ss

SS (German SS short for Schutzstaffeln - security units), an organization of German fascists, one of the main pillars of the fascist regime. In 1925, it separated itself in the assault detachments (SA) as the "personal guard of the Fuhrer", since 1934 - an independent organization. From 1929 the SS was headed by G. Himmler. As part of the SS, the "Dead Head" unit (for guarding concentration camps and reprisals against prisoners), SS troops, the SD security service (the main body of intelligence and counterintelligence). The SS was the main conductor of mass terror in Germany and in the occupied territories. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg condemned the SS as a criminal organization.

SS

(German SS, short for Schutzstaffeln - security units), a privileged paramilitary organization in Nazi Germany. The embryo of the SS was formed in May 1923 from the members of the Assault Detachments (SA) loyal to A. Hitler, the Fuhrer Escort (later the Hitler Assault Group). In November 1923, this group, along with the Nazi Party and the SA, was disbanded for participating in an attempted coup d'état (Munich Putsch of 1923). Actually, the SS, whose task was originally to protect the Fuhrer and fascist gatherings, was created in November 1925 and in 1926 subordinated to the leadership of the newly legalized SA. In 1929, Hitler appointed G. Himmler head of the SS (SS Reichsführer), who was given the task of turning the SS into a "selective detachment" for the destruction of "traitors" within the SA and the Nazi Party. The members of the SA who were fanatically loyal to the Führer, who were “racially fit” (“Aryan origin” from the end of the 18th century) and physically strong were selected in the SS. The commanding staff of the SS had their own special ranks (Scharführer, Sturmführer, Sturmbannführer, etc.). The number of SS with 280 people. (1929) increased by the time the Nazis came to power (January 1933) to 52 thousand people. Together with the SA, security detachments participated in the bloody pogroms of communist and other progressive organizations in Germany during the burning of the Reichstag (February 1933), etc. On the night of June 30, 1934, on the orders of Hitler, the SS dealt with the opposition leaders of the SA, after which they became an independent organization, one of the main pillars of the fascist regime and the main weapon of the terrorist misanthropic policy of the Nazi Party. In 1934, the Totenkopf-Verbande (Totenkopf-Verbande; by the beginning of 1945, ≈30,000 men) units were detached from the general SS staff to guard concentration camps and massacre their prisoners, as well as special-purpose SS units (SS-Verfungungstruppen), which in November 1939 were renamed the SS troops (Waffen SS). During World War II (1939–45), the strength of the SS troops increased from 4 regiments (18,000 men) in 1939 to 38 divisions (about 950,000 men) in December 1944. The SS troops were selected strike formations (in including 8 tank and 8 motorized divisions) of the ground forces of Nazi Germany, were distinguished by extreme fanaticism and exceptional cruelty in the rear and at the front. An integral part of the SS was the "security service" - SD (Sicherheitsdienst SS), created in 1931 by Himmler's assistant R. Heydrich to spy on members of the SS and the Nazi Party, and then turned into the main intelligence and counterintelligence organ of Nazi Germany. As the SS developed, it merged with the state apparatus of Nazi Germany. In September 1939, the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) was created in the SS system, to which the SD, Gestapo (political police) and criminal police were subordinate; in November 1939 the Gestapo and the criminal police were incorporated into the SS. In 1943, the Reichsfuehrer SS, having become Minister of the Interior, concentrated in his hands all power over the punitive terrorist apparatus in Germany and in the occupied territory, relying on the regional and district leaders of the SS in Germany and on the top leaders of the SS and police in the occupied territory. To conduct mass terror on the territory of the USSR in May 1941, 4 "Einsatzgruppen" (A, B, C, D) were created, consisting of 800-1200 people. each, which carried out the mass destruction of Soviet citizens with the help of the Wehrmacht and SS troops. After the defeat of fascist Germany, the SS were outlawed, and by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg they were recognized as a criminal organization of German fascism.

Lit.: SS in action. Documents on the crimes of the SS, trans. from German., M., 1969; Calic E., Himmier et son empire, R., 1966.

Examples of the use of the word ss in the literature.

We, the former political prisoners of Buchenwald: Russians, French, Poles, Czechs, Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Austrians, Belgians, Dutch, British, Luxembourgers, Yugoslavs, Romanians, Hungarians - fought together against SS, against the Nazi gang for our own liberation.

SS, after the collapse of the Reich deprived him of his usual benefits and luxurious food packed in neat cardboard boxes, Barbier experienced a constant feeling of hunger, completely unfamiliar to him before.

