Organizational structure of the SS

Organizational Structure of the SS and the Police in Reich Territory (1941)

The NSDAP ( SS ) Schutzstaffel was founded on April 4, 1925 as a bodyguard for Adolf Hitler .

From August 1934 to May 1945 it formed an independent organization directly subordinate to Hitler within the framework of the National Socialist German Workers' Party , led by Heinrich Himmler , Reichsführer SS from January 6, 1929 . Formally, the Schutzstaffel was initially subordinate to the Sturmabteilung (SA).

As a paramilitary organization, the structure of the SS was based on military associations and followed the Führer principle .

Before the attack on Poland (September 1, 1939), however, 90% of the founding members had retired from active service in the SS for reasons of age; only 10% of the old members were still members of the SS in 1945. Of the 260,000 SS members active in 1939, 170,000 or 60% were drafted into the Wehrmacht and around 36,000 into the SS army at the start of the war . The other SS members, who were not affected by military service, were either obsolete or, according to the opinion of the time, were assigned to "indispensable posts" in the public administration or in the police force.

During the time of National Socialism , the SS was largely responsible for war crimes , crimes against the civilian population in the German Reich and in occupied Europe, crimes against humanity , the Holocaust and Porajmos , the “industrial mass murder ” of European Jews as well as Sinti and Roma. It has been banned since the end of World War II and was classified as a criminal organization in the Nuremberg Trials .

organization

The SS saw itself as an “ elite organization ” for the ruthless implementation of the Nazi racial theory and for the implementation of the NSDAP's expansion plans. The organization was only accessible to selected National Socialists, there was no compulsion of any kind to join. Submission to the orders and regulations was mostly voluntary, since membership of the SS had been associated with privileges and power since the takeover of power in 1933 and was considered an "honor" in National Socialist circles, according to the motto " My honor means loyalty ". Rarely deviant behavior was punished with violence and even murder. Even if there were female guards "in the SS entourage " in the SS death-head associations of the concentration camps , this extremely patriarchal association only accepted men.

The principle of dual subordination was still characteristic of the organizational structure of the SS. This meant that a subordinate rank was subordinate to two (or more) superordinate instances. An example of this principle is the subordination of the members of the commandant's office in the concentration and extermination camps . As a rule, they were subordinate to the concentration camp commanders in terms of discipline, but received their "technical" instructions from the functionally superior department in the inspection of the concentration camps . The principle of double subordination was usually only applied to higher ranks. The SS leaders, who were subordinate to two different SS administrative units, enjoyed relatively great freedoms due to the resulting diffuse relationship of authority, but at the same time were exposed to greater control of their “political reliability” and “efficiency”.

Organizational development

The beginnings (1925–1933)

As early as the spring of 1925, the later SS introduced the first organizational structures based on the structures of the SA at that time. At the 1926 Reich Party Congress, the NSDAP's hall protection set up at the beginning of April 1925 already had so many members that the first 4 standards could be awarded there on November 9th . On the same day, the hall protection was officially renamed Schutzstaffel .

In 1929 the SS already comprised 22 standards. These were organized both centrally and regionally. Those standards that were subordinate to the SS-Oberleitung were administered centrally and the Reichsführer SS had direct access to their personnel. In 1929 this affected a total of 12 standards.

In addition there were the regional SS standards. These goods:

1. the two standards of the SS district Berlin-Brandenburg,
2. the four standards of the SS-Gaus Franken,
3. the three standards of the SS Gau Niederbayern (SS Gau leader for Lower Bavaria was 1926–1930 Heinrich Himmler, who also became Deputy Reichsführer SS from 1927 ),
4. The four standards of the SS Gau Oberbayern (SS Gau leader for Upper Bavaria was Rudolf Hess from 1929 to October 31, 1931 ),
5. the five standards of the SS-Gaus Rheinland-Süd and
6. the four standards of the SS-Gaus Sachsen.

The SS Gau leaders acted autonomously via the SS standards assigned to them and were only formally subordinate to the SS overhead line until the end of 1928. This only changed in January 1929, when Heinrich Himmler was appointed Reichsführer SS. When Himmler took office, all existing standards were placed under his central command.

This immediately introduced a new SS order that lasted until the end of 1930. In addition to the SS Oberstab, there were now three SS Oberführer areas , which were distributed as follows:

1. Area "East" (SS brigades Berlin-Brandenburg, East Prussia and Silesia with a total of 8 standards)
2. Area "West" (SS brigades Hessen-Nassau, Rhineland-North, Rhineland-South, South Hanover-Braunschweig and Thuringia with a total of 16 standards)
3. "South" area (SS brigades Baden, Württemberg, Franconia, Lower Bavaria, Upper Bavaria South and Austria with a total of 7 standards)

In 1931 the Schutzstaffel was not only expanded in all areas, but a different structure was also set up, which lasted until the takeover in 1933 and was also known as the "Reichsleitung SS" :

SS Oberstab:

1. SS office
2. SS Central Chancellery
3. SS personnel department
4. SS administrative department
5. SS medical department
6. SS command staff (1932)
7. SS liaison service (1933)
8. SS Security Service (1931)
9. SS race office

From 1930 the internal administration of the SS was completely restructured. An order was introduced that was based very closely on that of the SA. Furthermore, the badges of rank of the SA were completely taken over and now independent uniforms were introduced. The SS now began to dress in black throughout, thereby also visually distinguishing themselves from the SA. Himmler wanted to show the top SA leadership that he no longer saw himself as a subordinate, but as an equal partner.

In March 1933, 120 selected SS men were armed in Berlin under the leadership of Sepp Dietrich. These took over the guard duty within the Reich Chancellery, while the double posts of the Reichswehr were still standing outside . These 120 men, many of whom were already part of Adolf Hitler's raiding party in 1923 , were initially referred to as SS-Stabswache Berlin , but only a short time later they were known as Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler .

Other SS units were also grouped into SS special commandos and later in political readiness via staff guards , and were also armed. In order to achieve this, this readiness was given the rank of an official auxiliary police .

Restructuring after 1934

In September 1934, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and the political readiness by Hitler were combined to form the SS disposal force (in short: disposal force ). This was a barracked special formation of the SS, which was constantly under arms and was trained according to the strict guidelines of the Wehrmacht.

From autumn 1934, the actual Schutzstaffel was renamed the Allgemeine SS (also “Black SS” or “Home SS”) in order to distinguish itself from the armed “daughter associations”, the disposable troops ( SS-VT ) and the SS-Totenkopfverband ( SS -TV ) to take off.

The General SS continued to be an organization governed by association law, the members of which (with the exception of approx. 10,000 full-time SS leaders) consisted predominantly of working people who did their service in the SS voluntarily and free of charge after work. Nonetheless, its unarmed members received regular military training. This training was carried out by members of the SS-Totenkopf-Standarten in the concentration camps Dachau, Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald. The "political and racial training" as part of the SS service of SS members also took place there.

