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121-518: The Reichssicherheitsdienst ( RSD , lit. " Reich security service") was an SS security force of Nazi Germany . Originally bodyguards for Adolf Hitler , it later provided men for the protection of other high-ranking leaders of the Nazi regime. The group, although similar in name, was completely separate from the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), which was the formal intelligence service for

242-680: A German "ethnical state", especially after the Napoleonic wars . Ideal for this state was the Holy Roman Empire; the legend arose that Germany were "un-defeated when unified", especially after the Franco-Prussian War ( Deutsch-Französischer Krieg , lit. "German-French war"). Before that, the German question ruptured this "German unity" after the 1848 Revolution before it was achieved, however; Austria-Hungary as

363-505: 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

484-551: 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

605-582: A historical aberration, contemptuously referring to it as " the System ". In the summer of 1939, the Nazis themselves actually banned the continued use of the term in the press, ordering it to use expressions such as Nationalsozialistisches Deutschland ("National Socialist Germany"), Großdeutsches Reich (" Greater German Reich "), or simply Deutsches Reich ( German Reich ) to refer to the German state instead. It

726-465: A kingdom), but in a modern sense, the term is used in a much more figurative sense (e.g. Die Hemelse Ryk (the heavenly kingdom, China)), as the sphere under one's control or influencas: As in German, the adjective rijk / ryk also means "rich". Sicherheitsdienst Sicherheitsdienst ( German: [ˈzɪçɐhaɪtsˌdiːnst] , "Security Service"), full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS ("Security Service of

847-453: 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

968-407: 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

1089-595: A multinational state could not become part of the new "German empire", and nationality conflicts in Prussia with the Prussian Poles arose ("We can never be Germans – Prussians, every time!"). The advent of national feeling and the movement to create an ethnically German Empire did lead directly to nationalism in 1871. Ethnic minorities declined since the beginning of the modern age; the Polabs , Sorbs and even

1210-594: 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

1331-751: 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,

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1452-588: 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

1573-591: A term for this period of German history. The common contemporary Latin legal term used in documents of the Holy Roman Empire was for a long time regnum ("rule, domain, empire", such as in Regnum Francorum for the Frankish Kingdom ) before imperium was in fact adopted, the latter first attested in 1157, whereas the parallel use of regnum never fell out of use during the Middle Ages. At

1694-605: 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,

1815-698: Is indenrigs / inrikes / innenriks , meaning domestic. The adjective form of the word, rig in Danish and rik in Swedish/Norwegian, means "rich" like in other Germanic languages. Rijk is the Dutch and ryk the Afrikaans and Frisian equivalent of the German word Reich . In a political sense in the Netherlands and Belgium, the word rijk often connotes a connection with

1936-469: Is the German name given to the Frankish Kingdom of Charlemagne . Frankenreich came to be used of Western Francia and medieval France after the development of Eastern Francia into the Holy Roman Empire . The German name of France , Frankreich , is a contraction of Frankenreich used in reference to the kingdom of France from the late medieval period. The term Reich was part of

2057-577: Is used for historical empires in general, such as the Roman Empire ( Römisches Reich ), Persian Empire ( Perserreich ), and both the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire ( Zarenreich , literally " Tsars ' realm"). Österreich , the name used for Austria today is composed of "Öster" and "Reich" which, literally translated, means "Eastern Realm". The name once referred to

2178-699: Is used to describe a political or governmental entity. Reich has thus not been used in official terminology since 1945, though it is still found in the name of the Reichstag building , which since 1999 has housed the German federal parliament , the Bundestag . The decision not to rename the Reichstag building was taken only after long debate in the Bundestag; even then, it is described officially as Reichstag – Sitz des Bundestages (Reichstag, seat of

2299-687: 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 ,

2420-700: 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,

2541-643: The East German railway incongruously continued to use the name Deutsche Reichsbahn (German Reich Railways), which had been the name of the national railway during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era. Even after German reunification in October 1990, the Reichsbahn continued to exist for over three years as the operator of the railroad in eastern Germany, ending finally on 1 January 1994 when

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2662-664: The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium as opposed to the European part of the Netherlands or the provincial or municipal governments. The ministerraad is the executive body of the Netherlands ' government and the rijksministerraad that of the Kingdom of the Netherlands , a similar distinction is found in wetten (laws) versus rijkswetten (kingdom laws) or the now-abolished rijkswacht (lit. "guard of