In fact, the 2nd German Panzer Corps SS, which opposed the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army near Prokhorovka, irretrievably lost only 5 tanks, and another 43 tanks and 12 assault guns were damaged, while the irretrievable losses of only 3 corps of the 5th Guards Tank Army amounted, according to Soviet reports , coinciding in this case with the German, at least 334 tanks and self-propelled guns.

Peter Fenbong, Rottenführer of the team SS, seconded to the Krasnodon gendarme station, knew that Master Bruckner and Wachtmeister Balder had taken interrogation materials to the district gendarmerie and should receive an order on what to do with the arrested.

By March 21, repelling the counterattacks of the Nazis, our troops flanked the 6th Panzer Army SS, and on March 22 they occupied the cities of Szekesfehervar and Veszprem - the hornet's nest of fascist aviation.

Do you know, Herr General, that tonight two officers disappeared on the site of our division, between the settlements of Saint Julien and Lanterno. SS, Hauptmann Weisner and Lieutenant Reicher?

Allied intelligence had been reporting since October that German Panzer divisions were being withdrawn from the front for resupply and that some of them had become part of the newly formed 6th Panzer Army. SS.

Like all Kripo investigators, including Marsh, Jaeger held the rank of Sturmbannführer. SS.

In the area of ​​​​Kalush - Solotvino - Stanislav took up the defense of the 13th security regiment SS and, although already battered by the Kovpakovites, but still the unfinished 4th regiment SS.

Together with the guys on the floor, ten non-commissioned officers who took care of them also left. SS.

SS, operating in the direction of the main attack, had the task of breaking through the allied defenses near Udenbrath with the forces of three infantry divisions, which, after replenishment with two more infantry divisions, were to take a cut-off position facing the front to the north.

The prisoner sitting on the edge seemed to him more and more like a Brigadeführer SS, it was worth replacing only the insignia on the uniform.

He is devoted to the ideas of the great Fuhrer, rightly believing that an orphan in any other country in the world where Jewish plutocracy, Bolshevism or imperialism dominates, is doomed to destruction, and only in the Reich did he become an officer SS, the defender of the nation, the hero that the people know about.

This is a report on the location of the concentration camps, signed by Pohl, General SS, who was in charge of the use of the labor of concentration camp prisoners.

These orders were intended to exterminate the innocent civilian population and were carried out with all cruelty through the constant cooperation of the German army, SS, SD and ZIPO, whose actions aroused the same disgust and condemnation among the population of all Western countries.

The history of the creation of security units
(SS)

In 1923, in the bowels of the assault detachments (SA), the first units of Hitler's Life Guards were born - the basis of future SS formations. They were created to protect the Nazi Fuhrer, and also as a counterbalance to the SA, although this was not openly stated. Their functions were strictly limited, they had no right to interfere in party affairs.

After his release from prison in 1925, Hitler reformed his guards. Now it has become known as the "Schutzstaffel" ( Schutzstaffel), which in translation means "cover squadron". The term was borrowed from the aviation lexicon of the First World War. Hitler's closest associate in the party, Hermann Goering, a famous fighter pilot of the First World War, suggested that the guard unit be called that. Later, the original meaning of the term was forgotten and began to sound like "security detachments" ( Schutzstaffeln, abbr. - SS).

At the end of the summer of 1925, a further reorganization of the guard detachments followed: they were divided into formations stationed in different parts of the empire, where Adolf Hitler most often appeared. The High Command of the SS detachments was located in Munich, in the "capital of the movement", as Hitler called it. The guard detachments were divided into "tens" headed by a "foreman". In Berlin there were in 1925 two dozens. The Fuhrer's special order stated that the duties of the SS detachments included "protecting the Fuhrer and prominent figures of the National Socialist Party and protecting these figures from attack." Security detachments were formed "from party cadres ready for action at any time."

Already by myself composition of the SS fundamentally different from the composition of other organizations adjoining the NSDAP. For example, for such a mass organization as the storm troopers (SA), the affiliation of its members to the Nazi party was not mandatory. From the very beginning, the SS detachments were created as an integral part of the party and its elite.

Starting in 1925, it became clear: SS detachments were created not only to protect the Fuhrer from his enemies outside the party, but also to protect Hitler from his accomplices - from the SA, from other party leaders, each of whom had his own team, from various " contenders for power” and “oppositionists” among the Nazis themselves.

