History glossary
SS
the Nazi paramilitary and security organisation central to terror, policing, concentration camps, and genocide.
- Category
- Nazi organisation
- Region
- Germany and occupied Europe
- Date range
- 1925-1945
What it means
The Schutzstaffel, or SS, was the Nazi paramilitary and security organisation led by Heinrich Himmler. It controlled major parts of the police and camp system and played a central role in occupation terror and the Holocaust.
Stories using this term
The Holocaust
From legal discrimination to genocide, the Holocaust traces twelve years of escalating persecution that killed six million Jews and millions of others across Nazi-occupied Europe.
Nazi Germany
From Weimar collapse to WWII, Nazi Germany imposed totalitarian rule, expansion, and genocide.
Operation Barbarossa
From Hitler's ideological war in the east to Soviet survival before Moscow, Barbarossa turned expected blitzkrieg into prolonged attritional catastrophe.
The Rise of Adolf Hitler
From the ashes of World War I to the Night of the Long Knives, this story traces the political rise of Adolf Hitler and the collapse of the Weimar Republic.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
From the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba to the secret deal that ended the standoff, this story examines the most dangerous confrontation of the Cold War.