2783-753: 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

2904-497: The Roman Empire . The terms Kaisertum ( German: [ˈkaɪzɐˌtuːm] , "Imperium") and Kaiserreich ("Imperial realm") are used in German to more specifically define an empire ruled by an emperor. Reich is comparable in meaning and development (as well as descending from the same Proto-Indo-European root) to the English word realm (via French reaume "kingdom" from Latin regalis "royal"). It

3025-619: The SS-Begleitkommando , it was expanded and became known as the Führerbegleitkommando (Führer Escort Command; FBK). The FBK continued under separate command until April 1945 and remained responsible for Hitler's close personal protection. The RSD and FBK worked together for security and personal protection during Hitler's trips and public events, but they operated as two groups and used separate vehicles. For those occasions, Rattenhuber would be in overall command and

3146-731: The Wolf's Lair near the town of Rastenburg , now Kętrzyn in Poland . Rattenhuber's deputy, Peter Högl was appointed Chief of RSD Department 1 (responsible for the personal protection of Hitler on a day-to-day basis during the war). The Wolf's Lair had three security zones. Sperrkreis 1 (Security Zone 1) was located at the heart of the Wolf's Lair. Ringed by steel fencing and guarded by RSD and FBK men, it contained Hitler's bunker and ten other camouflaged bunkers built from 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) thick steel-reinforced concrete . Hitler first arrived at

3267-591: The political slogan Ein Volk , ein Reich, ein Führer ("One nation, one Reich , one leader"), in order to enforce pan-German sentiment. The term Altes Reich ("old Reich"; cf. French ancien regime for monarchical France) is sometimes used to refer to the Holy Roman Empire . The term Altreich was also used after the Anschluss to denote Germany with its pre-1938 post-World War I borders. Another name that

3388-545: 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

3509-537: The "realm of a king" (a kingdom can also be called kongedømme in Danish and Norwegian and kungadöme or konungadöme in Swedish, direct cognates of the English word). Two regions in Norway that were petty kingdoms before the unification of Norway around 900 AD have retained the word in the names (see Ringerike and Romerike ). The word is also used in " Svea rike ", with the current spelling Sverige ,

3630-519: The Bundestag). As seen in this example, the term "Bund" (federation) has replaced "Reich" in the names of various state institutions such as the army (" Bundeswehr "). The term "Reichstag" also remains in use in the German language as the term for the parliaments of some foreign monarchies, such as Sweden 's Riksdag and Japan 's pre-war Imperial Diet . The exception is that during the Cold War ,

3751-593: The Eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire . In the history of Germany specifically, it is used to refer to: The Nazis adopted the term "Third Reich" to legitimize their government as the rightful successor to the retroactively renamed "First" and "Second" Reichs – the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire, respectively; the Nazis discounted the legitimacy of the Weimar Republic entirely. The terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich" are not used by historians, and

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3872-515: The FBK chief would act as his deputy. Before a trip, the RSD had the responsibly of checking the route, the buildings along the route, and the places which Hitler was to visit. The local Gestapo office would provide intelligence reports, along with information as to any assassination rumours, to the RSD. For motorcades, following Hitler's Mercedes-Benz would be two cars to the left and right, one with FBK men and

3993-630: 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

4114-494: The German names for Germany for much of its history. Reich was used by itself in the common German variant of the Holy Roman Empire , ( Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR) ). Der rîche was a title for the Emperor. However, Latin, not German, was the formal legal language of the medieval Empire ( Imperium Romanum Sacrum ), so English-speaking historians are more likely to use Latin imperium than German Reich as

4235-400: The German nation rather than directly to the state of Germany. The exact translation of the term "German Empire" would be Deutsches Kaiserreich . This name was sometimes used informally for Germany between 1871 and 1918, but it was disliked by the first German Emperor, Wilhelm I , and never became official. The unified Germany which arose under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1871

4356-536: The Germanic word was not inherited from pre-Proto-Germanic, but rather loaned from Celtic (i.e. Gaulish rīx , Welsh rhi , both meaning 'king') at an early time . The word has many cognates outside of Germanic and Celtic, notably Latin : rex and Sanskrit : राज , romanized :  raj , lit.   'rule'. It is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European * reg- , lit. 'to straighten out or rule'. Frankenreich or Fränkisches Reich

