1. History and Structure of the SS

Path of Proof

The great National Socialist Movement, as a party, did not step into German or even world history as a complete framework at the time of its formal founding.

Originating from the rebellion against the downfall, from a fervent belief in the German people, which was born in the trenches of the battle-fields in the whole world, Adolf Hitler began to conquer the new Reich, both in thought and through deeds, with a few comrades, upon the simple, strong fundamentals of his firm belief and to form it anew, stone upon stone.

Decisive actions, like the outbreak of 9 November 1923 for which we today, in all its great tragedy and in all its pain, nevertheless have to thank a forcible fate, impressed the inner and external features into the power and into the structure of the Third Reich. Parts and powers of this living marching growing movement, components and men in it, acquired in proof faith, and reliability which was daily the positions, missions and powers which then determined in the powerful structural branch their course toward victory over external power.

Therefore, he who wants to understand the growing mission and living essence of the SS must first glance over its history and pursue therein how it quite consequentially grew out of the smallest beginnings through tough, clear work into an everenlarging mission. Therefore the growth of the SS, as a firmly rooted member of the great Movement is in many respects symbolic of the development of National Socialism, as well as of a spiritual position and of the consequent practical application of this unmistakably clear position in the life of the folk and of its state.

Not the chance incidents of the fighting years and also not the tactical eventualities rounded out the form and brought about the individual developments of this Black Corps, but from the beginning on, the National Socialist of this organization, man upon man, was quite consciously raised again and again above every day affairs which are often petty and full of compromise; thereby raised above his own weaknesses into the consciousness which is always new and living, that he serves a powerful mission which is quite unique in the lengthy annals of German history.

The SS originated in the quite early time of the National Socialist Movement in the year 1923. Then later, as the "Stosstrupp Hitler [Shock Troop Hitler]" on the 8th of November 1923 it was forbidden and dissolved automatically along with the entire movement.

When the Party was again set up in the year 1925, the SA, as the protective organization of the Movement, still remained forbidden. Furthermore, besides these limiting coercive measures, there still existed a prohibition against speeches as well as assemblies for the Fuehrer in Prussia and also in Bavaria. The National Socialist assemblies were at that time only allowed in Saxony and Thuringia which were at that time fully Red. And now in order at least here to hold the necessary assemblies with success, in order to gain a foothold, it was necessary to protect them under all circumstances from explosive missiles and premature disbandment.

The Protective Echelons [Die Schutzstafflen]

For this reason, the Fuehrer ordered in January 1925 that a small mobile organization be constructed for the protection of these meetings: The Protective Echelons. They were in the best sense of the word at this time, therefore, echelons, which means, quite small formations, most of them only in strength of one leader and ten men, which had been set up in single places which at that time already were important for the first forward march of the Movement. Even such a large city as Berlin had only one "Schutzstaffel" of two leaders and twenty men in those days. With these Schutzstaffeln then in the years 1925 and 1926, the Movement had held the assemblies of the Fuehrer and also of other champions of the Party in Saxony and Thuringia, and always held fast against each oppositional attempt in every case.

The year 1926 brought the renewed permission to organize the SA and for this reason, the Schutzstaffeln stepped more into the background in the following years.

This year 1926, however, is of great significance for the SS which at that time consisted of about 200 men in its entire strength, when namely Adolf Hitler gave the most sacred symbol of the Movement, the Blood Banner [Blutfahne] of 9 November 1923 into faithful hands at the Party Congress [Parteitag] in Weirmar, the second Reichsparteitag of the NSDAP.

On the 6th of January 1929, Adolf Hitler appointed his tested comrade of long standing, Heinrich Himmler, as Reichsfuehrer-SS. Heinrich Himmler assumed charge therewith, of the entire Schutzstaffeln, totaling at the time 280 men, with the express and particular commission of the Fuehrer to form of this organization an elite troop of the Party, a troop dependable in every circumstance.

The New Division

With this day, the real history of the SS begins as it stands before us today in all its deeper essential features, firmly anchored into the National Socialistic Movement. For the SS and its Reichsfuehrer, Heinrich Himmler, its first SS man, have both become inseparable in the course of these battle-filled years. When the command of the Fuehrer had been given for the organization on a greater scale of this component of the movement, it had to be clear from the beginning that this mission could only then be solved in the real significance of its occasion if, in pursuit of the last essentials, the directives given by Adolf Hitler to the movement were grasped and carried out.

