By: Sean Mendenhall Michael Valencia Brittney Zenishek The SS and The Gestapo By: Sean Mendenhall Michael Valencia Brittney Zenishek

SS vs. gestapo SS GESTAPO The SS was formed to protect Hitler during his violent and ugly mass meetings. The SS has six divisions. Between 1924 and 1929 they had a count of 280 personal. Heinrich Himmler Reinhard Heydrich The political police of Nazi Germany. Hermann Göring The Gestapo operated without civil restraints Einsatzgruppen DIVISIONS: Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Polizei, Wiking and Nordland. NUMBER OF PERSONAL: Between 1925 and 1929, the SS was considered merely a battalion of the SA and numbered no more than 280 personnel. On January 6, 1929, Adolf Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as the leader of the SS, and by the end of 1932, the SS had 52,000 members.By the end of the next year, it had over 209,000 members. Himmler's expansion of the SS was based on models from other groups, such as the Knights Templar and the Italian Blackshirts. HEINRICH HIMMLER: Heinrich Himmler who was appointed Reichsfuhrer- SS in 1929 and from its very inception he saw the SS as an elite force, as an elite unit, the party's "Praetorian Guard," with all SS personnel selected on the principles of racial purity and unconditional loyalty to the Nazi Party REINHARD HEYDRICH: Reinhard Heydrich joined the SS in 1931. Heydrich’s personality was ice-cold, utterly ruthless - he was a first class fencer, excellent horseman and a skilled pilot and musician. The SS intelligence service. Heydrich never succeeded Himmler as Reichsfuhrer-SS, as he was assassinated by Czech agents, who had been trained by the British, in Prague in June 1942. The SS carried out harsh reprisals for this act, and erased the village of Lidice, from the face of the earth, killing all the male inhabitants, the children who could not be “Germanised” and the women were incarcerated in concentration camps. GESTAPO: The political police of Nazi Germany. The Gestapo ruthlessly eliminated opposition to the Nazis within Germany and its occupied territories and was responsible for the roundup of Jews throughout Europe for deportation to extermination camps. HERMAN GORING: minister of the interior, detached the political and espionage units from the regular Prussian police, filled their ranks with thousands of Nazis, and, on April 26, 1933, reorganized them under his personal command as the Gestapo Thousands of leftists, intellectuals, Jews, trade unionists, political clergy, and homosexuals simply disappeared into concentration camps after being arrested by the Gestapo. The political section could order prisoners to be murdered, tortured, or released. Einsatzgruppen: death squads that followed the German regular army into Poland and Russia to kill Jews and other “undesirables.”

Ranks Waffen SS Gestapo Der oberste Führer der Schutzstaffel. Der Führer Adolf Hitler Reichsführer-SS SS-Oberstgruppenführer SS-Obergruppenführer SS-Gruppenführer SS-Brigadeführer SS-Brigade Leader SS-Standartenführer kriminalkommisar kriminalinspektor kriminalrat Supreme Leader of the Protection Squad. The Leader Adolf Hitler Empire-Leader of the SS SS-Supreme Group Leader SS-Senior Group Leader SS-Group Leader SS-Standard Leader 1st Lieutenant/Captain 2nd/1st Lieutenant Captain/Major

SS SEctions The Security Section Responsible for the security of the Nazi party. The Military Section An armed force which would protect both himself and leading members of the Nazi Party from attack. The Concentration Camp Section They were in charge of running concentration camps with force. SS: After Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933, the SD was also responsible for seeking out and dealing with those who opposed and were a threat to the leading members of the Nazi Party. MS: The first recruits, 117 men, were given the name SS-Stabswache Berlin. This was changed to SS-Sonderkommando Berlin shortly afterwards and on 3rd September Hitler re-named the group Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Entry requirements for the elitist Leibstandarte included: Proof of pure Aryan ancestry for at least 150 years Minimum height of 5 feet 11 inches Being physically fit and in excellent health CCS: In 1936 staff working in the camps were given the title SS Totenkopfverbnde, known as SS-TK. The SS-TK had a reputation of being harsh masters, meting out tough punishments on those who did not show loyalty to the Nazi ideals. When war broke out in 1939 the SS-TK was expanded to provide staff for all camps established in Germany, Austria and Poland. In 1942 the SS-TK became members of the Waffen SS. In early 1945 when it became clear that Germany would lose the war, members of the SS-TK were given orders to destroy evidence of the camps' existence. Camps were destroyed and surviving inmates were taken on forced 'death marches.

SS AND GESTAPO: Personal service to hitler Ss (SchutzStaffel): At the very start they were a small elite force of about 300 men. They were Hitler’s body guards and they served him under Heinrich Himmler. Gestapo: The Gestapo were Hitlers Secret Police, known for their Cruelty, Secrecy, and Repression. SS: To grow in to an elite fighting force, (Private army), known as Waffen SS. The main SS symbol was a Skull and crossbones, (Death's head), known as Totenkopf. GESTAPO:

FUN FACTS Who formed the "Schutzstaffel" (SS)? In 1934 who was running the Gestapo? Did the Waffen-SS recruit non-Germans? Which conference is generally accepted as marking the start of the "Final Solution"? How many people served in the Waffen-SS from 1939-1945? Adolf Hitler. Hitler formed the SS for his own bodyguard in 1925. Heinrich Müller. Müller was put in charge of running the Gestapo by Heydrich. Yes, especially from 1943 onwards the Waffen-SS recruited many non-Germans (including "non-Aryans") from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, France, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and many other nations. Wannsee. The Wannsee conference, called by Heydrich, lasted for only 90 minutes and was mainly concerned with administrative details. The decision to embark on the "Final Solution" had already been taken. 1,000,000 +.

Works cited page Nazi Germany - SchutzStaffel SS/ http://www.historyonthenet.com/Nazi_Germany/ss.htm 4/2/2013 The SA vs. the SS vs. the Gestapo/www.bestlibrary.org/files/the-sa-vs-the-ss-1.doc Axis History Forum/ http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=175165 Nazi Germany/ http://www.historyonthenet.com/Nazi_Germany/ss.htm Differences between the Nazi SS, SA, and the Gestapo?/ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080527172048AAxkR82 Fun Facts/ http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/The-SS-and-Gestapo-198668.html