SS Main Office

The office traces its origins to 1931 when the SS created the SS-Amt to serve as an SS Headquarters staff overseeing the various units of the Allgemeine-SS (General SS). In 1933, after the Nazi Party came to power, the SS-Amt was renamed the SS-Oberführerbereichen and placed in command of all SS units within Nazi Germany. Its leaders were Ernst Bach (December 1932 to June 1933), Siegfried Seidel-Dittmarsch (June 1933 to February 1934) and Curt Wittje (from February 1934).{{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=13}} This agency then became the SS-HA on January 30, 1935. The organization oversaw the Allgemeine-SS, concentration camps, the SS-Verfügungstruppe (Special-purpose troops), and the Grenzschutz (Border Control regiments).{{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=13}}

During the late 1930s, the power of the SS-HA continued to grow becoming the largest and most powerful office of the SS, managing nearly all aspects of the paramilitary organization. This included the SS officer schools (SS-Junker Schools), physical training, communication, SS garrisons, logistics and support.{{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=13}} Shortly after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the SS-Verfügungstruppe expanded rapidly becoming the Waffen-SS in 1940. By this time, the office of the SS-Hauptamt could no longer administer the entire SS organization. As a result, the SS-HA was downsized losing much of its pre-war power to the SS Führungshauptamt (SS Leadership Main Office; SS-FHA) and the main offices of the Allgemeine-SS, such as the Reich Security Main Office.{{sfn|McNab|2009|pp=36, 41}}

Recruiting members for the Waffen-SS was handled through the SS-HA and its chief, Berger. This caused overlapping jurisdiction and friction with the SS-FHA.{{sfn|Wegner|1990|pp=296–298}} Berger's SS-HA had a problematic relationship with the SS-FHA, which was responsible for organising, training and equipping the Waffen-SS. The SS-FHA wanted the Waffen-SS to be a small elite corps, but Berger and Himmler knew that Adolf Hitler needed as many divisions as possible, even if that meant some Waffen-SS formations would be of lesser quality.{{sfn|Weale|2010|pp=118–119}} During the early war years, to meet the high casualty rates and expansion of Waffen-SS field divisions, members of the Allgemeine SS were used for compulsory recruitment drives by the SS-HA for both the Waffen-SS and the SS-Totenkopfverbände. The General SS members were especially seen as well suited for duty at the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps.{{sfn|Wegner|1990|p=306}} From 1942, forward, other personnel working for SS organisations were also drafted into the Waffen-SS to meet its manpower needs.{{sfn|Wegner|1990|p=306}}

In 1940 the SS-Hauptamt remained responsible for SS administrative matters such as manpower allocation, supplies, personnel transfers, and promotions.

The SS-HA had 11 departments (Ämter or Amtsgruppen):{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pp=14–15}}

• Amt Zentralamt (Central office)
• Amt Leitender Arzt beim Chef SS-HA (Chief Medical Officer)
• Amt Verwaltung (Administration)
• Amt Ergänzungsamt der Waffen-SS (Waffen-SS Reinforcements)
• Amt Erfassungsamt (Requisitioning)
• Amt für Weltanschauliche Erziehung (Ideological Training)
• Amt für Leibeserziehhung (Physical Training)
• Amt für Berufserziehung (Trade Training)
• Amt Germanische Leitstelle (Germanic Control)
• Amt Germanische Ergänzung (Germanic Recruitment)
• Amt Germanische Erziehung (Germanic Education)

The SS-HA was technically subordinate to the Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS, but in reality it remained autonomous.

{{Officeholder table start

| showorder = y

| showimage = y

| officeholder_title = Name

| showtermlenght = y

| showparty = n

| showelection = n

| showcabinet = n

| showref = y

}}

{{Officeholder table

| order = 1

| image = WittjeCurt-1938.jpg

| military_rank = SS-Gruppenführer

| officeholder = Curt Wittje

| officeholder_sort = Wittje, Curt

| officeholder_note =

| born_year = 1894

| died_year = 1947

| term_start = 12 February 1934

| term_end = 14 May 1935

| timeinoffice = {{ayd|1934|02|12|1935|05|14}}

| ref = {{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=15}}

}}

{{Officeholder table

| order = 2

| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R38093, August Heißmeyer.jpg

| military_rank = SS-Obergruppenführer

| officeholder = August Heissmeyer

| officeholder_sort = Heissmeyer, August

| officeholder_note =

| born_year = 1897

| died_year = 1979

| term_start = 14 May 1935

| term_end = 9 November 1939

| timeinoffice = {{ayd|1935|05|14|1939|11|09}}

| ref = {{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=15}}

}}

{{Officeholder table

| order = 3

| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S73321, Gottlob Berger.jpg

| military_rank = SS-Obergruppenführer

| officeholder = Gottlob Berger

| officeholder_sort = Berger, Gottlob

| officeholder_note =

| born_year = 1896

| died_year = 1975

| term_start = 1 December 1939

| term_end = 8 May 1945

| timeinoffice = {{ayd|1939|11|09|1945|05|08}}

| ref = {{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=15}}

}}

{{Officeholder table end}}

Image:Gottlob Berger.jpg in the dock at the Nuremberg Trials in 1949.]]

After the end of World War II in Europe, members of the SS-HA were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Gottlob Berger, its former chief was arrested in May 1945 and tried in 1949. The trial against Berger and his co-defendants commenced on 6 January 1948,{{sfn|Heller|2011|p=79}} and ended on 13 April 1949.{{sfn|Heller|2011|p=103}} Berger was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, but received credit for the four years during which he had been in custody awaiting trial.{{sfn|NMT|1949|p=867}} Berger was released from Landsberg prison in 1951.{{sfn|Maguire|2013|p=206}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | last = Heller | first = Kevin Jon | title = The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fjRoAgAAQBAJ | year = 2011 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford, New York | isbn = 978-0-19-162212-0 }}
• {{cite book | last = Maguire | first = Peter H. | title = Law and War: International Law and American History, Revised Edition | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0qM8eRj3SCMC | year = 2013 | publisher = Columbia University Press | location = New York, New York | isbn = 978-0-231-51819-2 }}
• {{cite book | last = McNab | first = Chris | title = The SS: 1923–1945 | publisher = Amber Books Ltd | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-1-906626-49-5 }}
• {{cite book | title = Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, Volume XIV, "The Ministries Case" | year = 1949 | publisher = Nuernberg Military Tribunals | location = Nuremberg, Allied-occupied Germany | oclc = 874547741 | ref = {{harvid|NMT|1949}} }}
• {{cite book | last = Weale | first = Adrian | author-link = Adrian Weale | title = The SS: A New History | year = 2010 | publisher =Little, Brown | isbn = 978-1-4087-0304-5 }}
• {{cite book | last = Wegner | first = Bernd | author-link = Bernd Wegner | title = The Waffen-SS: Organization, Ideology and Function | publisher = Blackwell | year = 1990 | isbn = 0-631-14073-5 }}
• {{cite book | last = Yerger | first = Mark C. | year = 1997 | title= Allgemeine-SS: The Commands, Units and Leaders of the General SS | publisher =Schiffer Publishing | isbn = 0-7643-0145-4 }}

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Category:Nazi SS

Category:Allgemeine SS