[Abraham]

The Holocaust thread turns into a general discussion about the role of the SS.
I find that unfitting and decided to open a separate thread about the SS. Admired by some, loathed by others, the SS as a whole was ruled a criminal organisation by the Nuerenburg Tribunal.
Here follows a factual description of it's origins and structure.

Hitlers political party, the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi-party) had in the roaring period after WWI it's Sturm Abteilung or SA (Storm Section), the men in brown uniforms, to participate in street fights with other extremist political organisations and later used to beat up political opponents and Jews before Hitler took power. The SA grew quickly through the infusion of WWI veterans, criminals and unemployed (or any combination of these). More and more the leaders of the SA had political ambitions. The SA was often described as a steak tartar, brown on the outside but red on the inside.

Heinrich Himmler founded the Schutz Staffeln (Protection Squads), also known as "the Black Corps" after their black uniforms, in April 1925. The idea was to have a politically loyal para-military force to protect the NSDAP and it's leaders.
With very few exceptions the SS men were all Nazi's and got political indoctrination. They were stricktly loyal to Hitler. Originally the SS comprised of 200 men, but its numbers grew to 2.700 at the end of 1930 and to 30.000 by April 1932. Himmler divided the SS in 4 Groups, North, East, South and West and subdivided it in 18 sectors, to be covered by 55 SS-Standarten. On February 29th, 1932 twelve SS men were chosen as Hitlers personal bodyguard, called SS Begleit-Kommando 'Der Führer' (SS Escort Command 'Der Führer') and stood under his direct command. This unit then incorporated the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin (SS Special Berlin Command) and two other SS-Sonderkommando's, company sized units that had received trained from the Army and the police.
Hitler changed the name of the Escort Command on September 3rd, 1933 into 'Adolf Hitler-Standarte' and shortly afterwards, on November 9th, into Leibstandarte SS 'Adolf Hitler'.
It quickly grew to battalion seize and it was not just tasked with the protection of Hitler, but also of Himmler, Heidrich, the Chancellery and the three airports of Berlin as well. In this way Hitler controlled the security of Himmler, Heidrich and Berlin. It's commander was the Sepp ('Butcher') Dietrich.

After Hitler took absolute power, March 23rd, 1933, Himmler took over as 'Secretary of Police' and became SS- und Polizei Füher (SS and Police Leader). Part of the SS security services were incorporated into the police organisation, forming the Sicherheits Dienst or SD (Security Service) under Reinhard Heydrich, which ran a espionage and counter-espionage service, was now partly responsable for the security of Hitler, and formed the Gestapo (Secret State Police). These were all SS organisations.

In 1934 the Army was 'willing' to make heavy weapons, transport and training available for the SS and Himmler announced the creation of the SS-Verfügungstruppe or SS-VT (SS Special Purpose Troops).
Himmler wanted next to the - now - SS Leibstandarte two regiments, one in Münich SS Regiment 'Deutschland' and one in Hamburg, SS Regiment 'Germania'. However Hitler refused to incorporate the 'Leibstandarte' into the SS-VT and wanted to keep direct control of it.

Also in the summer of 1934 Theodor Eicke, the already infamous commander of the - first - Dachau Concentration Camp was named head of a new SS organisation, the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS Death Head Units) to run the growing number of concentration camps.

Now the SS was called Allgemeine SS (General SS), with three specialized branches; the SD, the SS Verfügungstruppen and the SS Totenkopfverbände. So Himmler controlled the police, the secret and political police, the prison camp system and had an paramilitary political force available. Next to these main branches a myriad of supporting organisations was created.

In 1935 Hitler secretly decreted that the SS-VT would be made up of three Standarten (Regiments) with a signals and an engineers battalion.

Sepp Dietrich made a showpiece of the Leibstandarte. It was a volonteer force which could only be joined between age 17 and 22. One should have extreme physical fitness and a minimum lenght of 1.80 m. (5'11"), later 1.84 m. (6'1/2"). A Nordic appearence was preferrable and a pure Aryan anchestry had to be demonstrated all the way back to the year 1800, for officers even to 1750 (after Christ).

In May 1938 a fourth SS Regiment was founded in Vienna, SS Standarte 'Der Führer'.

In August 1938 Hitler issued a decree that in case of internal threats the SS-VT would be commanded by Himmler, in case of external threats it would be absorbed as a unit in the Army onder the Commander in Chief, but even then it would remain politically an arm of the Nazi party, giving Himmler at least some control. The Army resisted attempts to make the SS-VT a complete Division, with its own artillery.

In June 1939 Hitler overruled the objections of the Army and declared that the SS-VT would be organised as a division with its own artillery.
However, this was not completed before the start of the Polish Campaign and the Standarten were separatly placed under Army command.
The first year of war there were many complaints about the SS-VT, over-confident, poor infantry tactics, trigger happines and, especially in Poland, setting villages alight when passing through them without the slightest provocation. The Army considered the relatively high number of SS casualties an indication of the poor standard of training.
Initially there were also Army complaints over the ethnic cleansing actions of the SS Totenkopfverbände.

In November 1939 Hitler alowed Himmler to form SS Divisions.
The Standarten 'Deutschland', 'Germania' and 'Der Führer' formed the first SS Verfügungs Division. Then Eicke's Totenkopfverbände formed the SS Totenkopf Division. Finally Himmler formed an SS Police Division.

On July 26th 1940 the Leibstandarte 'Adolf Hitler' was granted Brigade strenght. In June 1941, just before Operation Barbarossa, the Leibstandarte was raised to Division strenght, although it took some time to implement this.
It became the 1. SS Panzer Division 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler'. The SS Verfügungs Division then became the 2. SS Panzer Division 'Das Reich' and the SS Totenkopf Division became the 3. SS Panzer Division 'Totenkopf'. The number of SS divisions quickly rose to a total of 39 at the end of the war.

My personal assesment:
As the war progressed the level of tactics of the SS troops became better. They usually had better equipment than average Army units. However, their level of quality started to drop in the last year of the war. They fought ruthless and with extreme tenacy, remained politically loyal almost till the very end and did not shrug away from extreme brutalities on the Eastern Front as well as in the West. However, there are also documented cases of courtious behaviour towards (Western military) opponents. Their leadership was good up till Regimental level, few officers of the rank of SS Gruppenführer (Major General) and up could match the intellectual capacities of their Army equals. After all, the 'old' guard came from the ranks of ordinary streetfighters. An example is Sepp Dietrich himself. He became one of the highest ranking and highest decorated SS officers, leading the Sixth Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge and an SS Panzer Army at the Hungarian front in the closing months of the war. However, his colleagues considered him hardly capable of the rank of division commander and he leaned heavily of Army staff whenever he could.

Some interesting books about the SS (including Waffen SS atrocities) that I've read:
'The SS: Alibi of a Nation 1922-1945' by Gerald Reitlinger;
'Hitler's Gladiator' by Charles Messenger;
'Das Reich' by Max Hastings;
'The story of the Malmédy Massacre and Trial' by James J. Weingartner.