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138-473: The newspaper was published in close co-operation with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service), which had substantial editorial control. The first edition appeared on 6 March 1935. In November of the same year, publication reached 200,000 and by 1944 had increased to 750,000. The newspaper saw some distribution outside Germany. Formed in 1935, Das Schwarze Korps was the official newspaper of

276-505: A German radio station in Gleiwitz . The SD took concentration-camp inmates condemned to die, and fitted them with Polish Army uniforms which Heinz Jost had acquired from Admiral Wilhelm Canaris ' Abwehr (military intelligence). Leading this mission and personally selected by Heydrich was SS veteran Alfred Naujocks , who later reported during a War Criminal proceeding that he brought a Polish-speaking German along so he could broadcast

414-482: A Ministerial Counselor, instructing them to draft a law forbidding sexual relations or marriages between Jews and non-Jews. They, in turn, summoned Franz Albrecht Medicus  [ de ] and Bernhard Lösener of the Interior Ministry to Nuremberg to assist with the hurried drafting of the legislation. The two men arrived on 14 September. That evening, Hitler ordered them to also have ready by morning

552-456: A breeding-ground for Bolshevism and a recruiting base for the political and sub-humanity that, as a result of the selection process, is disintegrating on the margins of our own nationhood...In the event of such a development, we would face the harsh necessity of wiping out the Jewish underworld just as we are used to wiping out criminals in our orderly state: with fire and sword. The result would be

690-561: A crippling economic and social impact on the Jewish community. Persons convicted of violating the marriage laws were imprisoned, and (subsequent to 8 March 1938) upon completing their sentences were re-arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Nazi concentration camps . Non-Jews gradually stopped socialising with Jews or shopping in Jewish-owned stores, many of which closed due to a lack of customers. As Jews were no longer permitted to work in

828-551: A decree on 1 July 1937, clearly defining the SD's areas of responsibility as those dealing with "learning ( Wissenschaft ), art, party and state, constitution and administration, foreign lands, Freemasonry and associations" whereas the "Gestapo's jurisdiction was Marxism, treason, and emigrants". Additionally, the SD was responsible for matters related to "churches and sects, pacifism, the Jews, right-wing movements", as well as "the economy, and

966-511: A draft of the Reich citizenship law. Hitler found the initial drafts of the Blood Law to be too lenient, so at around midnight Frick brought him four new drafts that differed mainly in the severity of the penalties they imposed. Hitler chose the most lenient version but left vague the definition of who was a Jew. Hitler stated at the rally that the laws were "an attempt at the legal settlement of

1104-506: A message in Polish from the German radio station "under siege" to the effect that it was time for an all out confrontation between Germans and Poles. To add documented proof of this attack, the SD operatives placed the fictitious Polish troops (killed by lethal injection, then shot for appearance) around the "attacked" radio station with the intention of taking members of the press to the site of

1242-407: A mixture of fear and foreboding," and people wanted as little to do with them as possible. Belonging to the security apparatus of Nazi Germany obviously had its advantages but it was also fraught with occupationally related social disadvantages as well, and if post-war descriptions of the SD by historians are any indication, membership therein implied being a part of a "ubiquitous secret society" which

1380-594: A myriad of cameras and photographic equipment, focusing efforts on important strategic locations like government buildings, police stations, postal services, public utilities, logistical routes, and above all, airfields. Hitler worked out a sophisticated plan to acquire the Sudetenland, including manipulating Slovak nationalists to vie for independence and the suppression of this movement by the Czech government. Under directions from Heydrich, SD operative Alfred Naujocks

1518-558: A notable portion of the content of the newspaper, especially in encouraging members of the SS and the public at large to remain prepared to report anyone who might oppose the war effort. For example, a 1943 article told the story of a soldier on leave from Stalingrad who overheard an old woman thought to be mentally impaired complaining about the war; the paper encouraged extreme action against people like this, calling them "cowardly traitors" and claiming in no uncertain terms that such persons deserve

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1656-699: A plot from Ernst Röhm 's SA using subversive means. On 20 April 1934 Hermann Göring handed over control of the Geheime Staatspolizei ( Gestapo ) to Himmler. Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of the SD. These events further extended Himmler's control of the security mechanism of the Reich, which by proxy also strengthened the surveillance power of Heydrich's SD, as both entities methodically infiltrated every police agency in Germany. Subsequently,

1794-482: A problem, which, if this proved a failure, would have to be entrusted by law to the National Socialist Party for a definitive solution". Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels had the radio broadcast of the passing of the laws cut short, and ordered the German media to not mention them until a decision was made as to how they would be implemented. The two Nuremberg Laws were unanimously passed by

1932-531: A propaganda campaign authorised at the highest levels of government. Most non-party members ignored the boycotts and objected to the violence out of concern for their own safety. Israeli historian Otto Dov Kulka argues that there was a disparity between the views of the Alte Kämpfer (longtime party members) and the general public, but that even those Germans who were not politically active favoured bringing in tougher new antisemitic laws in 1935. The matter

2070-667: A racial characteristic, rather than in terms of their previous characterisation as an 'anti-social' element of society. This work was advanced by Robert Ritter of the Racial Hygiene and Population unit of the Ministry of Health, who by 1942, had produced a scale of ZM+, ZM of the first and second degree, and ZM- to reflect an individual's decreasing level of Romani ancestry. This classification meant that one could be classified as Roma and subject to anti-Roma legislation based on having two Roma great-great-grandparents. According to

2208-588: A single Kreis , and, in turn, to be composed of wards ( Revier ), but such an ambitious network never emerged. Eventually, the SD-sub-districts acquired the simple designation of 'outposts' ( Aussenstellen ) as the lowest level-office in the field structure. The SD was mainly an information-gathering agency, while the Gestapo—and to a degree the Criminal Police ( Kriminalpolizei or Kripo)—was

2346-467: A strong central government, increased Lebensraum (living space) for Germanic peoples, formation of a Volksgemeinschaft (people's community) based on race, and racial cleansing via the active suppression of Jews, who would be stripped of their citizenship and civil rights. While imprisoned in 1924 after the failed Beer Hall Putsch , Hitler dictated Mein Kampf to his deputy, Rudolf Hess . The book

