What did the SS do?

Answer 1

SS stands for Schutzstaffel (which literally means 'protective squadron').

It was first formed in 1923 as a unit of the the Nazi paramilitary SA (Sturmabteilung - Stormtroopers) and did not become fully independent till 1934. The original task of the SS was to act as bodyguards for senior Nazis, but in 1925 it became Hitler's personal bodyguard. From 1929 onwards it was headed by Himmler and expanded considerably.

In 1934 the SS assumed sole responsibility for running the concentration camps and it became a central element in the Nazi terror apparatus. It was the SS that organized the Holocaust.

After what was known as the Night of Long Knives that took place on June 30- July 1, 1934, in which major components of the SA had been disovled, the SS basically became a state within a state. There was almost no aspect of German life that the SS did not have its hand in. One of the key figures in the SS rise to power was Reinhard Heydrich who was head of the SD (SS security services) and later became head of the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office). Heydrich was one of the architects of the Holocaust and it was through him that major members of the Nazi party and of the SS met at Wannsee in 1942. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the practical organization of the extermination of the European Jews.

Forerunners of the Waffen SS emerged in the late 1930s. In 1940 this became a kind of a 'second' German army alongside the main army the Wehrmacht (Heer).

The SS considered itself the elite of the Nazi soldiers. Germans who wanted to join the SS had to prove that none of their great-grandparents had ever been Jewish. Officers had to prove their heritage was free of Jewish ancestors even further back then men Enlisted in the SS. In Nazi racial ideology the SS towered high above ordinary ('Aryan') Germans. However, in World War 2 the SS also became a kind of Nazi 'foreign legion', with Ukrainian, Latvian, Bosniak and many more units, as the regular armed forces (Wehrmacht) did not accept foreigners.

Their leader, Heinrich Himmler, was, together with many of his fellow SS, responsible for designing and executing the Holocaust.

The Waffen-SS were the Nazi elite troops, but also included some very poor troops, too. SS men were used to guard concentration camps and some members were turned into Einsatzgruppen, which were used in Eastern Europe to track down and murder Jews.
Schutzstaffel- Protective staff, organization, unit. There were both General ( called Allgemeine- this not a military rank,) SS ( including police crime-lab technicians, photographers, etc, and Waffen-SS men who as the adjective applies were fully armed!

Answer 2

An elite quasi-military unit of the Nazi party that served as Hitler's personal guard and as a special security force in Germany and the occupied countries. ---- [German, abbr. for Schutzstaffel : Schutz, defense + Staffel, echelon.]

or

Noun 1. SS - the United States intelligence agency that protects current and former presidents and vice presidents and their immediate families and protects distinguished foreign visitors; detects and apprehends counterfeiters; suppresses forgery of government securities and documents Secret Service, United States Secret Service, US Secret Service, USSS

Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security

United States intelligence agency - an intelligence service in the United States

Answer 3

The SS were an elite corp of combat troops (SS is short for Schutzstaffel which is German for "Protective shield") formed originally within the Nazi Party as a bodyguard for Adolf Hitler and other Nazi party leaders, It was led by Heinrich Himmler. During the 1930s, Hitler steadily expanded the responsibilities of the SS to include the suppression of his political ooponents within Germany and the prosecution of the Jews. The Schutzstaffel also had the job of supervising the concentration camps.

Answer 4

Organized Holocaust killing millions of Jews and protecting the Nazis and Hitler.

Answer 5

SS is an abbreviation for Steam Ship also SchutzstaffelProtection Squad or Bodyguard (Ger)

Answer 6

Hitler's Secret Service Force or bodyguards

Answer 7

One is the State Security.