SS is one of the most sinister and frightening organizations of the 20th century. Until now, it is a symbol of all the atrocities of the Nazi regime in Germany. At the same time, the phenomenon of the SS and the myths that go about its members is an interesting subject to study. Many historians still find in the archives of Germany the documents of these same "elite" Nazis.
Now we will try to understand their nature. The insignia and rank of the SS today will be our main theme.
History of creation
For the first time, the abbreviation SS for Hitler's personal paramilitary security unit was used in 1925.
The leader of the Nazi party surrounded himself with security even before the Beer putsch. However, it acquired its sinister and special meaning only after it was re-recruited for Hitler released from prison. Then the ranks of the SS were still extremely stingy - there were places to be groups of ten people, which were headed by the Fuhrer of the SS.
The main goal of this organization was to protect members of the National Socialist Party. The military ranks of the SS appeared much later, when they formed the Waffen-SS. These were precisely those parts of the organization that we remembered most clearly, since they fought at the front, among ordinary soldiers of the Wehrmacht, although many stood out among them. Prior to this, the SS was a militarized, but “civilian” organization.
Formation and activity
As mentioned above, initially the SS is just the personal protection of the Führer and some other high-ranking party members. However, this organization gradually began to expand, and the first bell foreshadowing its future power was the introduction of a special SS title. We are talking about the post of Reichsführer, then just the head of all the SS Fuhrer.
The second important moment in the rise of the organization was the permission to patrol the streets along with the police. This made SS members no longer just guards. The organization has evolved into a full-fledged order monitoring service.
However, at that time the military ranks of the SS and the Wehrmacht were still considered equivalent. The main event in the formation of the organization can be called, of course, the arrival of the Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler. It was he who, while simultaneously at the head of the SA, issued a decree that did not allow any of the military to give orders to SS members.
At that time in the German army, this decision, of course, was taken with hostility. Moreover, along with this, a decree was immediately issued that demanded that all the best soldiers be placed at the disposal of the SS. In fact, Hitler and his closest associates turned a brilliant scam.
Indeed, among the military class, the number of adherents of the national socialist labor movement was minimal, and therefore the party leaders, seizing power, understood the threat posed by the army. They needed a firm belief that there were people who would take weapons on the orders of the Fuhrer and would be ready to die, fulfilling their tasks. Therefore, Himmler actually created a personal army for the Nazis.
The main purpose of the new army
These people performed the dirtiest and lowest, in terms of morality, work. Concentration camps were under their responsibility, and during the war, members of this organization became the main participants in punitive sweeps. SS titles appear in every crime committed by the Nazis.
The final victory of the authority of the SS over the Wehrmacht was the appearance of the SS troops - subsequently the military elite of the Third Reich. Not a single general had the right to subordinate to himself a member of even the lowest rung in the organizational ladder of the "security detachment", although the ranks in the Wehrmacht and the SS were similar.
Selection
To get into the party organization of the SS, it was necessary to meet many requirements and parameters. First of all, SS-titles were given to men with an absolutely Aryan appearance. Their age at the time of joining the organization was to be 20-25 years. They had to have the “correct” structure of the skull and absolutely healthy white teeth. Most often, joining the SS ended the “service” in the Hitler Youth.
Appearance was one of the most important parameters of selection, since people who were members of the Nazi organization had to become the elite of the future German society, "equal among the unequal." It is clear that the most important criterion was the endless devotion to the Führer and the ideals of National Socialism.
However, such an ideology did not last long, or rather, almost completely collapsed with the advent of the Waffen-SS. During the Second World War, the personal army of Hitler and Himmler began to recruit all who show their desire and prove their loyalty. Of course, they tried to preserve the prestige of the organization by assigning newly-adopted foreigners only the ranks of the SS troops and not accepting them in the main cell. After serving in the army, such individuals were to receive German citizenship.
In general, the "elite Aryans" during the war very quickly "ended", having been killed on the battlefield and taken prisoner. Only the first four divisions were fully “equipped” with a pure race, among which, by the way, was the legendary “Dead Head”. However, already the 5th ("Viking") made it possible to receive the rank of SS to foreigners.