The Selection

We National Socialists are, firmly convinced of the ideology that in the final over-all objective only good blood, as seen in the long run, produces the best accomplishments. Sustained by this conviction, the Reichsfuehrer SS went at that time, beginning with this basic criterion of the National Socialist, into the execution of the command of the Fuehrer of the 6th of January 1929.

One of the last soldiers of the old army and, at the same time, also one of the oldest co-champions of the Fuehrer began, as a tough and energetic organizer, to collect a troop, a troop of the best, not only the best physically, but also most dependable, most faithful, in the last analysis the most characteristically worth-while men from all parts of the movement, in order in the first place to satisfy the fundamental demand made of this formation, namely: the greatest good of the movement, to protect the Fuehrer himself.

It remains as one of the greatest and decisive services of the Reichsfuehrer SS that he inserted the theoretical concepts of the National Socialist ideology, courageously and consequentially especially in this field, into this, his own organizational mission of the construction of the SS and then clearly carried them out even at a time when the racial question was a negative concept deriving from a self-evident anti-semitism.

The Marriage Law [Heiratsbefehl]

It would naturally be meaningless and also, after a short time be worthless, to undertake the experiment to assemble a male racial elite and while so doing to by-pass present or, indeed, the future families of the men. Corresponding to this quite simple and clear perception, for which, moreover, German history affords sufficient menacing lessons in all of its periods, the SS has given itself its own appropriate fundamental laws. As the first and most important of these basic requirements, the Reichsfuehrer-SS in the year 1931 gave to the Schutzstaffeln the law which prescribes an engagement and marriage certificate for SS men.

This order has the following wording:

Munich, 31 December 1931

"Reichsfuehrer-SS

SS Command-A-No. 65

1. The SS is a band of definitely Nordic German men chosen according to certain viewpoints.

2. Corresponding to the National Socialist ideology and to the perception that the future of our folk rests in the selectiveness and preservation of the race and of the healthy inheritance of good blood, I install with effectiveness from the 1st of January 1932 the 'Marriage Certificate' for all unmarried members of the SS.

3. The aim striven for is the hereditarily healthy clan of a definitely Nordic German sort.

4. The marriage certificate will be distributed or denied solely and alone from a racial and hereditarily healthy viewpoint.

5. Every SS man who has the object of getting married has to procure for this purpose the marriage certificate of the Reichsfuehrer-SS.

6. SS members who though denied marriage certificates marry in spite of it, will be stricken from the SS; they will be given the choice of withdrawing.

7. The working out of the details of marriage petitions is the tasks of the 'Race Office' of the SS.

8. The Race Office of the SS directs the 'Clan Book of the SS' in which the families of SS members will be entered after distribution of the marriage certificate or acquiescence to the petition to enter into marriage.

9. The Reichsfuehrer-SS, the manager of the Race Office, and the specialists (Referenten) of this office are duty bound on their word of honor to secrecy.

10. It is clear to the SS that with this command it has taken a step of great significance. Derision, scorn, and failure to understand do not move us; the future belongs to us!

The Reichsfuehrer-SS

H. Himmler"

This incisive command and the self-evidence of its execution demonstrate, even in the difficult years before the first victory, the self-confidence of this voluntary partnership for a determination which even at the time in which it was ordered must mean an eternal, inconceivable, encroachment on the so-called personal freedom of the individual.

The Instrument of the Fuehrer

Inside and outside of the movement, in these years, the SS had to intervene, repeatedly called upon for the protection of the National Socialist fundamental principles. From disunity over the attempt at a schism to the betrayal of the Fuehrer himself, under immeasurable difficulties and grave human sacrifices, the SS fulfilled its various missions as the instrument for unconditional preparedness for intervention for the Fuehrer. It earned for itself at this time the slogan of Adolf Hitler: "SS-man, your honor is faithfulness".

In the whole broad Reich, in village and city, the SS, in good and self-evident comradeship with the SA in the fighting years, broke the Red and Black Terror. Long and stirring is the list of all those brave soldiers of the Black Corps who gave their lives as a pledge of their faithfulness.