2484-602: A strong pro-natalist slant, encouraging procreation or adoption. Anti-clerical articles appeared in the paper, many of which attacked senior members of the clergy, each article part of an effort to "demolish the moral authority of the Catholic Church." Christian concepts like original sin were described as "intolerable" ideas that were "incompatible" with Nordic man and the otherwise "heroic ideology" about Germanic blood. The journal also held both branches of Christianity—Protestant and Catholic alike—responsible for "denaturing

2622-483: A tax upon leaving the country. Anyone caught transferring their money overseas was sentenced to lengthy terms in prison as "economic saboteurs". An exception was money sent to Palestine under the terms of the Haavara Agreement , whereby Jews could transfer some of their assets and emigrate to that country. Around 52,000 Jews emigrated to Palestine under the terms of this agreement between 1933 and 1939. By

2760-605: A unit of Verfügungstruppe or Totenkopf [Death Head] formations. Correspondingly, SD affiliated units, including the Einsatzgruppen followed German troops into Austria, the Sudetenland, Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, Lithuania, as well as Russia. Since their task included cooperating with military leadership and vice versa, suppression of opposition in the occupied territories was a joint venture. There were territorial disputes and disagreement about how some of these policies were to be implemented. Nonetheless, by June 1941,

2898-606: Is an autobiography and exposition of Hitler's ideology in which he laid out his plans for transforming German society into one based on race. In it, he outlined his belief in Jewish Bolshevism , a conspiracy theory that posited the existence of an international Jewish conspiracy for world domination in which the Jews were the mortal enemy of the German people. Throughout his life, Hitler never wavered in his worldview as expounded in Mein Kampf . The Nazi Party advocated

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3036-567: Is the art and the call to serve the people. Only the best may dare to render the Führer. Such deification of Hitler accompanied by anti-Semitic propaganda made the editorial staff of the SS newspaper a responsible entity in the institutional framework of the Holocaust . The newspaper itself is an indictment against the Nazi Party collectively since it revealed even before the war that the SS

3174-687: The Einsatzgruppen . In fact, all members of the Einsatzgruppen wore the SD sleeve diamond on their uniforms. The SD-SiPo was the primary agency, in conjunction with the Ordnungspolizei , assigned to maintain order and security in the Nazi ghettos established by the Germans throughout occupied Eastern Europe. On 7 December 1941, the same day as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ,

3312-588: The Reichsführer-SS "), or SD , was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany . Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization and the Gestapo (formed in 1933) was considered its sister organization through the integration of SS members and operational procedures. The SD was administered as an independent SS office between 1933 and 1939. That year,

3450-517: The Schutzstaffel (SS). The newspaper was created to be a defender of Nazism, as well as to disseminate and promote the ideological messages of their organization and its leader, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler . The paper was used to reinforce Himmler's beliefs, to identify and attack elements within German society that he found unacceptable, to boost morale among members of the SS, to combat anything considered to be pernicious enemies within

3588-856: The 1936 Summer Olympics , held in Berlin. After Hitler rose to power in 1933, the Nazis began to implement antisemitic policies, which included the formation of a Volksgemeinschaft (people's community) based on race. Chancellor and Führer (leader) of the Nazi Party Adolf Hitler declared a national boycott of Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933, and the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , passed on 7 April, excluded so-called non-Aryans from

3726-638: The Board of Deputies of British Jews ). In response, Hitler declared a national boycott of Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933. By that time, many people who were not Nazi Party members were advocating for segregating Jews from the rest of German society. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , passed on 7 April 1933, forced all non-Aryans to retire from the legal profession and civil service. Similar legislation soon deprived Jewish members of other professions of their right to practice. It also barred Jews from teaching at universities. In 1934,

3864-576: The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring (passed on 14 July 1933), which called for the compulsory sterilisation of people with a range of hereditary, physical, and mental illnesses. Under the Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals (passed 24 November 1933), habitual criminals were forced to undergo sterilisation as well. This law was also used to force the incarceration in prison or Nazi concentration camps of "social misfits" such as

4002-536: The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour (15 September 1935), marriages were forbidden between Jews and Germans; between Mischlinge of the first degree and Germans; between Jews and Mischlinge of the second degree; and between two Mischlinge of the second degree. Mischlinge of the first degree were permitted to marry Jews, but they would henceforth be classed as Jewish themselves. All marriages undertaken between half-Jews and Germans required

4140-714: The Madagascar Plan proved to be impossible for the Nazis to carry out, and starting in mid-1941, the German government started mass exterminations of European Jews . The Nazi Party was one of several far-right political parties active in Germany after the end of the First World War . The party platform included removal of the Weimar Republic , rejection of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , radical antisemitism, and anti- Bolshevism . They promised

4278-557: The Nazi Party . The two laws were the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbade marriages and extramarital intercourse between Jews and Germans and the employment of German females under 45 in Jewish households; and the Reich Citizenship Law, which declared that only those of German or related blood were eligible to be Reich citizens. The remainder were classed as state subjects without any citizenship rights. A supplementary decree outlining

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4416-753: The Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935, the SD reported that the measures against the Jews were well received by the German populace. In 1936, the police were divided into the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo or Order Police) and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo or Security Police). The Orpo consisted mainly of the Schutzpolizei (urban police), the Gendarmerie (rural police) and the Gemeindepolizei (municipal police). The SiPo

4554-403: The "Jewish Question" did not increase in number, but did grow more harsh in tone. The periodical also contained remonstrances against homosexuals, who the authors characterized as degenerates that constituted a "scourge of racial annihilation." Judicial leniency for persons the Nazis deemed undesirable was either criticized or ridiculed and a 1937 issue explained the obligation of lawyers to protect

4692-545: The "life domain" or Lebensgebiet of the German population. Gathered information was then distributed by the SD through secret internal political reports entitled Meldungen aus dem Reich (reports from the Reich) to the upper echelons of the Nazi Party, enabling Hitler's régime to evaluate the general morale and attitude of the German people so they could be manipulated by the Nazi propaganda machine in timely fashion. When

4830-751: The "national community." In the late 1930s, the paper featured an article written by physicist and Nobel Prize winner Johannes Stark , who argued that the racial, physical triumph of the Aryan over 'the Jew' would only be a "partial victory" unless Jewish ideas and sentiments were not also fully destroyed. Stark added that, "we also have to eradicate the Jewish spirit, whose blood can flow just as undisturbed today as before if its carriers hold beautiful Aryan passes." In October 1938, an editorial argued that German Jews as "are also responsible for whatever world Jewry undertakes against Germany" and that they were also "liable for

