History of the General SS

In the early days of Nazism. Hitler was surrounded by the unwieldy SA. He realised the necessity of organising a more dedicated elite personal guard.This guard should not be large. but it had to consist of men of proven calibre of Nordic blood, and of good character.

They had to act as bodyguard and spearhead. They had to protect both himself and important members of his party while they travelled around Germany furthering the cause of Nazism.

In March 1923 the embryo SS consisted of just two men. Joseph Berchtold and Julius Schreck who called themselves the STABSWACHE (Staff Guard). Two months later a new unit the STOSSTRUPP ADOLF HITLER (Adolf Hitler Shock Troop) was formed and commanded by Joseph Berchtold.

After the abortive putsch of the 9th November 1923, in which a number of Nazis were killed. Hitler was imprisoned and the NSDAD banned.

Hitler, looking back on the period immediately after his release from Landsberg in December 1924, described the early days of the SS.

"Being convinced that there are always circumstances in which elite troops are called for, I created in 1922-23 the 'Adolf Hitler Shock Troops'. They were made up of men who were ready for revolution and knew that some day things would come to hard knocks. When I came out of Landsberg everything was broken up and scattered in sometimes rival bands. I told myself then that I needed a bodyguard. even a restricted one, but made up of men who would be enlisted without conditions,even to march against their own brothers, only twenty men to a city (on condition that one could count on them absolutely) rather than a dubious mass. It was Maurice, Schreck, and Heiden who formed in Munich the first group of toughs, and were thus the origin of the SS; but it was with Himmler that the SS became an extraordinary body of men, devoted to an ideal, loyal to death".

In April 1925. Hitler ordered his chauffeur and personal bodyguard Julius Schreck, to raise a new shock troop. A few weeks later it was named the SCHUTZSTAFFEL or Protection Squad or SS. The new SS was to be organised on a national basis. Each major city was called upon to provide one leader and ten of its best men.

When Heinrich Himmler was made Reichsfuhrer-SS with the rank of SS Oberfuhrer in January 1929, the SS was under the overall command of the SA and numbered less than 280 men. By 1930 the SS numbered 2727 men. In June 1932 when Bruening's decree banned the SA the SS had grown to 30,000 or approximately 10% of the SA. On the 30th January Hitler became Chancellor and the SS had secretly recruited 52,000 more members.

The assassination on June 30th 1934 of the Chief-of-Staff of the SA, Ernst Rohm, and the decree of the 26th July that recognised the part the SS had played in the purging of the SA and promoted it to the status of an independent organisation within the NSDAP, was the turning point in the struggle for supremacy over the SA.

Himmler set about implementing his theories of a racially and ideologically elite force and the SS entered its second phase of rapid expansion. By the outbreak of the second World War the ALLGEMEINE-SS (General SS) numbered some 240,000 part-time members who were kept in readiness in case of internal strife by a small regular staff. Members of the General SS were called up for service in the Armed Forces or Armed SS to such an extent that many General SS units survived in name only. Towards the end of the war the General SS barely exceeded 40,000 men, most of whom were staff and officials of the Reichsfuhrung-SS and the Main offices.

DER WERDEGANG ZUM SS-MANN - How one became an SS man

After establishing his SS suitability and fitness, a Hitler Youth became an SS-Bewerber (Applicant) at the age of 18. On the Reich's Party Day of the same year he was accepted as an SS-Anwarter (Candidate) and given an SS identity card. After a short probationary period he took the oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.

As an SS Candidate, and during his first year's service, he was expected to win both the SA-Wehrabzeichen (SA Military Badge) and the Deutsche Reichsportabzeichen (Sports Badge in Bronze). At the age of 19 or 19+ depending on when his age group was called, he went into the Labour Service and then into the Armed Forces.

If after two years he decided not to remain in the Armed Forces as a noncommissioned officer candidate or as a regular, he returned to the SS, still as a candidate. Before final acceptance in the SS he was given special philosophical training, being thoroughly instructed in the principles of the SS, especially the marriage order and code of honour of the SS. On the 9th November, after his return from the Armed Forces, and subject to fulfilling all the special requirements, the SS candidate was finally accepted as an SS man.

On the 9th November he was given the right to wear the SS dagger, and vowed at this ceremony, that he and his relations would for ever observe the basic laws of the SS. From that day on it was his right and duty, as was law in the SS, to defend his honour, according to the code of honour of the Black Corps.

As an SS man he remained in the active General SS until he was 35 years of age, when upon application he was placed on the SS Reserve. When he was 45 years of age he passed into the Stammabteilung.

Andrew Mollo, "Uniforms of the SS", Volume 1, Allgemeine-SS 1923-1945, Historical Research Unit, 1968