection of the Führer of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler. As early as the winter of 1925 the SS consisted of approximately 1,000 members, but of this number there were barely 200 active members. Heinrich Himmler tried to separate the SS from the SA, and SA leaders generally had no authority over SS personnel from 1927 onwards. Himmler began to systematically develop and expand the SS. Many racketeers, habitual criminals, former members of the Freikorps, and Germans disappointed with the Weimar Republic began to join the SS.

By December 1929, the number of active members had grown to 1,000. The SS grew so fast that on 29 January, 1930, Himmler could announce to his former mentor Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, that: "The Schutzstaffel is growing, and will probably number 2,000 by the end of this quarter." [Höhne, Heinz: Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf, P. to 56-57 (The book has also been translated into English with the title "The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS" )] From that point on the SS would be considered, therefore, " de facto" independent. By December of that same year, the SS had a membership of 2,727.

Himmler now looked to another source for recruits to the SS: the SA. Many former members of Röhm's Frontbann joined the SS. In 1926 it had been specified that the SS had to absolutely subordinate itself to the SA and with that every arbitrary action of the SS was prevented. With local recruitment, the SS members were obligated to owe loyalty to the respective SA leader. However, by this time numerous Unterführer of the SA had already gone over to Himmler's SS. Hitler assisted Himmler in his first great victory over the SA, by decreeing on November 7, 1930: "The task of the SS is first the practice of the police service within the party. No SA leader is entitled to give instructions to the SS!"

This order split the two organizations from each other, and confirmed thereby the "de jure" independence of the SS from the SA.

Formation and Service

After the so-called Machtergreifung by the National Socialists, the SS began to expand into a massive organization: By March 1933 it included over 52,000 registered members. By December 1933 the SS had increased to over 204,000 members and Himmler ordered a temporary freeze on recruitment. Himmler ordered that, "no one else is taken on, from the end of 1933 to the end of 1935, who is not suited for the SS."

Also in the winter 1933/34, Himmler became Chief of the Political Police ("Politische Polizei") for the whole of Germany. He would eventually subordinate this organisation, along with the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) to the Reich Security Main Office ("Reichssicherheitshauptamt" or simply "RSHA") and place Reinhard Heydrich at its head.

On June 30, 1934 the power of the SS was further cemented when it participated in the decapitating of the SA during the Night of the Long Knives. They either killed or arrested every major leader in the SA – above all Ernst Röhm.

In August 1934, Himmler received permission from Hitler to form a new organisation from the SS Sonderkommandos and the Politischen Bereitschaften, the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT). This was a standing armed force, which in war was to be subordinate to the Armed Forces, or Wehrmacht, but remained under Himmler's control in times of peace and under Hitler's personal control regardless. According to this restructure, the SS housed three different subordinate commands:

# the Allgemeine-SS,
# the SS-Verfügungstruppe
# the SS-Totenkopfverbände

By December 1935 approximately 60,000 SS members had been purged from the SS. Himmler's "house cleaning" effectively ended the careers of those who were deemed to be opportunists, alcoholics, homosexuals or of uncertain racial status.

During this period the SS was reorganized, with the creation of the Allgemeine SS as a result. The new organization grew quickly achieving peak membership in 1938, with 485,000 members. At that time, of the 13,867 active SS-Führer only 1,144 or 8.3% did not belong to the NSDAP.

A second decree from Hitler on May 18 1939 merged the Totenkopfverbände into the Allgemeinen-SS, adding 50,000 new members to the organization.

By August 1939 there were 485,000 members of the Allgemeine SS (including 180,000 men in the so-called "Reserve-Standarten"). Approximately 170,000 were called up for service in the Wehrmacht and 35,000 others into the Waffen-SS. Only the 100,000 full-time SS leaders in the main offices had been exempted from the military service. Here the actual history of the Allgemeine-SS ends, since the war would ensure that the Waffen-SS would completely eclipse the Allgemeine-SS, both in size and importance. But the main offices of the Allgemeine SS, which were originally only staff departments of the SS main office (the so-called Reichsführung-SS) responsible for the coordinating the day-to-day operations of the Allgemeine SS, were officially responsible for the members of the Waffen-SS also in the war years.

Towards the end of the war in 1945 the Gesamt-SS had over 840,000 members. From these 48,500 were members of the Allgemeine SS. Much of the remainder was comprised of 18,000 officers, 52,000 NCOs, and 600,000 enlisted members of the Waffen-SS and 130,000 police. SS membership numbers were formally lent to the members of the Waffen-SS of all ranks, while SS membership was also automatically lent to police officers.Clarifyme|date=March 2008

References

reflist

Resources

# Mark C. Yerger: "The Allgemeine-SS" (ISBN 0-7643-0145-4)
# Andrew Mollo: "A Pictorial History of the SS, 1923-1945" (ISBN 0-7128-2174-0)
# Robin Lumsden: "The Allgemeine-SS, Vol. 266" (ISBN 1-85532-358-3)
# Heinz Hoehne: "Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf" (ISBN 3-89350-549-0)
# Felix Steiner: "Die Armee der Geächteten" (ISBN 3-920722-10-8)
# Gordon Williamson: "Die Waffen-SS 1933-1945. Ein Handbuch" (ISBN 3-85492-706-1)
# Gordon Williamson: "Die SS - Hitlers Instrument der Macht. Die Geschichte der SS von der Schutzstaffel bis zur Waffen-SS" (ISBN 3-7043-6037-6)
# Hilde Kammer/Elisabeth Bartsch: "Jugendlexikon Nationalsozialismus. Begriffe aus der Zeit der Gewaltherrschaft 1933-1945" (ISBN 3-499-16288-1)

External links

* http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uniforms/germany3.htm#allgemeine Photo of the Allgemeine SS uniform