4968-518: The Citizenship Law that a person must prove "by his conduct that he is willing and fit to faithfully serve the German people and Reich" meant that political opponents could also be stripped of their German citizenship. This law was effectively a means of stripping Jews, Roma, and other "undesirables" of their legal rights and their citizenship. Over the coming years, an additional 13 supplementary laws were promulgated that further marginalised

5106-630: The German ethnic body" and once any symptoms of "disease and germs" appeared, it was their job to "remove them by every appropriate means". Regular reports—including opinion polls, press dispatches, and information bulletins were established. These were monitored and reviewed by the head of the Inland-SD, Otto Ohlendorf (responsible for intelligence and security within Germany) and by the former Heidelberg professor and SD member Reinhard Höhn  [ de ] . This activity aimed to control and assess

5244-770: The Italian Duce had expressed great concern previously in the wake of an Austrian SS unit's attempt to stage a coup not more than three weeks after the Röhm affair , an episode that embarrassed the SS, enraged Hitler, and ended in the assassination of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss on 25 July 1934. Nonetheless, to facilitate the incorporation of Austria into the greater Reich, the SD and Gestapo went to work arresting people immediately, using lists compiled by Heydrich. Heydrich's SD and Austrian SS members received financing from Berlin to harass Austrian Chancellor von Schuschnigg 's government all throughout 1937. One section of

5382-584: The Jewish Affairs department within the SD) was at first to remove any semblance of "Jewish influence from all spheres of public life", which included the encouragement of wholesale Jewish emigration. Official bureaucratization increased apace with numerous specialized offices formed, aiding towards the overall persecution of the Jews. Because the Gestapo and the SD had parallel duties, Heydrich tried to reduce any confusion or related territorial disputes through

5520-577: The Jewish community in Germany. For example, Jewish families were not permitted to submit claims for subsidies for large families and were forbidden to transact business with Aryans. Translations of the laws below are provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . While both the Interior Ministry and the Nazi Party agreed that persons with three or more Jewish grandparents would be classed as being Jewish and those with only one ( Mischlinge of

5658-452: The Jewish minority as a way of expressing their frustrations. A Gestapo report from early 1935 stated that the rank and file of the Nazi Party would set in motion a solution to the " Jewish problem ... from below that the government would then have to follow". Assaults, vandalism, and boycotts against Jews, which the Nazi government had temporarily curbed in 1934, increased again in 1935 amidst

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5796-426: The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service because of their status as war veterans were forced out of their jobs on this date. A supplementary decree issued on 21 December ordered the dismissal of Jewish veterans from other state-regulated professions such as medicine and education. While Frick's suggestion that a citizenship tribunal before which every German would have to prove that they were Aryan

5934-700: The Ministry of the Interior, the "Gypsy problem" could not be dealt with by forced resettlement or imprisonment within Germany, so they prepared a draft of a Reich "Gypsy Law" intended to supplement and accompany the Nuremberg Laws. The draft recommended identification and registration of all Roma, followed by sterilisation and deportation. In 1938, public health authorities were ordered to register all Roma and Roma Mischlinge . Despite Himmler's interest in enacting such legislation, which he said would prevent "further intermingling of blood, and which regulates all

6072-582: The Nazi Party published a pamphlet titled "Warum Arierparagraph?" ("Why the Aryan Law?"), which summarised the perceived need for the law. As part of the drive to remove what the Nazis called "Jewish influence" from cultural life, members of the National Socialist Student League removed from libraries any books considered un-German, and a nationwide book burning was held on 10 May. Violence and economic pressure were used by

6210-579: The Nazi hierarchy, making the SS and its intelligence organ, the SD, responsible only to the Führer. The purge became known as the Night of the Long Knives , with up to 200 people killed in the action. Moreover, the brutal crushing of the SA and its leadership sent a clear message to everyone that opposition to Hitler's regime could be fatal. It struck fear across the Nazi leadership as to the tangible concern of

6348-401: The Nazi revolution in general, membership in the SS and the SD appealed more to the impressionable youth. Most SD members were Protestant by faith, had served in the military, and generally had a significant amount of education, representing "an educated elite" in the general sense – with about 14 percent of them earning doctorate degrees. Heydrich viewed the SD as spiritual-elite leaders within

6486-442: The Nazi state, and to encourage the racial doctrine that "pure-blooded Nordics must be bred"—which included promoting the idea that it was partially the responsibility of members of the "elite" SS corps to correspondingly produce "beautiful" illegitimate children. Illegitimate births aside, marriage was depicted as an obligation to the state, part of the mechanism to establish a racially productive community in which individual happiness

6624-570: The Press", but the SD was instructed to "avoid all matters which touched the 'state police executive powers' ( staatspolizeiliche Vollzugsmaßnahmen ) since these belonged to the Gestapo, as did all individual cases." In 1938, the SD was made the intelligence organization for the State as well as for the Nazi Party, supporting the Gestapo and working with the General and Interior Administration. As such,

6762-584: The Reich , the SD was infiltrated in 1944 by a former Russian national who was working for the Americans. The agent's parents had fled the Russian Revolution , and he had been raised in Berlin, and then moved to Paris. He was recruited by Albert Jolis of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Seventh Army detachment. The mission was codenamed RUPPERT. How extensive the SD's knowledge was about

6900-512: The Reichstag on 15 September 1935. The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour prohibited marriages and extramarital intercourse between Jews and Germans, and forbade the employment of German females under 45 in Jewish households. The Reich Citizenship Law declared that only those of German or related blood were eligible to be Reich citizens; the remainder were classed as state subjects, without citizenship rights. The wording in

7038-458: The SD and SS were ultimately created to identify and eradicate internal enemies of the State, as well as to pacify, subjugate, and exploit conquered territories and peoples. The SS Security Service, known as the SS SD-Amt , became the official security organization of the Nazi Party in 1934. Consisting at first of paid agents and a few hundred unpaid informants scattered across Germany, the SD

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7176-455: The SD came into immediate, fierce competition with German military intelligence, the Abwehr, which was headed by Admiral Canaris. The competition stemmed from Heydrich and Himmler's intention to absorb the Abwehr and Admiral Canaris' view of the SD as an amateur upstart. Canaris refused to give up the autonomy that his military intelligence organ possessed. Additional problems also existed, like

