History of the SS

by G.S. Graber

Book Overview

In a most unusual approach to the SS, the au thor also shows how various aspects of the SS live on - and are developing new forms - in today''s world. ' This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067950754X
• ISBN13: 9780679507543
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: David McKay Company
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Very Readable History of the SS

I bought this paperback 15 years ago, and during one sleepless night, picked it out at random and read the 229 pages in relatively short order. Graber's book is a very tight, meticulously researched history of the SS, with a focus on Heinrich Himmler, who seemingly by happenstance and political back-scratching became head of this huge and lethal organization. Graber uses Himmler as the personification of "the banality of evil." By this device, he continuously hammers home how ordinary Himmler was - his middle class roots and values, his bureaucratic officiousness, and his yearning for a simple agrarian lifestyle. Graber dismisses the notion of the SS being comprised of monsters (which would of course make it easier for us to accept their atrocities) but instead strings together a chronology that shows a linear progression in brutality and horror. The SS was largely comprised of ex-Freikorps members, a paramilitary force formed after World War I as a reaction against the anarchy and threatened communist takeovers of both federal and provincial governments in Germany. Against this backdrop of street-fighting and vigilante justice (not unlike the American Ku Klux Klan), the SS ultimately became the Praetorian Guard of the Nazi Party, achieving this status only after a bloodbath with Ernst Röhm's SA, which culminated in the Night of The Long Knives. From there, the role of the SS evolved into multiple functions within the Nazi State, including the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), which was responsible for internal and external security, the guards and killers of the Einsatztruppen and Totenkopfverbände (Death Head Units), and the Waffen SS, which evolved into an elite military force rivaling the Wehrmacht. In terms of the SS's responsibility for the Holocaust, Graber lays out the role of Eichmann and others as a path of incremental brutality. At first, Jews were publicly humiliated and threatened with the loss of property and civil rights. Later, (only after paying huge ransoms) they were allowed to emigrate or resettle. Finally, they were murdered individually and then on an industrial scale at Treblinka and Auschwitz. The capture and suicide of Heinrich Himmler is a comic farce. He likely would have made his way to South America had he not made a series of staggering blunders several weeks after the end of the war. The book goes off the rails a bit at the end, when it tries to tie the SS's romanticization of a pre-industrial life with the modern day environmental movement. Graber also clumsily links the SS's pan European appeal (the Waffen SS had thousands of foreign volunteers) with contemporary European integration. However, in Graber's defense, he wrote the book in 1978 when these positions were perhaps a bit more understandable.

Profesionally written, factual & informative

"(The) History of the SS", G.S. Graber, NY, David McKay Co., 1978, HC 228 pg., 8 1/2" x 5 3/4" This book is largely dedicated to factual coverage of the life of Heimlich Himmler (HH), Oct. 7, 1900 - May 23, 1945, a Catholic born in Munich, died in Lueneburg, buried in unmarked grave, a suicide by cyanide. He was "Grand Master" of the SS. HH rose from member of Reichskriegflagge, a flag bearer, at Hitler's historic Beer-Hall Putsch of Nov. 8, 1923, to National Soc. FM publicist 1924, to Dep. Reichsfuehrer-SS in 1927 & then Reichsfuehrer-SS in 1929. History of the SA Sturmabteilung "Storm Detachment" & SS Shutzstaffel "Protective Squad" is traced from WWI along with emergence of the elite Sturmbataillone Rohr model "Storm Troops" permitted sidearms, wore Death's Head insignia (Totenkopf) in addition to those paramilitary volunteers of the Freikorps. Additionally there was the SD Sicherheitsdienst (Foreign Intell. Service) & Gestapo or Geheime staatspolizei. Hitler renamed the German Worker's Party (DAP) as the National Socialist Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. HH was "Chief of Police" in charge of Secret Gestapo April 10, 1934. Political unreast with poorly regimented SA (brown shirts) vs. more esteemed SS (black shirts) led to a "surprize party" purging in Bavaria on June 30, 1934 -- the "Night of the Long Knives"-- where many (79 to 600) SA leaders were executed. For money the SS recruited 350,000 Foerdernde Mitglieder (sponsoring members) including Prince non Hohenzollern-Emden, Princes Christof & Wilhelm of Hesse, Dr. Buetefisch of I.G. Farben, Siemens, and many, many more, etc. "Kristallnacht" of Nov. 9, 1938 is fully discussed as reprisal to killing of Ernst von Rath, German embassy counsellor to France, by 17-year-old Hershel Grynszpan, Polish Jew, outraged at deportation of his father's family to the bordertown, Benshen. With outbreak of WW11 (1939) the sinister SS intellectuals (Otto Ohlendorf, et al.) activated extermination squads Einsatsgruppen, Reinhard Heydrich's "Schutzhaft" protective custody law was proclaimed, & propagandizing the alleged forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" all focused on combating & eliminating Jewish privileges by total removal of the Jews. Written orders, Schutzhaftbefehl, (custody Form D-11) for "staatsfeindlich" (enemies of the state) enabled transporting "detainees" to prison camps for work, starvation, or execution by shooting, gassing, beatings etc. at Auschwitz, Treblinka, Dachau & Mauthausen, etc. Near the close of the war, HH, aware Nazis were losing, tried to negotiate separate peace with the allies including Pres. Truman & was rebuffed. HH was "ex-communicated" by Hitler who placed Grand Admiral Doenitz in charge. HH's amateurish attempt to escape by disguise failed, he was arrested, bit cyanide capsule in dental filling during interrogation & was dead in 12 minutes. There is also much ado about Adolph Eichman, the "Warsaw Ghetto", Ernst Roehm, Ernst Kaltenbrunne