Editing Allgemeine SS (section)

==Hierarchy and structure==

The term ''Allgemeine-SS'' referred to the "General SS," meaning those units of the SS considered "main, regular, or standard." By 1938, the Allgemeine SS was administratively divided into several main sections:

* Full-time officers and members of the main SS departments
* Part-time volunteer members of SS regional units
* SS security forces, e.g., the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' (SiPo – Gestapo & Kripo) and ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD)
* Concentration Camp staffs of the ''[[Totenkopfverbände]]''
* Reserve, honorary or otherwise inactive SS members

After World War II began, the lines between the ''Allgemeine SS'' and the Waffen-SS became increasingly blurred, due largely to the ''Allgemeine SS'' headquarters offices having administrative and supply command over the Waffen-SS.  By 1940, all of the ''Allgemeine SS'' had been issued grey war-time uniforms. Himmler ordered that the all-black uniforms be turned in for use by others. They were sent east where they were used by auxiliary police units and west to be used by [[Germanic-SS]] units such as the ones in the [[Netherlands]] and [[Denmark]].

===Full time SS personnel===

Approximately one third of the ''Allgemeine SS'' were considered "full time" meaning that they received a [[salary]] as government employees, were employed full-time in an SS office, and performed SS duties as their primary occupation.  The vast majority of such full-time SS personnel were assigned to the main SS offices that were considered part of the Allgemeine SS. By 1942, these main offices managed all activities of the SS and were divided as follows:{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pp=13–21}}{{sfn|Stackelberg|2007|p=302}}

*''Hauptamt Persönlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS'' (Main Office [[Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS]]; HaPerStab)
*''SS-Hauptamt'' ([[SS Main Office]]; SS-HA)
*''[[SS-Führungshauptamt]]'' (SS Leadership Main Office; SS-FHA)
*''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' ([[Reich Security Main Office]]; RSHA)
*''SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt'' ([[SS Main Economic and Administrative Office]]; SS-WVHA)
*''[[Ordnungspolizei|Ordnungspolizei Hauptamt]]'' (Order Police Main Office)
*''Hauptamt SS-Gericht'' ([[SS Court Main Office]]; HA SS-Gericht)
*''SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt'' ([[SS Race and Settlement Main Office]]; RuSHA)
*''SS Personalhauptamt|SS-Personalhauptamt'' ([[SS Personnel Main Office]]; SS PHA)
*''[[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle]]'' (Coordination Center for Ethnic Germans; VoMi)
*''SS-Schulungsamt'' ([[SS Education Office]])
*''Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums; RKFDV'' ([[Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood]]; RKF or RKFDV)

Main office commanders and staff were exempt from military conscription, although many, such as Heydrich, served as reservists in the regular German military.  Main office members did join the Waffen-SS, where they could accept a lower rank and serve in active combat or be listed as inactive reservists.  By 1944, with Germany's looming defeat, the draft exemption for the ''Allgemeine SS'' main offices was lifted and many junior members were ordered into combat with senior members assuming duties as Waffen-SS generals.

===SS regional units===
The core of the ''Allgemeine SS'' was part-time mustering formations spread throughout Germany.  Members in these regional units would typically meet once a week in uniform, as well as participate in various Nazi Party functions.  Activities including drill and ideological instruction, marching in parades, and providing security at various Nazi party rallies.

Regional SS units were organized into commands known as ''[[SS-Oberabschnitt]]''  meaning "SS-Senior Sector" responsible for commanding a (region), which were subordinate to the SS-HA;{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pp=82, 83}} ''SS-Abschnitt'' (SS-Sector) was the next lower level of command, responsible for administering a (District);{{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=117}} ''Standarten'' (regiment), which were the basic units of the ''Allgemeine SS''.{{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=169}} Before 1934, SS personnel received no pay and their work was completely voluntary.  After 1933, the ''Oberabschnitt'' commanders and their staff became regarded as "full time" but the rank and file of the ''Allgemeine SS'' were still part-time only. Regular ''Allgemeine SS'' personnel were also not exempt from conscription and many were called up to serve in the [[Wehrmacht]].

