One way to see the power of the SS is their role in the Nazi State. After the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934, the SS became the main police arm of the Nazi Party with the aim of eliminating all opposition within the state. This task became the SS security service (SD) and the Gestapo.
The SD was formed by Himmler in March 1934 and was placed under the command of Reinhard Heidrich. It was the intelligence maintaining the security of the Fuhrer, partly leadership, Nazi Party and the Reich. Although the SD was supposed to operate under the authority of the Minister of the Interior, Frick, in reality it was controlled entirely by Heidrich and Himmler. Throughout the Nazi regime it had the power of arrest, detention and execution.
The Gestapo undertook the role of the secret police force. In April 1933, Goring incorporated the Prussian political police force into the Gestapo and set up their new offices on the Prince Alberstrasse in Berlin. In April 1934, Goring appointed Himmler head of the unified political force. This was important as it gave Himmler and the SS some control over the state police. In 1936 any confusion was resolved when Hitler appointed Himmler head of the German police. In 1939 the Reich Security Head Office (RSHA) was formed, which brought together the Gestapo and the SD under the central leadership of the SS. By 1939, in its role as the political police force, the Gestapo became the most important element in the state's security system. It played a key role eliminating opposition through creating an elaborate terror machine. Those suspected of opposition to the regime or those denounced (informed on) by their neighbours often ended up imprisoned in one of many concentration camps by the SS. The SD and the Gestapo highlighted that there were other powerful bodies. This was needed as by the by the late 1940s the role of the SS was security (domestic and to protect Hitler), military (the army), all economic areas, racial/ideological/propaganda (to create a master race) and foreign policy.
As shown in the previous paragraphs that the SS was a large organisation, so what was the extent of the SS influence? Himmler's organisational skills and his closeness to Hitler resulted is spread of SS influence and power. Eventually the SS controlled a vast economic empire, had influence in military and organised the extermination of the Jews. In many senses, it became 'a state within a state'. As a result, the SS created a huge concentration camp in which enemies of the Nazis could be imprisoned and their labour exploited.
This is shown, on Hitler's accession to power, that the SS was authorised to act as auxiliary police. It was the Emergency Power Decree of February 1933 (which remained permanently in force) to take suspects into 'protective custody' and, after the SA, the SS emerged as the chief police arm of the Nazi Party. Between 1933 and 1939 about 225,000 Germans were convicted and imprisoned without trial. It directed it energies against all enemies of Nazism, whether political or racial, later taking over responsibility for concentrating and extermination camps.
However, because this was such a large organisation Himmler used a variety of methods to keep it untied. This included the intelligence department to spy on everyone in the organisation, constantly transferring people to other departments, controlled propaganda within the organisation as well as career prospects. Himmler did this so that positions could overlap and the he can be above them all and none could plot against him. This is shown in the steady change in the organisation structure of the SS.
To conclude I would agree with the newer interpretations. This is because there was no clear-cut structure. Also the fact that in areas of high population in Germany there were a handful of SS soldiers.