4477-818: 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

4598-584: 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

4719-632: 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

4840-401: 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

4961-570: 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,

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5082-415: The RSD had 100 men in its ranks. On the outbreak of World War II , the RSD had 200 men in its ranks. It protected Hitler, along with other government and inner circle members as they travelled around occupied Europe. By 1944, there were seventeen RSD units protecting the top leadership. As RSD commander Rattenhuber was responsible for securing Hitler's field headquarters. In particular, a battalion guarded

5203-407: 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

5324-468: The Reichsbahn and the western Deutsche Bundesbahn were merged to form the privatized Deutsche Bahn AG . The cognate of the word Reich is used in all Scandinavian languages with the identical meaning, i.e. " realm ". It is spelled rige in Danish and older Norwegian (before the 1907 spelling reform ) and rike in Swedish and modern Norwegian. The word is traditionally used for sovereign entities, generally simply means "country" or "nation" (in

5445-401: 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

5566-403: 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

5687-404: 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

5808-624: 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

5929-625: 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

6050-607: 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

6171-488: 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

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6292-416: 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

6413-425: 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

6534-440: 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,

6655-404: 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

6776-503: 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

6897-415: 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

7018-429: 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

7139-403: 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

7260-454: 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

7381-423: The SS, the Nazi Party and later Nazi Germany. Its role included personal security, investigation of assassination plots, surveillance of locations before the arrival of Nazi dignitaries and vetting buildings as well as guests. The RSD had the power to request assistance from any other SS organisations and take command of all Ordnungspolizei (order police) in its role protecting the Nazi functionaries. The RSD

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7502-417: 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

7623-401: The Soviet Red Army on 1 May 1945 during the attempted break-out from central Berlin to avoid capture. After the war ended, Rattenhuber served 10 years in prison before being released by the Soviets on 10 October 1955. Reich The term Deutsches Reich (sometimes translated to " German Empire ") continued to be used even after the collapse of the German Empire and the abolition of

7744-431: The Wolf's Lair on 23 June 1941 and departed for the last time on 20 November 1944. Overall, he spent over 800 days there during that three-and-a-half-year period. By early 1945, Germany's military situation was on the verge of total collapse. In January 1945, Rattenhuber accompanied Hitler and his entourage into the bunker complex under the Reich Chancellery garden in the central government sector of Berlin . The FBK and

7865-470: 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

7986-420: 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

8107-399: The area of their authority. Hitler's protection outside Bavaria was already entrusted to an eight-member bodyguard known as the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers , which was founded on 29 February 1932. Hitler wanted a home-grown close protection group while in Munich because this was the traditional birthplace of the Nazi Party and where any plots would therefore have added significance. In

8228-407: The beginning of the modern age , some circles redubbed the HRE into the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" ( Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation ), a symptom of the formation of a German nation state as opposed to the multinational state the Empire was throughout its history. Resistance against the French Revolution with its concept of the state brought a new movement to create

8349-406: The compounds bishopric and archbishopric . The German adjective reich , on the other hand, has an exact cognate in English rich . Both the noun ( * rīkijan ) and the adjective ( * rīkijaz ) are derivations based on the Common Germanic * rīks "ruler, king ", reflected in Gothic as reiks , glossing ἄρχων "leader, ruler, chieftain". It is probable that

8470-476: The corridor of the Führerbunker proper. To the Nazi leadership it was clear that the battle for Berlin , which started in late April, would be the final battle of the war. On 27 April 1945, Högl was sent out to find Himmler's liaison man, SS- Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein who had deserted his post at the Führerbunker . Fegelein was caught by Högl's RSD squad in his Berlin apartment, wearing civilian clothes and preparing to flee to Sweden or Switzerland . He

8591-400: 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

8712-437: 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

8833-421: 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,

8954-411: 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

9075-556: 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

9196-480: The historically Germanic countries and regions of Europe into the Nazi state ( Flanders , the Netherlands , Denmark , Norway , Sweden etc.). A number of previously neutral words which were used by the Nazis later took on negative connotations in German (e.g. Führer or Heil ); while in many contexts Reich is not one of them ( Frankreich , France; Römisches Reich , Roman Empire ), it can imply German imperialism or strong nationalism if it

9317-581: 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,

9438-731: 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,

9559-540: The monarchy in 1918. There was no emperor, but many Germans had imperialistic ambitions. According to Richard J. Evans : The continued use of the term "German Empire", Deutsches Reich , by the Weimar Republic ... conjured up an image among educated Germans that resonated far beyond the institutional structures Bismarck created: the successor to the Roman Empire; the vision of God's Empire here on earth;

