The order of the death's head : the story of Hitler's SS

715 Pages·2000·24.52 MB·English

by  Höhne

THE ORDER OF
THE D E A T H ’ S HEAD
T HE ORDER OF THE D E A T H ’ S HEAD
THE STORY OF H I T L E R ’S SS
‘I know there are many who feel uncomfortable when they see this
black tunic; we understand that and do not expect to be beloved by
many people’
H einrich H immler
The true story of Hitler’s SS is strange and, at times, absurd. It is the
story of an organization that was not directed by some devilishly
efficient system but was the product of accident, inevitability and the
grouping together of criminals, social climbers and romantics.
The SS was the terror of Europe. Swearing eternal allegiance to Adolf
Hitler, it infiltrated every aspect of German life and murdered
millions. In charge of the police and the secret service, the SS also
occupied key positions in agriculture and the health service while
maintaining a powerful influence over racial policy and scientific
affairs. The sentries at the Reich Chancellery and the guards in the
death camps were hand-picked from their deadly ranks. The Order
of the Death’s Head cuts through the myth of the efficient German
machine and exposes the rivalries, infighting and bizarre customs of
the most macabre elite in recent history.
Above all this book describes, in fascinating detail, the chaotic
political conditions following the First World War which allowed the
SS to assume and exercise unaccountable power from 1930 to its
demise fifteen years later in the rubble of the Third Reich.
Cover Photograph:
Parade of SS Leibstandarte ISBN 0-141-39012-3 Military History
‘Adolf Hitler’ in front of the
porch of the Reich
Chancellery. 1940
AKG, London
Back cover vignette: 780141 390123
Death’s Head Symbol
courtesy of AKG, London
U.K. £7.99 CAN. $25.99
Vpenguin books
THE ORDER OF THE DEATH’S HEAD
‘The SS could be both violent and moderate. Radical in action, it was
often cautious in policy. It was both mystical and sceptical ... In this
remarkable book, Mr Heinz Hohne illustrates these inconsistencies.
He is a German journalist who is also a thorough researcher and an
exact critical scholar of sound historical judgment. His book is
necessarily long but it is never tedious; it is efficiendy written and
excellendy translated. I have read it with the greatest interest and
learned much from it* Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times
‘Besides telling a story of the greatest political and human interest, he
shows qualities of judgment that are rare among journalists turned
historians ... I strongly recommend this book to the general reader
because it is readable, well translated and full of incidental insights’
Donald McLachlan, Spectator
‘It is likely to become a standard work of reference on the subject’
The Times Literary Supplement
‘This book is the product of vast and highly intelligent research.
The author has remained analytical and unemotional’
Terence Prittie, Guardian
‘This is a long book ... but it is an impressive one ... Herr Hohne s
books should be read by anyone who is actively concerned with the
shaping of Britain’s future, for it tells a grim cautionary tale relevant
to all’ William Frend, Glasgow Herald
‘... required reading for anyone closely interested in the European
scene in this country ... Herr Hohne’s close study and accumulation
of evidence show the extraordinary complication pervading the
subject’ Christopher Sykes, Observer
‘This is journalistic history at its best’ Stephen Roskill,
Sunday Telegraph
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heinz Hohne is a German journalist, specializing in Nazi and
intelligence history. He was born in Berlin in 1926 and educated
there until he was called up into the army in the last months of the
Second World War. After the war he studied journalism in Munich
and went on to work for several newspapers as a freelance reporter.
In 1955 he joined the foreign staff of Der Spiegel, in charge of its
Anglo-American department. During the famous *Spiegel affair* of
1962, his detective work helped to free the Spiegel staff who had been
arrested in government raids on the magazine, and he soon became
known for his painstaking investigations into unexplored areas of
Nazi Germany’s past. These were serialized in Der Spiegel, and
acclaimed as landmarks in journalistic history. His groundbreaking
book, The Order of the Death’s Head, appeared in 1967. This was