They did not die in open battle, eye to eye with the opponent; they fell singly and deserted, pursued, hunted; harrassed, beaten, trampled to death, in dark alleys and courtyards, shot in the back, murdered by hostile superior forces; they gave their mortal life, and their names shine forth today, from banners and standards, their earthly immortality as a symbol of a great example which they fulfilled, completely and purely, everywhere, including those unforgettable heroes who fought against the choking gallows of an inhuman system, until even Austria returned home into the greater Reich through their sacrifice.

Responsibility for the Future

But not only the revolutionary fighting and sacrificial spirit of this National Socialist formation, its daily application and by this means the best and clear cut selectiveness, determined its existence and its ever clearer course. Far and beyond this, it was the penetrating feeling of responsibility of its leadership for a distant future which decisively determined its course.

Here, in that difficult moment, those solutions were found for all necessary questions which, indeed in the first place must be justified for the day, far and above that, however, without compromise, bore complete responsibility at the same time in itself for the way of future development.

Apart from the green table, not for the sake of momentary results, distinct from all dogma, a great eternal view of German history and a chaste consciousness of the inheritance of ancestry and the genesis of the future at the decisive point of the fighting period, and of the selectiveness of this partnership, have the peculiar and deep meaning for all missions and their execution.

When the day of the grasping of power had finally come, there were 52,000 SS men who in this spirit, bore the revolution in the van, marched into the new State which they began to help form, everywhere: in their stations and positions, in profession and in service, and in all their essential tasks.

The firm, devout ties to this great blood stream of the nation [Volk], the perception of the fulfillment of the deepest German longing for service to the nation, this welding to the firm internal unity of the exclusiveness which the SS was able to achieve, in the course of hard and full years, was the presupposition for the succeeding further greater task of the Black Corps. Only the absolute understanding of the emptiness of all personnel objectives and the final recognition of this valuelessness of smaller interests gave this formation the right to be the protective corps in State and Party as the strong arm of the Fuehrer for the internal security of the Reich in all good and evil times.

Protective Corps of Party and State

The prerequisites for this mighty mission were severe discipline and the highest sort of self-confidence as the result of continuous selection within its own ranks, but were, as well, a fanatical and convinced consciousness of duty to coming generations. Here, the hardiness of the best soldierly traditions met a new and harmonious formation with the keenness of a crystal-clear political consciousness as well as the pure, devout heart of a revolutionary of the living German Movement.

The missions which were given to the SS in the present day National Socialist State can be understood only in the knowledge of this evolution.

The protective organization of the Movement became the internal protective organization of the State after the seizure of power and after the Schutzstaffel, by renewed proof of its essentiality and the testing of its dependability on the 20th of July 1934, was elevated to be an independent component of the Party directly subordinate to the Fuehrer.

Out of the above evolution, all the latter events could fashion themselves in apparent self-evidence along these principles. With the acquisition of power within the Reich, the protective organization of the Party became, feature by feature, as a consequence of the broadening of its mission, the protective organization of the National Socialist State. In this capacity, it took over step by step the remaining usable and valuable parts of the old police. Out of the 16 state police forces, a large and strong Reich police came into existence; and, that which even the old National Socialists themselves had hardly thought to expect: out of the jailer of the rubber cudgel regime there came in existence in the new police, an active friend of the people; and even more than that, in this slow and qualitative evolution the police itself has become, in the completion of National Socialism and in the leadership of National Socialism, through this Black Corps, a part of the proud formations of the Movement.

Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police

The Reichsfuehrer-SS became Chief of the German Police and united its mission, as elastic as operative, with its formations into a comprehensive line of defense for fighting political as well as criminal enemies of the Nation; a line of defense in which State and Party, civil servant and political soldier labor in a complete and, therefore, for the first time in a positive manner hand in hand.

For the first time the newly attained meaning of the Police, as representative, protector, and helper of the community of the people, and thereby as real soldiers of that community of the people and of the National Socialist ideology, impressed the new features of this clear, sober countenance. For out of this original police, employed with a negative aim, an active friend and helper of the people has come into being, a rejuvenated people's troop, whose successors are provided from the SS, so that the civil servant, both within and outside of his service, is and remains an SS-man, a champion and protector of the new State, of the community of the people and of the movement.

