The Schutzstaffel, or SS, was a major Nazi paramilitary organization created within the Nazi Party during the Third Reich. The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit in the SA to a powerful independent force that served first as the Führer’s "Praetorian Guard," a force which fielded almost a million men, providing protection for the Nazi leaders and exerting strong political influence. The Schutzstaffel, under Heinrich Himmler‘s command, was also in charge of the concentration camps. The armed SS divisions were called the Waffen-SS, which fought during the war on both the Russian and Western Fronts alongside the German Army.
The SS was originally in 1923, as a company of the SA tasked with protecting senior leaders of the Nazi Party at rallies; this company was called the "Stabswache." The Stabswache was banned after the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923. However, in 1925, the Stabswache was reorganized under the name of Schutzstaffel (SS) as a personal guard unit to protect Adolf Hitler. SS is the abreviation for the German words Schutz-Staffel, which means "Protection Squadron." Under the command of Heinrich Himmler, between 1929 and 1945, the SS broke away from the SA and grew from a small paramilitary formation to become the largest and most powerful organization in the Nazi Germany. The first commander of the SS was a journalist named Berchtold from the Nazi party newspaper "People’s Observer." Berchtold was then replaced by Erhard Heiden.
The Schutzstaffel was made up of loyal troops and played a key role during the political purge of the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, when Ernst Röhm and other leaders of the SA were executed. All SS personnel were selected on the principles of racial purity and unconditional loyalty to the Nazi Party. In the early days of the SS, officer candidates had to prove German ancestry to 1750.
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