The financial support of the General SS, whose high demands could hardly be borne by the membership fees, was incumbent on the private law associations " Freundeskreis Reichsführer SS " and the " Organization of Supporting Members of the SS ".

The " SS Junker Schools " were also founded in 1934 under the then SS-Standartenführer Paul Hausser , which carried out the officer training of the SS-VT under the guidelines of the Wehrmacht.

Between 1935 and the beginning of 1945, the weekly anti-Semitic SS newspaper " Das Schwarze Korps " was published by Gunter d'Alquen . It was the weekly newspaper with the highest circulation after the " Das Reich " published by Joseph Goebbels .

The SS and the police

From 1933, Himmler began to steadily expand his power. Shortly after the National Socialists came to power, he was appointed head of the Bavarian Political Police (BPP). Their reorganization in Bavaria became the model of the co-organization of the SS, SD and criminal police in the German Reich.

In 1934 the "Political Police of the German Reich" were merged by Hermann Göring to form the Gestapo , and Himmler was appointed their boss a little later.

On June 17, 1936, Himmler was subordinated to the entire police force of the Reich - he now called himself Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior . Senior police leaders now had to join the SS .

From 1938/42 onwards, the SS was grouped into different main offices and the police forces in the Reich were divided:

The main office of the Ordnungspolizei included the uniformed protection police, the gendarmerie and the community police. The main office of the Ordnungspolizei was subordinated to the SS-Obergruppenführer and Police General Kurt Daluege .

The main office of the security police included the secret state police , the border and criminal police . The main office of the security police was subordinated to SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich , who was at the same time chief of the security service of the Reichsführer SS and thus the second most powerful man in the SS. In 1939 Heydrich merged his offices to form the new Reich Security Main Office .

In 1943 Himmler also became Reich and Prussian ministers of the interior as well as plenipotentiary for the Reich administration. He now carried the title Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police without the addition "in the Reich Ministry of the Interior".

Restructuring after 1941

In 1941/42 the SS Totenkopf Standards were officially dissolved and their members were finally assigned to the Waffen SS (formally the SS Totenkopf Division). The SS-Totenkopf-Guard-Banne who served in the concentration camps no longer received their pay from the police budget, but received the pay books and the uniforms of the Totenkopf Division. However, one small detail distinguished the members of the former guard tower from members of the Totenkopf Division: They were forbidden to use any kind of sleeve stripes. This also included the current sleeve stripes of the SS division “Totenkopf” and its “traditional sleeves” (inscriptions “Oberbayern”, “Brandenburg” and “Thüringen”).

The "SS seniority lists"

→ Main article : SS seniority lists

Between August 1934 and November 1944, the so-called "SS-Seniority Lists" or "SS-DAL" for short were published on behalf of the SS Personnel Department or the later SS Personnel Main Office. These were a list of the active SS leaders. Since 1936 police officers were also listed as soon as their rank corresponded to an SS rank.

In the summer of 1944, a single copy of a "seniority list of the Waffen-SS" was issued for the Waffen-SS and in November 1944 the first part of the 1945 seniority list was published ahead of time, whereas on January 30, 1945 only one amendment sheet to this list was published. Brün Meyer has the "seniority list of the Waffen-SS. SS-Obergruppenführer to SS-Hauptsturmführer; As of July 1, 1944 ”, newly published, Osnabrück (Biblio Verlag), 1987, with appendix 1 - 2, illustrations, 274 p. With generals of the Waffen SS in the picture (103).

The main SS offices (1938–1941)

→ Main article : SS main offices

In 1938 the Reichsführer SS had three main offices :

• The SS main office as the highest command post of the three SS divisions,
• the main office security service as a political monitoring body and
• the Race and Settlement Main Office , which was responsible for the ideological education and implementation of the ideas of " blood and soil ".

In 1943 the SS was administered from twelve main SS offices.

The management staff

For applicants for an officer career , the submission of the great Aryan certificate , i.e. a tracing of the pure-blood ancestry back to the year 1750, was mandatory. The SS was hierarchically structured according to a military structure:

Reichsführer SS

→ Main article : Reichsführer SS

At the head of the SS was the Reichsführer SS (RFSS). The title was officially introduced in 1926 based on the Reichs-SA-Fuehrer and designated the formally supreme commander of the SS. In the period between 1925 and 1926, the title of supreme SS commander was Oberleiter .

SS Colonel Group Leader

→ Main article : SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer

"The Reichsführer SS has ordered that the new rank of the SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer - to avoid confusion with the rank of the SS-Obergruppenführer - is written as follows: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer."

Surname	Service position	SS number	SS entry	NSDAP number
Kurt Daluege	Chief of the Ordnungspolizei and Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia	1,119	July 25, 1930	31,981
Josef Dietrich	Commander 6th SS Panzer Army , Commander Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler	1,177	May 5, 1928	89.015
Paul Hausser	Commander II. SS Panzer Corps and Army Group G	239.795	November 15, 1934	4,158,779
Franz Xaver Schwarz	Treasurer of the NSDAP	38,500	September 16, 1931	6th