Josef was the first head of the SS. Berchtold, very short (later Heinrich Himmler demanded that only people of guard height be taken to the SS). Berchtold, who was previously a stationer, recruited SS men not from retired military men, like the head of the SA, Ernst Röhm, but from ruined artisans. For example, Adolf Hitler's bodyguard Ulrich Graf was a butcher and amateur boxer, Christian Weber, who previously served as a groom, later became a Gauleiter.

After 1923, when Berchtold fled to Austria after taking part in the "beer putsch", the "guard detachments" received a new chief - Julius Schreck, Hitler's chauffeur.

In April 1926, Berchtold returned to Germany and again headed the SS. However, he could not get along with the apparatus of the Nazi Party (NSDAP).

In March 1927, Erhard Heiden took over the leadership of the SS.

By 1929, the SS numbered about 300 people. January 6, 1929 became the head of the SS Heinrich Himmler. The new leader immediately began to increase the size of the organization in order to create a powerful force in the Nazi movement, subject only to the will of Hitler.

In January 1930, there were already 2 thousand people in the security detachments. According to Himmler, for the SS men "service requirements and conditions for admission from month to month become more and more stringent."

The password for the SS units was Hitler's saying: “SS man! Your honor is in loyalty." This saying was engraved on the SS belt buckles. (After the suppression in 1930 with the help of the SS of the "rebellion" of the SA detachments led by Stennes, Hitler declared publicly that his victory was the merit of the SS.)

SS men differed from attack aircraft in their form. The SS men were "black", the attack aircraft - "brown". At first, the SS men wore a khaki shirt with a black tie, a bandage on the sleeve (a swastika in a black circle), a black cap with a silver-colored emblem (dead head). Under Himmler, the paramilitary blouse was replaced by a black uniform. Black was formally approved as the base color in 1930. "Active" and "formal" SS men wore the same uniform, equipment, and insignia.

Black has always been considered one of the most important colors in Germany. This color was worn by many of the "free shooters" (Freischutzen) who resisted Napoleon in the war of liberation of 1813-1815. The predominance of black was also observed in the uniform of the most famous cavalry regiments of the Kaiser's army - the 1st and 2nd Life Hussars (the "Dead Head" hussars). The political meaning of the black color may have been given by the fact that this color was chosen by the officer regiments fighting against the Red Army.

Runes on SS buttonholes, usually interpreted as double lightning bolts, were related to the Nordic past, in which Himmler firmly believed. By 1945, 14 basic runes were in use in the SS. Oak leaves and acorns were emblems of the first German Empire. The "dead head", in addition to its grave threat, was the famous emblem of four well-known regiments of the Kaiser's army: the 92nd and 17th infantry, 1st and 2nd hussars.

Himmler sought to make the SS the successor of the medieval traditions of chivalry, he developed mystical rituals for joining the ranks of the SS, conferring ranks and recommending SS men to marry "exemplary wives." Himmler preached the ideas of racial superiority of pure Aryans over other peoples, expansion to the East, the cult of physical health. The criteria for selecting members of the SS were submission to iron discipline, good physical shape, sobriety and endurance. The candidate for the SS also had to provide evidence of the purity of his lineage in three generations. Both old SS members and future SS wives were required to have a "clean" genealogy. The directives for the creation of SS units said: "Chronic alcoholics, talkers and people with other vices are absolutely unsuitable."

For a long time, the SS was formally part of another paramilitary organization - SA(assault squads). Therefore, G. Himmler devoted the first years of his leadership to the struggle for superiority over the SA.

Hitler needed the support provided by assault squads his parties. However, for Hitler himself, stormtroopers in 1930-1933 posed a real threat. He feared that the attack aircraft could become an obstacle to the implementation of his plans. In the event of an open armed uprising by the Nazis against the Weimar Republic, the German government could ban the Nazi party, and the Reichswehr obeyed his orders. Security forces could become a force capable of providing balance. On the eve of the Nazi takeover in 1933, Heinrich Himmler had to delay imposing his selection standards in order to increase the size of the SS. New fighters began to enter the ranks of the SS in large numbers. This, in the end, provided Himmler with an advantage over the leader of the assault detachments (SA) Rem.

Even before coming to power Hitler completed the most important task - he created the Nazi guard, drilled, not reasoning detachments of thugs, thereby protecting himself from the encroachments of his rivals. One of the "postulates" of the SS men said: "Security detachments" are completely independent.

