The SS was created in 1925. Its full name is the ‘Schutzstaffel’, which means protection squad. We created the SS to provide protection for Hitler and other Nazi leaders. In the mid twenties the SS was not very important, it only had a few hundred members and was run by SA. When the SS got a new leader in 1929 things changed. Heninrich Himmer was the new leader, he cam from a well-off middle class family. He joined Nazis in 1923 after service in Army and Free Corps. In the 1929 he was 29 years old. Himmer was very ambitious when he took over the SS. In 1930 the SS and SA was separated. The SS continued to provide Hitler with protection. They were also given black uniforms to show their independence. They looked out for people being disloyal to Hitler. As this time went on the SS started to grow and carry out more functions. In 1932 the SS began to develop army-style units. When Nazis came to power in 1933 Himmler set out to bring all of German’s police forces under SS control. There was some completion, which was getting in Himmlers way though. Opposition was not good and we had to get rid of it. For example Gustav von Kahr who betrayed Hitler in the Putsch in 1923 was murdered. Another murder squad went to the house of General Kurt Schliecher, a former chancellor, who had said things against Hitler. He was shot dead along with his wife. The most extensive and successful slaughter we had was the night of the long knives (30th June/1st July 1934). Many were killed on this night including several storm troopers. The leader Ernst Rohm was also killed. Another 400 were killed. This may seem like we took it to far but the Storm troopers were mostly thugs and greedy. They dreamed of seizing the money, businesses and properly of wealthy Germans and the land of the aristocratic Junker class. I am now going to move on to tell you about our main departments.
We have many departments amongst us. Ill start off by telling you about the Gestapo. Hermann Georing controls the Gestapo. He was head of the big state of Prussia. The Gestapo was a secret police force. The Gestapo was established on April 26, 1933, in Prussia, from the existing organization of the Prussian Secret Police. The Gestapo was first simply a branch of the Prussian Police. The role of the Gestapo was to investigate and combat "all tendencies dangerous to the State." It had the authority to investigate treason, espionage and sabotage cases, and cases of criminal attacks on the Nazi Party and on Germany. Another department is the ‘Death’s Heads Units’ which were set up to guard camps. These units treated prisoners in a barbaric fasion. Speical SS units called ‘Einsatzgruppen’ were set up to deal with the resistance to Nazi rule in German-occupied counties. They deal with anyone who looks like a threat. Mostly the worst people like priests, polictal leaders and Jews are killed. The Waffen SS gew out of Hitler’s SS bodygurad. The amount of people rose to half a million. The Waffen SS fough alonside ordinary Germans. It had a reputaion for being ruthless and burtal. I am now going to tell you about the aims of concentration camps.
Concentration Camps were set up in Germany by Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler in 1933. The aim of these camps were to get rid of people who were ruining Germany and doing no good to the country. Most prisionors are Christains, Gypsies, homosexuals and Jews. These camps are good and teach people abit of law and order. If people disabay the rules of the camps there are consequences. The camps were a final solution I am going to finish off by telling you about role models.
Reinhard Heydrich and myself should be role models. Reinhard Heydrich was a former naval officer who joined the SS in 1932, after his dismissal from the navy. He headed the SS Security Service, a Nazi party intelligence agency. In 1933-1934, he became head of the political police. You should look up to this man. I am the leader of this training school I so I expect respect from everyone here and then we will get on fine.
I hope this speech has helped you understand a bit more than you originally knew about the SS.
Thanks for Listening
William Smith
(Head of Schutzstaffel training school in Bavaria)