SS-Obergruppenführer

→ Main article : SS-Obergruppenführer

Surname	position	SS number	Entry into the SS	NSDAP number
Friedrich Alpers	Staff RF SS	6,427	March 15, 1932	132.812
Max Amann	SS honorary and rank leader	53,143	March 15, 1932	3
Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski	Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in the occupied part of the Soviet Union.	9,831	February 15, 1931	489.101
Herbert Backe	Reich Minister for Nutrition ; Race and Settlement Main Office	22,766	October 1, 1933	87,882
Thank God Berger	Head of the SS main office	275.991	January 30, 1936	426.875
Theodor Berkelmann	HSSPF Wartheland	6,019	March 1931	128,245
Werner Best	Reinhard Heydrich's deputy in the RSHA and governor in occupied Denmark	23,377	1931	341,338
Wilhelm Bittrich	Commander of the II SS Panzer Corps	39,177	December 1, 1931	829,700
Ernst Bohle	Head of the NSDAP foreign organization - NSDAP / AO	276.915	September 13, 1933	276.915
Martin Bormann	Head of the party chancellery of the NSDAP	555	September 1929	60.508
Philipp Bouhler	Head of the Fuehrer's office	54,932	April 20, 1933	12
Franz Breithaupt	Chief Justice at the SS Court , General of the Waffen SS	39,719	December 1, 1932	602,663
Walter book	Supreme party judge of the NSDAP	81,353	July 1, 1933	13,726
Josef Bürckel	Staff RF SS	289.230	January 30, 1942	33,979
Leonardo Conti	Staff RF SS	3,982	1930	72,225
Walther Darré	Head of the SS Race Office, Reich Minister and Reich Peasant Leader	6,882	July 1930	248.256
Karl Demelhuber	Commander East Coast Staff	252.392	March 15, 1935	4,439
Otto Dietrich	Reich Press Chief of the NSDAP; SS honorary and rank leader	101,349	1932	126,727
Friedrich Karl von Eberstein	HSSPF South	1,386	April 1, 1929	15,067
Joachim Eggeling	NSDAP Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg	186,515	June 9, 1936	11,579
Theodor Eicke	Waffen-SS: Commander of the SS Totenkopf Division	2,921	July 29, 1930	114.901
August Eigruber	NSDAP Gauleiter Oberdonau	83,432	May 22, 1938	292,778
Karl Fiehler	Lord Mayor of Munich	91,724	July 31, 1933	37
Albert Forster	SS honorary and rank leader; NSDAP Gauleiter of Danzig	158	October 1, 1932	1.924
August Frank	Staff OKH	56,169	April 8, 1932	1,471,185
Karl Frank	SS and police leaders	310.466	1938	6,600,002
Herbert Gille	Waffen-SS: Commanding General IV. SS Panzer Corps	39,854	December 1931	537,337
Curt von Gottberg	Waffen-SS: Commanding General XII. SS Army Corps	45,923	September 1932	948.753
Ernst Grawitz	Reichsarzt SS and police	27,483	November 1931	1,102,844
Ulrich Greifelt	Head of the Main Staff Office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Ethnicity	72.909	June 1933	1,667,407
Arthur Greiser	Reichsstatthalter and NSDAP Gauleiter Wartheland	10,795	September 29, 1931	166,635
Karl Gutenberger	HSSPF West	25,249	June 1940	372.303
Karl Hanke	Staff RF SS	203.013	1941	102.606
August Heissmeyer	Head of the SS training department	4,370	January 1930	21,573
Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorff	Police chief of Potsdam, later of Berlin			325,408
Konrad Henlein	NSDAP Gauleiter of the Sudetenland	310,307	October 9, 1938	6,600,001
Maximilian von Herff	Head of the SS Personnel Main Office	405.894	April 1, 1942	8,858,661
Rudolf Hess	Deputy of the Führer	1.932		16
Reinhard Heydrich	Head of the RSHA	10.120	July 14, 1931	544.916
Friedrich Hildebrandt	Staff RF SS	128,802	December 5, 1933	3,653
Richard Hildebrandt	Head of the Race and Settlement Main Office of the SS	7,088	February 1931	89.221
Hermann Höfle	HSSPF Slovakia	463.093	July 1943	3,924,970
Otto Hofmann	HSSPF southwest	7,646	April 1, 1931	145.729
Friedrich Jeckeln	SS and police leader for the southern part of the occupied Soviet Union	4,367	January 12, 1930	163,348
Hugo jury	Staff RF SS	292,777	March 12, 1938	410,338
Hans Jüttner	Head of the SS Leadership Main Office	264.497	May 1935	541.163
Ernst Kaltenbrunner	Head of the RSHA (successor to Heydrich)	13,039	August 31, 1931	300.179
Hans Kammler	Head of Office Group C (Construction) of the SS Economic Administrative Main Office	113,619	May 20, 1933	1,011,855
Jürgen von Kamptz	Commander d. OP Italy	292.714	August 1944	1,258,905
Karl Kaufmann	Staff RF SS	119,495	January 30, 1942	95
Georg Keppler	i. V. Commanding General III. SS Panzer Corps	273,799	October 10, 1935	338.211
Wilhelm Keppler	SS honorary and rank leader	50,816	March 21, 1935	62,424
Dietrich Klagges	Staff RF SS	154.006	January 30, 1942	7,646
Matthias Kleinheisterkamp	Commanding General of the XI. SS Army Corps	132,399	November 1, 1933	4,158,838
Kurt Knoblauch	SS Leadership Main Office, Head of Office Group B	266,653	April 1935	2,750,158
Wilhelm Koppe	HSSPF Wartheland	25,955	September 1, 1932	305,584
Paul Koerner	Staff RF SS	23,076	February 1931	714.328
Friedrich Kruger	SS and Police Leader for Poland, Waffen-SS: Commanding General V. SS Mountain Corps	171.199	February 1931	6.123
Walter Kruger	Commanding General VI. SS Army Volunteer Corps	266.184	1935	3,995,130
Hans Lammers	SS honorary and rank leader	118,404	September 29, 1933	1,010,355
Hartmann Lauterbacher	Staff RF SS	382,406	November 9, 1940	86,837
Werner Lorenz	Head of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle	6,636	January 31, 1931	397.994
Benno Martin	HSSPF Main	187.117	April 10, 1934	2,714,474
Heinrich von Maur	Staff Oa. southwest	276.907	September 13, 1936	5,890,310
Emil Mazuw	HSSPF Baltic Sea	2,556	June 7, 1930	85.231
Wilhelm Murr	Staff RF SS	147,545	September 9, 1934	12,873
Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath	Reich Foreign Minister; Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia	287,680	September 18, 1937	3,805,229
Carl Oberg	HSSPF Paris	36,075	June 1932	575.205
Günther Pancke	Higher SS and Police Leader in Denmark	10.110	June 1, 1931	282,737
Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch	SS leadership main office	292.713	March 12, 1939	1,364,387
Artur Phleps	Commander of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen"	401.214	June 30, 1941
Oswald Pohl	Head of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office	147.614	February 1934	30,842
Hans Prützmann	Waffen-SS: Plenipotentiary German General in Croatia and General Inspector for Special Defense	3,002	1930	142,290
Rudolf Querner	HSSPF middle	308.240	May 22, 1938	2,385,386
Friedrich Rainer	Staff RF SS	292,774	November 9, 1940	301,860
Hanns Albin Rauter	HSSPF Northeast	262,958	April 1935
Wilhelm Rediess	HSSPF North Sea	2,839	July 22, 1929	25,574
Wilhelm Reinhard	Staff RF SS	274.107	September 1935	63,074
Joachim von Ribbentrop	Reich Foreign Minister	63,083	May 1933	1,199,927
Erwin Rösener	HSSPF Alpenland, Wehrkreis XVIII, Salzburg	3,575	November 4th 1930	46,771
Ernst Sachs	Personal Staff Reichsführer SS	278.781	November 9, 1936	4,167,008
Fritz Sauckel	SS honorary and rank leader	254,890	1934	1,395
Paul Sharp	Temporary head of the Race and Settlement Main Office	14,220	October 1, 1931	665.697
Julius Schaub	long-time personal chief adjutant of Hitler	7th	February 1925	81
Gustav Adolf Scheel	Staff RF SS	107.189	September 1934	391.271
Fritz Schlessmann	Staff RF SS	2,480	1930	25,248
Ernst Schmauser	HSSPF Lower Silesia	3,359	October 14, 1930	215.704
Walter Schmitt	Personal Staff Reichsführer SS	28,737	February 8, 1932	592.784
Oskar Schwerk	Staff RF SS	276.825	July 16, 1944	5,420,196
Arthur Seyss-Inquart	Reich governor of Austria	292,771	March 12, 1938	6,270,392
Felix Steiner	Commander of the III. SS Panzer Corps	253.351	1935	4,264,295
Wilhelm Stuckart	State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of the Interior	280.042	1936	378.144
Siegfried Taubert	Personal Staff Reichsführer SS	23,128	1931	525.246
Fritz Wächtler	NSDAP Gauleiter of the Bavarian East Mark	209.058	November 1934	35,313
Karl Wahl	NSDAP Gauleiter of Swabia	228.017	1934	9,803
Josias to Waldeck and Pyrmont	Higher SS and Police Leader	2.139	March 2, 1930	160.025
Paul Wegener	NSDAP Gauleiter Weser-Ems	353.161	April 20, 1940	286.225
Fritz Weitzel	HSSPF "West" and "North"	408	1927	18,833
Otto Winkelmann	HSSPF Hungary	308.238	September 1938	1,373,131
Karl Wolff	Head of the Personal Staff Reichsführer SS	14,235	October 7, 1931	695.131
Udo von Woyrsch	HSSPF Elbe	3,689	November 13, 1930	162,349
Alfred Wünnenberg	Chief of the German Police	405,898	January 1, 1940	2,222,600