9680-411: The name of Sweden in Swedish. Thus in the official name of Sweden, Konunga riket Sve rige , the word rike appears twice. The derived prefix rigs- (Danish and pre-1907 Norwegian) and riks- (Swedish and Norwegian) and implies nationwide or under central jurisdiction. Examples include riksväg and riksvei , names for a national road in Swedish and Norwegian. It is also present in

9801-575: The names of numerous institutions in all the Scandinavian countries, such as Rigsrevisionen (the agency responsible for oversight of the state finances in Denmark) and Sveriges Riksbank (commonly known as just Riksbanken ), the central bank of Sweden. It is also used in words such as udenrigs (Danish), utrikes (Swedish) and utenriks (Norwegian), relating to foreign countries and other things from abroad. The opposite word

9922-466: 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

10043-464: The once important Low Germans had to assimilate themselves. This marked the transition between Antijudaism , where converted Jews were accepted as full citizens (in theory), to Antisemitism , where Jews were thought to be from a different ethnicity that could never become German. Apart from all those ethnic minorities being de facto extinct, even today the era of national feeling is taught in history in German schools as an important stepping-stone on

10164-670: The other with a detachment of RSD men. In 1936 a resolution of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gave members of the RSD the status of being Wehrmacht officers, but with authority that included extra jurisdictional powers and privileges. It was formally called the Reichssicherheitsdienst Gruppe Geheime Feldpolizei z. b. V (Reich Security Service Group Secret Field Police for special duties/zur besondere Verwendung). They were considered military police officers that were technically on

10285-617: 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

10406-494: The partial translation "the Third Reich "), first used in a 1923 book entitled Das Dritte Reich by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck , that counted the medieval Holy Roman Empire (which nominally survived until the 19th century) as the first and the 1871–1918 monarchy as the second, which was then to be followed by a "reinvigorated" third one. The Nazis ignored the previous 1918–1933 Weimar period , which they denounced as

10527-555: 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,

10648-478: 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

10769-653: 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

10890-424: 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

11011-581: The realm") for gendarmerie in Belgium . The word rijk can also be found in institutions like the Rijkswaterstaat , Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen . In colloquial speech, rijk usually means working for the central government rather than the provincial or municipal government, much as Americans refer to the "federal" government. In Afrikaans , ryk refers to rulership and area of governance (mostly

11132-418: 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

11253-628: The rest of Hitler's personal staff moved into the Vorbunker and Führerbunker . FBK and RSD men were stationed outside the Führerbunker entrances. Main entry into the Führerbunker was from a stairway built at right angles leading down from the Vorbunker . After descending the stairs into the lower section, RSD and FBK men were positioned in a guard room to check identity cards and search briefcases, before personnel were allowed to pass into

11374-669: The road to a German nation. In the case of the Hohenzollern Empire (1871–1918), the official name of the country was Deutsches Reich ("German Realm"), because under the Constitution of the German Empire , it was legally a confederation of German states under the permanent presidency of the King of Prussia . The constitution granted the King of Prussia the title of "German Emperor" ( Deutscher Kaiser ), but this referred to

11495-589: The same way that the terms Bund (federation) and Bundes- (federal) are used in Germany today, and comparable to The Crown in Commonwealth countries and The Union in the United States . The Nazis sought to legitimize their power historiographically by portraying their ascendancy to rule as the direct continuation of an ancient German past. They adopted the term Drittes Reich ("Third Empire" – usually rendered in English in

11616-463: The sense of a sovereign state) and does not have any special or political connotations. It does not imply any particular form of government, but it implies that the entity is both of a certain size and of a certain standing, like the Scandinavian kingdoms themselves; hence the word might be considered exaggerated for very small states like a city-state. Its use as a stand-alone word is more widespread than in contemporary German, but most often, it refers to

11737-549: The spring of 1934, the Führerschutzkommando replaced the SS-Begleitkommando for Hitler's overall protection throughout Germany. In 1935 the FSK squad for Hitler's protection was made up of 17 men. An additional force of 76 FSK men protected other leading members of the party, including Hermann Göring , Rudolf Hess , Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler ; along with performing other security related duties. The FSK

