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An SS officer was an officer in the SS.
SS stands for Schutzstaffel. Literally it means 'protective squad', but it should be left untranslated as SS.
The SS was originally set up as Hitler's personal bodyguard and was a sub-division of the SA (brownshirts, stormtroopers). In 1934 it became fully independent of the SA and was commanded by Himmler (with Heydrich as his deputy). It became the core of Nazi terror apparatus and ran the concentration camps and by about 1936 assumed control of the entire terror apparatus.
In the late 1930s, various additional SS units were set up as a kind of supplementary army alongside the main German army, which some of the top Nazis didn't quite trust. This SS "army" was called the "Waffen-SS" and was distinct from the "Totenkopfverbaende" ("Death's Head Units") that ran the concentration camps.
All sections of the SS liked to look on themselves as an elite ... During World War 2 the SS accepted foreign volunteers as the German regular army wasn't keen on accepting foreigners. So there were, for example, Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Bosnian Muslim and other SS units.
In general, the SS had a reputation for fanatical devotion to Nazism. It was officially ranked as racially one notch above ordinary Germans ...!
Like all larger military outfits, the SS had officers, NCOs and ordinary soldiers.
Note that the SS had its own designation for ranks. These almost entirely avoided rank designations borrowed from foreign languages, so for example, the SS equivalent of a "Major" was a "Sturmbannführer" a full "General" was an "Obergruppenführer" and so on.
See the Related Link for "Wikipedia: SS Ranks" to the bottom for the answer.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoAn SS Officer was a soldier in Nazi Germany's SS troops who held the rank of an officer, as opposed to an enlisted man or non-commissioned officer(i.e. a sergeant). The SS were Germany's security police. They later formed a separate combat organization known as the Waffen-SS, which fought as soldiers and were better equipped than the average WW2 German soldier.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoSS Officers would help Hitler carry out his "final Solution" which basically meant they did all his dirty work for him.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agokilled them
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Anything about the ship SS Coniston from around 1922?
my great granfather JosephWilson served on the SS Coniston and was accidentally drowned in the Thames on 6th June 1922. His headstone was erected by officers and crew of the SS Coniston at Bonemargey cemetry in Ballycastle Co Antrim.
What was the roll of the ss during the Final solution?
The majority of SS officers fought in the Waffen-SS. Others, however, were in the Totenkopfverbaende and ran the concentration camps and death camps. Many Waffen-SS units comitted appalling atrocities.
Who were the SS officers during World War 2?
Many of them escaped to Argentina after the war. Most officers of the SS and SS men had their blood type tattod on their arm and this gave up many of them to the allies who were actively hunting war criminals. To combat this, the SS burned their uniforms, traded with other regular Heer, and some even tried to cut the tatto off of their arms to escape certain death from the Russians. There were always exceptions to this though. One of the worst war criminals Joeseph Mengela a camp doctor and did not have the blood type on his arm. He escaped to Argentina after the war and died because he drowned on a beach at a very old age.
Why didn't any ss men try to stop anything?
Most SS men were indoctrinated to follow orders and had little or no authority to make their own decisions. In some cases SS officers were present at concentration camps but were not involved in the day-to-day atrocities. However there were many SS officers who were aware of the atrocities that were being committed and either chose to turn a blind eye or were too afraid to speak out. For those who were more directly involved they were following orders and were threatened with severe punishment if they did not carry out their duties. Additionally many SS men had a sense of loyalty to Hitler and the Nazi regime and were not willing to risk their own lives in order to help those being persecuted. It is important to note that the SS was comprised of many different types of people some of whom may have had the courage to speak out against the atrocities but in some cases their efforts were stifled by those who had more power and authority. As a result any attempts at stopping the atrocities were often met with swift and severe punishment.
What ranks did Rudolf Hoess achieve during his services in the SS?
In General Rudolf Hoess was the first and last Camp Commandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.Here are the Following ranks he achieved in the SS and when:20th September 1933 - SS aspirant1st April 1934 - SS-Mann20th April 1934 - SS-Sturmmann28th November 1934 - SS-Unterscharführer1st April 1935 - SS-Scharführer1st July 1935 - SS-Oberscharführer1st March 1936 - SS-Hauptscharführer13th September 1936 - SS-Untersturmführer11th September 1938 - SS-Obersturmführer9th November 1938 - SS-Hauptsturmführer30th January 1941 - SS-Sturmbannführer18th July 1942 - SS-ObersturmbannführerFor an SS Personal, to achieve SS-Oberstumbannfuhrer within 8 Years and 10 Months is very impressive, That is the 3rd Highest Rank someone in the SS could Achieve unless if your in the Waffen SS then it's 7th Highest. Less than 75 People in the entire SS including Waffen-SS Achieved this rank.e
Who was involved in killing Jews?
SS officers in the camps
How many ss officers are still alive?
Ten
Why did the SS officers choose the strongest Jews?
there was a not always a reason for every choice that they made. Though the SS officers also chose the weakest, and for different tasks they used different criteria.
What did the Jews call SS officers?
If they were allowed to speak to an SS officer they would refer to them by their rank, with Mr in front of it.
How tall were the boots that SS officers in the black uniforms wore?
They were from 5-7.8 cms
Can you name some notorious SS officers?
Reinhard Heydrich - Head of the RSHA, deputy head of the SS, etc.Rudolf Hoess - Commandant of Auschwitz.Adolf EichmannOdilo GlobocnikOtto Rasch
How many SS soldiers worked at Auschwitz?
Around 7,000 SS Soldiers worked at Auschwitz Concentration Camp during the Holocaust.
Why did William Heyen write about the Holocaust in almost all of his poems?
As an adult, he discovered his uncles had been SS officers.
Anything about the ship SS Coniston from around 1922?
my great granfather JosephWilson served on the SS Coniston and was accidentally drowned in the Thames on 6th June 1922. His headstone was erected by officers and crew of the SS Coniston at Bonemargey cemetry in Ballycastle Co Antrim.
Who did the killing at Auschwitz?
SS Officers and enlisted men under Rudolph Hess and Heinrich Himmler's Orders carried out the exterminations at Auschwitz.
Where there any female Nazi SS officers in the war like in the Indiana Jones movie?
YES sadly for many there were and some were just evil.
Why did the ss officers kill the Jews?
They were told to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment That was a study conducted by Stanley Milgram on obedience to authority and most likely explains greatly about why they would just slaughter the Jewish people.