7314-404: The SD carefully tracked foreign opinion and criticism of Nazi policies, censoring when necessary and likewise publishing hostile political cartoons in the SS weekly magazine, Das Schwarze Korps . An additional task assigned to the SD and the Gestapo involved keeping tabs on the morale of the German population at large, which meant they were charged to "carefully supervise the political health of

7452-624: The SD developed an organization of agents and informants throughout the Reich and later throughout the occupied territories , all part of the development of an extensive SS state and a totalitarian regime without parallel. The organization consisted of a few hundred full-time agents and several thousand informants. Historian George C. Browder writes that SD regiments were comparable to SS regiments, in that: SD districts ( Bezirke ) emerged covering several Party circuits ( Kreis ) or an entire district ( Gau ). Below this level, SD sub-districts ( Unterbezirke ) slowly developed. They were originally to cover

7590-687: The SD left their mission somewhat vaguely defined so as to "remain an instrument for all eventualities". One such eventuality would soon arise. For a while, the SS competed with the Sturmabteilung (SA) for influence within Germany. Himmler distrusted the SA and came to deplore the "rabble-rousing" brownshirts (despite once having been a member) and what he saw as indecent sexual deviants amid its leadership. At least one pretext to secure additional influence for Himmler's SS and Heydrich's SD in "protecting" Hitler and securing his absolute trust in their intelligence collection abilities, involved thwarting

7728-607: The SD provided fictitious information that there was an assassination plot on Hitler's life and that an SA putsch to assume power was imminent since the SA were allegedly amassing weapons. Additionally, reports were coming into the SD and Gestapo that the vulgarity of the SA's behavior was damaging the party and was even making antisemitism less palatable. On 30 June 1934 the SS and Gestapo acted in coordinated mass arrests that continued for two days. The SS took one of its most decisive steps in eliminating its competition for command of security within Germany and established itself firmly in

7866-541: The SD that was nothing more than a front for subversive activities against Austria ironically promoted "German-Austrian peace". Throughout the events leading to the Anschluß and even after the Nazis marched into Austria on 12 March 1938, Heydrich – convinced that only his SD could pull off a peaceful union between the two German-speaking nations – organized demonstrations, conducted clandestine operations, ordered terror attacks, distributed propaganda materials, encouraged

8004-528: The SD was a criminal organisation, along with the rest of Heydrich's RSHA (including the Gestapo) both individually and as branches of the SS in the collective. Heydrich was assassinated in 1942 ; his successor, Ernst Kaltenbrunner , was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials, sentenced to death and hanged in 1946. The SD, one of the oldest security organizations of

8142-584: The SD was divided into two departments, the interior department ( Inland-SD ) and the foreign department ( Ausland-SD ), and placed under the authority of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). The Interior Security Service ( Inland-SD ), responsible for intelligence and security within Germany, was known earlier as Department II and later, when placed under the Reich Security Main Office, as its Department III. It

8280-481: The SD was green. The SD sleeve diamond (SD Raute ) insignia was worn on the lower left sleeve. Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (German: Nürnberger Gesetze , pronounced [ˈnʏʁnbɛʁɡɐ ɡəˈzɛtsə] ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of

8418-497: The SD was made the sole "party information service" on 9 June 1934. Under pressure from the Reichswehr (German armed forces) leadership (whose members viewed the enormous armed forces of the SA as an existential threat) and with the collusion of Göring, Joseph Goebbels , the Gestapo and SD, Hitler was led to believe that Röhm's SA posed a serious conspiratorial threat requiring a drastic and immediate solution. For its part,

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8556-404: The SD was transferred over to the Reich Security Main Office ( Reichssicherheitshauptamt ; RSHA), as one of its seven departments. Its first director, Reinhard Heydrich , intended for the SD to bring every single individual within the Third Reich's reach under "continuous supervision". Following Germany's defeat in World War II , the tribunal at the Nuremberg trials officially declared that

8694-503: The SD, Gestapo, Kripo, Orpo, and Waffen-SS. On 31 July 1941, Göring gave written authorisation to SD Chief Heydrich to ensure a government-wide cooperative effort in the implementation of the so-called Final Solution to the Jewish question in territories under German control. An SD headquarter's memorandum indicated that the SD was tasked to accompany military invasions and assist in pacification efforts. The memo explicitly stated: The SD will, where possible, follow up immediately behind

8832-415: The SS and Gestapo. Machinations by the SD, the Gestapo, and the SS helped to bring Austria fully into Hitler's grasp and on 13 March 1938, he signed into law the union with Austria as tears streamed down his face. Concomitant to its machinations against Austria, the SD also became involved in subversive activities throughout Czechoslovakia. Focusing on the Sudetenland with its 3 million ethnic Germans and

8970-429: The SS and the "cream of the cream of the NSDAP." According to historian George C. Browder, "SD men represented no pathological or psychically susceptible group. Few were wild or extreme Nazi fanatics. In those respects they were 'ordinary men'. Yet in most other respects, they were an extraordinary mix of men, drawn together by a unique mix of missions." Along with members of the Gestapo, SD personnel were "regarded with

9108-403: The SS and the SD task forces were systematically shooting Jewish men of military age, which soon turned to "gunning down" old people, women, and children in the occupied areas. On 20 January 1942, Heydrich chaired a meeting, now called the Wannsee Conference , to discuss the implementation of the plan. Facilities such as Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Auschwitz have their origins in

9246-567: The SS journal included the promotion of the cult of personality surrounding Adolf Hitler , as his portraits abounded within the text. A telling example of the adulation dedicated to the Nazi leader shows in the following extract from Das Schwarze Korps : The Führer is the highest gift to the nation. He is the German fulfilment. An artist who wants to render the Führer must be more than an artist. The entire German people and German eternity will stand silently in front of this work, filled with emotions to gain strength from it today and for all time. Holy

9384-454: The SS started infiltrating all leading positions of the security apparatus of the Reich. Even before Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933, the SD was a veritable "watchdog" over the SS and over members of the Nazi Party and played a critical role in consolidating political-police powers into the hands of Himmler and Heydrich. Once Hitler was appointed Chancellor by German President Paul von Hindenburg , he quickly made efforts to manipulate

9522-403: The SS was able to reveal its ambitions to the German people." Das Schwarze Korps provided members of the SS with articles reminding them of their need to "be mindful of their family's biological heritage when marrying" and for general readers, the paper demonstrated "how dedicated its men were to their Führer and to the Reich and what an example they were setting for the entire Volk by adhering to