On January 30, 1933, the 86-year-old President of Germany, Field Marshal Hindenburg, with the "supply" of the reactionary circles of German monopoly capital, handed over power to the former corporal Adolf Hitler. Immediately, Nazi detachments took to the streets, one "draconian" decree followed another, political assassinations and monstrous provocations (up to the burning of the Reichstag) became a daily routine in the life of the state.

Hitler introduced the death penalty. A little later - the death penalty by hanging, even later - the death penalty by guillotining.

January 31, 1933 Hermann Göring took over the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, which controlled the Prussian Police, the most powerful police force in Germany. This police consisted of 76 thousand people.

all over immediately Prussia resignations and new appointments began. Officials known as supporters of the left parties were dismissed or released on long vacations - from the senior chairman to the criminal commissioners. Their successors were most often the National Socialists. Numerous National Socialist functionaries or stormtroopers were appointed police presidents.

On February 17, 1933, Goering issued an unprecedented "shooting decree" - permission to use weapons against unarmed citizens. Hermann Goering instructed his subordinates: “Police officials who, in the performance of their duties, use weapons, I will provide protection, regardless of the consequences ... On the contrary, anyone who shows false kindness should wait for punishment in the service. Let the official always remember that not taking measures is a greater offense than the mistake that was made during their implementation.

On February 22, Hermann Goering issued another order: "On the involvement in Prussia of auxiliary forces in the police", in other words, storm troopers and SS men. Thus, the police, that is, state, bodies became the bodies of the Nazi Party, to be more precise, supranational punitive bodies. The Auxiliary Police were to be half stormtroopers. In total, about fifty thousand people were involved in the auxiliary police in Prussia.

Here is how G. Goering admonished the servants of the auxiliary police: “I did not come here to observe justice, my goal is to destroy and eradicate. That's all".

On March 26, a secret state police arose as part of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, which was led by Hermann Goering - Gestapo. Initially, this department in the Ministry of the Interior was called the "Secret Department of the State Police" (geheime Staatspolizeiabteilung). Some official created an abbreviation that read "Gestapa". This abbreviation did not last long, soon the letter “a” was replaced with “o” - it turned out “Gestapo”. The direct creator of the Gestapo was the 33-year-old Rudolf Diels, a friend, and later a relative of Goering. In his youth, Diels was a drunkard and a debauchee, a member of the most reactionary student organizations, he went to serve in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior under the Social Democrat Severing. Then he came forward with perjury against his first boss, when he accused him of having links with the communists, then he served the chancellors Papen and Schleicher, and finally, he switched to the service of the Nazis. At the same time, Diels did not join the NSDAP. He expanded the department to 250 officials, then founded "security service" (SD) which operated independently of the Ministry of the Interior. Then the Gestapo and the Security Service (SD) officially separated from the police presidium and received a huge building of their own in Berlin, which previously housed an art school. This building was located on the infamous Prinz-Albrechtstrasse. Part of the Gestapo - a special department for the fight against Bolshevism - moved from the police presidium to the house of Karl Liebknecht captured by stormtroopers on Alexanderplatz.

After the Nazis came to power Himmler began by securing his position in Bavaria. On April 1, 1933, he became the official leader of the political police in this land and appropriated the title of "political police commander" to himself. Formally, he was subordinate to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior (in this ministry he took the post of head of a special department).

G. Himmler unleashed terror against the main enemies of the Nazi Reich - the German Communists. Thousands of communists, social democrats and other opponents of the regime were arrested and placed in concentration camps. The main concentration camp in Munich was the concentration camp in Dachau, which was located in the buildings of the former gunpowder factory.

Dachau was Himmler's first "legal" concentration camp. It was characterized by extreme cruelty. The “disciplinary charter” of this concentration camp of 10/1/1933 stated: “Tolerance means weakness. In the light of this concept, everyone must be mercilessly punished when the interests of the motherland require it ... Let this be a warning to politicians, agitators and provocateurs, regardless of brand. Be on the lookout so you don't get caught off guard. Otherwise, your neck will be hurt and you will be shot, according to the methods you use yourself.”

Himmler sought to expand his zone of influence far beyond the borders of Bavaria: “I firmly intend to finally create a real imperial police from the 16 different land police that currently exist, because only the imperial police can become the most important unifying force in the state.”

In November 1933, G. Himmler became the head of the political police in Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In December of the same year, he was appointed chief of the political police in the provinces of Anhalt, Baden, Bremen, Hesse, Thuringia and Württemberg. In January 1934, he was appointed head of the political police of Braunschweig, Oldenburg and Saxony.