Overview of the ranks

Badge of rank-SA, 1935		Badge of rank, 1938

The SS had a hierarchy based on the military model, which was manifested by appropriate ranks. The rank designations and rank insignia were largely taken over by the SA . Similar to the military ranking, three ranking groups were distinguished. The SS men corresponded to the Wehrmacht men, the SS-Unterführer corresponded to the NCOs and the SS leaders corresponded to the officers.

See also : NS ranks  and table of ranks and insignia of the SS

Service ranks of the SS compared to the SA and the army

The following table shows the ranks of the SA and SS in ascending order as of April 7, 1942. The corresponding ranks of the Wehrmacht are also listed.

Sturmabteilung SA	protection Squad		remark- kung	Wehrmacht (Army)	remark- kung
	General SS	Armed SS
SA candidate	SS applicants (relay applicants) SS-Jungmann (Staffel-Jungmann) SS candidate (relay candidate) SS full candidate (relay full candidate)	Volunteer applicant for the Waffen SS		Conscript or volunteer applicant as a regular or professional soldier
SA-Sturmmann ( SA-man before 1942)	SS man	SS riflemen		Soldier , e.g. B. Riflemen , gunners, grenadiers etc.
		SS upper rifle		Senior soldier z. B. Oberschützen , Oberkanonier, Obergrenadier etc.
SA-Obersturmmann ( SA-Sturmmann before 1942)	SS storm man			Private
SA Rottenführer	SS Rottenführer			Corporal (Army / Air Force) Corporal (Luftwaffe only)
-----	-----			Corporal	H / Lw
SA squad leader	SS-Unterscharführer	SS-Unterscharführer SS-Junker FA (leader candidate)		Sergeant Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier OA ( officer candidate )
SA Oberscharführer	SS squad leader	SS-Scharführer SS-Oberjunker FA		Sergeant major Fahnenjunker-Unterfeldwebel OA
SA troop leader	SS-Oberscharführer	SS-Oberscharführer SS-Standartenjunker FA		sergeant Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel OA
SA upper troop leader	SS-Hauptscharführer	SS-Hauptscharführer SS-Standartenoberjunker FA		Sergeant Major Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel OA
-----	-----	SS-Stabsscharführer (only service position )	"Pike"	Hauptfeldwebel (company sergeant)	"Pike"
SA main troop leader	SS Sturmscharführer		from 1938	Staff Sergeant Fahnenjunker Staff Sergeant (OA) Staff sergeant
SA storm leader	SS-Untersturmführer (until 1935 SS-Sturmführer)		from 1935	lieutenant
SA-Obersturmführer	SS-Obersturmführer		from 1933	First lieutenant
SA-Hauptsturmführer ( before 1939/40 SA-Sturmhauptführer)	SS-Hauptsturmführer (until 1935 SS-Sturmhauptführer)		from 1935	Captain Rittmeister
SA-Sturmbannführer	SS-Sturmbannführer			major
SA Obersturmbannführer	SS-Obersturmbannführer		from 1933	Lieutenant colonel
SA standard leader	SS standard leader			Colonel
SA Oberführer	SS-Oberführer		Oberf
SA brigade leader	SS Brigade Leader	SS Brigadefuhrer and Major General of the Waffen SS	from 1933	Major general
SA group leader	SS group leader	SS group leader and lieutenant general of the Waffen SS		Lieutenant General
SA-Obergruppenführer	SS-Obergruppenführer	SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen SS		General of the branch of service
-----	SS Colonel Group Leader	SS Colonel Group Leader and Colonel General of the Waffen SS	from 1942	Colonel General
Chief of Staff of the SA	Reichsführer SS			Field Marshal General
-----	-----			Reichsmarschall	from 1940

• 1931: Creation of the ranks of Sturmhauptführer for SA and SS as an equivalent to Captain of the Wehrmacht. 1935 renaming to SS-Hauptsturmführer or 1939/40 to SA-Hauptsturmführer.
• 1933: New ranks of SS-Obersturmführer , SS-Obersturmbannführer and SS-Brigadführer .
• 1934: For special services to the interests of the SS and public life , Himmler introduced the special ranks of SS honorary and senior leaders .
• 1935: Renaming SS-Sturmführer to SS-Untersturmführer . The SA kept the designation SA-Sturmführer as the lowest officer rank that was comparable to the lieutenant.
• 1938: Creation of the ranks of the SA Haupttruppführer and SS Sturmscharführer .
• 1940: The designations of relay applicants and relay candidates that had previously been customary for volunteer applicants in the General SS were largely given up. For the Waffen-SS, the ranks SS-Schützen and SS-Oberschützen became binding as the lowest ranks of the crew. The designation SS man , however, was retained and could refer to a member of the SS in general, but could also be considered a team rank of the General SS.
• April 7, 1942: Personal decree of Adolf Hitler to create the new rank of General Leader SS Colonel Group Leader .

The structure of the SS

Closer administrative units of the SS

The General Schutzstaffel consisted of 23 administrative units in November 1944, which were called upper sections . These upper sections were divided into 45 sections , to which the standards of the General SS were subordinate. The SS standards were subdivided into 127 so-called foot standards and 22 equestrian standards ( Reiter-SS ). The SS standards were divided into storm bans , storms , troops , flocks and groups . In November 1944, the upper sections were also subject to 17 communication towers , 15 engineer towers and 18 motor towers (Motor-SS).