The Troops in Barracks

The conceivable danger, that an organization destined only for internal employment sees itself hampered in the fulfilling of the large, all-embracing missions in difficult times which demand the employment of the whole nation toward the outside. The Fuehrer met this by the creation of an active troop of the SS lodged in barracks and chosen from the SS members of long military service and politically of the best training.

Early in the year 1933 the Body Guard Regiment [Leibstandarte] of the SS, "Adolf Hitler", arose and in the further enlargement of this SS Military Service Troop [SS-Verfuegungstruppe] there were added the active SS regiments: SS 1, "Deutschland", in Munich; SS 2, "Germania", in Hamburg; Aroken, Radolfszell. As well as these, there were the Technical Storm Unit [Sturmbanne], the SS Pioneer Storm Unit in Dresden and the SS Signal Corps Unit [Nachrichtensturmbanne] in Unna. The SS Junker schools in Toelz and Braunschweig provided for the training of those to become leaders of these SS Military Service Troops.

In March 1938, after the return of Austria home into the Reich, the Fuehrer gave the order to establish a fourth active SS regiment of SS General Service Troops, SS 3, "The Fuehrer", with its stations in Vienna, Graz, and Klagenfurt. All these troops have received the finest reward for their labor: they are allowed to cooperate prominently in the creation and protection of the Greater Germany.

This chosen SS-Troop, trained during four years service under the severest conditions, offers, equally, the best rising generation for future leaders and subordinate leaders of the General SS, the Police, and the Security Service.

II. Organization

In addition to the General SS, so to speak the mother of all the other SS formations, there are the SS-militarized forces, the SS-Death Head regiments, and further, the Security Service and the Race and Settlement organizations.

The supreme headquarters of the Reichsfuehrer SS for the General SS is the SS Main Office in Berlin.

The supreme headquarters for the Security Service is the SS-Main Security Office in Berlin.

The supreme headquarters for the Race and Settlement organization is the Main Race and Settlement agency SS in Berlin.

Aside from these main offices there are the following offices which likewise are directly under the Reichsfuehrer SS and which have the same characteristics of a main office:

Personal Staff of the Reichsfuehrer SS.

Administration Chief of the SS.

Personnel Chief of the SS (these three in Berlin).

Head of the SS courts, Munich.

Chief of the Constabulary, SS-Lt. Gen. of the police Daluege, with the rank of a Chief of a Main Office [Hauptamtschef].

The SS Main Office

The SS Main Office consists of the following 13 offices which have to fulfill the following missions:

The central chancellery [ZK] is the headquarters of the Chief of the SS Main Office. It provides for the cooperation among all of its subordinate offices and examines the whole direction of management within the SS Main Office.

The management office [Fuehrungsamt] (I) deals with all affairs which pertain to the training, organization, and deployment of units of the General SS.

The personnel office (II) deals with the personnel affairs for all SS fuehrers of the General SS from SS-Second Lieutenants to SS-Captains inclusive.

The SS Administrative Office (IV) handles all the administrative affairs of the SS Main Office. It is of the same level as the Administrative Office Security Service (SD) and the Administrative Office Race and Settlement (R and S) and just as these, it is subordinate to the SS Administrative Chief as the highest administrative court of the SS.

The medical office (V) deals with all things concerned with hygienic conditions and accommodations for the SS.

The SS-Recruiting Office (VI) handles the preliminary and final acceptance of SS applicants and SS candidates into the SS. Here also, the conviction and discharge of men and non-commissioned officers is regulated as well as re-enlistment measures among other things. Its missions further include the planning and execution of all recruiting methods, the systematic comprehension and compiling of personal data of all SS members as well as the compilation of the total strength of the SS and of corresponding statistics.

The office for Security Missions (VII) handles the employment of SS units in special instances for example, at Fuehrer appearances and for visits of leading foreign government officials. In addition it is responsible for the mobilization preparations for the SS which it completes in collaboration with the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht. Among these also come the taking in of reserves of the SS Death Head regiments for special practices in peace and the liability of military service of SS members.

