Waffen-SS Read online

  Part One

  HIMMLER’S ARMY

  I know there are many people who fall ill when they see black uniforms; we understand that and don’t expect that we will be loved by many people.

  —HEINRICH HIMMLER

  Chapter 1

  FOUNDATION STONES

  ON 16 JANUARY 1929, Adolf Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as his Reichsführer-SS. Although few at the time could have realized its significance, the promotion of the twenty-eight-year-old Nazi functionary to head the Schutzstaffel would transform a disparate group of bodyguards into the most powerful and malevolent organization within the entire Nazi empire.

  The origins of the SS dated back to March 1923, when Hitler formed a small headquarters guard to protect himself from attack by rival political factions. In 1925, after his release from prison following the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch, he called upon his chauffeur Julius Schreck to organize another bodyguard, which on this occasion adopted the title Schutzstaffel.

  When Himmler took command of the SS, it comprised no more than 300 men. The SS had been conceived as a small elite force whose allegiance was not to the Nazi Party but exclusively to Adolf Hitler. Himmler was determined to maintain this special status while at the same time expanding the scope and size of the SS. When Hitler became German chancellor in January 1933, its membership had grown to 52,000.

  Born on 7 October 1900, Heinrich Himmler was a product of a solid Bavarian middle-class family. He experienced a normal upbringing by the standards of his day and maintained close ties with his parents after he had left home. Himmler’s various biographers have been unable to find anything seriously untoward in his childhood to suggest the nature and course of his subsequent career.1 He enthusiastically volunteered for the army in 1917, but before he could complete officer training the armistice of November 1918 had come into effect. That he had never experienced frontline action would weigh heavily upon him throughout his life.

  Himmler drifted in the postwar world, studying agriculture at a university in Munich at the behest of his parents while still hoping to develop a military career. Unable to find a place in the Reichswehr—a force limited to 100,000 men by the Versailles Treaty—Himmler signed up with various paramilitary groups. In January 1922 he met Ernst Röhm, a decorated soldier from the trenches and an early convert to the Nazi cause. Influenced by Röhm, Himmler joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and was accepted into the SS two years later. As a Nazi official, Himmler developed a fixation on the idea of German racial superiority and the notion that the SS should act as a standard-bearer in matters of race. By 1927 he had worked himself up to the position of SS deputy leader.

  Himmler’s physical characteristics—slight frame, sloping chin, poor vision—alongside a fussy, often pedantic manner, made him an unlikely candidate for control of the SS. Yet at the time, the position of Reichsführer-SS was not considered to be of much importance, the SS being very much a subordinate part of the Sturmabteilung (Storm Section), or SA.

  Founded in 1921, the brown-shirted SA was the Nazi Party’s paramilitary force, its prime function to intimidate political opponents and provide vocal and physical support for National Socialism. Under Röhm’s leadership, the SA expanded into a vast, unruly organization of more than 300,000 followers by early 1933. With Hitler in power it would grow larger still and become a semi-independent body within the Nazi system.

  During most of the 1920s Himmler was a minor figure in the Nazi world, easy to underestimate. In 1930 he briefly came under the direction of Joseph Goebbels, the future head of German propaganda. In a suitably patronizing tone, Goebbels described Himmler in his diary: “He’s not particularly clever, but hard-working and well meaning.” Goebbels concluded that he got “too bogged down in details.”2 But Goebbels had misread the man. Himmler was a shrewd and intelligent political operator, and it was his mastery of detail that would prove so useful in his ascent to power.

  Himmler has been considered as the archetypal bureaucrat, and while he was undoubtedly a highly capable administrator he was also far more than that. He possessed a capacity for hard work and a focused vision rare among other leading Nazis, transforming the SS from almost nothing to make it the vehicle to realize his ambitions for a Germanic Europe. His command of Hitler’s bodyguard was only a first step on this road to power, and through his determination and political skills he extended the role of the SS to encompass control of the police, security, and intelligence services as well as the creation of the military force that would become the Waffen-SS.