9660-417: The SS, was first formed in 1931 as the Ic-Dienst (Intelligence Service ) operating out of a single apartment and reporting directly to Heinrich Himmler . Himmler appointed a former junior naval officer, Reinhard Heydrich , to organise the small agency. The office was renamed Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in the summer of 1932. The SD became more powerful after the Nazi Party took control of Germany in 1933 and

9798-444: The SS-newspaper optimistically asserted that the former tsarist empire "had originally been a Germanic state" that saved Prussia twice in the past, and the two countries "had always flourished when they were friends." During the war, whenever the Waffen-SS would join the army in maneuvers, particularly at Hitler's behest, the instances were proudly reported in Das Schwarze Korps . Deliberate propaganda efforts to bolster morale formed

9936-487: The actual and definitive end of Jewry in Germany, its total extermination. Hate-speech from the editors of the SS newspaper portended the Jews' later fate. Despite the sweeping statements made in the official SS-journal, SD chief Reinhard Heydrich —among the leading perpetrators of the Holocaust—rarely appears within its pages, as he thought it was "ill-organized and poorly written." This did not stop Heydrich from using

10074-545: The agency remained active in foreign operations to such a degree that the head of the Reich Foreign Ministry office, Joachim von Ribbentrop , complained of their meddling, since Hitler would apparently make decisions based on SD reports without consulting him. According to historian Richard Breitman , there was animosity between the SS leadership and Ribbentrop's Foreign Office atop their "jurisdictional disputes". Aside from its participation in diminishing

10212-420: The aging president. On 28 February 1933, Hitler convinced Hindenburg to declare a state of emergency which suspended all civil liberties throughout Germany, due at least in part to the Reichstag fire on the previous night. Hitler assured Hindenburg throughout that he was attempting to stabilize the tumultuous political scene in Germany by taking a "defensive measure against Communist acts of violence endangering

10350-410: The approval of a Committee for the Protection of German Blood. Few such permissions were granted. A supplementary decree issued on 26 November 1935 extended the law to "Gypsies, Negroes, and their bastards". Persons suspected of having sexual relations with non-Aryans were charged with Rassenschande (racial defilement) and tried in the regular courts. Evidence provided to the Gestapo for such cases

10488-492: The body, the mind, and physical contest as a form of preparation for war, echoing the doctrine of the SS itself. On other occasions the paper served to inform its readers on the pseudo-scientific research Himmler commissioned to support his beliefs in the mystical powers of the ancient Germanic predecessors. In one edition, Das Schwarze Korps reported on the archaeological whereabouts (previously unknown) of Henry I's remains, claiming that, "scientific evidence has established that

10626-541: The chronically unemployed, prostitutes, beggars, alcoholics, homeless vagrants, Black people, and Romani (referred to as Zigeuner "Gypsies"). The Central Office for Combatting Gypsies was established in 1929, under the Weimar Republic. In December 1938 Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler issued an order for "combatting the Gypsy plague". Romani people were to be categorised in terms of their Roma ancestry as

10764-436: The civil service or government-regulated professions such as medicine and education, many middle-class business owners and professionals were forced to take menial employment. Emigration was problematic, as Jews were required to remit up to 90% of their wealth as a tax upon leaving the country. By 1938 it was almost impossible for potential Jewish emigrants to find a country willing to take them. Mass deportation schemes such as

10902-514: The concept of a Volksgemeinschaft ("people's community") with the aim of uniting all Germans as national comrades, whilst excluding those deemed either to be community aliens or of a foreign race ( Fremdvölkische ). Discrimination against Jews intensified after the Nazis came into power; a month-long series of attacks by members of the Sturmabteilung (SA; paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party) on Jewish businesses, synagogues, and members of

11040-429: The damages which world Jewry inflicts and will inflict upon us." A subsequent edition of Das Schwarze Korps communicated the harsh and foreboding message that if any single Jew harmed a German, they would all be held responsible, while another explicitly stated: "The day a murder weapon that is Jewish or bought by Jews rises against one of the leading men of Germany, there will be no more Jews in Germany!" Immediately in

11178-421: The definition of who was Jewish was passed on 14 November, and the Reich Citizenship Law officially came into force on that date. The laws were expanded on 26 November 1935 to include Romani and Black people . This supplementary decree defined Romani people as "enemies of the race-based state", the same category as Jews. Out of foreign policy concerns, prosecutions under the two laws did not commence until after

11316-400: The disharmony there which the Czech government could not seem to remedy, Hitler set Heydrich's SD in motion in what came to be known as "Case Green" . Passed off as a mission to liberate Sudeten Germans from alleged Czech persecution, Case Green was in fact a contingency plan to outright invade and destroy the country, as Hitler intended to "wipe Czechoslovakia off the map." This operation

11454-437: The early plots to kill Hitler by key members of the military remains a contested subject and a veritable unknown. According to British historian John Wheeler-Bennett , "in view of the wholesale destruction of Gestapo archives it is improbable that this knowledge will ever be forthcoming. That the authorities were aware of serious 'defeatism' is certain, but it is doubtful whether they suspected anyone of outright treason." Given

11592-421: The executive agency of the political-police system. The SD and Gestapo did have integration through SS members holding dual positions in each branch. Nevertheless, there was some jurisdictional overlap and operational conflict between the SD and Gestapo. In addition, the Criminal Police kept a level of independence since its structure had been longer-established. As part and parcel of its intelligence operations,

11730-427: The faith or had a Jewish spouse. The supplementary decree outlining the definition of who was Jewish was passed on 14 November, and the Reich Citizenship Law came into force on that date. Jews were no longer German citizens and did not have the right to vote. Jews and Gypsies were not allowed to vote in Reichstag elections or the 1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum . Civil servants who had been granted an exemption to

11868-411: The first extermination camp was opened at Chelmno near Lodz by Ernst Damzog , the SD and SiPo commander in occupied Poznań (Posen). Damzog had personally selected the staff for the killing centre and later supervised the daily operation of the camp, which was under the command of Herbert Lange . Over a span of approximately 15 months, 150,000 people were killed there. According to the book Piercing

12006-405: The general belief that Jews were a separate race, but also because to oppose the regime meant leaving oneself open to harassment or arrest by the Gestapo. Citizens were relieved that the antisemitic violence ceased after the laws were passed. Non-Jews gradually stopped socialising with Jews or shopping in Jewish-owned stores. Wholesalers who continued to serve Jewish merchants were marched through

