Reichsführer SS
Reich Leader SS or Reichsfuehrer SS (short RFSS or RFSS ) was since August 1934, the highest rank of the Schutzstaffel (SS) in the era of National Socialism after Heinrich Himmler of Adolf Hitler initially to Reichsleiter SS appointed and only this subordinated and was responsible.
Origin of name
The title Reichsführer SS was officially introduced in 1926 based on the Reichs-SA-Führer and referred to the formally supreme commander of the SS . In 1925 and 1926, the title of the highest SS commander was initially Oberleiter .
Between 1926 and the late summer of 1934, the following designation was Reichsstaffelführer in the Supreme SA leadership , also known as Reich SS Führer . It was purely a department designation within the Supreme SA leadership without any power function, as the SS was a small sub-organization of the Sturmabteilung (SA) at that time . In this capacity, the respective Reichsführer was therefore also a member of "the staff of the Supreme SA Leader (OSAF)".
After the SA was disempowered - the so-called Röhm Putsch on June 30th / 1. July 1934 - Hitler appointed the SS on July 20, 1934 as an "independent fighting organization within the NSDAP ". From then on, the SS was an organization in National Socialist Germany that was independent of the SA and was subsequently expanded to become the most influential Nazi organization.
Behind closed doors, the Reich leader SS was sometimes in the familiar circle with the nickname dubbed "Reichsheini".
people
A total of five people headed the SS as the highest commander, four of whom carried this title:
| Surname | Reichsführer SS | SS number | Entry into the SS | NSDAP number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julius Schreck | from 1925 to 1926 | 5 | April 4, 1925 (co-founder of the SS) | 53 |
| Joseph Berchtold | from 1926 to 1927 | not a member | 964 | |
| Erhard Heiden | from 1927 to 1929 | Removed from all SS lists in 1929 | 74 | |
| Heinrich Himmler | from 1929 to 1945 | 168 | August 8, 1925 | 14.303 |
| Karl Hanke | April 29, 1945 to May 5, 1945 | 203.013 | February 15, 1934 | 102.606 |
chronology
From 1925
Julius Schreck , also known as the "father of the SS", was a National Socialist from the very beginning. He built the SA in the capital of the movement . He was one of Hitler's first bodyguards and one of the first SS men. However, Schreck died in 1936 at the age of 38.
The title Oberleiter used by him is the forerunner of the later title Reichsführer SS .
From 1926
Joseph Berchtold had been given the management of the Munich SA and took over the rank of Schreck in 1926. Under Berchtold the title was in the November 1, 1926 Reich Leader SS changed, and it was at the top SA leadership the department Empire squadron leader in the Supreme SA Leadership furnished. He appointed Erhard Heiden as Deputy Reichsführer SS (later Berchtold Reichsführer SS was out of service ).
From 1927
Berchtold resigned, Heiden was appointed RFSS and Heinrich Himmler his deputy. After Heiden had parts of his uniforms made by a Jewish tailor, Hitler released him as commandant of the SS on January 5, 1929. Heiden asked for his complete release from the SS and turned back to the SA. It is generally assumed that he was later murdered by the SS security service on Himmler's express orders .
1929 to 1945
On January 6, 1929, Himmler was appointed Reichsführer SS . Until then, this title existed only within the SA ( Reichsstaffelführer in the Supreme SA leadership ), without any major significance.
On July 20, 1934, Hitler separated the SS from the SA and the SS now got control of the early concentration camps . It developed into an independent organization of the NSDAP and achieved the greatest influence of all so-called "NS-fighting organizations". As Reichsführer SS, Himmler had gained new career prospects.
Since August 23, 1934, Himmler was subordinate to SS Adolf Hitler as Reichsleiter and was only responsible to him. On the same day, the designation Reichsführer SS became a regular rank of the SS. Since Himmler, with his appointment as Deputy Chief and Inspector of the Prussian Secret State Police (Gestapo), combined all political and police powers of the Reich in his hand, could finally with the following, systematic establishment of the new concentration camps to strengthen organized terror in the Reich and to strengthen Himmler's power.
The later introduced SS ranks “ Reichsarzt SS ” ( Ernst-Robert Grawitz ) and “ Administration Chief SS ” ( Oswald Pohl ) were subordinate to Himmler as the highest SS service lord. The later introduced Security Service of the Reichsführer SS (SD) was also subordinate to the RFSS , under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich , and served, among other things, as an SS espionage service.
On June 17, 1936, Hitler's decree also made Himmler head of the German police , which had meanwhile been converted from a state institution into a Reich institution, thus formally documenting the organizational merging of the SS and the police. In this office he had authority over the regular uniformed police, the fire protection police and the security police, but was subordinate to the Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick until 1943 . With Himmler's new official title, The Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior , the (state) police's (party) SS's expressly intended appropriation of the (state) police and thus those two offices came into effect.
In 1939, the SS with the was policing gleichgeschaltet and the central offices of the state police - the main office of the state police, the Secret State Police Office ( Gestapa ) and the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt - with the (official party) security main office of the SS (SD-HA) under a common roof summarized. Most of the officers of the security and order police were transferred to the SS. An SS rank was now assigned to your police rank.
From April 29, 1945
In his political will of April 29, 1945, Hitler relieved Himmler of his office and appointed Gauleiter Karl Hanke - also known as the "executioner of Breslau" - as the new and last Reichsführer SS.
Ranking and insignia
This SS rank corresponded to the then General Field Marshal of the Wehrmacht .
| Rank | ||
| lower: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer |
 Reichsführer SS (RFSS) |
higher: none |
- Badges of rank and insignia
Collar tab (1942-45)
Command flag for vehicles
See also
literature
- Peter Longerich : Heinrich Himmler: A biography . Siedler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88680-859-5 .
- Hermann Weiß (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon for the Third Reich . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002.
- Stanislav Zámečník (Ed. Comité International de Dachau): That was Dachau. Luxembourg 2002, ISBN 2-87996-948-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article "Heinrich Himmler" in Der Neue Brockhaus. Allbuch in four volumes and an atlas, Volume 2 (1938), p. 410.
- ↑ Article “National Socialist German Workers' Party” in Der Neue Brockhaus. Allbuch in four volumes and an atlas, volume 3 (1938), illustration "Die Reichsleiter der NSDAP", p. 344.
- ↑ Heinz Höhne: The order under the skull. The history of the SS. Weltbild, 1992, p. 29.
- ↑ Franz Wegener: Heinrich Himmler. German Spiritism, French Occultism and the Reichsführer SS , 2nd edition, KFVR - Kulturförderverein Ruhrgebiet e. V., Gladbeck 2013, p. 23.
- ↑ Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann and Dieter Zinke: Germany's Generals and Admirals - Part V: The Generals of the Waffen-SS and the Police 1933–1945 . Biblio-Verlag, p. 229.
- ↑ Ulrich von Hehl : National Socialist Dominion , 2nd ed., Oldenbourg, Munich 2001 ( Encyclopedia of German History; Vol. 39), ISBN 3-486-56580-X , p. 19 .
- ↑ Hans Buchheim , The SS - the instrument of rule, command and obedience , Munich 1967, p. 49; Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 487.
- ↑ See Andreas Wirsching : Deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert , 2nd edition, CH Beck, Munich 2005, p. 68 ; see. on this, Heinrich Himmler's order on the formation of the Reich Security Main Office of September 27, 1939.
- ↑ International Military Court : The Trial of the Main War Criminals before the International Court of Justice in Nuremberg. Nuremberg 1947, Vol. 1, pp. 301-303.