On June 30, 1934, G. Himmler staged a "night of long knives" - the massacre of Rem and other leaders of the SA, and at the same time a massive purge of veterans in his ranks. After the Night of the Long Knives, the SS was formally withdrawn from the SA.

To strengthen his own power, G. Himmler began to increase the number of tasks assigned to the SS. At the same time, two branches of the SS were established: the paramilitary SS and units created to guard concentration camps.

SS, short for Schutzstaffeln - security detachments) - in 1925-45 paramilitary detachments in German. fascists. There were basic as Hitler's bodyguard; in 1933-45 they played the role of special forces. Before the seizure of power by the Nazis (1933), they were kept on funds allocated by the Germans. monopolies, in subsequent years consisted of a common state. budget. The SS accepted in a special way selected persons who distinguished themselves in carrying out terroristic. actions against the revolution. workers led by the KKE. Command posts in the SS were occupied, as a rule, by professional military men. Under the Nazi regime, the number of members of the SS reached 300 thousand people. (1939). Even before the 2nd World War, specials were created. SS divisions - the strike force of the Nazi army. By the end of the war, the SS troops numbered approx. 580 thousand people (40 divisions). The most serious crimes of Nazism are connected with the SS detachments; the SS practically carried out the plans of Hitler and his clique, which provided for the physical. destruction of entire nations. The SS "Dead Head" formations guarded and supervised the Nazi death camps. After the defeat of the Fasc. Germany Intl. military the tribunal recognized the SS as a criminal organization (see the Nuremberg Trials). Contrary to the decision of this tribunal and the decisions of the Potsdam Conference of 1945, in the FRG there are associations of SS men who enjoy the patronage of reactionary circles; former SS men receive high pensions from the state. Docs.: SS in action. Doc-you about the crimes of the SS, trans. from German., M., 1968. Lit.: The Nuremberg trials of the main German war criminals, vol. 1-7, M., 1957-61; Heyden K., History of German fascism, trans. from German., M.-L., 1935; Trainin I.P., The Mechanism of the German Fascist Dictatorship, Tash., 1942; Winzer O., 12 years of struggle against fascism and war, trans. from German, M., 1956.

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SS

Schutzstaffel), the elite security units of the Nazi Party, created by order of Hitler as a stronghold of the Nazi totalitarian police state, the so-called. "Black Order".

In April 1925, Hitler instructed one of the former SA fighters, Julius Schreck, to form a new personal guard. On September 21, 1925, Schreck issued a circular ordering all local NSDAP organizations to create SS units consisting of 10 locally and 20 in Berlin. The small detachments created were at first part of the SA and reported (until 1934) to the SA chief of staff, Franz Pfeffer von Salomon. In November 1926, the post of Reichsführer SS was introduced and the first to be occupied was the commander of the "Shock Detachment Adolf Hitler" Josef Berchtold.

In an effort to raise and strengthen the prestige of the SS among the members of the NSDAP, Hitler at the party congress in Weimar (1926) solemnly handed over to them the so-called. "banner of blood"

In the spring of 1927, Erhard Heiden became Reichsführer SS, but under him the development of the SS was rather sluggish, since the influence of the governing bodies of the SA was still strong. On January 6, 1929, Heinrich Himmler was placed at the head of the SS. From that moment on, the SS personnel under the leadership of Himmler began to increase rapidly: in January 1929 it numbered 280 people, in December 1930 - 2727, in December 1931 - 14964, in June 1932 - 30 thousand, in May 1933 - 52 thousand. The composition of the SS was accompanied by the expansion of the department, code-named "IC" - the security service (SD), organized by Reinhard Heydrich.

The growth of the SS cadre caused concern among the leaders of the SA. This issue was resolved by Hitler: "No SA commander has the right to give orders to the SS." A new organizational structure of the SS was introduced: the lowest cell was a branch (ball) - 8 people under the command of a sharführer. Three squads made up a detachment (troupe), three detachments - an assault (about 70-120 people) led by an obersturmführer. Three "storms" made up a "sturmbann" (250-600 people) led by a Sturmbannführer. Three or four "Sturmbanne" formed a "Standarte" (1000-3000 men) led by a Standartenführer. Several "standards" made up an "abshnite", close in number to a brigade. Several "abshnites" formed a "group" (division) led by a gruppenführer.

