(, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest
rank of the SS. The longest-serving and most noteworthy office holder was
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
.
Definition
was both a title and a rank. The title of was first created in 1926 by the second commander of the SS,
Joseph Berchtold.
Julius Schreck, founder of the SS and Berchtold's predecessor, never referred to himself as . Yet, the title was retroactively applied to him in later years. In 1929, Heinrich Himmler became and referred to himself by his title instead of his regular SS rank of . This set the precedent for the commander of the SS to be called .
Prior to the
Night of the Long Knives, the SS was an elite corps of the (SA or storm troopers), and the was subordinate to the SA's operating head, the . On 20 July 1934, as part of the purge of the SA, the SS was made an independent branch of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
, responsible only to Hitler. From that point on, the title of became an actual rank, and in fact the highest rank of the SS. In this position, Himmler was on paper the equivalent of a in the
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
. As Himmler's position and authority grew in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, so did his rank in a "de facto" sense. Further, there was never more than one at any one time, with Himmler holding the position as his personal title from 1929 (becoming his actual rank in 1934) until April 1945.
Duties
Under its original inception, the title and rank of was the designation for the head of the (General-SS). In this capacity, the SS Reich Leader was the direct commander of the SS Senior District Leaders (''SS-Oberabschnitt Führer''); by 1936, the was head of the three main SS branches: the , (SS-VT; political action troops), and the (SS-TV; concentration camp service).
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the in effect held several additional roles and wielded enormous personal power. He was responsible for all internal security within
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. He was overseer of the concentration camps, extermination camps (through the
Concentration Camps Inspectorate and SS-TV), and the ''
Einsatzgruppen
(, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imp ...
'' mobile death squads (through the
Reich Security Main Office
The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...
; RSHA). Over time, his influence on both civil and foreign policy became marked, as the ''Reichsführer'' reported directly to Hitler and his actions were not tempered by checks and balances. This meant the office holder could implement broad policy, such as the
Nazi plan for the
Genocide
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
or extermination of the
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, or order criminal acts such as the
''Stalag Luft III'' murders, without impediment.
It is difficult to separate the office from the duties assigned to the individual. As of 20 April 1934, Himmler in his position of already controlled the
SD and the
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
. On 17 June 1936 Himmler was named chief of all
German police, thereby placing all uniformed police (
Orpo) and criminal police (
Kripo) in Germany under his control. In the latter role, he was nominally subordinate to the
Interior Minister
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
,
Wilhelm Frick. It is not clear how much of this power would technically reside in the office of the ''Reichsführer-SS'' were those duties to be split up. These questions became moot by the time Himmler became the Interior Minister in 1943.
It is difficult to define precisely the full detailed duties and responsibilities of the beyond that of leader and senior member of the SS, since, in the words of historian
Martin Windrow
Martin C. Windrow (1944-2025) was a British historian, editor and author of several hundredWindrow, Martin ''The Last Valley'', preface books, articles and monographs, particularly those on organizational or physical details of military history, ...
, "by the outbreak of the (Second World) war it would have been impossible to define exactly the role within the state" of the entire SS itself.
Relationship with the ''Waffen-SS''
The rank of was defined in the SS hierarchy as the highest possible rank of the . The exact position of the rank within the ''
Waffen-SS
The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...
'' evolved over many years, ranging from clearly defined to vaguely associated. The ''Waffen-SS'' was originally the small armed SS unit known as the (SS-VT), and in the 1930s was under the command of Himmler who, in his position as , issued directives and orders to SS-VT commanders. Hold-outs existed for some aspects of the armed SS however, as well as within the special bodyguard unit known as the . Although the unit was nominally under Himmler,
Sepp Dietrich was the real commander and handled its day-to-day administration.
The ''Waffen-SS'' eventually grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions and served alongside the German Army, but was never formally part of it. During World War II, the authority of the over the ''Waffen-SS'' was mainly administrative in that certain General-SS offices controlled supply and logistics aspects of it. Himmler also held authority to create new ''Waffen-SS'' divisions as well as order the formation of various smaller SS combat units. The daily association with the ''Waffen-SS'', however, encompassed primarily inspecting ''Waffen-SS'' troops and presenting high-ranking medals to its members.
The further never exercised direct operational authority over ''Waffen-SS'' units until the very end of the war and then only through his capacity as an Army Group commander and not as the head of the SS. Top ''Waffen-SS'' commanders, such as Sepp Dietrich,
Wilhelm Bittrich, and
Matthias Kleinheisterkamp, further held a certain derision for Himmler, describing him as "sly and unmilitary".
Attached to the office was the 18,438-strong SS formations managed by the ("Command Staff ") reporting directly to Himmler. To head the Command Staff, Himmler appointed career army officer
Kurt Knoblauch, who acted as chief of staff for the units. Prior to the launch of the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, these formations included two motorized SS-Infantry Brigades, two SS-Cavalry Regiments combined into the
SS Cavalry Brigade, a bodyguard battalion, flak units and a number of companies of support troops. Units were temporarily placed under army command for operations, but the could call them back at any time. Despite the name, it was not employed as a unified HQ unit. Instead, its individual units were sent to occupied areas, subordinated to local
Higher SS and Police Leader
The title of SS and Police Leader (') designated a senior Nazi Party official who commanded various components of the SS and the German uniformed police ('' Ordnungspolizei''), before and during World War II in the German Reich proper and in the ...
s (HSSPFs) and used for so-called "pacification actions" alongside the . Often these actions were atrocities and mass murders, targeting Jews, political prisoners and "suspected partisans".
Office holders
In all, five people held the title of during the twenty years of its existence. Three persons held the position as a title while two held the actual SS rank.
Hanke was appointed SS leader in April 1945, but not informed until early May. He was captured by
Czech partisans on 6 May and interned. He was killed on 8 June, while attempting to escape a
POW camp. Historians have often speculated that
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...
would have eventually held the rank had Himmler in some way been killed or removed from his position earlier in World War II, and indeed Heydrich was often seen as Himmler's
heir apparent
An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...
by senior SS leaders. However, at a diplomatic function in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
in 1941, Heydrich was reported as stating that he had no desire to succeed Himmler.
Timeline
Deputy
See also
*
Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS
The Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS () was a main office of the SS, which was established in 1933 by Heinrich Himmler to serve as a personal office coordinating various activities and projects subordinate to the '' Reichsführer-SS''.
Operatio ...
*
Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reichsfuhrer-Ss
SS ranks
Nazi paramilitary ranks
German words and phrases
Heinrich Himmler
Five-star officers of Nazi Germany