The armed special units of the SS, the SS disposable troops and the SS guard units were also grouped into various standards across all administrative bodies.

The SS upper sections

The SS upper sections (Oa) comprised several SS sections and were usually subordinate to a group or upper group leader. An unofficial alternative designation was also the upper group , which the SS did not have at its disposal in 1933 because of its membership at the time and which had existed between 1933 and 1934 with the rank of upper group leader in the SA.

A division of the army corresponded to the upper section . After a reorganization in the course of the Second World War, the 23 upper sections of the SS were spatially adapted to the regular German military districts of the Wehrmacht, so that both finally matched.

Table with the upper sections of the SS (status: November 9, 1944)

No.	Upper section	Seat	No.	Upper section	Seat
1	"Northeast"	Koenigsberg	13	"Main"	Nuremberg
2	"Baltic Sea"	Szczecin	14th	"Danube"	Vienna
3	"Spree"	Berlin	15th	"Northwest"	The hague
4th	"Elbe"	Dresden	16	"Alpine country"	Salzburg
5	"Southwest"	Stuttgart	17th	"Vistula"	Danzig
6th	"West"	Dusseldorf	18th	"Warta"	Poses
7th	"South"	Munich	19th	"North"	Oslo
8th	"Southeast"	Wroclaw	20th	"East"	Krakow
9	"Fulda-Werra"	Arolsen	21st	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Prague
10	"North Sea"	Hamburg	22nd	"Ostland"	Riga
11	"Center"	Braunschweig	23	"Ukraine"	Kiev
12	"Rhein-Westmark"	Wiesbaden

The SS sections

The SS section (Ab) comprised several SS standards and was usually subordinate to an SS brigade leader or an SS Oberführer. It was also unofficially referred to as a subgroup . A brigade of the army corresponded to it .

Table with the comparison of the sections and main sections
(status November 9, 1944)

Section No.	Upper section	Seat	Section No.	Upper section	Seat
I.	"South"	Munich	XXV	"West"	Dortmund
II	"Elbe"	Dresden	XXVI	"Vistula"	Sopot
III	"Spree"	Berlin	XXVII	"Fulda-Werra"	Weimar
IV	"Center"	Hanover	XXVIII	"Main"	Bayreuth
V	"West"	Duisburg	XXIX	"Southwest"	Constancy
VI	"Southeast"	Wroclaw	XXX	"Rhein-Westmark"	Frankfurt (Main)
VII	"Northeast"	Koenigsberg	XXXI	"Danube"	Vienna
VIII	"Danube"	Linz	XXXII	"South"	augsburg
IX	"Main"	Wurzburg	XXXIII	"Baltic Sea"	Schwerin
X	"Southwest"	Stuttgart	XXXIV	"Rhein-Westmark"	Saarbrücken
XI	"Rhein-Westmark"	Koblenz	XXXV	"Alpine country"	Graz
XII	"Spree"	Frankfurt (Oder)	XXXVI	"Alpine country"	Salzburg
XIII	"Baltic Sea"	Szczecin	XXXVII	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Reichenberg
XIV	"North Sea"	Oldenburg	XXXVIII	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Carlsbad
XV	"North Sea"	Hamburg-Altona	XXXIX	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Brno
XVI	"Center"	Dessau	XXXX	"Vistula"	Bromberg
XVII	"West"	Muenster	XXXXI	"Vistula"	Thorn
XVIII	"Elbe"	Halle (Saale)	XXXXII	"Warta"	Gniezno
XIX	"Southwest"	Karlsruhe	XXXXIII	"Warta"	Litzmannstadt
XX	"North Sea"	Kiel	XXXXIV	"Northeast"	Gumbinnen
XXI	"Southeast"	Hirschberg	XXXXV	"Southwest"	Strasbourg
XXII	"Northeast"	Allenstein
XXIII	"Spree"	Berlin
XXIV	"Southeast"	Opole

The SS standards

Motor vehicle standard of the SS

The management level SS section was the SS regiment downstream. The standard was usually headed by an SS-Standartenführer , it comprised 3–4 storm bans and had a normal personnel strength of 1000 to 3000 men. In the army, the standard corresponded to the regiment . The Sturmbanne I-III was formed from the active membership, the Sturmbann IV was a reserve association.

All SS divisions - such as the General SS and the Reiter-SS subordinate to it, but also the death's head associations and the available troops - were divided into standards. From 1935 onwards, this designation was replaced by the military equivalent of the army in the SS disposal force - much to the displeasure of Reichsführer SS Himmler.

At the end of the war (1945), the General SS's foot standards formally comprised 127 standards, most of which, however, only existed on paper and had not even reached the nominal strength prescribed by Reichsführer Himmler.

Table with the foot standards of the Allgemeine SS (status: December 1, 1944)

