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Allgemeine SS
The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the '' Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autumn of 1934 to distinguish its members from the '' SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS Dispositional Troops or SS-VT), which later became the Waffen-SS, and the '' SS-Totenkopfverbände'' (SS Death's Head Units or SS-TV), which were in charge of the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps. SS formations committed many war crimes against civilians and allied servicemen. Starting in 1939, foreign units of the ''Allgemeine SS'' were raised in occupied countries. From 1940 they were consolidated into the Directorate of the Germanic-SS (''Leitstelle der germanischen SS''). When the war first began, the vast majority of SS members belonged to the ''Allgemeine SS'', but this proportion changed during the later years of the war after the Waffen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (; SS-WVHA) was a Nazi organization responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects of the (a main branch of the ; SS). It also ran the Nazi concentration camps, concentration camps and was instrumental in the implementation of the Final Solution through such subsidiary offices as the Concentration Camps Inspectorate and SS-Totenkopfverbände, SS camp guards. Economics of the Holocaust In June 1939 SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Oswald Pohl became chief of both the ''Verwaltung und Wirtschaft Hauptamt'' (VuWHA) and the ''Hauptamt Haushalt und Bauten'' ("main bureau [for] budget and construction", part of the ''Reich'''s Ministry of the Interior). He oversaw all SS "construction projects and building enterprises" through these offices. Pohl also worked with Walther Funk, Reich Minister of Economics (, to oversee financial aspects of the Final Solution, the most deadly phase of the The Holocaust, Holocaust. Val ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extermination Camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The victims of death camps were primarily murdered by gassing, either in permanent installations constructed for this specific purpose, or by means of gas vans. The six extermination camps were Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Extermination through labour was also used at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps. Millions were also murdered in concentration camps, in the Aktion T4, or directly on site. Additionally, camps operated by Nazi allies have also been described as extermination or death camps, most notably the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia. The National Socialists made no secret of the existence of concentration camps as early as 1933, as they serv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Concentration Camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Following the Night of Long Knives, 1934 purge of the Sturmabteilung, SA, the concentration camps were run exclusively by the Schutzstaffel, SS via the Concentration Camps Inspectorate and later the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Initially, most prisoners were members of the Communist Party of Germany, but as time went on different groups were arrested, including "habitual criminals", "Black triangle (badge), asocials", and Jews. After the beginning of World War II, people from German-occupied Europe were imprisoned in the concentration camps. About 1.65 million people were registered prisoners in the camps, of whom about Holocaust victims, a million died during their imprisonment. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS-Totenkopfverbände
(SS-TV; or 'SS Death's Head Battalions') was a major branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary (SS) organisation. It was responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps, concentration camps and extermination camps of Nazi Germany, among similar duties. It was both the successor and expanded organisation to the (guard units) formed in 1933. While the was the universal cap badge of the SS, the SS-TV also wore this insignia on the right Gorget patches, collar tab to distinguish itself from other SS formations. On 29 March 1936, concentration camp guards and administration units were officially designated as the (SS-TV). The SS-TV was an independent unit within the SS, with its own command structure. It ran the camps throughout Nazi Germany, Germany and later in German-occupied Europe, occupied Europe. Camps in Germany included Dachau concentration camp, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen, and Buchenwald concentration camp, Buchenwald; camps el ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waffen-SS
The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both German-occupied Europe and unoccupied lands. With the start of World War II, tactical control was exercised by the (OKW, "High Command of the Armed Forces"), with some units being subordinated to the (Command Staff ''Reichsführer-SS'') directly under Himmler's control. It was disbanded in May 1945. The grew from three regiments to over 38 division (military), divisions during World War II. Combining combat and police functions, it served alongside the German Army (1935–1945), German Army (''Heer''), ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police), and other security units. Originally, it was under the control of the (SS operational command office) beneath Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Initially, in keeping with the raci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS-Verfügungstruppe