In accordance with Hitler's order of November 7, 1930, the SS were to become an instrument for strengthening the unity of the NSDAP, subordinating to the will and orders of the Fuhrer of all party links and instances. However, the split between the nationalist wing and the supporters of the socialist part of the party program led by Ernst Röhm, Gregor Strasser and his brother Otto Strasser grew rapidly. On August 30, 1930, it came to skirmishes between the SA and SS militants.

mid-March 1933, having received information from the head of the SS about the prevention of an assassination attempt on Hitler, the Fuhrer ordered Himmler to form a personal security unit for himself, later called the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. At the head of this detachment, numbering about 120 people, SS Gruppenführer Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich was placed. In addition, Himmler formed new SS units in different provinces of the Third Reich called the Sonderkommando-SS, whose task was to protect the highest representatives of the Nazi authorities in the field and fight opponents of the regime.

The SS units were the main active force in the destruction of the leaders of the SA and supporters of Ernst Röhm during the bloody events of the "Night of the Long Knives", after which the SS completely became an independent link of the NSDAP.

On July 20, 1934, Hitler issued the following order: “Given the outstanding services of the SS forces, especially during the events of June 30, 1934, I raise the SS to the rank of an independent organization within the framework of the NSDAP. direct subordination of the Supreme Command of the SA". And Hitler himself became the Supreme Commander of the SA. The order of July 20, 1934 put Himmler on an equal footing with Viktor Lutze, and the SS services received complete independence from the SA organizations, of which they were still a division. Himmler was now subordinate only to Hitler. Himmler could now create and equip SS troops. The only armed unit that the SS had until then was the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, which carried out Hitler's personal protection. After June 30, the widespread formation and development of marching and special units began, which soon turned into Hitler's personal army, as well as the creation of the Dead Head regiments, whose bloody arbitrariness in concentration camps lasted eleven years.

Replenishment of the ranks of the SS went through special schools that appeared in 1933, where "racially full" boys and youths from the "Hitler Youth" were selected at the age of 10 to 18 years. By 1943 there were 33 such schools for boys and four for girls in Germany. They functioned on the principle of a boarding school, the students received uniforms, they were brought up "physically, spiritually and morally in the spirit of National Socialism, serving the people and the national community." In addition to introducing the Nazi worldview, students were required to master military knowledge, and each was to receive a sports badge, certifying good sports training.

On the anniversary of the "Beer Putsch" of 1923 (November 9), 18-year-old SS candidate members received their first uniforms (since 1935, the wearing of a dagger was introduced as part of the uniform). Then, on January 30, the anniversary of Hitler's rise to power, they were given provisional SS certificates. On April 20, Hitler's birthday, the candidates received a permanent SS certificate and took the oath: "I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer and Chancellor of the German Reich, to be loyal and courageous. I swear to you and the chiefs appointed by you to obey implicitly until my death. Help me God!" The oath ceremony took place at midnight by the light of thousands of burning torches.

By the end of 1938, the number of SS reached 238,159 people.

At the age of 25 to 30, a member of the SS had to start a family, and the newlyweds were required to undergo a medical examination by an SS health officer and submit documents certifying their "racial purity". The church marriage was replaced by an elaborate ceremony with the participation of the commander of the local SS organization.

The rite of baptism of a newborn in the family of an SS man was a ceremony of naming a baby in front of a portrait of Adolf Hitler, his book "Mein Kampf" and a swastika sign. Representing the SS as a successor to the ancient German cults and traditions of medieval chivalry, Himmler tried to give them the appropriate order attributes. As props served as silver rings with the image of a skull, awarded to officers after three years of service in command positions. The most distinguished received a sword of honor from the hands of the Reichsfuehrer SS. The leaders of the SS turned to the traditions of the order of the crusaders and the principles of "faith and obedience" proclaimed by them. Every year, young SS cadres came to take the oath in Brunswick to the tomb of the Duke of Mecklenburg, where cadets of military schools were promoted to officers. In the vicinity of the city of Paderborn, there were the ruins of the medieval Wewelsburg castle, which became the residence of the SS leadership, where the SS elite periodically gathered in the large hall and held meditation sessions. In the dungeons of the castle was the sanctuary of the order, the place of the cult of blood, where the "baptism of blood" took place - the ritual that accompanied the admission of a new member.

