Army of Evil: A History of the SSIn Nazi Germany, they were called the Schutzstaffeln. The world would know them as the dreaded SS—the most loyal and ruthless enforcers of the Third Reich. It began as a small squad of political thugs. Yet by the end of 1935, the SS had taken control of all police and internal security duties in Germany—ranging from local village “gendarmes” all the way up to the secret political police and the Gestapo. Eventually, its ranks would grow to rival even Germany’s regular armed forces, the Wehrmacht. Going beyond the myths and characterizations, Army of Evil reveals the reality of the SS as a cadre of unwavering political fanatics and power-seeking opportunists who slavishly followed an ideology that disdained traditional morality—an ideology that they were prepared to implement to the utmost murderous extreme, which ultimately resulted in the Holocaust. This is a definitive historical narrative of the birth, legacy, and demise of one of the most feared political and military organizations ever known—and of those twisted, cruel men who were responsible for one of the most appalling crimes against humanity in history. INCLUDES RARE PHOTOGRAPHS |
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administration anti armed forces Auschwitz Austrian battalion Bavarian became Belzec Berger Berlin Birkenau British British Free Corps centre chief combat command concentration camp Daluege death Death’s Head deported Dirlewanger Division Eichmann Eicke ethnic Germans European Jews euthanasia extermination formations Free Corps gas chambers Germany’s Gestapo ghetto Globocnik Goering Gottlob Berger guards headquarters Heinrich Himmler Heydrich Hilberg Himmler Hitler Höhne Höss ideological infantry intelligence Jewish Jews joined the SS Kershaw killed labour later leadership Leibstandarte Main Office majority ment military Munich murdered NARA BDC National Socialist NSDAP Operation Reinhard organisation Padfield party Poland Polish political prisoners programme racial rank recruitment Regiment Regional Leader Reichstag Röhm role RSHA Senior SS September Sobibor soldiers Soviet Special Purpose Troops special task groups squad SS and police SS units SS’s staff Stangl Stennes Strasser Third Reich tion Treblinka UKNA volunteers Waffen Waffen-SS Wannsee Conference Wehrmacht