12144-556: The governments of Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, and France, whose tepid reaction to the Austrian Anschluss had precipitated this crisis to some degree, ensued. The Sudetenland Crisis came to an end when Neville Chamberlain and Hitler signed the Munich Agreement on 29 September 1938, effectively ceding the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. Involvement in international affairs by the SD certainly did not end there and

12282-581: The incident. Immediately in the wake of the staged incidents on 1 September 1939, Hitler proclaimed from the Reichstag in a famous radio address that German soldiers had been "returning" fire since 5:45 in the morning, setting the Second World War in Europe into motion. The SD was tasked with the detection of actual or potential enemies of the Nazi leadership and the neutralization of such opposition, whether internal or external. To fulfill this task,

12420-731: The intimidation of opponents, and had his SS and SD personnel round up prominent anti-Nazis, most of whom ended up in Mauthausen concentration camp The coordinated efforts of the SiPo and Heydrich's SD during the first days of the Anschluß effectively eliminated all forms of possible political, military and economic resistance within Austria. Once the annexation became official, the Austrian police were immediately subordinated to Heydrich's SD,

12558-489: The law did not permit capital punishment for racial defilement, special courts were convened to allow the death penalty for some cases. From the end of 1935 through 1940, 1,911 people were convicted of Rassenschande . Over time, the law was extended to include non-sexual forms of physical contact such as greeting someone with a kiss or an embrace. For the most part, Germans accepted the Nuremberg Laws, partly because Nazi propaganda had successfully swayed public opinion towards

12696-552: The legal profession followed. On 21 March 1933, former U.S. congressman William W. Cohen , at a meeting of the executive advisory committee of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States , urged a strict boycott against all German goods. Later that month, a worldwide boycott of German goods was declared, with the support of several prominent Jewish organisations (though with the abstention of others, such as

12834-440: The legal profession, the civil service, and from teaching in secondary schools and universities. Books considered un-German, including those by Jewish authors, were destroyed in a nationwide book burning on 10 May. Jewish citizens were harassed and subjected to violent attacks. They were actively suppressed, stripped of their citizenship and civil rights, and eventually completely removed from German society. The Nuremberg Laws had

12972-508: The long-awaited anti-Jewish laws. In a speech on 12 September, leading Nazi physician Gerhard Wagner announced that the government would soon introduce a "law for the protection of German blood". The next day, Hitler summoned the Reichstag to meet in session at Nuremberg on 15 September, the last day of the rally. He then spoke with Hans Pfundtner , State Secretary in the Reich Interior Ministry, and Wilhelm Stuckart ,

13110-408: The most pressing questions which go together with the existences of Gypsies in the living space of the German nation", the regime never promulgated the "Gypsy Law". In December 1942, Himmler ordered that all Roma were to be sent to Nazi concentration camps. Disenchanted with the unfulfilled promise of Nazi Party leaders to eliminate Jews from German society, SA members were eager to lash out against

13248-466: The nature of the intelligence operations assigned to the SD, there were clear delineations between what constituted a full member ( Mitglied ) of the SD and those who were considered "associates" ( Mitarbeiter ) with a further subset for clerical support personnel (typists, file clerks, etc.) who were connoted as V-persons ( Vertrauensleute ). All SD personnel, whether simply associates or full members were required to swear an oath of secrecy, had to meet all

13386-420: The new laws would be marriage laws to prevent "racial defilement", stripping Jews of their German citizenship, and laws to prevent Jews from participating freely in the economy. The seventh annual Nazi Party rally, held in Nuremberg from 10 to 16 September 1935, featured the only Reichstag session held outside Berlin during the Nazi regime. Hitler decided that the rally would be a good opportunity to introduce

13524-560: The overarching agency under which the Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD , also known as the Einsatzgruppen , was subordinated; this was one of the principal reasons for the later war-crimes indictment against the organization by the Allies. The Einsatzgruppen's part in the Holocaust has been well documented. Its mobile killing units were active in the implementation of the Final Solution (the plan for genocide ) in

13662-736: The paper to reinforce his message that any and all dissenters to the Anschluss with Austria were to be arrested, whether or not they wore a Nazi uniform. Malleable to the political needs of the Nazi state, Das Schwarze Korps along with the Völkischer Beobachter were both used as propaganda mechanisms to promote the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Germany in August 1939. Commenting accordingly,

13800-459: The paper. In place of the traditional aristocracy that existed in Germany and Europe proper, the SS advocated a culture of performance and merit. This included the articulation of new standards; for example, concerning the traditional title of " von " among the Junkers, Das Schwarze Korps quipped: The little word "von" no longer means to us the same thing it once did. We believe the nobility has

13938-555: The planning actions undertaken by Heydrich. Heydrich remained chief of the Security Police (SiPo) and the SD (through the RSHA) until his assassination in 1942, after which Ernst Kaltenbrunner was named chief by Himmler on 30 January 1943, and remained there until the end of the war. The SD was declared a criminal organization after the war and its members were tried as war criminals at Nuremberg . Whatever their original purpose,

14076-478: The power of the SA and its scheme to kill Röhm, the SD took part in international intrigue, first by activities in Austria, again in Czechoslovakia, and then by helping provoke the "reactive" war against Poland. Code-named " Operation Himmler " and part of Hitler's plan to justify an attack upon Poland, the SD's clandestine activity for this mission included faking a Polish attack against "innocent Germans" at

14214-518: The principles of eugenics." Individual SS lives were given credence for their collective place in the framework of kith, kin, tribe, and the greater German Reich. Prior to the passing of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws , the paper called for a law to ban Rassenschande or intercourse between Jews and Germans, as preferable to the extra-legal violence that the SA Stormtroopers indulged in against interracial couples; after that edition, articles on

14352-433: The race" and claimed that intrinsic feelings connected to human nature were "holy and intangible" as opposed to sinful. The paper also covered foreign press attacks with instructions on how to refute them. In accordance with doctrines of Blood and Soil , it spoke of the need to break up the aristocratic estates, although this was not implemented. Historian Amy Carney described Das Schwarze Korps as "a conduit through which

14490-522: The racial exemption for members of the Abwehr from the Nazi Aryan-screening process, and then there was competition for resources which occurred throughout Nazi Germany's existence. On 27 September 1939, the SiPo became a part of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) under Heydrich: From February 1944 forward, the sections of the Abwehr were incorporated into Amt VI. The SD was

