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Sepp Dietrich, Heinrich Himmler, and the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 1933–1938.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

James J. Weingartner
James J. Weingartner
Affiliation:
University of New Hampshire
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Extract

For Adolf Hitler the problem of constructing a loyal and reliable instrument of force for employment not only against external enemies but also for intra-party discipline was a frequently recurring one. In the summer of 1921 what was to become the Sturm Abteilungen (Storm Troops, “SA”) had its genesis under the camouflage of so-called “gymnastic societies.” The SA, however, soon developed into a mass organization with an internal dynamism of its own which sometimes operated in opposition to Hitler's own aims. Friction between Hitler and Ernst Roehm began, in fact, at least as early as 1925 and precipitated Roehm's temporary self-imposed exile in Bolivia. The problematical loyalty of the SA prompted Hitler during the general party reconstruction of that year to order the organization of a special troop under the command of one of his bodyguards, Julius Schreck. This new body, at first termed Stabswache (Staff Guard), was assigned the tasks of protecting Hitler and other prominent Nazi personages and, somewhat anomalously, of securing new party members and subscriptions to the Völkischer Beobachter. Other similar groups, always small and carefully selected, made their appearance and were accorded the collective designation Schutzstaffeln (Protection Squads, “SS”).

Type
Articles
Information
Central European History , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , September 1968 , pp. 264 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 1968

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References

1. The best single work on the sometimes tortuous relations between the Führer and the SA is Bennecke, Heinrich, Hitler und die SA (Munich, 1962).Google Scholar On the genesis of the SS, see Buchheim, Hans, “Die SS in der Verfassung des Dritten Reiches,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, III (1955), 128–29.Google Scholar

2. Ibid., p. 130; Stein, George, The Waffen SS (Ithaca, 1966), p. xxvi.Google Scholar

3. See SS Dienstalterslisten of Oct. 1, 1934, U. S. National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microcopy No. T-175, Records of the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police, Roll 204, Frame 2673857 (hereafter cited as T-175/204/2673857).

4. On Dietrich's activities prior to his association with National Socialism, see Das Archiv (July 1934), p. 487; Der Freiwillige, XII, No. 5 (May/June 1966), p. 3; von Schirach, Baldur, Die Pioniere des Dritten Reiches (Essen n.d.), pp. 43–44.Google Scholar

5. See “Neue Köpfe der Hitlerpartei im Reichstag,” Illustrierter Beobachter, v, No. 41 (10 11 1930), p. 719;Google Scholar “Adolf Hitler spricht zu 20,000 Nürnbergern,” ibid., v, No. 45 (Nov. 8, 1930), pp. 790–91.

6. The Goebbels Diaries 1942–43, ed. Lochner, Louis (Garden City, N. Y., 1948), p. 288.Google Scholar

7. Ludecke, Kurt, I Knew Hitler (London, 1938), pp. 523, 529, 632.Google Scholar See Illustrierter Beobachter, VII, No. 16 (04 16, 1932), pp. 340–41, for pictures of Dietrich clad in mufti with Stiefel.Google Scholar

8. Schirach, , op. cit., p. 44.Google Scholar

9. Buchheim, , op. cit., p. 130.Google Scholar

10. Dietrich's adjutant to adjutant, Chief of the SS-Hauptamt, Sept. 19, 1935, U.S. National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microcopy No. T-354, Miscellaneous SS Records: Einwandererzentralstelle, Waffen-SS and SS-Oberabschnitte, Roll 201, Frame 3861842.

11. SS Personal Befehl (hereafter SS-PB) No. 7, May 1, 1933, p. 5, U.S. National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microcopy No. T-611, Non-Biographic Material Filmed at the Berlin Document Center by the University of Nebraska, Roll 3, Folder 429.

12. Communique from Hermann Göring (received by Polizei Abteilung Wecke), Apr. (date unclear) 1933, T-354/199/3859784.

13. Ibid. “Sonderkommando” was used in official documents by June 1933. See, for example, Sturmbannführer Reich to Party Treasurer F. X. Schwarz, June 12, 1933, T-354/225/3893746.

