What was the German ss mean?

Answer 1

SS stands for "Schutzstaffel," which literally means "defensive staff," an image drawn from medieval--especially Nordic--warfare. The SS was an elite paramilitary organization in Nazi Germany, separate from the armed forces and police forces although it exercised both military and police authority.

Answer 2

'SS' stood for 'Schutzstaffel', the nazi paramilitary regiments, meaning 'protection echelon'. The SScollar insignia, known as the sig-runen, was worn on the right collar patch of the uniforms indicated membership of certain military regiments and, later, divisions of the Waffen-SS, but not to the SS as a whole. For ranks below SS-Standartenfuhrer (Colonel), the left collar patch indicated the rank of the wearer.

Shortly before the outbreak of war, these regiments comprised the Leibstandarte 'Adolf Hitler' regiment (Hitler's bodyguard regiment), together with the SS-Verfugungstrupperegiments. Following the outbreak of the war, these regiments were reorganised and formed the basis of the divisions that then became known as the Waffen-SS. In the case of the SS-Verfugungstruppe, the collar patch incorporated regimental numbers, or other symbols (to indicate signals and engineering battalions), together with the sig-runen.

Another of the founding German Waffen-SS regiments (eventually division), the Totenkopfverbande, wore a death's head badge (totenkopf), in place of the sig-runen. Totenkopf regiments were originally formed to guard concentration camps but were incorporated into the Waffen-SSto form the Totenkopf division.

Only Germans were entitled to wear the sig-runeninsignia, so non-German volunteer divisions of the Waffen-SS(Western- or Eastern-European volunteers) wore different insignia on their right-hand collar patches in place of the sig-runen-usually insignia that reflected their national identity. However, German officers and NCOs serving within these non-German divisions were entitled to wear the sig-runen on the left breast pocket of their uniforms. SS members who served in SS-Polizei divisions were also allowed to wear the sig runen on the left breast pocket of their uniform, because the police uniforms used collar patches similar to the Army. Membership of an SS-Polizei unit didn't necessarily mean that a man was also a member of the SS.

For a short time (1939/1940) the sig-runen was authorised for wear on both the right and the left collar patch, as the newly-introduced Army-style shoulder straps indicated rank. Very few units followed this requirement, and this order was withdrawn around May 1940.

The sig-runen were not worn by Waffen-SS officers from the rank of SS-Standartenfuhrer (Colonel) upwards; instead, these officers wore oak leaf insignia to reflect their rank, on both collar patches. Senior police officers, who were also members of the SS, could wear the sig-runen on their left breast pocket.

The sig-runen were never worn by members of the Allgemeine-SS, or by members of the security police, such as the SD or Gestapo, or member of the SSMain Offices. Instead, Allgemeine-SS wore their regimental numbers (or other symbols to denote, for example, a cavalry regiment), while security police (despite what is often represented in movies!) and members of the Main Offices simply wore a blank right-hand collar patch.

Answer 3

SS = Schutzstaffel