Five Brothers and a War

Waffen SS

Outside of the formal military forces of Germany was the SS, abbreviated from Schutzstaffel , meaning “defense corps.” The infamous insignia of the SS was the harsh and angular, and highly feared, . The SS was founded at the very beginning of the Nazi movement in 1920, and was intended to be a small unit to provide security for Nazi Party meetings in München. Its original name was Saal-Schutz , meaning “Hall Protection”, basically security guards. However, when Heinrich Himmler took over the SS in 1929, he began the unit’s transformation from a small paramilitary force into a highly-trained ruthless force that exerted enormous power and influence—and terror. Above all other units of the Third Reich, the SS committed war crimes on an unparalleled scale.

nazi germany

After the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler authorized the formation of the military wing of the Nazi Party and approved the formation of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), a special service troop under Hitler's direct command. The SS-VT had to depend on the regular German Army for its training and logistics, and the Army also controlled the recruiting system through local draft boards responsible for assigning conscripts to the different branches of the Wehrmacht to meet quotas set by the German High Command. As it happened, the SS was given the lowest priority for recruits.

Five Brothers and a War

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