  In retrospect, it might seem that the SS—given its ubiquity and success—was an inevitable consequence of Nazism itself, but without Himmler it would have remained a minor organization at best. Himmler’s importance in the creation of the Waffen-SS also needs to be underlined in light of postwar attempts by former Waffen-SS generals to downplay his role. A recent biographer, Peter Longerich, has written, “Himmler was the complete opposite of a faceless functionary interchangeable with any other. The position he built up over the years can instead be described as an extreme example of the almost total personalization of political power.”3

  THE TONE AND style of the SS owed much to the Freikorps movement that flourished at the end of World War I. In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, Germany seemed poised on the brink of civil war, with the newly established republican government threatened by communists and other Far Left political groups. The response of the political Right in Germany was to form ad hoc military units, or Freikorps, to suppress these leftist uprisings by force, its members recruited from the many disgruntled former soldiers who seemed unable to return to civilian life. By early 1919 the putative communist revolution in Germany had been snuffed out, the Freikorps earning a reputation for enthusiastic brutality. Apart from its battles with the German Left, the Freikorps fought in various border disputes, notably against Polish insurgents for control of Upper Silesia in 1921.

  Varying in size and capability, Freikorps units were typically based around a charismatic individual with frontline experience in the trenches, embodying a ferocious fighting attitude with a casual approach to formal discipline. They took as their model the freebooting Landsknecht mercenaries of sixteenth-century Germany.

  Manfred von Killinger, a Freikorps leader and subsequent Nazi politician, wrote that his soldiers “didn’t care why or for whom they fought. The main thing for them was that they were fighting. War had become their career. They had no desire to look for another. War made them happy—what more can you ask?”4 Another Freikorps member, Ernst von Salomon, praised his comrades for their “ruthless action against armed or unarmed enemy masses, their limitless contempt for the so-called sanctity of life and their marked disinclination to take prisoners under any circumstances.”5 Although the Freikorps withered away in the early 1920s, their nihilistic attitude influenced the conduct of the SS from the outset. Many senior Waffen-SS officers served in Freikorps units.

  The Freikorps also made their mark on the cumbersome unit and rank designations adopted by the SA and then SS. The old system of the regular army was rejected in favor of more Germanic styles derived from the trenches, so that, for example, a battalion was retitled a “storm unit” (Sturmbann), commanded not by a major but by a Sturmbannführer.

  Senior and far larger than the SS, the SA dominated the Nazi movement during the 1920s. Himmler, however, chafed under his subordination to the SA, and at the end of 1930 he persuaded Hitler to grant the SS a substantial degree of autonomy. The SS swiftly repaid Hitler’s favor during the Stennes revolts of 1930–1931, when the SS supported the party against attacks on its offices led by Berlin’s maverick SA leader, Walther Stennes. After the revolt’s suppression, Hitler publicly praised the SS: “SS Mann, deine Ehre heisst Treue” (SS man, your honor is loyalty). This was amended to the SS motto—“My honor is loyalty”—subsequently inscribed on the belt buckles of all SS men. Encouraged by this new degree of independence, Himmler issued instructions for the production of a new uniform
and insignia to underline the separateness of the SS from its parent organization.

  The SA had adopted the brown uniforms that provided its nickname as a result of a chance acquisition of large stocks of khaki-brown military shirts originally destined for Germany’s tropical colonies. During the 1920s the SS also wore the brown SA uniform, but with black breeches and a black kepi that included the Totenkopf (Death’s Head) insignia. On Himmler’s orders a new SS uniform was introduced in 1932.

  Designed by two SS officers, Professor Karl Diebitsch and Walter Heck, the black uniform issued to all ranks was modeled on that of a German Army officer, far superior to the clumsy attempts at a paramilitary outfit made by the SA. The choice of black reflected its popularity among fascist movements and was also a nod to the black uniforms worn by the Prussian lifeguard hussars. And the sinister nature of the uniform was not lost on Himmler, who took a keen interest in all aspects of SS regalia. The uniforms were manufactured in the factories of Hugo Boss, a dedicated Nazi supporter whose tailoring business had been rescued from bankruptcy by SS contracts.

