''Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS'' (“Command Staff Reichsführer-SS”) was a

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

organisation within the SS of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

under the personal control of

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

, the head of the SS. Established in 1941, prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union, it consisted of the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

security forces deployed in the occupied territories. The units perpetrated mass murder against Jews and other civilians.

Function

The organisation was formed on 7 April 1941 out of

troops as “special staff” (''Einsatzstab''), reporting directly to ''

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...

. It was officially designated as ''Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS'' on 6 May. To head the organisation, Himmler appointed a career army officer

Kurt Knoblauch Kurt Knoblauch (December 10, 1885 in Marienwerder – November 10, 1952 in Munich) was a German army officer and Waffen-SS general. Biography Knoblauch was a son of the tax collector Friedrich Knoblauch (? - September 25, 1922) and his wife Emma ...

who acted as chief of staff for the units. The purpose of the formation was to conduct so-called “pacification operations” in the

Army Group Rear Area Army Group Rear Area Command () was an area of military jurisdiction behind each of the three Wehrmacht army groups from 1941, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, through 1944 when the pre-war territories of the Sovie ...

s and civilian-administered territories (''

Reichskommissariat ''Reichskommissariat'' ( en, Imperial Commissariat) is a German language, German word for a type of administrative entity headed by a government official known as a ''Reichskommissar'' ( en, Imperial Commissioner). Although many offices existed, ...

s''). Prior to the launch of the

invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

in June 1941, the formations under the ''Kommandostab'' included two motorized SS Infantry Brigades (

1st First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

and

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit, ...

) and two SS Cavalry Regiments combined into the

SS Cavalry Brigade The SS Cavalry Brigade (''SS-Kavallerie-Brigade'') was a unit of the German Waffen-SS during World War II. Operating under the control of the '' Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS'', it initially performed rear security duties in German-occupied Pola ...

, totaling about 25,000 Waffen-SS troops. Its individual units were subordinated to local Higher SS and Police Leaders (HSSPFs) and used in the murder of Jews, political prisoners and other “undesirables”, in addition to providing rear area security. In the former function, the units activities were indistinguishable from the ''

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...

'' mobile

death squads A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are f ...

and the Police Regiments, such as the

Police Regiment Centre The Police Regiment Centre (''Polizei-Regiment Mitte'') was a formation of the Order Police (uniformed police) during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) and deployed in German-occupied ...

. Historian Yehoshua Büchler described the formations under the ''Kommandostab'' as “Himmler's personal murder brigades”.

Subordinate formations

1st SS Infantry Brigade The 1st SS Infantry Brigade was a unit of the German Waffen SS formed from former concentration camp guards for service in the Soviet Union behind the main front line during the Second World War. They conducted Nazi security warfare in the rear ...

2nd SS Infantry Brigade The 2nd SS Infantry Brigade (mot.) was formed on the 15 May 1941, under the command of Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld with the 4th and 5th SS Infantry (formerly ''Totenkopf'') Regiments and began its operational service in September in the Army Gr ...

References

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Function

Subordinate formations

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading