SS applicants
SS applicants , also relay applicants or relay applicants , was the collective name for all candidates who applied for admission to the General SS or the armed SS units, namely the SS-Totenkopfverband ( SS-Totenkopfverband) or SS-Einsatzstruppe ( Waffen-SS from 1940 ) had. In contrast to the SS candidate , who from 1938 already had a provisional SS identity card, SS applicants were not members of the SS. Membership in the NSDAP was also not mandatory, although most SS applicants belonged to it.
Until 1938, the following rank breakdowns applied within the applicant status:
- SS applicants,
- SS relay candidates,
- Relay man and
- Relay storm man.
In the Waffen-SS, the military rank of rifleman was used from 1941 instead of the previous party rank .
Admission criteria
From September 1925, according to "Circular No. 1", applicants between the ages of 23 and 35 were accepted into the newly formed Schutzstaffel. They had to be able to name two guarantors, have been registered with the police in one place for five years, and be healthy and well built.
The most important requirement for a successful application was the small Aryan certificate , in which the applicant had to prove his complete Aryan , ie above all non-Jewish descent up to his grandparents (for team ranks and subordinates). The large Aryan certificate , which had to go back to 1750, was required for leaders or prospective leaders .
For the inclusion of SS applicants in the Schutzstaffel , the scale of values worked out by the then SS-Hauptsturmführer Bruno K. Schultz for the Race Commission of the Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA), before which the SS applicants had to appear for the entrance examination, was a mandatory requirement. The scale of values contained three groups:
- racial appearance of the applicant
- physical condition
- general attitude
In addition, the so-called race table distinguished five groups:
- purely nordic group
- predominantly Nordic or Fälische group
- Group of one and two harmoniously mixed people with light Alpine, Dinaric or Mediterranean additions
- Group of half-breeds of Eastern or Alpine origin
- Mixed race group of non-European origin
Only applicants who met the criteria of the first three groups were eligible for SS. In addition, RuSHA Professor Schultz demanded a well-proportioned physique from the designated SS man in a nine-point system . Here only the first four grades (“ideal stature”, “excellent”, “very good” and “good” ...) were relevant for inclusion. Applicants with the lowest three grades generally failed.
In addition to the "racial integration" of the candidates into one of the five groups, they also had to have a physically well-trained physique and a prescribed minimum size. This only affected people who wanted to join the SS after 1933. Old SS fighters were not bound by these minimum sizes.
After a formal determination of suitability by the Breed Commission, the applicant had to undergo tests and tests. The individual stations were based on the Nazi festival calendar .
From relay applicant to SS man
Relay applicants
On November 9, the usually 18-year-old candidate joined the SS and was named a relay candidate . He was allowed to wear an SS uniform , but without a collar tab.
Relay young man
On January 30th, the relay applicant was seen as a relay young man who was already in possession of a provisional SS identity card.
Relay contender
The next stop of the SS novitiate was April 20th. On the occasion of the Fuehrer's birthday , the new squadron candidate , now with a collar tab and final SS ID, swore the SS oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler .
“I swear to you, Adolf Hitler,
as leader and Chancellor of the German Reich,
loyalty and bravery.
I promise you and the superior you have appointed
obedience to the death,
so help me God. "
The swearing-in ceremony in the SS troops was particularly solemn . In contrast to the General SS , the oath was taken here every November 9th at 10 p.m. in the presence of Hitler and with great sympathy from the population at the Feldherrnhalle on Odeonsplatz in Munich.
For relay candidates of the Allgemeine SS there were still further exams. Between the SS oath of loyalty on April 20 and entry into the Reich Labor Service on October 1, the young SS member had to acquire the Reich Sports Badge and learn the SS catechism, with whose question-and-answer game the squadron candidates were supposed to internalize National Socialism.
- Question: Why do we believe in Germany and the Führer?
- Question: Whom must we serve?
- Question: Why do you obey?
Relay full contender
After this indoctrination, the relay candidate completed his compulsory time in the Reich Labor Service and the Wehrmacht . After that, the squadron candidate of the SS, now as a full squadron candidate, rejoined, unless he had decided on further employment in the Wehrmacht. If the person concerned was certified by a certificate of good conduct from the Wehrmacht that he had completed his military service without any abnormalities, he could finally be accepted into the Schutzstaffel as a full SS man within a month .
SS man
The new SS man took another oath, the so-called Kinship Oath, whereby he swore for himself and his future family to obey the marriage order of the Reichsführer SS of December 31, 1931. With this, every SS man entered into the obligation to marry “solely according to racial and hereditary health criteria” and only with the approval of the RuSHA or Himmler.
Then the SS man received the SS honor dagger as an SS membership insignia. The dagger became a symbol of special honor for SS members. They were now subject to special jurisdiction, which made the Security Service (SD), the Totenkopfverband, disposal troops / Waffen-SS and the Junker schools as well as de facto SS leaders from SS-Sturmbannführer upwards independent of the secular judiciary and made them subject to SS jurisdiction .
See also
literature
- Heinz Höhne : The order under the skull - the history of the SS. Verlag Mohn 1967. Many more editions; different publishers.