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What is SS? The meaning and interpretation of the word ss, the definition of the term

ss- (German SS - short for Schutzstaffeln - security units), an organization of German fascists, one of the main pillars of the fascist regime. In 1925, it separated itself in the assault detachments (SA) as "" the Fuhrer's personal guard "", since 1934 - an independent organization. Since 1929 it was headed by G. Himmler. As part of the "Dead Head" unit (for the protection of concentration camps and reprisals with caps), the troops, the SD security service (the main body of intelligence and counterintelligence). was the main conductor of mass terror in Germany and the occupied territories. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg condemned it as a criminal organization.

ss

(German SS - short for Schutzstaffeln - security units), an organization of German fascists, one of the main pillars of the fascist regime. In 1925, it separated itself in the assault detachments (SA) as "" the Fuhrer's personal guard "", since 1934 - an independent organization. Since 1929 it was headed by G. Himmler. As part of the "Dead Head" unit (for the protection of concentration camps and reprisals with caps), the troops, the SD security service (the main body of intelligence and counterintelligence). was the main conductor of mass terror in Germany and the occupied territories. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg condemned it as a criminal organization.

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Schutzstaffel, or guard detachment - so in Nazi Germany in 1923-1945. SS soldiers were called, paramilitary formations The main task of the combat unit at the initial stage of formation is the personal protection of the leader, Adolf Hitler.

SS soldiers: the beginning of the story

It all started in March 1923, when A. Hitler's personal security guard and driver, a watchmaker by profession, together with a stationery dealer, and part-time politician of Nazi Germany Josef Berchtold created a headquarters guard in Munich. The main purpose of the newly formed military formation was to protect the Fuhrer of the NSDAP Adolf Hitler from possible threats and provocations from other parties and other political formations.

After humble beginnings as a defense unit for the leadership of the NSDAP, the combat unit grew into the Waffen-SS, an armed defense squadron. The officers and soldiers of the Waffen-SS were a huge fighting unit. The total number was more than 950 thousand people, in total 38 combat units were formed.

Beer hall putsch by A. Hitler and E. Ludendorff

"Bürgerbräukeller" - a beer hall in Munich at Rosenheimerstrasse, 15. The area of ​​​​the premises of the drinking establishment allowed up to 1830 people. Since the days of the Weimar Republic, thanks to its capacity, the Bürgerbräukeller has become the most popular venue for various events, including those of a political nature.

So, on the night of November 8-9, 1923, an uprising took place in the hall of a drinking establishment, the purpose of which was to overthrow the current government of Germany. The first to speak was A. Hitler's comrade-in-arms for political convictions, Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff, outlining the common goals and objectives of this gathering. The main organizer and ideological inspirer of the event was Adolf Hitler, the leader of the NSDAP - the young Nazi party. In his, he called for the ruthless destruction of all enemies of his National Socialist Party.

To ensure the safety of the Beer Putsch - this is how this political event went down in history - the SS soldiers, led by the treasurer and close friend of the Fuhrer J. Berchtold, undertook at that time. However, the German authorities reacted in time to this gathering of Nazis and took all measures to eliminate them. Adolf Hitler was convicted and imprisoned, and the NSDAP party was banned in Germany. Naturally, the need for the protective functions of the newly-made paramilitary guards also disappeared. The SS soldiers (the photo is presented in the article), as the combat formation of the "Shock Squad", were disbanded.

Restless Fuhrer

Released from prison in April 1925, Adolf Hitler orders his fellow party member and bodyguard J. Shrek to form a personal guard. Preference was given to former fighters of the "Shock Squad". Having gathered eight people, Y. Shrek creates a defense team. By the end of 1925, the total strength of the combat formation was about a thousand people. From now on, they were given the name "SS soldiers of the National Socialist German Workers' Party."

Not everyone could join the organization of the SS NSDAP. Strict conditions were imposed on candidates for this “honorary” position:

• age from 25 to 35 years;
• living in the area for at least 5 years;
• the presence of two guarantors from among the members of the party;
• good health;
• discipline;
• sanity.

In addition, in order to become a member of the party and, accordingly, an SS soldier, the candidate had to confirm his belonging to the superior Aryan race. These were the official rules of the SS (Schutzstaffel).

Education and training

The soldiers of the SS troops had to undergo appropriate combat training, which was carried out in several stages and lasted for three months. The main objectives of intensive recruit training were:

• excellent;
• knowledge of small arms and impeccable possession of them;
• political indoctrination.

The training in martial arts was so intense that only one in three people could complete the entire distance. After the basic training course, recruits were sent to specialized schools, where they received additional education corresponding to the chosen branch of the military.

Further training in military wisdom in the army was based not only on the specialization of the military branch, but also on mutual trust and respect between candidate officers or soldiers. This is how the Wehrmacht soldiers differed from the SS soldiers, where strict discipline and a strict policy of separation into officers and privates were at the forefront.