  For use in the field, from 1935 onward, the militarized or armed SS dispensed with black uniforms for a more practical version made from earth-gray or earth-brown material. This experiment did not last long, however, when in 1937 both uniform types were replaced by a field-gray version similar to that worn by the army. From then onward, field units of the armed SS could be distinguished from their army counterparts only by their special insignia.

  Since the late nineteenth century, German interest in Nordic runes had been encouraged by various right-wing Volkish (nationalist folk) groups. The most famous of these rune symbols was, of course, the Hakenkreuz (hooked cross), or swastika, which came to visually define the Nazi regime. Among other related signs was the lightning flash of the Siegrune, the symbol of victory. Walter Heck—a graphic designer by training—placed two Siegrunes side by side to create the iconic insignia worn by SS men.6 Karl Diebitsch, one of Himmler’s favorite artists, helped design the ceremonial sword and the talismanic dagger. He was also a director of the Bavarian Allach porcelain works, which produced objets d’art using slave labor from the nearby Dachau concentration camp.

  The Totenkopf and crossbones had a long history in the German armed forces, dating back to the time of Prussia’s Frederick the Great. During World War I it had become a popular symbol among storm troopers and fighter pilots, and its use continued among the many Freikorps bands. Thus, it was hardly surprising that the Totenkopf was adopted by the SS from its inception, worn as a cap badge by all members. It was through the use of such iconic uniforms and insignia that Himmler was able to present the SS as an organization glamorous and sinister at the same time.

  THERE WOULD BE little difficulty in attracting men for service in the SS. Indeed, such was the rush of volunteers after Hitler had come to power that Himmler temporarily halted recruitment to prevent its elite status from being fatally dissipated. Yet the expansion of the SS to more than 50,000 members had already caused its own problem: it was just too big and unwieldy to give Hitler the close protection he required as German chancellor.

  Prior to January 1933 Hitler had been able to rely on a circle of a dozen or so chauffeurs and bodyguards, tough street fighters armed with blackjacks and concealed pistols. Now that he was Germany’s political leader, Hitler faced wider and larger threats, not least from sections of the army who despised and feared the Nazis and even from some of his old but now disgruntled supporters.

  On 17 March 1933, Hitler personally resolved the problem by ordering Sepp Dietrich, one of his old bodyguards, to form an SS-Stabswache (staff or headquarters guard) to protect the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Just 117 men strong, this unit was the first manifestation of what became the armed SS. Dietrich, a Bavarian of humble background, was the sort of man invaluable to Hitler and the Nazi cause. Loyal to his master, he reveled in the cut and thrust of street politics; his cool head under fire and rough and easy manner made him a natural leader. Having served in Bavarian storm-troop units during World War I, he fought as a Freikorps soldier in Upper Silesia before gravitating toward the fledgling Nazi Party. Although his fighting credentials were established in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, he dropped out of the movement until 1928, when he formally joined the party and the SS.

  Under the patronage of both Himmler and Hitler, Dietrich rose swiftly through the ranks and by 1930 was an Oberführer. A postwar Allied interrogation described him as having “a flair for the dramatic in gesture and speech, and a crude sense of humor, coupled with a forceful energy that could be hard and ruthless” and noted that this “undoubtedly enabled him to achieve his meteoric success in the SS.”7

  Dietrich’s guard was soon redesignated Sonderkommando (Special Command) Berlin, reinforced by two other similar units in June 1933. Shortly afterward the Sonderkommando was housed in the famous Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin. Recruited mainly from the SS and SA, the new guard grew to around 800 men, receiving three months of basic training from the army. Hitler conceived the Sonderkommando as his own special unit, separate from the army and police and semi-independent from the rest of the SS. Dietrich zealously maintained this latter distinction, much to Himmler’s irritation.