followed in 1971 by Codeword: Direktor, a revisionist study of Soviet
Russia’s largest spy network in the Great War, and Canaris (1976), a
radically new interpretation of Hitler s spy master. He is co-author of
Network (with Hermann Zolling, 1972), and author of Krieg im
Dunkeln (1985), an in-depth account of the centuries-old relationship
between German and Russian intelligence. Since his retirement
Heinz Hohne has worked on a complete history of the Third Reich.
The first volume of this, Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit, appeared in 1996. He
lives with his wife near Hamburg.
HEINZ HOHNE
THE ORDER of THE
DEATH’S HEAD
THE STORY OF HITLER’ S SS
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
BY RICHARD BARRY
©
PENGUIN BOOKS
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First published in German under the tide Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf 1966
Published in English under die present ride by Martin Seeker & Warburg Ltd 1969
Published as a Classic Penguin 2000
1
Copyright ©Veriag der Spiegel, Hamburg, 1966, and Sigbert Mohn Veriag, Gutersloh, 1971
English translation copyright © Martin Seeker & Warburg Ltd 1969
All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain by CPI UK
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
CONTENTS
author’s acknowledgments viii
translator’s NOTE ix
CALENDAR OF EVENTS X
, I INTRODUCTION
I
2
THE FORMATION OF THE SS . 14
3 HEINRICH HIMMLER 29
4
FROM BODYGUARD TO PARTY POLICE FORCE 51
5 SEIZURE OF POWER 76
6 THE ROHM PUTSCH
93
7
THE ORDER OF THE SS
132
8
HEYDRICH AND THE GESTAPO 161
9
THE SD
196
10
THE RSHA
226
ii THE SS AND FOREIGN POLICY 259
12
RACIAL POLICY IN THE EAST 293
13
THB JEWISH QUESTION 324
14
THE “FINAL SOLUTION^
353
15
THE IMPOTENCE OF POWER 401
16 THE WAFFEN—SS
436
17
THE SS AND GERMAN RESISTANCE
483
18 THE END
540
V
VI Contents
Appendixes
585
I Notes
2 Glossary 641
3 Table of SS Ranks TS52
4 Partition of Poland 1939-1942 653
5 The Fate of German Jewry 654
6 Einsatzgruppen in Occupied Russia 655
7 The Destruction of European Jewry 656
8 The Victims of the “Final SohtiotC' 657
9 The Military Situation at the End ofJ anuary 1945 658
IO Bibliography 659
INDEX 673
ILLUSTRATIONS
facing page
I The Reichsfuhrer-SS, Heinrich Himmler 50
2 Reinharcl Heydrich with Wilhelm Canaris 51
3 Himmler inspecting a Prisoner of War Camp 82
4
Heydrich fencing against a Hungarian Police Officer 82
5 Ernst Rohm and Himmler marching in a Funeral
Procession 83
6 Rohm and Himmler at an Open-air Service 83
7 Persecution in the Streets of Hamburg 114
8 A Body being Cremated 114
9 Flemish Volunteers of the Waffen-SS taking the Oath
to Hitler ri5
10 Recruiting for the Waffen-SS in Vienna 115
11 The Leibstandarte Adolf Hider, 30 January 1938 146
12 Parade of the SS on Hider’s 50th Birthday 146
13 Himmler Saluting the Tomb of King Heinrich I 147
14 “Ritual Festival” of the German “People’s Group” 147
15 Ketdedrummer of the Leibstandarte 178
16 SS Hom-blowers at a “Nordic Musical Festival” 178
17 The SS lining the Streets on Hider’s Birthday 179
18 SS Guard of Honour 179
19 Sepp Dietrich, Commander of the Leibstandarte 210
20 A “Traditional SS Festival” 210
21 Members of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hider at a Lecture 211
22 Education in Early German History 211
The author and publishers would like to thank the following for their kind permission
to use the illustrations: Gabriel Krap, Wedel: 4; Heinrich Hoffman, Munich: 5; Der
Spiegel, Hamburg: 7; Suddeutscher Verlag, Munich: 2, 3,6,10-12,15-22; Ullstein,
Berlin: 1, 8, 13; Weltkriegsbiicherei, Stuttgart: 9, 14
vii
AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all those persons
and jncrimrinm without whose active assistance this book could not
have been written. My thanks go: first to Herr Rudolf Augstein, the
editor of Der Spiegel, whose patient criticism both facilitated and
improved my work; secondly to Herr Hans Detlev Becker, the publi­
cation director of .Der Spiegel, who initiated the SS Series, took immense
interest and was always ready with advice. I equally feel under an
obligation to all those men and women—former members, opponents
and victims of the SS—who were prepared, time and again, to provide
information; they are too numerous to be mentioned individually.
They have contributed much to this book but they carry not the
ctnalW responsibility for any errors or misinterpretations of which
I may have been guilty.