New division chief

Adolf Hitler attached special importance to the newly created own troops, which were distinguished by impeccable devotion and loyalty to their Fuhrer. The main dream of the leader of fascist Germany was the creation of an elite formation capable of fulfilling any tasks that the National Socialist Party set for them. It needed a leader who could handle the task. So, in January 1929, on the recommendation of A. Hitler, Heinrich Luitpold Himmler, one of A. Hitler's faithful assistants in the Third Reich, became Reichsfuehrer SS. The personal personnel number of the new SS chief is 168.

The new boss began his work as the head of an elite division by tightening the personnel policy. Having developed new requirements for personnel, G. Himmler cleared the ranks of the combat formation by half. The Reichsführer SS personally studied photographs of members and candidates for the SS for hours, finding flaws in their "racial purity". However, soon the number of SS soldiers and officers increased markedly, increasing almost 10 times. The SS chief achieved such successes in two years.

Thanks to this, the prestige of the SS troops increased significantly. It is G. Himmler who is credited with the authorship of the famous gesture, familiar to everyone from films about the Great Patriotic War - “Heil Hitler”, with a right straightened arm raised at an angle of 45º. In addition, thanks to the Reichsführer, the uniform of the Wehrmacht soldiers (including the SS) was modernized, which lasted until the fall of Nazi Germany in May 1945.

Fuhrer's order

The authority of the Schutzstaffel (SS) has grown significantly thanks to the personal order of the Fuhrer. The published order stated that no one had the right to give orders to soldiers and officers of the SS, except for their immediate superiors. In addition, it was recommended that all units of the SA, the assault detachments known as the “brownshirts”, assist in every possible way in the staffing of the SS army, supplying the latter with their best soldiers.

Waffen SS uniform

From now on, the uniform of the SS soldier was noticeably different from the clothes of the assault squads (SA), the security service (SD) and other combined arms units of the Third Reich. A distinctive feature of the SS military uniform was:

• black jacket and black trousers;
• White shirt;
• black cap and black tie.

In addition, on the left sleeve of the jacket and / or shirt, from now on, there was a digital abbreviation indicating belonging to one or another standard of the SS troops. With the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1939, the uniform of the SS soldiers began to change. Strict implementation of G. Himmler's order on a single black and white uniform color, which distinguished the soldiers of A. Hitler's personal army from the combined arms color of other Nazi formations, was somewhat relaxed.

The party factory for sewing military uniforms, due to the huge workload, was not able to provide uniforms for all SS units. The servicemen were asked to change the signs of belonging to the Schutzstaffel from the combined arms uniform of the Wehrmacht.

Military ranks of the SS troops

As in any military unit, the SS army had its own hierarchy in military ranks. Below is a comparative table of the equivalent of the military ranks of the military personnel of the Soviet army, the Wehrmacht and the SS troops.

The highest military rank in the elite army of Adolf Hitler was the Reichsführer SS, which until May 23, 1945 belonged to Heinrich Himmler, which corresponded to the Marshal of the Soviet Union in the Red Army.

Awards and decorations in the SS

Soldiers and officers of the elite division of the SS troops could be awarded orders, medals and other insignia, just like the military personnel of other military formations of the army of Nazi Germany. There were only a small number of distinctive awards that were developed specifically for the "favorites" of the Fuhrer. These included medals for 4- and 8-year service in the elite unit of Adolf Hitler, as well as a special cross with a swastika, which was awarded to the SS for 12 and 25 years of devoted service to their Fuhrer.

Faithful sons of their Fuhrer

Recollection of an SS soldier: “The principles driving us were duty, loyalty and honor. Defense of the Fatherland and a sense of camaraderie are the main qualities that we brought up in ourselves. We were forced to kill everyone who was in front of the muzzle of our weapons. A feeling of pity should not stop a soldier of great Germany, either in front of a woman begging for mercy, or in front of children's eyes. We were inspired by the motto: "To accept death and bear death." Death should become commonplace. Each soldier understood that by sacrificing himself, he thereby helped great Germany in the fight against a common enemy, communism. We considered ourselves warriors behind Hitler's elite."

These words belong to one of the soldiers of the former Third Reich, an ordinary infantry unit of the SS Gustav Franke, who miraculously survived the Battle of Stalingrad and was captured by the Russians. Were these words of repentance or the simple youthful bravado of a twenty-year-old Nazi? Today it is difficult to judge this.