  Hitler confirmed the Sonderkommando’s special position by upgrading it as the Adolf Hitler Standarte (Regiment) in September 1933. On November 9—the tenth anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch—the regiment was assembled in front of Hitler at the Feldherrnhalle in Munich, where the failed coup had been brought to its bloody conclusion. At midnight, under flaming torches, the Führer’s guard was formally redesignated Leibstandarte SS “Adolf Hitler,” a name that referred back to the imperial lifeguards of Prussia and Imperial Germany. More significantly, the assembled soldiers swore an oath of allegiance, not to the German state but directly to their leader: “We swear to you, Adolf Hitler, loyalty and bravery. We pledge to you, and to the superiors appointed by you, obedience unto death—so help us God.”

  LEIBSTANDARTE WAS JUST the first of three militarized elements that were separate from other sections of the SS and that eventually came together to create the Waffen-SS (although the term was not used until 1940). Those SS men not part of the armed SS (or any other specific SS organization) were lumped together as the Allgemeine (General) SS. Many of these were part-timers, and with the outbreak of war in 1939 the influence and numerical size of the black-uniformed Allgemeine-SS would rapidly decline.

  In Germany’s major towns and cities, specially selected SS members were assembled into the full-time SS Verfügungstruppe, or SS-VT (roughly translated as “Troops at the Führer’s Disposal”). Their duties took on an increasingly paramilitary nature, and they would become the second strand of the armed SS. Originally consisting of small groups scattered across Germany, they coalesced into two Standarten (regiments): “Deutschland” in Munich and “Germania” in Hamburg. They took the organizational form of a German Army infantry regiment, each Standarten comprising three battalions of infantry. For administrative purposes, Leibstandarte was considered a constituent part of the SS-VT, even though Dietrich and his fellow Leibstandarte soldiers considered themselves a separate entity.

  The third armed element comprised the SS Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV), units of prison guards recruited to contain the internal enemies of Nazi Germany, now housed in SS-run prisons and concentration camps. The first of these camps was situated at Dachau, a rail stop away from Munich. Its inmates were predominantly communists, socialists, trade unionists, and the more vociferous liberal democrats, soon to be joined by increasing numbers of Jews.

  The Dachau camp was badly run, and after a series of scandals it attracted strong criticism from the police, at this time not under full Nazi control. Himmler was sufficiently alarmed by the criticism that in June 1933 he replaced the camp commandant, Hilmar Wäckerle, with one of his protégés, Theodor Eicke. Wäckerle’s career was not harmed, however: the bullwhip-wielding sadist8 transferred to the SS-VT, where he was commiss
ioned as an officer.

  Eicke was born in Alsace in 1892, the son of railroad stationmaster, and after an indifferent schooling he enlisted in the German Army at the age of seventeen. Although winning an Iron Cross (2nd Class) on the outbreak of war, he spent most of the conflict behind the lines as a regimental paymaster. In the uncertain post-1918 world he sought a variety of jobs, variously as a policeman, salesman, and security officer. But his restless nature and violently expressed opposition to the Weimar government made any time holding an official position necessarily short.

  In 1928 he joined the Nazi Party, an organization that closely accorded with his virulent right-wing views, and two years later entered the SS. Eicke was a rough-hewn thug who possessed the ability to get things done and had no scruples in how this might be achieved. In many ways his background and approach mirrored that of Sepp Dietrich, but Eicke differed from Dietrich in his unbounded hatred for those he saw as enemies of the Nazi cause. His violent and quarrelsome nature caused problems for Himmler. At one point he was briefly incarcerated in a mental hospital during 1933 for attacking a fellow Nazi dignitary. But after entreaties from his psychiatrist pleading that Eicke was, in fact, sane, Himmler allowed him to leave the hospital to take command of the concentration camp at Dachau.