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The Schutzstaffel (German: [ˈʃʊtsˌʃtafl̩] ⓘ; lit. ' Protection Squadron '; SS; also stylised with Armanen runes as ᛋᛋ) was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
Waffen-SS veterans in post-war Germany played a large role, through publications and political pressure, in the efforts to rehabilitate the reputation of the Waffen-SS, which had committed many war crimes during World War II. [210] High ranking German politicians such as Konrad Adenauer, Franz Josef Strauss, and Kurt Schumacher courted former ...
During World War II, the Waffen-SS recruited or conscripted significant numbers of non-Germans. Of a peak strength of 950,000 in 1944, the Waffen-SS consisted of some 400,000 “Reich Germans” and 310,000 ethnic Germans from outside Germany’s pre-1939 borders (mostly from German-occupied Europe ), the remaining 240,000 being non-Germans. [ 1 ]
The SS command of Auschwitz concentration camp refers to those units, commands, and agencies of the German SS which operated and administered during World War II.Due to its large size and key role in the Nazi genocide program, the Auschwitz concentration camp encompassed personnel from several different branches of the SS, some of which held overlapping and shared areas of responsibility.
The Allgemeine SS used unique names for these formations which were different from standard military terms in use by the German military. Initially, General-SS formations were operated strictly in Germany and Austria but were later formed in occupied countries during World War II.
The division also included French recruits from other German military and paramilitary formations and Miliciens who had fled ahead of the Allied Liberation of France (June–November 1944). After training, the Charlemagne Brigade was reclassified as a division as the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) (33. Waffen ...
(in German) Ethnic composition Named after Years Active Insignia Maximum Manpower — Kempf [a] Germans: General der Panzertruppe Werner Kempf: 1939: 164–180 tanks — Böhmen-Mähren [b] Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia: 1944–1945: 1st: Kosaken Nr. 1: Cossacks: 1943–1945: 17,500 [citation needed] — RONA (Russische Nr. 1) Russians ...
SS-Panzerdivision "Das Reich") or SS Division Das Reich was an armored division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. Initially formed from regiments of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), Das Reich initially served during the Battle of France in 1940 before seeing combat on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1944.