===Security forces===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R98680, Besprechung Himmler mit Müller, Heydrich, Nebe, Huber2.jpg|thumb|200px|1939 photograph; shown from left to right are [[Franz Josef Huber]], [[Arthur Nebe]], [[Heinrich Himmler]], [[Reinhard Heydrich]] and [[Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)|Heinrich Müller]]. According to the archival caption, these men are planning the investigation of the [[Georg Elser|bomb assassination attempt]] on [[Adolf Hitler]] of 8 November 1939 in [[Munich]].]]

In 1936, the state security police forces of the Gestapo and Kripo (Criminal Police) were consolidated. The combined forces were folded into the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' (SiPo) and placed under the central command of [[Reinhard Heydrich]], already chief of the party ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD).{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=77}} Later from 27 September 1939 forward, the SD, Gestapo, and Kripo were folded into the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (RSHA) that was placed under Heydrich's control.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=163}} As a functioning state agency, the SiPo ceased to exist. The ordinary uniformed German police, known as the ''[[Ordnungspolizei]]'' (Orpo), were under SS control after 1936 but were never incorporated into the ''Allgemeine SS''; although many police members were also dual SS members.{{sfn|Williams|2001|page=77}}

The [[death squad]] units of the ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' were formed under the direction of Heydrich and operated by the SS before and during World War II.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=425}}  In September 1939, they operated in territories occupied by the [[Wehrmacht|German armed forces]] following the [[invasion of Poland]]. Men for the units were drawn from the SS, the SD, and the police.{{sfn|Longerich|2010|p=144}}  Originally part of the SiPo, in late September 1939 the operational control of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' was taken over by the RSHA. When the killing units were re-formed prior to the [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of the Soviet Union]] in 1941, the men of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were drawn from the SD, Gestapo, Kripo, Orpo, civilian (SS auxiliary) and [[Waffen-SS]].{{sfn|Longerich|2010|p=185}} The ''Einsatzgruppen'' units perpetrated atrocities in the occupied Soviet Union, including mass murder of Jews, communists, prisoners of war, and hostages, and played a key role in [[the Holocaust]].{{sfn|McNab|2009|pp=113, 122–131}}

===Concentration camp personnel===
All Concentration Camp staff were originally part of the ''Allgemeine SS'' under the office of the [[Concentration Camps Inspectorate]] (''Inspektion der Konzentrationslager'' or IKL). First headed by [[Theodor Eicke]], the Concentration Camp personnel were formed into the ''SS-Wachverbände'' in 1933, which later became known as the SS-''[[Totenkopfverbände]]'' (SS-TV). Thereafter, the SS-TV branch increasingly became divided into the camp service proper and the military ''Totenkopf'' formation controlled by the SS-VT (forerunner of the Waffen-SS).{{sfn|Padfield|2001|p=129}}{{sfn|Wachsmann|2015|pp=196–198}}

[[File:May 1944 - Jews from Carpathian Ruthenia arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau.jpg|thumb|left|Jews from [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] arriving at [[Auschwitz concentration camp]], 1944]]
As the Nazi regime became more oppressive and World War II escalated, the concentration camp system grew in size, lethal operation, and scope as the economic ambitions of the SS intensified.{{sfn|Wachsmann|2010|pp=26–27, 196–198}} Intensification of the killing operations took place in late 1941 when the SS began construction of stationary gassing facilities to replace the use of ''Einsatzgruppen'' for mass killings.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=208}}{{sfn|Longerich|2010|pp=279–280}}

Victims at these new [[extermination camp]]s were killed with the use of [[carbon monoxide]] gas from automobile engines.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=283}} During [[Operation Reinhard]], three death camps were built in occupied Poland: [[Bełżec extermination camp|Bełżec]] (operational by March 1942), [[Sobibór extermination camp|Sobibór]] (operational by May 1942), and [[Treblinka]] (operational by July 1942).{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=283, 287, 290}} On Himmler's orders, by early 1942 the concentration camp at Auschwitz was greatly expanded to include the addition of [[gas chambers]], where victims were killed using the pesticide [[Zyklon B]].{{sfn|Evans|2008|pp=295, 299–300}}{{sfn|Wachsmann|2010|p=29}}