SS standard	Upper section	Seat	SS standard	Upper section	Seat
1 " Julius Schreck "	"South"	Munich	66 "Friedland"	"Northeast"	Bartenstein
2 "Hesse"	"Rhein-Westmark"	Frankfurt (Main)	67 "Wartburg"	"Fulda-Werra"	Erfurt
3 "Thuringia"	"Main"	Nuremberg	68 "Upper Palatinate"	"Main"	regensburg
4 "Schleswig-Holstein"	"North Sea"	Altona	69 "Sauerland"	"West"	Hagen (Westphalia)
5 "Moselle"	"Rhein-Westmark"	Luxembourg	70	"Southeast"	Glogau
6 "Eduard Felsen"	"Spree"	Berlin	71 "Vistula"	"Vistula"	Elblag
7 "Friedrich Schlegel"	"Elbe"	Plauen	72 "lip"	"West"	Detmold
8 "Lower Silesia"	"Southeast"	Hirschberg	73 "Middle Franconia"	"Main"	Ansbach
9 "Pomerania"	"Baltic Sea"	Szczecin	74 "Baltic Sea"	"Baltic Sea"	Greifswald
10 "Palatinate"	"Rhein-Westmark"	Kaiserslautern	75 "Widukind"	"Spree"	Berlin
11 "Planetta"	"Danube"	Vienna	76	"Alpine country"	Salzburg
12 "Lower Saxony"	"Center"	Hanover	77	"Baltic Sea"	Schneidemühl
13 "Württemberg"	"Southwest"	Stuttgart	78	"Rhein-Westmark"	Wiesbaden
14 "Gotaburg"	"Fulda-Werra"	Gotha	79	"Southwest"	Ulm
15 "Brandenburg"	"Spree"	Neuruppin	80 "large berries"	"Spree"	Berlin
16 "Lower Elbe"	"Southeast"	Wroclaw	81	"Main"	Wurzburg
17th	"North Sea"	Celle	82	"West"	Bielefeld
18 "East Prussia"	"Northeast"	Koenigsberg	83 "Upper Hesse"	"Rhein-Westmark"	to water
19 "North Westphalia"	"West"	Munster (Westphalia)	84 "Saale"	"Elbe"	Chemnitz
20 " Fritz Weitzel "	"West"	Dusseldorf	85	"Rhein-Westmark"	Saarbrücken
21st	"Center"	Magdeburg	86 "Hanauer Land"	"Southwest"	Offenburg
22 "From the Schulenburg"	"Baltic Sea"	Schwerin	87 "Tyrol"	no information	innsbruck
23 "Upper Silesia"	"Southeast"	Bytom	88 "Stedingen"	"North Sea"	Bremen
24 "East Frisia"	"North Sea"	Oldenburg	89 "Wood weaver"	"Danube"	Vienna
25 "Ruhr"	"West"	eat	90 "Franz Kutschera"	"Alpine country"	Klagenfurt
26 " Paul Berck "	"Elbe"	Halle (Saale)	91	"Elbe"	Wittenberg
27 "Ostmark"	"Spree"	Frankfurt (Oder)	92 "Old Bavaria"	"South"	Ingolstadt
28	"North Sea"	Hamburg	93	"Rhein-Westmark"	Koblenz
29 "Swabia"	"South"	Lindau	94 "Upper Styria"	"Alpine country"	Leoben
30 "Adolf Höh"	"West"	Bochum	95	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Trautenau
31 "Lower Bavaria"	"Main"	Landshut	96	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Brus
32 "Bathing"	"Rhein-Westmark"	Heidelberg	97	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Eger
33 "Rhine-Hesse"	"Rhein-Westmark"	Darmstadt	98	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Moravian Schönberg
34 "Upper Bavaria"	"South"	Weilheim	99	"Danube"	Znojmo
35	"Fulda-Werra"	kassel	100	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Reichenberg
36	"Vistula"	Danzig	101	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Saaz
37 "Whether the Enns"	"Danube"	Linz	102	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Hunter village
38	"Alpine country"	Graz	103	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Aussig
39 "East Pomerania"	"Baltic Sea"	Koslin	104	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Troppau
40	"North Sea"	Kiel	105	"Northeast"	Memel
41 "Upper Franconia"	"Main"	Bayreuth	106	"South"	augsburg
42 " Fritz von Scholz "	"Spree"	Berlin	107	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Brno
43	"Southeast"	Frankenstein	108	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Prague
44 "Uckermark"	"Spree"	Eberswalde	109	"Warta"	Poses
45 "Neisse"	"Southeast"	Opole	110	"Warta"	Hohensalza
46	"Elbe"	Dresden	111	"Warta"	Kolmar
47	"Fulda-Werra"	Gera	112	"Warta"	Litzmannstadt
48	"Elbe"	Leipzig	113	"Warta"	Kalisch
49	"Center"	Braunschweig	114	"Warta"	Lesslau
50	"North Sea"	Flensburg	115	"Northeast"	Zichenau
51	"Center"	Goettingen	116	"Vistula"	Bromberg
52	"Danube"	Krems	117	"Vistula"	Konitz
53 "Dithmarschen"	"North Sea"	pagan	118	"Vistula"	Prussian Stargard
54 "Seidel-Dittmarsch"	"Spree"	Landsberg (Warta)	119	"Vistula"	Graudenz
55 "Weser"	"North Sea"	Luneburg	120	"Vistula"	Kulm
56 "Francs"	"Main"	Bamberg	121	"Vistula"	Strasburg
57 "Thuringian Forest"	"Fulda-Werra"	Meiningen	122	"Southwest"	Strasbourg
58	"West"	Cologne	123	"Southwest"	Kolmar
59 "Loeper"	"Center"	Dessau	124	"Southeast"	Scharley
60	"Northeast"	Insterburg	125	"Rhein-Westmark"	Metz
61 "Masuria"	"Northeast"	Allenstein	126	"Alpine country"	Marburg / Drau
62	"Southwest"	Karlsruhe	127	"North"	Oslo
63 "Württemberg-South"	"Southwest"	Tübingen
64 "Marienburg"	"Vistula"	Berent
65 "Black Forest"	"Southwest"	Freiburg (Br.)

The SS-Reiterstandarten (Reiter-SS)

→ Main article : Reiter-SS

The SS also comprised mounted units, commonly referred to as "Reiter-SS". It was subordinate to the inspector of the SS riding schools Christian Weber and summarized in the inspection of the SS cavalry .

The standards of the SS troops and the SS guards

For the standards of the available troops and the SS skull and crossbones associations , the same organizational classification applied as for the foot and rider standards of the General SS.

The standards of the SS available troops (SS-Standarten / VT)

The SS standards of the disposal troops (SS-St./VT) emerged in autumn 1934, when the political readiness "Munich" (Ellwangen) and "Württemberg" (Jagst) the new SS standard "Germany" and from the political readiness " Hamburg ”,“ Arolsen ”and“ Wolterdingen ”the SS standard“ Germania ”were formed. In Berlin and the surrounding area, the “Staff Guard Berlin” and the “SS Sonderkommandos” Crossen and Jüterbog , who were soon (1937) given the name “ Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler ”, watched and paraded .

After the annexation of Austria , the merger of the German-Austrian SS and parts of the standards "Germany" and " LSSAH " resulted in the new standard "Der Führer".

From March 1935, the term “standard” began to be replaced by that of the regiment within the available troops; From October 1938 onwards there was no longer any official talk of the "Standards of the SS-VT", but of the SS regiments .

Table with the regiments of the SS disposal force

Standard name	official abbreviation	Seat	Wehrmacht supplement office	Remarks
Leibstandarte SS "Adolf Hitler"	LSSAH / LAH	Berlin-Lichterfelde	Amendment I	All applicants whose place of residence is in military districts I, II, III, IV and VIII. Furthermore, all applicants from the Reich who reach the minimum height of 178 cm
I. SS standard "Germany" / VT	1. Sta Germany / VT	Munich	Supplementary section III	All applicants whose place of residence is in military districts V, VII and XII
II. SS standard "Germania" / VT	2. Sta Germania / VT	Hamburg-Veddel	Supplementary section II	All applicants whose place of residence is in military districts VI, IX, X and XI
III. SS standard "Der Führer" / VT	3. Sta "Der Führer" / VT	Vienna	Supplementary section IV	All applicants whose place of residence in the East mark is

The standards of the SS guards (SS-Totenkopfstandarten)

The SS standards of the Totenkopfverband (SS-T-St./WV) included the guards of the concentration camps.

As early as January 1933, selected SS men under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Hilmar Wäckerle were assigned to inspect the concentration camps by the Schutzstaffel. Under their later commandant Theodor Eicke , these SS men were withdrawn from the Schutzstaffel as such. According to various statements by Eicke at various SS leadership conferences, this was an SS in the SS .