Divisions
The most famous and sinister is, of course, the 3rd Panzer Division "Dead Head". Many times she completely disappeared, being destroyed. However, it was reborn again and again. However, the division gained fame not because of this, and not because of any successful military operations. “Dead head” is, first of all, an incredible amount of blood on the hands of military personnel. It is on this division that the greatest number of crimes lies both against the civilian population and against prisoners of war. The ranks and ranks in the SS during the tribunal did not play any role, since almost every member of this unit was able to “distinguish himself”.
The second most legendary was the Viking division, recruited, according to the Nazi wording, “from people close in blood and spirit”. Volunteers from the countries of Scandinavia entered there, although their number was not off-scale. In general, only the Germans still wore SS titles. However, a precedent was created, because Viking became the first division where foreigners were recruited. For a long time they fought in the south of the USSR, the main place of their "exploits" became Ukraine.
"Galicia" and "Ron"
The Galicia division also occupies a special place in the history of the SS. This unit was created from volunteers from Western Ukraine. The motives of people from Galicia, who received the German SS rank, were simple - the Bolsheviks came to their land only a few years ago and managed to repress a considerable number of people. They rather went to this division not because of ideological similarity with the Nazis, but for the sake of the war with the Communists, which many Western Ukrainians perceived as the citizens of the USSR - German invaders, i.e., as punishers and murderers. Many went there out of a thirst for revenge. In short, the Germans were looked upon as liberators from the Bolshevik yoke.
This view was characteristic not only for residents of Western Ukraine. The 29th division of RONA gave the ranks and shoulder straps of the SS to the Russians, who had previously tried to gain independence from the Communists. They got there for the same reasons as the Ukrainians - a thirst for revenge and independence. For many people, joining the ranks of the SS seemed to be a real salvation after a life broken by the 30 Stalin years.
At the end of the war, Hitler and his allies were already going to extremes, just to save people associated with the SS on the battlefield. The army began to recruit literally boys. A striking example of this is the Hitler Youth Division.
In addition, on paper there are many undeveloped units, for example, one that was supposed to become Muslim (!). Even blacks sometimes fell into the ranks of the SS. This is evidenced by old photographs.
Of course, when it came to this, all elitism disappeared, and the SS became just an organization led by the Nazi elite. The recruitment of "imperfect" soldiers only testifies to the despair of Hitler and Himmler at the end of the war.
Reichsfuhrer
The most famous head of the SS was, of course, Heinrich Himmler. It was he who made the “private army” out of the Fuhrer’s guards and held out as its leader for the longest time. This figure is now largely mythical: it is impossible to clearly say where the fiction ends and where the facts begin from the biography of the Nazi criminal.
Thanks to Himmler, the authority of the SS was finally strengthened. Organization has become an unchanging part of the Third Reich. The SS title worn by him actually made him commander in chief of Hitler's entire personal army. I must say that Henry approached his post very responsibly - he personally examined the concentration camps, carried out inspections in divisions, and participated in the development of military plans.
Himmler was a truly ideological Nazi and considered serving in the SS his real vocation. The main purpose of life for him was the extermination of the Jewish people. Probably the descendants of the victims of the Holocaust should curse him more than Hitler.
Due to the impending fiasco and increasing paranoia of Hitler, Himmler was accused of treason. The Führer was sure that his ally entered into an agreement with the enemy to save his life. Himmler lost all high posts and titles, and his place was to be taken by the famous party leader Karl Hanke. However, for the SS he did not have time to do anything, since he was corny could not take the post of Reichsfuhrer.
Structure
The SS Army, like any other paramilitary formation, was strictly disciplined and well organized.
The smallest value in this structure was the balloon-SS department, consisting of eight people. Three similar army units formed the SS troupe - according to our concepts, this is a platoon.
The Nazis also had their own analogue of the storm-SS company, consisting of about one and a half hundred people. Untersturmfuhrer commanded them, whose rank was the first and youngest among the officers. Of the three such units, the Sturmbann-SS was formed, at the head of which was the Sturmbannführer (rank of major in the SS).
And, finally, the Shtandar SS is the highest administrative-territorial organizational unit, an analogue of the regiment.