The Reserve Office (VIII) is, as the name implies, responsible for the Reserve of all the SS units.

The Procurement Office (IX) provides for the procurement of articles of equipment for the whole SS.

The Office for Recreation (X) directs all measures for sport participation of the SS in all forms of sports and supervises the athletic training of the SS.

The Office of Communication (XI), the Supply Office and the Public Welfare Office (XII) and also the Educational Office (XIII) fulfill their missions which are expressed by their title.

Aside from the above named 13 offices, the following are also placed under the Chief of the SS Main Office.

The Inspector of the SS Militarized force.

The Fuehrer of the SS Death Head regiment.

The Inspector of the SS Border and Patrol units.

The Inspector of the SS Cavalry.

The Inspector of the SS Cavalry schools.

In addition, the following are under the appropriate inspectors.

The Auxiliary Work Camp Schleissheim.

The SS-VT professional school St. George.

The SS-Training Camp Dachau.

The SS-Rest Home, Sasbachwalden.

The SS-Motor School Berne.

The SS-Main Cavalry school Munich.

The SS-Cavalry supply institution Hamburg.

Formation structure of the General SS

The strength of the General SS, 240,000 men, is sub-divided today into 14 corps, 38 divisions, 104 infantry regiments, 19 mounted regiments, 14 communication battalions, and 9 Engineer battalions as well as motorized and medical units. This General SS stands fully and wholly on call as in the fighting years except for one small part of chief Fuehrers and men.

The Corps which are presently lead by a Lt. Gen. or Maj. Gen. are subdivided into Divisions, Regiments, Battalions and Companies.

The steps in becoming an SS-man

The steps in becoming an SS man are the following:

After confirming his SS suitability and SS worthiness, the Hitler Youth upon reaching 18 becomes an SS applicant. Then he is taken over into the SS as an SS candidate on the Reichsparteitag of the same year upon presentation of the SS certificate. Then after a short period of probation he is administered the Fuehrer oath on the 9th November.

As SS candidate he earns his Army sport badge and the bronze Reich sport badge. Then he goes into the Labor service [Arbeitsdienst] and finally to the Wehrmacht either at the age of 19 or 191/2-according to whichever way his age group is absorbed.

After two years, he returns from the Wehrmacht in as far as he does not want to remain as non-commissioned candidate or reenlistee. Whoever returns to the SS is still, however, a candidate. In the following period up until his coming final acceptance he will be schooled again specially and ideologically at which time he will be thoroughly taught and instructed in the fundamentals of the SS, especially regarding the marriage law and the honor laws of the SS. The SS candidate will be recognized as SS man upon fulfillment of other requirements on the 9th of November following his return from the armed forces and thereby will be finally taken into the SS.

At the same time, on this 9th of November, he has the right to wear the SS dagger and solemnly promises upon this occasion that he and his pin will always hold to the basic laws of the SS. From this day on he assumes the right and duty to defend his honor according to the honor laws of the Black Corps as is specified in the SS code.

He then remains in the active General SS as SS man until he is 35. Upon request, he then will enter the SS Reserve and upon reaching 45 he will transfer into the SS inactive Corps.

The SS Militarized forces [Verfuegungstruppen, VT]

Out of the General SS, the foundation of all SS, after the seizing of power the SS militarized forces appeared, on account of considerations which are indicated in another reference, in a slow and organizational development.

Its garrison and construction are also described in another place.

The militarized forces are constructed after the experiences of the SS upon the fundamental basis of National Socialist preception of selection, direction and education.

The SS militarized forces, in their present day form which clearly delineated, are an active garrisoned and armed part of the SS. Those men selected and tested according to the standards of the SS have obligated themselves to a period of service of at least four years. In addition to the indoctrination for the SS man, these troops receive a full military education. The service in the militarized force counts toward the fulfillment of military service.

After termination of their obligations in the militarized forces, the SS men naturally go back into the General SS from which they came.

The SS Death Head Units

The SS Death Head units form one part of the garrisoned SS. They arose from volunteers of the General SS who were recruited for the guarding of concentration camps in 1933.

Their mission, aside from the indoctrination of the armed political soldier, is the guarding of enemies of the State who are held in concentration camps.