11858-401: The staff of Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler with its personnel wearing the uniform of the SS with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) diamond on the lower left sleeve. Those who were eligible to claim SS membership could join the RSD and all officers had to present proof that they were of German blood. In 1937 all RSD officers were made members of the SS breaking the link to the regular army. By that year,

11979-533: 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

12100-515: 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,

12221-466: The term " Fourth Reich " is mainly used in fiction and political humor, although it is also used by those who subscribe to neo-Nazism . The German noun Reich is derived from Old High German : rīhhi , which together with its cognates in Old English : rīce , Old Norse : ríki , and Gothic : reiki is derived from a Common Germanic * rīkijan . The English noun survives only in

12342-526: 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

12463-441: The three Scandinavian states themselves and certain historical empires, like the Roman Empire . The standard word for a "country" is usually land , and there are many other words used to refer to countries. The word is part of the official names of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the form of kongerige   ( Danish ) , kongerike   ( Norwegian ) , and konungarike   ( Swedish ) , all meaning kingdom, or literally

12584-419: 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

12705-473: The universality of its claim to suzerainty ; and in a more prosaic but no less powerful sense, the concept of a German state that would include all German speakers in central Europe—"one People, one Reich, one Leader", as the Nazi slogan was to put it. The term is derived from the Germanic word which generally means "realm", but in German, it is typically used to designate a kingdom or an empire, especially

12826-418: 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

12947-410: Was Adolf Hitler's personal desire that Großdeutsches Reich and nationalsozialistischer Staat ("[the] National Socialist State") would be used in place of Drittes Reich . Reichskanzlei Berchtesgaden (" Reich Chancellery Berchtesgaden "), another nickname of the regime (named after the eponymous town located in the vicinity of Hitler's mountain residence where he spent much of his time in office)

13068-400: 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

13189-572: Was also banned at the same time, despite the fact that a sub-section of the Chancellery was in fact installed there to serve Hitler's needs. Although the term "Third Reich" is still commonly used in reference to the Nazi dictatorship, historians avoid using the terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich", which are seldom found outside Nazi propaganda . During and following the Anschluss ( annexation ) of Austria in 1938, Nazi propaganda also used

13310-411: Was carrying cash—German and foreign—and jewellery, some of which belonged to Eva Braun . Högl also uncovered a briefcase containing documents with evidence of Himmler's attempted peace negotiations with the western Allies. Fegelein was brought back to the Führerbunker and then shot on 28 April. After Hitler committed suicide on 30 April, Rattenhuber and the remaining RSD officers were taken prisoner by

13431-585: 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

13552-531: 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

13673-519: Was founded on 15 March 1933 as the Führerschutzkommando (" Führer protection command"; FSK) under the command of then SS- Standartenführer Johann Rattenhuber . His deputy was Peter Högl . Originally charged with protecting the Führer only while he was inside the borders of Bavaria , its members consisted of criminal-police detectives of the Bavarian police. Since the small group was made up of Bavarian police officers, they could only operate within

13794-597: 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

13915-516: Was officially renamed the Reichssicherheitsdienst (Reich Security Service; RSD) on 1 August 1935. Himmler finally gained full control over the RSD in October 1935. Although Himmler was officially named chief, Rattenhuber remained in command and took his orders for the most part from Hitler or a chief aide such as Julius Schaub . Himmler was given administrative control over the RSD and the SS gained influence over its members. As for

14036-464: 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,

14157-472: Was popular during this period was the term Tausendjähriges Reich ("Thousand-Year Reich"), the millennial connotations of which suggested that Nazi Germany would last a thousand years. The Nazis also spoke of enlarging the then-established Greater German Reich into a " Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation " ( Großgermanisches Reich Deutscher Nation ) by gradually and directly annexing all of

14278-488: 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,

14399-513: 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

14520-598: Was the first entity that was officially called in German Deutsches Reich . Deutsches Reich remained the official name of Germany until 1945, although these years saw three very different political systems more commonly referred to in English as: "the German Empire " (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933; this term is a post- World War II coinage not used at the time), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). After 1918 "Reich"

14641-474: Was usually not translated as "Empire" in English-speaking countries, and the title was instead simply used in its original German. During the Weimar Republic the term Reich and the prefix Reichs- referred not to the idea of empire but rather to the institutions, officials, affairs etc. of the whole country as opposed to those of one of its constituent federal states ( Länder ), in

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