14628-424: The reach and influence of Himmler's intelligence collection and policing powers. During the autumn of 1937, Hitler secured Mussolini 's support to annex Austria (Mussolini was originally apprehensive of the Nazi takeover of Austria) and informed his generals of his intentions to invade both Austria and Czechoslovakia . Getting Mussolini to approve political intrigue against Austria was a major accomplishment, as

14766-431: The regime had initiated in 1933, which intensified after the Nuremberg Laws were passed. Former middle-class or wealthy business owners were forced to take employment in menial jobs to support their families, and many were unable to find work at all. Although a stated goal of the Nazis was that all Jews should leave the country, emigration was problematic, as Jews were required to remit up to 90 per cent of their wealth as

14904-619: The regime to encourage Jews to voluntarily leave the country. Legislation passed in July 1933 stripped naturalised German Jews of their citizenship, creating a legal basis for recent immigrants (particularly Eastern European Jews) to be deported. Many towns posted signs forbidding entry to Jews. Throughout 1933 and 1934, Jewish businesses were denied access to markets, forbidden to advertise in newspapers, and deprived of access to government contracts. Citizens were harassed and subjected to violent attacks. Other laws promulgated in this period included

15042-439: The region. Nationalistic and xenophobic people in other countries pressured their governments not to accept waves of Jewish immigrants, especially poverty-stricken ones. The Madagascar Plan , a proposed mass deportation of European Jews to Madagascar, proved to be impossible to carry out. Starting in mid-1941, the German government began resorting to mass exterminations of European Jews. The total number of Jews murdered during

15180-465: The remains discovered during excavations in the crypt of Quedlinburg cathedral are in fact those of Henry I." Besides the esoteric pursuits of Himmler, the SS newspaper strongly criticized party leaders whose worldview differed from SS doctrine. Carefully crafted articles gave SS men and the other readers an elitist image of the organization. This by means of information about the SS, its activities and successes, which were constantly scattered throughout

15318-418: The requirements for SS membership, were assigned SD code numbers ( Chiffre Nummer ) and if they were "above the level of V-person" they had to carry "an SD identification card." The vast majority of early SD members were relatively young, but the officers were typically older by comparison; nevertheless, the average age of an SD member was approximately 2 years older than the average Nazi Party member. Much like

15456-560: The resulting Holocaust is estimated at 5.5 to 6 million people. Estimates of the death toll of Romani people in the Porajmos range from 150,000 to 1,500,000. Some of the other Axis powers passed their own versions of the Nuremberg Laws. An original typescript of the laws signed by Hitler was found by the U.S. Army's Counterintelligence Corps in 1945. It ended up in the possession of General George S. Patton , who kept it, in violation of orders that such finds should be turned over to

15594-595: The right to exist, not a nobility of class, not a nobility of birth or of property, but a nobility of achievement...the best from all classes...that is the nobility of the Third Reich. Das Schwarze Korps routinely contained foreign news reports, analyses of threats, and theoretical essays on Nazi policies. Praise for motherly women and families was contrasted against the women's movement ; Nazi doctrine characterized women participating in politics as being too manly and called them "Amazons" so as to discredit them. It had

15732-754: The same "harshness that we show toward the enemy, regardless of how stupid and innocuous we find them. This a war for our very survival. He who does not want our victory wants our defeat. He who wants our defeat wants our death." Das Schwarze Korps was never officially dissolved and continued to publish until Germany's defeat in World War II, with its final edition coming out on March 29, 1945. Informational notes Citations Bibliography Further reading Sicherheitsdienst Sicherheitsdienst ( German: [ˈzɪçɐhaɪtsˌdiːnst] , "Security Service"), full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS ("Security Service of

15870-543: The second degree) would not, a debate arose as to the status of persons with two Jewish grandparents ( Mischlinge of the first degree). The Nazi Party, especially its more radical elements, wanted the laws to apply to Mischlinge of both the first and second degree. For this reason Hitler continued to stall, and did not make a decision until early November 1935. His final ruling was that persons with three Jewish grandparents were classed as Jewish; those with two Jewish grandparents would be considered Jewish only if they practised

16008-533: The stakes and claimed that the Czechs were slaughtering Sudeten Germans. He demanded the unconditional and prompt cession of the Sudetenland to Germany in order to secure the safety of endangered ethnic Germans. Around this time, early plots by select members of the German General Staff emerged, plans which included ridding themselves of Hitler. Eventually a diplomatic showdown pitting Hitler against

16146-476: The start of the Second World War in 1939, around 250,000 of Germany's 437,000 Jews had emigrated to the United States, Palestine, Great Britain, and other countries. By 1938 it was becoming almost impossible for potential Jewish emigrants to find a country that would take them. After the 1936–39 Arab revolt , the British were disinclined to accept any more Jews into Palestine for fear it would further destabilise

16284-515: The state". Wasting no time, Himmler set the SD in motion as they began creating an extensive card-index of the Nazi regime's political opponents, arresting labor organizers, socialists, Jewish leaders, journalists, and communists in the process, sending them to the newly established prison facility near Munich, Dachau . Himmler's SS and SD made their presence felt at once by helping rid the regime of its known political enemies and its perceived ones, as well. As far as Heydrich and Himmler were concerned,

16422-469: The streets with placards around their necks proclaiming them as traitors. The Communist Party and some elements of the Catholic Church were critical of the laws. Concerned that international opinion would be adversely swayed by the new laws, the Interior Ministry did not actively enforce them until after the 1936 Summer Olympics , held in Berlin that August. The Interior Ministry estimated there were 750,000 Mischlinge as of April 1935 (studies done after

16560-526: The territories overrun by the Nazi war machine. This SD subsidiary worked closely with the Wehrmacht in persecuting Jews, communists, partisans, and other groups, as well. Starting with the invasion of Poland throughout the campaign in the East, the Einsatzgruppen ruthlessly killed anyone suspected of being an opponent of the regime, either real or imagined. The men of the Einsatzgruppen were recruited from

16698-419: The troops as they move in and, as in the Reich, will assume responsibility for the security of political life. Within the Reich, security measures are the responsibility of the Gestapo with SD cooperation. In occupied territory, measures will be under the direction of a senior SD commander; Gestapo officials will be allotted to individual Einsatzstäbe . It will be necessary to make available for special deployment

