Waffen-SS

The SS men were some of the most ruthless people of Hitler’s army. They were highly trained and swore loyalty to Hitler above all. They started as something small but rose to destructive terror with the help of some key individuals. In this paper I will describe to you the rise, duties, and fall of the SS men. I will also tell you of some of the people that were linked to the involvement of the SS. The SS were not always known as the SS. Before they were known for their terror and brutality they were known as part of the “Sturmabteilung” or assault division (SA) in English. The assault division first started in 1921 as Hitler’s personal body guards and they would follow him to all of his public events such as speeches. (History) The SA wore a brown uniform and because of this many people called them brown shirts. In 1925 Hitler ordered a new formation to be made out of the SA, it would be known as the SS. The SS at this point were just a small branch off section. The SS men had very specialized rules to be able to join…

involvement in the Third Reich is “increasingly whitewashed” in successive generations retellings, ultimately leading to a “cumulative heroization” which not only exculpates first generation perpetrators but also reconstructs them as heroes in opposition to the Nazi regime. Second, successive generations distinguish between Nazi (others) and Germans (victims of Nazism), purporting the belief that the consequences of Germans resisting totalitarianism were highly risky, even deadly, and,…

the SS, which is the group responsible for the security and the police forces in the party (Anderson 2). As Himmler grew up in the ranks and gained even more trust, he was pointed to provisional president of the police in Munich. Then he was appointed to the commander of the Bavarian political police. Later in 1934, Himmler sought and was able to clinch command of of the state political police and centered them with a new agency in Berlin. They were known as the secret state police or the…

The mind of a perpetrator is a subject that has fascinated historians, resulting in the study to try and understand these killers. While books on top Nazis such as Himmler and Heydrich are more prevalent when trying to explain the mind behind the Holocaust, Alex Kay 's book, The Making of an SS Killer: The Life of Colonel Alfred Filbert, 1905-1990, looks to shed light on the mindset and conduct behind a mid/ lower level perpetrator. Basing the primary research of his book on archival records,…

After the German army invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, a new stage of the holocaust began. A new special action squad, or Einsatzgruppen, was formed. It was made up of Nazi SS units and police. They were also aided by residents of regions the Nazis had previously taken over. Einsatzgruppen (which means deployment groups in German) was a unit of the Nazi special forces. It was composed of members of the SS, the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police), and the Ordnungspolizei (Order…

I now know this was called the Lebensborn project, or Fountain of Life." It was one of most secret and terrifying Nazi projects to be created by the government. Heinrich Himmler founded the Lebensborn project on December 12, 1935, the same year the Nuremberg Laws outlawed intermarriage with Jews and others who were deemed inferior. For decades, Germany's birthrate was decreasing. In the beginning, the Lebensborn were SS nurseries. In order to create a "super-race," the SS transformed these…

freed and secured. This man left 3 trains full of imprisoned Jews on route to Auschwitz in the cart declaring them useless. The Russians are never shown speaking and are like the Germans of Saving Private Ryan. There’s not much to say about all the supporting characters even if they are involved in a romantic relationship with the main characters. The doctor that Charly sleeps with after she learns that Wilhelm is dead is just a doctor sleeping with her. The German SS major that Wilhelm and…

and more immune to the plight of her victims. Staub also states, “they come to see their victims as less than human and to exclude them from the moral realm.” Irma Grese called prisoners the names of animals disassociating them with human beings. This is interesting because as she disassociates the prisoners with humans, she is the one who actually becomes more inhumane. Many of the perpetrators on trail for crimes against humanity after the Holocaust claimed they were simply following…

Love Through Hatred “Of course. But one condition: I want to stay with my father.” (48), says Elie Wiesel as he talks to an SS officer, in his book titled Night. The book describes Wiesel’s experience in the Holocaust with his father. The two spend a little over a year in three different concentration camps together. In this book, Elie tells the readers about his physical and emotional struggles. Wiesel goes into detail about the number one thing that kept him going through this…

The German SS soldiers were one of the minor characters in the book. Levi did not describe the German SS soldiers with great detail, however there were parts mentioning about the German SS when they first arrive Auschwitz. When they arrive Auschwitz, Levi describe the guard as, “a dozen SS men stood around, leg akimbo, with an indifferent air. “(P25, third paragraph) In this sentence, Levi used metaphor to describe the cold atmosphere that Levi sense from the SS men as they were standing to…