After 1942, the entire camp service was placed under the authority of the Waffen-SS for a variety of administrative and logistical reasons.  The ultimate command authority for the camp system during World War II was the ''[[SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt]]'' (WHVA) under [[Oswald Pohl]]. Beside the camp operations, the WHVA was the organization responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the ''Allgemeine SS''.{{sfn|Weale|2012|p=115}}{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=559}} By 1944, with the concentration camps fully integrated with the Waffen-SS and under the control of the WVHA, a standard practice developed to rotate SS members in and out of the camps, based on manpower needs and also to give assignments to wounded Waffen-SS officers and soldiers who could no longer serve in front-line combat.{{sfn|Reitlinger|1989|p=265}} This rotation of personnel is the main argument that nearly the entire SS knew of the concentration camps, and what actions were committed within them, making the entire organization liable for [[war crime]]s and [[Crime against humanity|crimes against humanity]].{{sfn|Stein|1984|pp=258–263}}

===Other units===
By late 1940 the ''Allgemeine SS'' controlled the [[Germanic SS]] (''Germanische SS''), which were [[collaborationism|collaborationist]] organizations modeled after the ''Allgemeine SS'' in several Western European countries. Their purpose was to enforce [[Nazi racial doctrine]], especially [[anti-Semitic]] ideals. They typically served as local security police augmenting German units of the Gestapo, SD, and other main departments of the Reich Main Security Office.{{sfn|McNab|2013|pp=105–106}}

The ''Allgemeine SS'' also consisted of the ''SS-Frauenkorps'' (literally, "Women's Corps") which was an auxiliary reporting and clerical unit,{{sfn|Lower|2013|p=108}} which included the ''SS-Helferinnenkorps'' (Women Helper Corps), made up of female volunteers.  Members were assigned as administrative staff and supply personnel, and served in command positions and as guards at women's concentration camps in places such as [[Ravensbrück concentration camp]].{{sfn|Schwarz|1997|pp=223–244}}{{sfn|Lower|2013|pp=108–109}} Like their male equivalents in the SS, females participated in atrocities against Jews, Poles, and others.{{sfn|Lower|2013|p=109}}

In 1942, Himmler set up the ''Reichsschule für SS Helferinnen'' (Reich school for SS helpers) in [[Oberehnheim]] to train women in communications so that they could free up men for combat roles.<ref>Gerhard Rempel, ''Hitler's Children'' (University of North Carolina Press: 1989) pp. 224-232.</ref> Himmler also intended to replace all female civilian employees in his service with ''SS-Helferinnen'' members, as they were selected and trained according to NSDAP ideology.{{sfn|Century|2011}}{{sfn|Rempel|1989|pp=223–224}} The school was closed on 22 November 1944 due to the Allied advance.{{sfn|Mühlenberg|2011|p=27}}

===Ranks===
The [[Ranks and insignia of the Schutzstaffel|ranks]] of the ''Allgemeine SS'' and the Waffen-SS were based upon those of the SA and used the same titles. However, there was a distinctly separate hierarchical subdivision of the larger Waffen-SS from its general-SS counterpart and an SS member could in fact hold two separate SS ranks. For instance, in 1940 [[Hermann Fegelein]] held the ''Allgemeine SS'' rank of a ''[[Standartenführer]]'' (full colonel), yet was only ranked an ''[[Obersturmbannführer]]'' (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS.{{sfn|Miller|2006|p=306}} If this same SS member were an [[Architectural engineering|architectural engineer]], then the ''SS-Hauptamt'' would issue a third rank of ''[[SS-Sonderführer]]''.

SS members could also hold reserve commissions in the regular military as well as a [[Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party|Nazi Party political rank]]. Add to this that many senior SS members were also employees of the Reich government in capacities as ministers, deputies, etc. In 1944, nearly every SS general was granted equivalent Waffen-SS rank, without regard to previous military service. This was ordered so to give SS-generals authority over military units and POW camps and apparently to try to provide potential protection under the [[Hague Conventions (1907)|Hague Convention]] rules of warfare.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/08-05-46.asp | title = Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 20 day 195 | publisher = Avalon Project, Yale Law School | access-date = 2009-01-03 }}</ref> In the event of capture by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], SS-Generals thereby hoped they would be given status as military prisoners rather than captured police officials.