16836-481: The violent behaviour of the Alte Kämpfer and SA because of its negative impact on the economy. The violence also had a negative impact on Germany's reputation in the international community. For these reasons, Hitler ordered a stop to "individual actions" against German Jews on 8 August 1935, and Frick threatened to take legal action against Nazi Party members who ignored the order. From Hitler's perspective, it

16974-502: The wake of the carnage of Kristallnacht , Nazi threats became reality and the SS-sponsored paper promoted ideas that anti-Semitism had been prevalent in all racially healthy peoples for thousands of years, but the Nazis were the only ones willing to take practical actions; meanwhile the periodical claimed the international community was full of hypocrites who refused to offer the Jews "safe refuge." Additional propagandistic usage of

17112-457: The war put the number of Mischlinge at around 200,000). As Jews became more and more excluded from German society, they organised social events, schools, and activities of their own. Economic problems were not so easily solved, however; many Jewish firms went out of business due to lack of customers. This was part of the ongoing Aryanisation process (the transfer of Jewish firms to non-Jewish owners, usually at prices far below market value) that

17250-418: Was "sinister" and a "messenger of terror" not just for the German population, but within the "ranks of the Nazi Party itself." The SD used SS-ranks . When in uniform they wore the grey Waffen-SS uniform with army and Ordnungspolizei rank insignia on the shoulder straps, and SS rank insignia on the left collar patch. The right collar patch was black without the [REDACTED] runes. The branch color of

17388-400: Was akin to earlier SD efforts in Austria; however, unlike Austria, the Czechs fielded their own Secret Service, against which Heydrich had to contend. Once "Case Green" began, Heydrich's SD spies began covertly gathering intelligence, even going so far as having SD agents use their spouses and children in the cover scheme. The operation covered every conceivable type of intelligence data, using

17526-585: Was composed of the Kripo and the Gestapo. Heydrich became Chief of the SiPo and continued as Chief of the SD. Continued escalation of antisemitic policies in the spring of 1937 from the SD's Department of Jewish Affairs ( German : Abteilung II/112: Juden ) – staffed by members like Adolf Eichmann , Herbert Hagen , and Theodor Dannecker – led to the eventual removal ( Entfernung ) of Jews from Germany ; regardless of concerns about where they were headed. Adolf Eichmann's original task (in his capacity as deputy for

17664-478: Was divided into the following sections: The SD and the SiPo were the main sources of officers for the security forces in occupied territories. SD-SiPo led battalions were typically placed under the command of the SS and Police Leaders , reporting directly to the RSHA in Berlin. The SD also maintained a presence at all concentration camps and supplied personnel, on an as-needed basis, to such special action troops as

17802-425: Was imperative to quickly bring in new antisemitic laws to appease the radical elements in the party who persisted in attempting to remove the Jews from German society by violent means. A conference of ministers was held on 20 August 1935 to discuss the question. Hitler argued against violent methods because of the damage being done to the economy and insisted the matter must be settled through legislation. The focus of

17940-517: Was known earlier as Department III and later, after September 1939, as Department VI of the Reich Security Main Office. It was nominally commanded by Heydrich, but run by his chief of staff Heinz Jost . In March 1942 Jost was fired and replaced by Walter Schellenberg , a deputy of Heydrich. After the 20 July plot in 1944, Department VI took over the functions of the Military Intelligence Service ( Abwehr ). Department VI

18078-442: Was largely provided by ordinary citizens such as neighbours, co-workers, or other informants. Persons accused of race defilement were publicly humiliated by being paraded through the streets with a placard around their necks detailing their crime. Those convicted were typically sentenced to prison terms, and (subsequent to 8 March 1938) upon completing their sentences were re-arrested by the Gestapo and sent to concentration camps. As

18216-602: Was not acted upon, proving one's racial heritage became a necessary part of daily life. Non-government employers were authorised to include in their statutes an Aryan paragraph excluding both Mischlinge and Jews from employment. Proof of Aryan descent was achieved by obtaining an Aryan certificate . One form was to acquire an Ahnenpass , which could be obtained by providing birth or baptismal certificates that all four grandparents were of Aryan descent. The Ahnenpass could also be acquired by citizens of other countries, as long as they were of "German or related blood". Under

18354-633: Was of no importance. In its inaugural edition, Das Schwarze Korps authors reiterated the Nordicist opinion of German scholars like Hans Günther—an important figure in official Nazi Party racial doctrine—that the "cradle of the Nordic peoples" was found "near the North Pole." As the Olympic Games approached, the journal extolled sport as an expression of racial beauty, a means of strengthening

18492-464: Was originally headed by Hermann Behrends and from September 1939 by Otto Ohlendorf. It was within this organization that Adolf Eichmann began working out the details for the Final Solution to the Jewish Question . Department III was divided into the following sections: The Foreign Security Service ( Ausland-SD ), responsible for intelligence activities beyond the boundaries of Germany,

18630-504: Was prepared to take radical action against the Jews. Besides praising Hitler, the paper made specious claims against any perceived enemy; for example, Jews were portrayed as having an inclination towards Bolshevism (a widely known enemy of the Nazi state) in Das Schwarze Korps , indicated in the following excerpt from the 24 November 1938 edition: Least of all we do not want to see hundreds of thousands of impoverished Jews as

18768-488: Was quickly professionalized under Heydrich, who commissioned National Socialist academics and lawyers to ensure that the SS and its Security Service in particular, operated "within the framework of National Socialist ideology." Heydrich was given the power to select men for the SS Security Service from among any SS subdivisions since Himmler considered the organization of the SD as important. In September 1939,

18906-506: Was raised to the forefront of the state agenda as a result of this antisemitic agitation. Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick announced on 25 July that a law forbidding marriages between Jews and non-Jews would shortly be promulgated, and recommended that registrars should avoid issuing licences for such marriages for the time being. The draft law also called for a ban on marriage for persons with hereditary illnesses. Hjalmar Schacht , Economics Minister and Reichsbank president, criticised

19044-513: Was re-activated to engage in sabotage activities designed to incite a response from the Slovaks and the Czechs, a mission that ultimately failed. In June 1938 a directive from the SD head office indicated that Hitler issued an order at Jueterbog to his generals to prepare for the invasion of Czechoslovakia. To hasten a presumed heavy response from the French, British, and Czechs, Hitler then upped

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