Editing Allgemeine SS (section)

{{Short description|Main branch of the SS}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name     = General SS
| nativename      = {{lang|de|Allgemeine SS}}
| logo            = Flag Schutzstaffel.svg
| logo_width      = 100px
| logo_caption    = The general SS was the administrative and non-combative part of the [[SS]].
| image           = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H08449, Quedlinburg, Heinrichs-Feier, Heinrich Himmler.jpg
| image_size      = 250px
| image_caption   = {{lang|de|[[Reichsführer]]}} [[Heinrich Himmler]] leads an SS ceremony on the anniversary of the death of [[Henry the Fowler|Heinrich I]] at [[Quedlinburg]], July 1938.
| formed          = September 1934
| preceding1      = {{lang|de|[[Sturmabteilung]]}}
| preceding2      = {{lang|de|[[Schutzstaffel]]}}
| dissolved       = 8 May 1945
| jurisdiction    = [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and [[German-occupied Europe|occupied Europe]]
| headquarters    = [[SS-Hauptamt]], [[Niederkirchnerstraße|Prinz-Albrecht-Straße]], [[Berlin]]
| coordinates     = {{coord|52|30|26|N|13|22|57|E|type:landmark|display=inline}}
| employees       = 100,000 c.1940
| minister1_name  = [[Heinrich Himmler]] (1934–1945)
| minister1_pfo   = <br />{{lang|de|[[Reichsführer-SS]]}}
| parent_agency   = {{lang|de|Schutzstaffel}}
| child1_agency   = [[RSHA]] ([[Gestapo]], [[Sicherheitspolizei]], [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]] and [[Kriminalpolizei (Nazi Germany)|Kriminalpolizei]])
| child2_agency   = [[SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt|SS Economic and Administrative Departments]] (WHVA)
| child3_agency   = [[Hauptamt SS-Gericht|SS Courts Office]]
| child4_agency   = [[RuSHA|SS Office of Race and Settlement]]<br>[[SS Personalhauptamt]]<br>[[SS Education Office]]<br>[[VOMI|Main Welfare Office for Ethnic Germans]] ([[RKFDV]])
}}

The '''''Allgemeine SS''''' ({{IPA|de|ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nə ˈɛs ˈɛs|}}; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) [[paramilitary]] forces of [[Nazi Germany]]; it was managed by the [[SS Main Office]] (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autumn of 1934 to distinguish its members from the ''[[SS-Verfügungstruppe]]'' (SS Dispositional Troops or SS-VT), which later became the [[Waffen-SS]], and the ''[[SS-Totenkopfverbände]]'' (SS Death's Head Units or SS-TV), which were in charge of the [[Nazi concentration camps]] and [[extermination camp]]s. SS formations committed many war crimes against civilians and allied servicemen.{{sfn|Stein|2002|pp=75–76, 276–280}}

Starting in 1939, foreign units of the ''Allgemeine SS'' were raised in occupied countries. From 1940 they were consolidated into the Directorate of the [[Germanic-SS]] (''Leitstelle der germanischen SS''). When the war first began, the vast majority of SS members belonged to the ''Allgemeine SS'', but this proportion changed during the later years of the war after the Waffen-SS opened up membership to ethnic Germans and non-Germans.