The Founding of the SS

The SS was founded by the Führer on April 4, 1925 as a personal bodyguard in Munich. Its headquarters were last in the SS-Hauptamt (SS main office), Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse (today: Niederkirchnerstrasse), in Berlin. From the 1926 National Socialist party rally, it was subordinate to the Sturmabteilung (SA), but from 1930 also carried out the party's internal police service. It was decisively shaped and shaped by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.

In May 1923, the Führer had a hall protection called the Stabswache (staff guard) set up for the NSDAP. A few weeks later, after Hermann Ehrhardt had fallen out with Ernst Röhm and Hitler, this hall protection was dissolved and the "Stoßtrupp Adolf Hitler" was formed. After the unsuccessful Hitler-Ludendorff putsch in November 1923, this force and the NSDAP were banned.

On April 1, 1925, the SA functionary Julius Schreck received the order from the Führer to form a new troop to take over the protection of the NSDAP events. On April 4, a new unit was formed from eight members of the former Stoßtrupp Adolf Hitler. Among them were Ulrich Graf, Christian Weber, Emil Maurice, Julius Schaub and Erhard Heiden, a former member of the Freikorps Marine Brigade Ehrhardt, in addition to Schreck. The new troop was initially called "Stabswache" (staff guard).

Two weeks later, on April 16, the unit appeared in public for the first time during the funeral of Ernst Pöhner, the former Munich police chief and a participant in the Hitler-Ludendorff putsch. Anticipating later ceremonial functions of the SS, the unit acted as torchbearers during the funeral procession. Four men flanked the deceased's coffin to the right and left.

The troop was then quickly expanded to other parts of the German Empire. The name Schutzstaffel, which the former SA leader Hermann Göring had suggested based on Manfred von Richthofen's flight escort squadron, was finally officially introduced in 1925. Schreck now became the SS commander as Oberleiter. However, he did not succeed in establishing the SS. Competitive struggles with self-appointed other SS units and a lack of support from the SA led to his dismissal by the Führer in 1926 and the appointment of Joseph Berchtold.

He succeeded in noticeably enlarging and upgrading the SS: by the 1926 National Socialist Party Congress, he had managed to set up 75 squadrons with a total of around 1,000 members. In recognition of this, Hitler entrusted the SS with looking after the Blutfahne (blood flag) on November 9, 1926.

The SA, which until then had been subordinate to the respective Gauleiter, was subordinated to Franz von Pfeffer as Supreme SA Leader in September 1926, who, in return for giving up his previous position as Gauleiter, placed all National Socialist combat units under subordination, including the Hitler Youth and the SS.

Dissatisfied with his reduced room for maneuver, Joseph Berchtold resigned as Reichsführer-SS in 1927. Berchtold's successor was Erhard Heiden, who appointed a 27-year-old member of the Bundes Reichskriegsflagge as his deputy: Heinrich Himmler. Heiden, under whom the SS stagnated - there were even some plans to abolish it - resigned as Reichsführer-SS on January 5, 1929. On January 22nd, 1929, Heiden asked for his complete deletion from all SS membership and organization lists and turned back to the SA. His successor was the previous deputy Heinrich Himmler, who at the time still held this subordinate office in addition to his role as deputy head of the Reich Propaganda. Himmler designed and led the SS to the end and decisively shaped it structurally and personally.

In an order of November 7, 1930, the Führer described the tasks of the organization as follows: "The task of the SS is first of all to carry out the police service within the party."

The symbol of the Schutzstaffel was formed in 1930 from two adjacent, white Sig runes in a black field.