SS
From Turtledove
The Schutzstaffel, abbreviated SS, was a major Nazi military organization exclusively under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Founded and commanded by Heinrich Himmler, the SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to an elite force with greater influence than the regular German armed forces.
In OTL the SS was one of the most notorious units of the Nazi regime and played a leading role in the Holocaust. Late in and after the war many SS men were sought for heinous crimes and despite extreme age as of 2008 some are still being sought.
As well as the examples below the SS also seem to have served as the inspiration fo the Freedom Party Guards.
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[edit] SS in In the Presence of Mine Enemies
The SS was one of the most feared aspects of life in the Greater German Reich; the intelligence officers whose job it was to eradicate dissenters and undesirables, most especially the Jews. At least three führers had come from the SS ranks, including Heinrich Himmler and Kurt Haldweim. The SS played an important role in selecting the führer, competing with the regular German army.
Throughout 2010 and into 2011, when Führer Heinz Buckliger began his program of reform, Reichsführer-SS Lothar Prützmann covertly sought to undermine Buckliger. That failing, Prützmann created the Committee for the Salvation of the Greater German Reich, and launched a putsch against Buckliger, installing Odilo Globocnik as führer. The putsch failed in 24 hours--the SS had failed to completely control all media, and did not immediately arrest Berlin Gauleiter Rolf Stolle, a far more radical reformer than Buckliger. When the rumor circulated that Prützmann was in fact Jewish, the Wehrmacht sided with Buckliger, and forced the SS to heel. After the Reichstag Elections of 2011, laws were passed that severely curtailed SS power. To emphasize the point, several of Prützmann's chief subordinates were hung from lamp posts.
Despite the SS's best efforts, some Jews lived on, hiding in plain sight. In fact one Jew had attained the rank of major in the Security Police, one of the SS' organs.
[edit] Notable SS Officers
[edit] SS in Worldwar
The SS was originally conceived solely to suppress opposition to the Nazi Party. It was gradually expanded to include more general policing duties, and was reorganized accordingly. It was also expanded to include an elite military unit, the Waffen-SS (Otto Skorzeny's unit), which saw service against the Allies in World War II and against the Race after the Conquest Fleet's arrival on Earth in 1942, and the Einsatzgruppen, a gang of thugs which committed unthinkable atrocities against Jews and many others, including the operation of concentration camps such as Treblinka.
After the Peace of Cairo, the SS largely returned to its original secret police role, especially in conquered provinces of the Greater German Reich such as France. The SS was very politically powerful in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s, and produced Chancellors Heinrich Himmler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner.
After the disasterous Race-German War of 1965, the power of the SS was greatly diminished.
