Supporting member of the SS

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Pin of a sponsoring member of the SS (front and back)
SS-FM membership book of tenor Karl Erb (joined September 1933)
Silver pin of honor (front and back, pin removed from solder joint)

A supporting member of the SS (abbreviated: FM-SS ) belonged to the SS , but did not take part in active service, but supported the SS financially. Adolf Hitler allowed the SS to establish independent sustaining membership in 1925 , but the SA was banned in 1926. From September 1926 onwards, supporting members of the SS were accepted on the orders of the head leader SS Joseph Berchtold . Only " Aryans " could become supporting members of the SS; a Nazi -Membership was it not a requirement.

The monthly contribution to be paid was set individually and could also be comparatively low, for example one Reichsmark . The subsidy was collected by SS departments, which had to be authorized by the Reichsführer SS (SS Finance Administration). The financial administration was organized by the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office. Supporting members of the SS received a membership number and a membership book in which the payment of the contribution was entered. Before the " seizure of power " there were roughly as many supporting as active members of the SS. In 1932 there were 13,217 supporting members who paid 17,000 Reichsmarks a month. In 1933 the number jumped to 167,272 supporting members who paid in around 357,000 Reichsmarks a month.

In 1934 Heinrich Himmler donated a silver badge of honor for supporting members who had already supported the SS during the " fighting time " (ie before 1933). This badge of honor bore the words "THANKS OF THE SS FOR TREUE / HILFE ID KAMPFZEIT" and six oak leaves around the oval symbol . In April 1934, the monthly FM magazine ( ZDB -ID 547718-9 ) appeared for the first time , a magazine that was sent to all supporting members. In 1939 this magazine reached a circulation of 365,000 copies.

In the Control Council Directive No. 38 of October 12, 1946, supporting members of the SS were classified under certain conditions in Section II, which after an investigation could lead to a conviction as "incriminated". This classification resulted in equal treatment with active members of the general SS, but was tied to the condition that the entry as a supporting member took place after December 31, 1938 or that more than 10 RM monthly contribution was paid or something else if they joined earlier considerable donation was made to the SS.

Well-known supporting members of the SS

Here is a selection of well-known personalities who were supporting members of the SS:

literature

  • Bastian Hein: Elite for people and leaders? The General SS and its members 1925–1945 . Munich 2012.
  • Jan Erik Schulte : Forced Labor and Extermination. The SS economic empire . Schöningh, Paderborn 2011, ISBN 3-506-78245-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mathias Rösch: The Munich NSDAP 1925-1933 . Oldenbourg, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-486-56670-9 , p. 497 (especially footnote 262 )
  2. ^ A b John M. Steiner: Power politics and social change in National Socialist Germany . Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands 1976, ISBN 90-279-7651-1 , p. 51 (especially footnote 29 )
  3. ↑ Jan Erik Schulte: Forced Labor and Destruction: The Economic Empire of the SS . Schöningh, Paderborn 2011, ISBN 3-506-78245-2 , p. 77.
  4. ↑ Control Council Directive No. 38 of October 12, 1946: Arrest and punish war criminals, National Socialists and militarists and intensify, control and monitor potentially dangerous Germans . Official Journal of the Control Council in Germany, No. 11, October 31, 1946, p. 184. Section II, E (Die NSDAP-Gliederungen), 2 (Allgemeine SS and their other structures). ( Online )