As you can see, the Germans did not begin to reinvent the wheel and too long to look for original structural solutions for their new army. They just picked up analogues of conventional military units, endowing them with a special, excuse me, “Nazi flavor”. The same situation has developed with the ranks.
Ranks
The military ranks of the SS troops were almost completely similar to the ranks of the Wehrmacht.
The youngest of all was an ordinary, who was called Schütze. Above him stood the corporal's analogue, the Sturmmann. So the ranks rose to the officer Untersturmfuhrer (lieutenant), while continuing to remain modified simple army ranks. They walked in this order: Rottenführer, Scarführer, Oberscharführer, Hauptscharführer and Sturmsharführer.
After that, the officer corps began its work. The highest ranks were the general (Obergruppführer) of the military branch and the colonel general, who was called the Oberstgroupführer.
All of them were subordinate to the commander in chief and the head of the SS - the Reichsfuhrer. In the structure of the ranks of the SS there is nothing complicated, except perhaps the pronunciation. However, this system is built logically and army-friendly, especially if you put the ranks and structure of the SS in your head, then everything becomes quite simple to understand and remember.
Marks of Excellence
The ranks and titles in the SS are interesting to study on the example of epaulets and insignia. They were characterized by very stylish German aesthetics and really reflected in themselves everything that the Germans thought about their achievements and destiny. The main theme was death and ancient Aryan symbols. And if the ranks in the Wehrmacht and the SS practically did not differ, then this can not be said about epaulets and stripes. So what is the difference?
Shoulder straps of the rank and file did not represent anything special - an ordinary black stripe. The only difference is the stripes. The junior officers did not go far, but their black shoulder straps were edged with a strip, the color of which depended on the rank. Starting with the Oberscharführer, stars appeared on the epaulettes - they were huge in diameter and quadrangular in shape.
But a truly aesthetic pleasure can be obtained if we look at the insignia of the Sturmbanführer - in form they resembled Scandinavian runes and were braided in a fancy ligature, on top of which stars were placed. In addition, on stripes, in addition to stripes, green oak leaves appear.
General's epaulettes were made in the same aesthetics, only had a golden color.
However, of particular interest to the collector and who wants to understand the culture of the Germans of that time are various patches, including the signs of the division in which the SS member served. It was a "dead head" with crossbones, and a Norwegian hand. These patches were not required, but were part of the SS army uniform. Many members of the organization proudly wore them, confident that they were doing the right thing and that fate was on their side.
The form
Initially, when the SS just appeared, it was possible to distinguish the “security detachment” from the rank and file member of the party by ties: they were black, not brown. However, in connection with “elitism”, the requirements for appearance and isolation from the crowd increased more and more.
With the advent of Himmler, the main color of the organization became black - the Nazis wore caps, shirts, uniforms of this color. To them were added stripes with runic symbols and a "dead head".
However, since Germany entered the war, it turned out that black stands out extremely on the battlefield, so a gray military uniform was introduced. She was no different than color, and was of the same strict style. Gradually, gray tones completely replaced black. The black form was considered purely ceremonial.
Conclusion
The military ranks of the SS do not carry any sacred meaning. They are just tracing paper from the military ranks of the Wehrmacht, one might even say a mockery of them. Like, "look, we are the same, but you cannot command us."
However, the difference between the SS and the conventional army was not at all in the buttonholes, epaulets and names of ranks. The main thing that the members of the organization had was endless devotion to the Führer, who charged them with hatred and bloodthirstiness. Judging by the diaries of the German soldiers, they themselves did not like the "Hitler dogs" for their arrogance and contempt for all the people around.
The same attitude was with the officers - the only thing the SS members suffered in the army for was an incredible fear of them. As a result, the rank of major (in the SS it is Sturmbanfuhrer) began to mean much more to Germany than the highest rank in a simple army. The leadership of the Nazi party almost always sided with "their own" during some kind of internal army conflict, because they knew that they could only rely on them.
Ultimately, not all SS criminals were overtaken by justice - many of them fled to South American countries, changing their names and hiding from those for whom they were to blame - that is, from the entire civilized world.