General SS

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General SS , also General SS , Black SS or Heimat SS , was the official name from autumn 1934 of that part of the Schutzstaffel that did its service in this organization on a voluntary basis , that is, voluntarily and free of charge . The full-time SS leaders in the General SS, who belonged to one of the main SS offices , were placed under the Waffen-SS in 1940 .

Name meaning

The General SS was introduced as a fully valid part of the SS and as a subdivision of the NSDAP in order to distinguish the unarmed SS from the armed subsidiary organizations. The General SS was assigned to the command office of the General SS of the SS Leadership Main Office on the one hand and to the SS Main Office on the other .

The designation “Black SS” was derived from the black SS uniform when the armed SS units, namely the SS disposal troops and the SS death's head units , began to take off their black uniforms. In their place, the available troops first introduced earth-gray and later field-gray uniforms based on the model of the Wehrmacht , but which were cut like the black SS uniform. In contrast, an earth-brown uniform was introduced in the SS-Totenkopfverband.

structure

The General SS consisted of the following sub-organizations and, like the SA, was structured according to a military hierarchy:

  • Active SS (between 18 and 35 years)
  • SS-I (18-25 years)
  • SS-II (25-35 years)
  • SS reserve (between 35 and 45 years of age)
  • SS-Stammabteilung (over 45 years)

Use and tasks in World War II

From March 1938 the SS leaders of the General SS were allowed to wear the current uniforms of the Waffen SS . Until 1945 the narrow shoulder cords of the General SS were worn on both sides of these. When the Second World War broke out , most of the members of the General SS were drafted into the Wehrmacht and did their military service there. Only a small number of them were used in the Waffen SS.

From 1940 a structure was created within the General SS called the Germanic SS . This included SS-like organizations in the Netherlands ( Dutch SS ), Flanders ( Belgium ), Denmark and Norway . Its members were mainly used in the Waffen SS.

With the establishment of the Volkssturm (October 1944), the members of the General SS who had not been used in the war were also included. In combat, they wore their black SS uniform and outdated black painted steel helmets (M1916). To this they wore an armband with the inscription "Deutscher Volkssturm", which was attached over the swastika armband .

See also

literature