The SS Death Head units obligate their members to 12 years (service). It is composed mainly of men who already have fulfilled their duty to serve in the Wehrmacht. This time of service is counted completely.

The Death Head units are fundamentally similar to the SS militarized forces in construction and equipment. They consist of four regiments.

Personnel Chief of the SS

The Office of the personnel Chief of the SS is the SS-Personnel Chancellery. It handles all personnel affairs of the Fuehrer Corps of the whole SS.

Further, the Personnel Chief is Inspector of the SS Junker schools in Braunschweig and Toelz. He is responsible for the continuation of education of the forthcoming young Fuehrers from these schools.

The Fuehrer school of the General SS Munich-Dachau is also placed under the Personnel Chief.

Chief of the SS Courts

The SS-Courts, directly under the Reichsfuehrer SS, is the highest office of the SS in all cases of disciplinary or honorary jurisdiction. Its activity therefore consists, above all, in the handling of disciplinary actions; in cases of less severe nature it acts as court of appeal.

Further, the SS-Court is solely competent for the handling of cases of clemency as well as of disciplinary and also of punitive nature.

As the highest office of disciplinary penal affairs of the SS, at the same time the SS-Court is the liaison office for all offices of the Party and Reich which are essentially connected with its area of jurisdiction.

A penal jurisdiction will be introduced for the members of the SS militarized forces, the SS Death Head units, the main offices of the Security Service of the SS and for these main official members of the General SS who are placed over these units. Its construction is undertaken at present.

The Security Service

During the fighting years, the scope of jurisdiction of the SS had experienced an expansion in the course of time to such an extent that more and more the necessity for discovering and knowing of opposing tendencies developed as an absolute requirement for their operational campaign. Originally, the SS served as the personal protection for the Fuehrer and for leading personalities of the National Socialistic Movement.

Beyond the steady growth of the party, the original relatively simple mission of the protection of persons has further developed to a problem of the Security of the Party and its manifold functions. For this purpose, intelligence services were installed in the Party and all of its components with the mission: to counter the significance of the opposing aggressive and destructive intentions through exploration and judging of the threatening menaces.

However, there was no uniform planning, and a central collaboration of intelligence services was hardly attempted.

The SS had also acquired an intelligence service at this time for the fulfillment of its missions. Contrary to the rest of the intelligence services of the Party, a far-reaching systematic political intelligence service grew out of the so-called I.C. Service, the later P.I. Service [Press and Information] of the Reichsfuehrer SS.

This intelligence service developed upon the fundamentals of racial selection and ideological rearing in conformity with the general fundamentals of the SS in deviation from all limitations of scope, of momentary or personal nature in connection with an all embracing positive setting of a goal, toward a true Security Service at first for the SS and the Party and later thereby, for the people and the Reich.

This became clear after the taking over of power, as the "Security Service of the Reichsfuehrer SS" proved that it had seized all opponents and living provinces which were or could become significant for the new National Socialist State. This was done by a planned construction of the organization, which kept itself free from personal dependency.

From this development, in the field of Party intelligence service, the Deputy of the Fuehrer drew the deduction which he made in his decree of 9 June 1934 that "no intelligence or counterintelligence service of the Party may exist outside of the Security Service of the Reichsfuehrer SS." From the promulgation of this decree on, the Security Service of the Reichsfuehrer SS is the only political intelligence service of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Since the Security Service of the Reichsfuehrer SS delivered information on the situation and its connection through constant observation of the open and secret enemies of the National Socialistic ideology, it more and more became an organ for protection of the State and of the people which stood in closest cooperation with the Secret State Police.

The head of the organization of the Security Service Reichsfuehrer SS is the Main Security Office which stands next to the main offices of the Reichsfuehrer SS. The Chief of the Main Security Office is the present SS-Maj. Gen. Heydrich, who is at the same time Chief of the Security Police, and who was entrusted at that time with the construction of the I.C., as well as, the P.I. Service.

The regional construction of the Security Service Reichsfuehrer SS is close to that of the General SS in its subdivision into Corps and sectors.

The constant observation of the course of working methods of the opponent, and his technique in the alternate forms of appearance, his ideologies and methods of work compulsorily lead thereto, that the work of the Security Service Reichsfuehrer SS cannot only be intended for the hour but must be expansive and far-reaching.

