SS-Totenkopfverbände
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| SS-TV SS-Totenkopfverbände |
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 Totenkopf insignia of the SS-Totenkopfverbände |
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 SS-TV officers standing in front of prisoners at KZ Gusen in October 1941. |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 1934 |
| Dissolved | May 8, 1945 |
| Jurisdiction |  GermanyOccupied Europe |
| Headquarters | Oranienburg, near Berlin 52°45′16″N 13°14′13″E / 52.75444°N 13.23694°E |
| Employees | 22,033 (SS-TV [1] and SS Division Totenkopf c.1942) |
| Minister responsible | Heinrich Himmler1934-1945, Reichsführer-SS |
| Agency executives | SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke (1934-1940), Commander, SS-TV SS-Gruppenführer Richard Glücks (1940-1945), Commander, SS-TV |
| Parent agency |  Schutzstaffel |
SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich.
The SS-TV, which was an independent unit within the SS with its own ranks and command structure, ran the camps throughout Germany such as at Dachau and in Nazi-occupied Europe like Auschwitz in Poland or Mathausen in Austria. It was responsible for facilitating the The Holocaust in collaboration with the Reich Main Security Office.
At the outbreak of WWII one of the first combat units of the Waffen-SS was formed from SS-TV personnel. The SS Division Totenkopf soon developed a reputation for ferocity and fanaticism; it went onto commit several war crimes such as the Le Paradis massacre in 1940 during the Fall of France or the murder of Russian civilians in Operation Barbarossa.
The SS-TV used the Totenkopf (English: Death's Head) insignia to distinguish itself from other SS units.
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[edit] Formation
Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler gave the order personally to Brigadeführer Theodor Eicke to manage the administration of the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau in 1934. Following the Night of the Long Knives, Eicke (who had played a major role in the affair) was promoted to the rank of SS-Gruppenführer and appointed as the Inspector of Concentration Camps and Commander of SS guard formations.
Personnel from Dachau then went on to work at Sachsenhausen and Oranienburg, where Eicke established his central office. In 1935 Dachau became the training center for the concentration camps service. Many of the early recruits came from the ranks of the SA and Allgemeine SS. Senior roles were taken from the German police service. On March 29, 1936, concentration camp guards and administration units were officially designated as the SS-Totenkopfverbände.
By April 1938, the SS-TV had four regiments of three storm battalions with three infantry companies, one machine gun company and medical, communication and transportation units. [2]
[edit] Operations
Eicke, in his role as the commander of the SS-TV, continued to reorganize the camp system by dismantling smaller camps. By August 1937 only Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Ravensbrück remained in Germany. In 1938 Eicke oversaw the building of new camps in Austria following the Anschluss, such as Mauthausen.
Eicke's reorganization and the introduction of forced labor made the camps one of the SS's most powerful tools; this earned him the enmity of RSHA director, Reinhard Heydrich, who attempted to take over control of Dachau; however, because Himmler wanted to keep a separation of power, Eicke stayed in command of the SS-TV. Likewise the camp operations would not be under the control of the Gestapo or the SD.
In September 1939, Eike became the commander of the SS Totenkopf Division. In 1940, the office of the Inspector of Concentration Camps became part of the Amt D of the Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt under SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl. Eike was replaced by his Head of Staff, SS-Gruppenführer Richard Glücks who continued to manage the camp administration until the end of the war.
In 1942 Glücks was increasingly involved in the administration of the Endlösung supplying personnel to assist in Aktion Reinhardt (Although the death camps of Belzec, Treblinka and Sobibor were administered by SS-und Polizei-führer Odilo Globocnik of the General Government). In July 1942, Glücks met Himmler to discuss medical experiments on concentration camp inmates. All extermination orders were issued from Glücks' office to SS-TV commands throughout Nazi Germany and occupied Europe. He specifically authorized the purchase of Zyklon B for use at Auschwitz.
But as the tide of war changed in Europe, conditions became increasingly harsh for surviving camp inmates. In 1945 SS-TV units began to receive orders to conceal as much of the evidence of The Holocaust as possible. Camps were destroyed, sick prisoners were shot and others were marched on death marches away from the advancing Allies. The SS-TV were also instrumental in the execution of hundreds of political prisoners to prevent their liberation.
By April 1945 many SS-TV had left their posts. Due to their notoriety, some removed their death head insignia to hide their identities. However many were caught by Allied war crime investigators only to be tried at Nuremberg between 1946 and 1949.
[edit] SS KZ personnel
From its inception, Eicke fostered an attitude of "inflexible harshness" in the SS-TV. This core belief continued to influence guards in all concentration camps even after Eicke had taken over command of the SS Totenkopf Division. Recruits were taught to hate their enemies through tough training regimes and Nazi indoctrination.
SS-TV personnel lost any compassion for camp inmates. Within camps, guards created an atmosphere of controlled, disciplined cruelty that subjugated prisoners. This brutal ethos influenced some of the SS-TV's most infamous members including Rudolf Höß, Franz Ziereis, Karl Otto Koch and Max Kögel.
[edit] References
- ^ Charles W. Sydnor. "Soldiers of destruction". http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QYU4QJsUWLYC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=SS-Totenkopfverb%C3%A4nde+size&source=bl&ots=-CpEZCsacP&sig=FxyCoQuz-ypbNbRNS7T1T4mEY-w&hl=en&ei=Lxc9SouBLqGZjAe_7MgC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4.
- ^ George H. Stein. "The Waffen SS". http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-KEtPlNQJNgC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=SS-Totenkopfverb%C3%A4nde+size&source=bl&ots=dW-MEGPMiY&sig=xSRfnaFJg2pM14QzgXsqgJvto_Y&hl=en&ei=PiA9StzVLZKNjAfwzuAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- SS-Totenkopfverbände at www.axishistory.com
- The Independent SS-Totenkopfstandarten and Infanterie-Regimenter at Panzerkeil.orbat.com
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