(SS-VT, ) was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the Nazi Party (NSDAP). On 17 August 1938 Adolf Hitler decreed that the SS-VT was neither a part of the (order police) nor the , but military-trained men at the disposal of the . In time of war, the SS-VT were to be placed at the disposal of the army. The SS-VT were involved in the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. By 1940 these military SS units had become the nucleus of the . Formation The SS-VT was formed on 24 September 1934 from a merger of various Nazi and paramilitary formations such as the SS Special Detachments ('' SS-Sonderkommandos'') and the Headquarters Guard (''SS- Stabswache'') units. The SS-VT consisted of three regiments, modelled on the infantry regiments of the German Army ('' Heer'') and regulations; each regiment consisting of three infantry battalions, a motorcycle company and a mortar company. The unit was officially designated ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' ("Dispositional troops", i.e. troops at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Main Office
The SS Main Office (; SS-HA) was the central command office of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) in Nazi Germany until 1940. Formation The office traces its origins to 1931 when the SS created the SS-Amt to serve as an SS Headquarters staff overseeing the various units of the '' Allgemeine-SS'' (General SS). In 1933, after the Nazi Party came to power, the SS-Amt was renamed the ''SS-Oberführerbereichen'' and placed in command of all SS units within Nazi Germany. Its leaders were Ernst Bach (December 1932 to June 1933), Siegfried Seidel-Dittmarsch (June 1933 to February 1934) and Curt Wittje (from February 1934). This agency then became the SS-HA on January 30, 1935. The organization oversaw the ''Allgemeine-SS'', concentration camps, the '' SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (Special-purpose troops), and the ''Grenzschutz'' (Border Control regiments). During the late 1930s, the power of the SS-HA continued to grow becoming the largest and most powerful office of the SS, managing nearly all aspe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not a military, it is usually equivalent to a light infantry or special forces in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as Internal security vehicle, internal security/SWAT vehicles), or even actual military equipment (such as Long gun, long guns and Armoured personnel carrier, armored personnel carriers; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement, coast guard, or search and rescue. A paramilitary may fall under the command of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RKFDV
The Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood () was an office of the ''Schutzstaffel'' in Nazi Germany, held by ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler, responsible for the return and resettlement of the German diaspora. Adolf Hitler in his 7 October 1939 order ''Erlaß des Führers und Reichskanzlers zur Festigung deutschen Volkstums'' appointed Himmler to carry out the following duties: * Overseeing of the final return to the Reich of the ''Volksdeutsche'' and ''Auslandsdeutsche'' ('' Reichsdeutsche'' who live abroad) * Prevention of "harmful influence" of populations alien to the German '' Volkstum'' * Creation of new populated areas settled by Germans, mostly by the returning ones. The commissioner was therefore responsible for the return, repatriation, and settlement of ethnic Germans who lived abroad, into Nazi Germany and German held territories.Zentner, Christian and Bedürftig, Friedemann, '' The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', p. 768, Da Capo Press ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VOMI
In Nazi Germany the or (Coordination Center for Ethnic Germans) was a Nazi Party agency founded to manage the interests of the —the population of ethnic Germans living outside the Third Reich. Ultimately coming under '' Allgemeine-SS'' administration, it became responsible for orchestrating the implementation of Nazi () policies in Eastern Europe during World War II. Formation It was founded in 1937 under the command of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Werner Lorenz as a state office of the Nazi Party. Its headquarters were on Unter den Linden, Berlin (this changed to Keithstraße in 1943 due to Allied Bombing). VoMi's primary task was the resettlement of German peoples outside Germany. Between 1939 and 1942, VoMi had resettled half a million ethnic Germans into the newly occupied territories of the Reich under the slogan "Heim ins Reich" (Home into the Empire). These territories included the Reichsgaue of the German Reich; these included Wartheland ( Posen) and Danzig-West P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Education Office
The SS Education Office (''SS-Schulungsamt'') was one of the Nazi organizations responsible for the ideological indoctrination of SS members. The office operated initially under the jurisdiction of the Reich Race and Settlement Office ( RuSHA) but was later subordinated to the SS Main Office ('' SS-Hauptamt''). History When the RuSHA was established on 30 January 1935, it assumed four principal areas of responsibility, the first of which was the ideological training for members of the SS. To facilitate that task, the SS Education Office was formed. This office went on to disseminate pernicious, pseudo-scientific instructional material about Jews, Communist, the racial characteristics of various peoples, and other Nazi propaganda. Cadets were inculcated with a curriculum that stressed the fundamental tenets of National Socialism, which included the dangers of Judaism, Bolshevism, Christianity, Western liberalism, and the imminent Germanic struggle for mastery over Europe. There wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
