Report an Incident. Its members ranged from agents of the Gestapo to soldiers of the Waffen armed SS to guards at concentration and death camps. The SS symbol is derived from the "sowilo" or "sun" rune, a character in the pre-Roman runic alphabet associated with the "s" sound.
The Nazis derived many of their symbols from such pre-Roman images. Because the sowilo rune resembles a lightning bolt with flat ends instead of pointed ends , the SS symbol has come to be associated with a lightning bolt image. Top Nazi's daughter worked for spy agency. Himmler diaries show daily Nazi horrors.
Image source, Getty Images. Heinrich Himmler was head of the SS and a key architect of the Holocaust. Image source, Military Intelligence Museum. Himmler's documents, complete with false name and stamp. Lt Col Sidney Noakes is thought to have interrogated Himmler before his death. So how did he end up with the papers? Himmler diaries show daily Nazi horrors The Holocaust: Who are the missing million?
Related Topics. Published 23 October Published 24 April Published 29 June Following his release from prison on the 20 December , Hitler convinced the Chancellor of Bavaria to remove the ban on the Nazi Party. In February , Hitler organised the Bamberg Conference. Hitler wanted to reunify the party, and set out a plan for the next few years. Whilst some small differences remained, Hitler was largely successful in reuniting the socialist and nationalist sides of the party.
Firstly, the Nazi Party adopted a new framework, which divided Germany into regions called Gaue. Each Gaue had its own leader, a Gauleiter. Each Gaue was then divided into subsections, called Kreise. Each Kreise then had its own leader, called a Kreisleiter.
Each Kreise was then divided into even smaller sections, each with its own leader, and so on. Each of these sections were responsible to the section above them, with Hitler at the very top of the party with ultimate authority.
The Nazis also established new groups for different professions, from children, to doctors, to lawyers. These aimed to infiltrate already existing social structures, and help the party gain more members and supporters. These political changes changed the Nazi Party from a paramilitary organisation focused on overthrowing the republic by force, to one focused on gaining power through elections and popular support. Initially most members were ex-soldiers or unemployed men.
If Hitler was to gain power democratically, he needed to reform the SA. He set out to change their reputation. A new leader, Franz von Salomon, was recruited.
Rather than the violent free rein they had previously enjoyed, Salomon was stricter and gave the SA a more defined role. In , Hitler also established the Schutzstaffel , otherwise known as the SS. The SS were a small sub-division of the SA with approximately members until In , Heinrich Himmler took over the organisation, and expanded it dramatically. By , the SS had 35, members. They terrorized and aimed to destroy any person or group that threatened this.
The SA and the SS became symbols of terror. The Nazi Party used these two forces to terrify their opposition into subordination, slowly eliminate them entirely, or scare people into supporting them. Whilst the SA and the SS played their part, the Nazis primarily focused on increasing their membership through advertising the party legitimately. They did this through simple and effective propaganda. The Nazis started advocating clear messages tailored to a broad range of people and their problems.
Jews and Communists also featured heavily in the Nazi propaganda as enemies of the German people. Joseph Goebbels was key to the Nazis use of propaganda to increase their appeal. Goebbels joined the Nazi Party in and became the Gauleiter for Berlin in Goebbels used a combination of modern media, such as films and radio, and traditional campaigning tools such as posters and newspapers to reach as many people as possible.
These camps were initially established by the Storm Troopers SA and later came under the exclusive authority of the chief of the SS the elite guard of the Nazi state. March 20, Heinrich Himmler announces the opening of Dachau The Dachau camp, located near Munich in southern Germany, is one of the first concentration camps established by the Nazis.
SS chief Heinrich Himmler announces its opening on March 20, The first prisoners arrive on March They are mainly Communists and Socialists. Dachau is the only camp to remain in operation from until All police powers are now centralized. The Gestapo German secret state police comes under Himmler's control.
Responsible for state security, it has the authority to send individuals to concentration camps. Members of the Gestapo are often also members of the SS. We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia.
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