The Race and Settlement Affairs

After the Main Security Office comes the Main Race and Settlement Agency as the next pillar of the Reichsfuehrer SS.

In this Race and Settlement Agency the marriage applications of the SS men is handled in the Relations Office, because no SS man can openly marry without the permission of the Reichsfuehrer SS under the stipulations of the marriage law of 1931. For this, a medical examination is required for man and wife. Guarantees for ideological and personal rearing are to be brought for the bride. Further, the family tree is now required of man and wife-by officers [Fuehrers] back to 1750 and by noncoms [unterfuehrer] back to 1800. A copy of the hereditary health certificate is likewise required.

In order to make possible a rapid gathering of the necessary requirements, Relation Officers are established and provided in the infantry battalions of the General SS. They, like the Main Race and Settlement Agency, are to help the SS man in the gathering of all required papers.

This naturally entails a gigantic work and extensive organizational preparations in order to meet quickly the requests which today are very pressing since people are being married in greater numbers.

The Settlements Office within the Main Race and Settlement Agency handles and brings about the idea of blood and earth [Blut und Boden] by settling valuable SS families in connection with the new creation of German peasantry and homestead settlement.

Further, the Race office in the Main Race and Settlement Agency watches over the uniformity of the racial acceptance examinations and over the schooling of these specialists who are to be employed for these acceptance examinations within SS units.

Personal Staff Reichsfuehrer SS

The "Personal Staff Reichsfuehrer SS" was formed as a central headquarters for the Reichsfuehrer SS and at the same time, as an essential main office.

This office developed out of the Adjutants Office of the Reichsfuehrer SS in the course of increased missions. Today it is placed under the Chief Adjutants' Office and the Police Adjutant's Office of the Reichsfuehrer SS. The Personal Staff, through its business experts, handles the normal traffic, it administers the press section of the Reichsfuehrer SS as well as the cultural section. Among other, it also has the porcelain manufacture in Allach under its jurisdiction.

In addition, the SS barracks, that is the summation of all SS men in the higher institutes of learning, are placed under the Personal Staff Reichsfuehrer SS.

In addition, the following working areas are combined in the following divisions in the Personal Staff.

The section of Economic Aid (it handles encumbrance problems which developed out of the fighting years).

The section for cultural Research (prehistoric works, expeditions with the support of the Reichsfuehrer SS, excavations as well as foundations).

The society "The Ancestrial heritage" [Das Ahuenerbe].

The society "The Well of Life" [Lebensborn]. This consists mainly of members of the SS. It makes possible to women with many children the best possible care in ideal homes before, during and after child birth. Furthermore, it makes possible the painless delivery for good racial, unmarried, and about-to-be married mothers.

At present, several homes in Steinhoering Polzen, Klosterheide (Mark), Hoheharst bei Bremen and in Wiener Wald belongs to the society "Well of Life."

The office "Four Year Plan" fulfills the mission of regulation of the labor employment which was assigned by the Director of the Four Year Plan.

Finally, the liaison officers to the Ministries and Offices of the Party are assembled under the Personal Staff.

The Motto [Kernsatz] of the SS

There is no mission for its own sake. How can there, therefore, be missions for the sake of an organization. There is only one mission which everything in Germany serves and that is the life of this people through Adolf Hitler.

"So we fell in and are marching, according to unchangeable laws as a national socialistic, soldierly order of men designated as Nordic and as an avowed association of their kindred, along the way into a distant future. We wish and believe that we should not only be the descendants, who have fought it out better, but especially the ancestors of the German Teutonic people."

This motto of the SS which was given to it by the Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler, is the direction for this troop within the framework of the movement. This is the sense by which everything which concerns the SS consequent, steadfast, and thrifty, today, maintains a happy and positive appearance.

If the individual tasks in the framework of this great Protective Corps-often limited in nature by the tasks themselves-may occasionally be heavy and represent the harshest human requirements then the filling of all necessities with this consciousness of a great duty and a clean and concrete association of this concept gives every duty the gleam and happiness which the National Socialist heart needs and is continuously needing.