The SS guard units were popularly given the title Totenkopf-SS in 1936 when they were allowed to wear a skull symbol on the right collar tab. They were considered brutal, shrouded in mystery and absolutely loyal to their camp commanders.

In 1934 a concentration camp guard, namely the "Oberbayern" guard tower, supported the Leibstandarte during the Röhm putsch .

In 1934, Eicke was given the entire concentration camp, which he was supposed to organize based on the model of the Dachau concentration camp . Eicke and his men were now also responsible for the military training of the unarmed SS. This was the beginning of the real history of the SS guards: as early as 1935/36 it was said that the available troops (with their earthy gray uniforms) were to receive the regular field gray uniforms of the German army, Eicke introduced earthy brown uniforms for the men of the Totenkopf SS .

On March 29, 1936, Eicke's men were officially given the name SS-Totenkopfstandarten / Wachverbände . But generally these units were called SS-Totenkopf-Wachverbände or SS-Totenkopfverbände . The latter term in particular caught on in the linguistic usage at the time. Theodor Eicke then formed independent SS-Sturmbanne from the guards of the concentration camps, which he, however, removed from the control of the SS leadership; as long as Himmler knew Eicke was on his side, he could do whatever he wanted in the camps. The skull and crossbones were generally considered to be the "private army of Himmler" as they were only responsible to him.

In April 1937 Eicke combined the five storm bans into three separate "SS-Totenkopf standards", since he now had control of 3,500 men. The permanent staff of Dachau have now been combined to form the 1st SS skull standard "Upper Bavaria" , the regular staff from Sachsenhausen to the 2nd SS skull standard "Brandenburg" and the regular staff from Buchenwald to the 3rd SS skull standard "Thuringia" . An SS subordinate school for the lower ranks has now been set up in the Dachau concentration camp, while the "Inspection of the SS Guard Associations" has been located in Oranienburg, Brandenburg.

The relatives in active camp service now wore the earth-brown uniform with the skull and the rank badges on the collar tabs and the sleeve stripes with the respective standard name. The members of the death's head associations who were not on active camp duty but were assigned to patrol duty or to attend courses continued to wear the black uniform of the General SS.

While service in the SS-VT was recognized as completing general military service in the ranks of the Wehrmacht, members of the skull and crossbones associations were exempt from this rule - the Wehrmacht leadership refused to recognize service in the T associations. As a result, however, the death's head associations remained in fact a legal vacuum in which Theodor Eicke could rule and switch as he wanted.

The death's head associations took part in the occupation of Austria and the later Reichsgau Sudetenland ( Ascher Zipfel ) in 1938 and were also actively involved at the beginning of the Second World War. Parts of them formed the so-called " Home Guard Danzig " and gained modest "combat experience".

On October 1, 1939, Eicke was able to officially begin in Dachau to set up his "own" SS Totenkopf division . For the military training of his front division, even the Dachau concentration camp was temporarily evacuated and used by Theodor Eicke as a "training camp". On November 1, the training was considered complete and the Totenkopf Division established.

Table with the standards of the SS guards

SS skull standard	Main camp / founding seat	SS skull standard	Main camp / founding seat
I "Upper Bavaria"	Dachau concentration camp	X	Weimar-Buchenwald
II "Brandenburg"	Sachsenhausen concentration camp	XI	Radome
III "Thuringia"	Weimar Buchenwald concentration camp	XII	Poses
IV "Ostmark"	Mauthausen concentration camp	XIII	Vienna
V "Dietrich Eckart"	Oranienburg concentration camp	XIV	Weimar-Buchenwald
VI	Prague	XV	Plock
VII	Brno	XVI	Dachau
VIII	Krakow	"Kirkenes"	Kirkenes
IX	Danzig	Reserve standard "Upper Bavaria"	Dachau

On February 25, 1941, the designation "SS-Totenkopfstandarten" was officially dropped and renamed SS-Standarten . The designation "Totenkopf-Standarte" was only granted to the regiments of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf as a "traditional designation".

The SS storm bans

→ Main article : Sturmbann

The name comes from the SA and was adopted in the other Nazi organizations. The Sturmbann was comparable to the battalion in the army, could consist of three to five storms and had a staff of 250 to 600 men.

The SS storms

An SS storm comprised three troops led by an SS storm leader until October 1934. It comprised between 70 and 120 men and consisted of an active part and a reserve unit. The company corresponded to him in the army . With the increase in the number of personnel in the SS and the increasing takeover of the army structures, the introduction of additional ranks became necessary. So from October 1934 the rank of SS-Sturmführer was renamed SS-Untersturmführer .

As an example, the message, engineer and motor towers of the General SS are given below. The SS storm of a foot standard had its counterpart in other SS structures such as the Reiter-SS and the Totenkopf standards.

But the Leibstandarte SS “Adolf Hitler” and the SS disposal troops also originally had storms, but from 1935 the military equivalent in these SS divisions became generally binding.

The SS news storms

The news units of the General SS, the so-called SS news storms, were originally assigned to the general SS foot standards and their members were in fact assigned to the disposal force or the death's head associations by 1938 at the latest. The news storms were de jure subordinate to a senior section chief of the SS.

Table with the news units of the Allgemeine SS (status: November 9, 1944)

SS news storm	Upper section	Seat	SS news storm	Upper section	Seat
1	"South"	Munich	11	"Main"	Nuremberg
2	"Southwest"	Stuttgart	12	"Baltic Sea"	Szczecin
3	"Fulda-Werra"	Arolsen	13	"Rhein-Westmark"	Wiesbaden
4th	"West"	Dusseldorf	14th	"Danube"	Vienna
5	"Center"	Braunschweig	16	"Vistula"	Danzig
6th	"North Sea"	Hamburg	17th	"Warta"	Poses
7th	"Northeast"	Koenigsberg	19th	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Prague
8th	"Spree"	Berlin
9	"Elbe"	Dresden
10	"Southeast"	Wroclaw

The Pioneer Storms of the General SS

The pioneer units of the General SS, the so-called Pionierstürme , were initially assigned to a foot standard of the SS. Its members have been assigned to the available troops or the skull and crossbones associations since 1938. De jure they were subordinate to a senior section chief of the SS.

Table with the pioneer units of the General SS (status: November 9, 1944)

SS pioneer tower	Upper section	Seat	SS pioneer tower	Upper section	Seat
1	"South"	Munich	9	"Elbe"	Dresden
2	"Southwest"	Stuttgart	10	"Southeast"	Wroclaw
3	"Fulda-Werra"	Arolsen	12	"Center"	Magdeburg
4th	"West"	Cologne	13	"Rhein-Westmark"	Frankfurt (Main) / Ludwigshafen / Weilburg
5	"North Sea"	Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg	14th	"Danube"	Vienna
6th	"Baltic Sea"	Szczecin	15th	"Alpine country"	Salzburg
7th	"Northeast"	Koenigsberg	16	"Vistula"	Danzig
8th	"Spree"	Berlin

The SS motor towers

The motorized SS units, the so-called SS-Kraftfahrstürme or SS-Motor-Stürme , were de facto part of the Motor-SA from 1930 to late summer 1934 . These were generally called Motor-SS and were originally assigned to the general SS foot standards. De jure, however, these units have been autonomous since their creation. Since 1938 they were in fact assigned to the disposal troops or the SS skull and crossbones associations. De jure they were subordinate to a senior section chief of the SS.

Table with the motor vehicle units of the Allgemeine SS (status: November 9, 1944)

SS-Kraftfahrsturm '	Upper section	Seat	SS motor tower	Upper section	Seat
1	"South"	Munich / Augsburg	11	"Center"	Magdeburg / Hanover
2	"Fulda-Werra"	Erfurt / Frankfurt	12	"Main"	Bamberg / Schweinfurt / Nuremberg
3	"Spree"	Berlin / Senftenberg	13	"Baltic Sea"	Schwerin / Stettin
4th	"North Sea"	Hamburg / Kiel / Bremen	14th	"Rhein-Westmark"	Frankfurt (Main) / Wiesbaden- Biebrich / Pirmasens
5	"West"	Düsseldorf / Buer (Westphalia) / Dortmund	15th	"Alpine country"	Graz / Innsbruck
6th	"Elbe"	Dresden / Chemnitz	16	"Vistula"	Danzig / Elbing
7th	"Northeast"	Koenigsberg	17th	"Warta"	Poznan / Litzmannstadt
8th	"Danube"	Linz / Vienna	19th	"Bohemia-Moravia"	Asch / Reichenberg / Brno
9	"Southeast"	Wroclaw
10	"Southwest"	Stuttgart / Karlsruhe / Freiburg (Br.)

The SS troops

An SS troop was formed from three troops and was generally led by a troop leader until October 1934. It comprised between 20 and 60 SS men and in the army it corresponded to the train . In October 1934 the rank of "troop leader" was changed to "Oberscharführer".

Officially binding for all SS divisions, the SS disposable troops began to adopt the army designation in 1935; it was followed a little later by the Leibstandarte and the skull and crossbones associations. The SS troop corresponded to the train in the Wehrmacht .

The SS troops

An SS squad consisted of two SS squads, could have a staff strength of 8 to 16 men and was usually led by an SS squad leader . In October 1934 the rank of SS-Scharführer was changed to SS-Unterscharführer . The designation SS-Schar was used in all SS divisions. In the Wehrmacht, the SS crowd corresponded to the group with similar personnel and was comparable to the SA crowd .

The SS Rotten

An SS-Rotte was the smallest unit of the Schutzstaffel. It consisted of four to eight men and was usually subordinate to an SS Rottenführer . The name was used by all SS divisions. The SS-Rotte corresponded to the troop in the Wehrmacht . The SA also used the designation SA-Rotte .

See also

• Schools of the SS, the SD and the security police

literature

• Gunter d'Alquen : The SS. History, task and organization of the protection squadrons of the NSDAP (writings of the School of Politics 2,33). Berlin 1939.
• Robert Bohn : The Sporrenberg Report. A document from inside the SS apparatus. In: Historical communications. Vol. 6, No. 2, 1993, pp. 250-277.
• Bernd Boll : Actions according to the custom of the war. Wehrmacht and 1st SS Infantry Brigade 1941. In: Journal of History. Vol. 48, No. 9, 2000, pp. 775-788.
• Charles von Denkwoski: On the merging of the SS and the police - the Reich Security Main Office. In: Criminology. Vol. 57, No. 8-9, 2003, pp. 525-533.
• Carlo Gentile : Political Soldiers. The 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Reichsführer SS" in Italy in 1944. In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries. Volume 81, 2001, pp. 529-561.
• Werner Haupt : Structure and organization of the SS (as of November 9, 1944). Stuttgart 1981.
• Aleksander Lasik: Sztafety Ochronne w systemie niemieckich obozów koncentracyjnych. Rozwój organizacyjny, ewolucja zadań i Struktur oraz socjologiczny obraz obozowych załóg SS. (Schutzstaffel in the system of the German concentration camps. The organizational development, formation of tasks and structures as well as the sociological picture of the SS camp crews.) Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz. 2007, ISBN 977, Auschwitz-Birkenau -83-60210-32-1 .
• Klaus D. Patzwall : The SS radio protection battalion of the Waffen SS. In: Militaria. Vol. 18, No. 4, 1996, ISSN  0724-3529 , p. 106.
• Klaus D. Patzwall: The SS clothing. 2. White service coat for SS leaders. In: Militaria. Vol. 9, No. 2, 1985, pp. 24-26.
• Edward Prus: Powstanie i działania zbrojne 14 Galicyjskiej Dywizji SS. In: Wojskowy przegląd historyczny. Bd. 33, No. 4, 1988, ISSN  0043-7182 , pp. 104–135, here p. 104, ( The formation and combat activities of the 14th SS division “Galicia”. ).
• Hans Joachim Schneider: The SS-Totenkopfsturmbann Stutthof. In: Dachauer Hefte. Vol. 10, No. 10, 1994, pp. 115-141.
• Norbert Podewin (Ed.): "Brown Book". War and Nazi criminals in the Federal Republic and in West Berlin. State, economy, administration, army, justice, science . Edition Ost, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-360-01033-7 (reprint of the 3rd edition from 1968).

Web links

• SS seniority lists 1934–1943 (photographs)
• Numery członkó SS, (German: SS membership numbers ) (Polish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heinz Höhne : The order under the skull. The history of the SS. Weltbild, 1992, ISBN 3-89350-549-0 , p. 127.
2. ↑ Heinz Höhne: The order under the skull. The history of the SS. Weltbild, 1992, p. 29.
3. ↑ Ordinance sheet of the Waffen-SS , Volume 3, No. 12 of June 15, 1942, p. 46 Quoted from Klietmann in: Feldgrau , 13th vol., No. 1, Berlin 1967.
4. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Döscher : The Foreign Office in the Third Reich. Diplomacy in the shadow of the “final solution”. Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-88680-256-6 , p. 148 ff.
5. ↑ Volunteers of the Allgemeine SS were given a mandatory three-month probationary period and during this time were officially regarded as relay applicants .
6. ↑ For the first three years, volunteers of the Allgemeine SS were considered to be relay candidates , but appeared in public as SS men .
7. ↑ This rank corresponded de facto to that of a senior colonel who was entitled to wear the silver-gray lapels and the aluminum cap piping of a general, while he still had the shoulder boards of a colonel. (Source: Andrew Mollow: Uniforms of the Waffen-SS , p. 154)
8. ↑ This standard was drawn up on December 1, 1944.