III The Inner Security

After the outward conclusion of the revolution of our ideology, in possession of power and thereby in the continuous, unlimited responsibility for the fundamentals of the idea, there began the greater, although externally less heroic, phase of the penetration.

All divisional fields in inner or outer positions of the State concept or of State presentation had now to be convincingly and continually filled with our new philosophy or newly indoctrinated by it. We had to carry the revolution, the vivaciousness of an extensive movement, into the stark hardened institutions and concepts with all means, with and against the law. We had to overthrow that which did not seem fit to live according to this process; we had to fill anew with a living spirit that which seemed to be useful and employable.

Few divisional fields of the conquered State had to face from the beginning so much opposition in relation to the life and expression of the new Power as the Police.

All our hate and all our rebellion had opposed it as the most outspoken symbol of the night of the system for us.

Rubber hoses, house searchings, imprisonment, terror, persecutions, all the counter concepts of the harshness and gruesomeness of the period behind us seem to crystallize and assemble themselves under the term "Police." Entirely necessarily the term "Police" was already at that time a term of the things hated and cursed. Therefore, at the beginning it seemed almost impossible to actuate the thought of reaching the identical presentation of National Socialist law, of National Socialist community authority with the term and institution "Police." Also within the movement itself, it naturally necessitated considerable authority in order to allow the forceful wish to become an act.

The SS as formation, the association made up of leader, men, and kindred of consequent National Socialists, possessed this authority in the course of the history and development of the Party.

Out of its original mission within the Party it now obtained the same broadened mission within the whole people and State: the inner security, the inner protection of the National Socialist people, the consequent repulsion of its inner enemies in all phases of public life.

Viewed from this standpoint, it seemed as if unsurmountable obstacles arose as the Reichsfuehrer SS, upon command of the Fuehrer, obtained the task, in addition to the SS, of concentrating the whole German Police into his hand and thereby into the real special meaning of the SS.

This transfer proceeded under the sole valid law, the living right of the German Volk, not only against old ideas but often enough against still existing regulations.

In few fields of State and People the solution of the big problem of Party and State has been so revolutionary and extensively thoroughly undertaken, and scarcely anywhere except for just this difficult ground was it demonstrated so successfully that, according to the Fuehrer's will, it is the idea which must determine the State.

The personal authority of the Reichsfuehrer SS and that of his men, who were of a single mind, carried the beginning of this new construction, while the success of the National Socialist measures taken guaranteed the further course.

From the traditional concept of Police has arisen the new concept of a protective Corps of the German people. And just as the old idea was typically personified in the bailiff, the new idea also demands a new man.

We do not need a mere official, just as we do not consider the unpolitical soldier suitable here. The new type shall be representative of the SS man, who grows out of the Principle of the indoctrination and out of the way of the SS And who already today has clearly developed himself before the people. Just in this post the people want and must possess a political soldier in the best meaning of this National Socialist conception.

Instead of the duplicity of a liberal Police law the man of the Police was given the powerful living authority of clear fundamentals and removed from the hatred and mistrust of the best part of our people by means of the National Socialist authority of the SS. Thereby, the Police again was carried into the midst of the people as an important member for the protection and defense of the community.

It is clear and naturally necessary that completely new judgment of the concept of enemy of the State would come from the new type of its (Police) man and its youthful clear idea. Out of the limitation in the general defense, a far-reaching prevention had to ensue from the clear grasping of the State concepts, a clarification of the concept of State enemies, a setting up of tasks which thereby assigns to the National Socialist Protective Corps a historical mission of unheard of proportions in the sound development of the people.

The spirit of discipline and of companionship, the knowledge of the source of our being and its single teaching, this vast train of thought of the SS as expression of the developing factors of an inner National Socialist securing and safeguarding of all possibilities of coming events-all this is more and more the meaning and spirit of all great new formations in this section of inner security.

To guarantee the intensive security of this new Reich, that is the great duty of the SS and with it, and within its scope, also of the Police in all its categories. That is the comprehensive mission the Fuehrer gave to the SS. It will attack this job anew every day, with the utmost seriousness, fully conscious that this is an immense National Socialist task and firmly convinced that only the ideologically best education of its men and its selection of members will enable it to solve this task completely.