14. Göring communique of Apr. (see n.12).

15. On the Auxiliary Police, see Buchheim, Hans, “SA-Hilfspolizei, SA-Feldpolizei und Feldjägerkorps und die beamtenrechtliche Stellung ihrer Angehörigen,” Gutachten des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte (Munich, 1958), pp. 335–38.Google Scholar

16. Göring communique of Apr. (see n. 12).

17. Klietmann, K. G., Die Waffen-SS—eine Dokumentation (Osnabrück, 1965), p. 51.Google Scholar

18. See T-354/195/3854104; 209/3873150; 225/3893744.

19. For an excellent brief discussion of Rcichswehr-SA relations in 1933, see O'Neil, Robert J., The German Army and the Nazi Party (New York, 1966), pp. 31–36.Google Scholar The most valuable single work on this subject is Bennecke, Heinrich, Die Reichswehr und der Roehm Putsch (Munich, 1962).Google Scholar

20. Reich to F. X. Schwarz, June 12, 1933, T-354/225/3893746. On Aug. 19, 1933, Reich referred to himself as “der Führer der SS-Sonderkommandos,” although there seems to have been no doubt as to Dietrich's actual primacy in this regard. See T-354/199/3859342.

21. Ortsgruppe Wünsdorf to Sonderkommando Zossen, June 12, 1933, T-354/225/3893728; Sturmbannbefehl (hereafter Stbfl.) No. 18, Aug. 29, 1933, T-354/199/3859537.

22. Sauer, Wolfgang in Bracher, , Sauer, , and Schulz, , Die Nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung (Cologne and Opladen, 1960), p. 476, n. 79;Google ScholarBuchheim, in Gutachten des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte, p. 338.Google Scholar See SS-Sonderkommando z.b.V. Jüterbog to Polizeikommando Wecke, July 29, 1933 for a list of of 368 Hilfspolizeibeamten who had joined the Sonderkommando since July 8. T-354/225/3893194.

23. Text in T-354/199/3859848.

24. Dietrich to NSDAP Liaison Staff, Oct. 12, 1933, T-354/194/3853318.

25. The first public appearance of the Sonderkommando as the Adolf Hitler Standarte took place at the annual party rally held during that month. Cf. Rudolf Absolon, Wehrgesetz und Wehrdienst, 1933–1945: Das Personalwesen in der Wehrmacht (“Schriften des Bundesarchivs,” v, Boppard am Rhein, 1960), p. 95, n.95; “Die Adolf Hitler Standarte, früher SS-Sonderkommando…” in a routine document dated Sept. 27, 1933, T-354/199/3859381.

26. Sonder-Sturmbannbefehl (I. Sturmbann), Sept. 29, 1933, T-354/199/3859570. See also Frames 3859454–66.

27. Himmler, Heinrich, “Die Aufgaben der SS,” F. M. Zeitschrift, Monatsschrift der Reichsführung-SS für Fördernde Mitglieder, IV, No. 1 (04 1, 1934), p. 1, T-354/211/3875796.Google Scholar

28. Dietrich to Ministry of Transport, Sept. 18, 1933, T-354/199/3859771; NSDAP Liaison Staff to Standarte Adolf Hitler, Sept. 25, 1933, T-354/194/3853322; Dietrich to NSDAP Liaison Staff, Oct. 12, 1933, ibid., Frame 3853318.

29. Himmler was at this time Reichsführer-SS and commander of the Bavarian Political Police. As such, his executive state function was localized. The Leibstandarte, on the other hand, being in the service of the Reich Chancellor, appeared to possess a nation-wide state function and could therefore plausibly put forth a demand for the same sort of privileges as the Army. But the loyalty oath, it must be remembered, was sworn to Adolf Hitler personally. See T-354/196/3855272–73.

30. Dietrich to RFSS-Verwaltungsamt, Nov. 4, 1933, T-354/195/3854670;Dietrich to Gestapa, Nov. 17, 1933, T-354/196/3855216; Stbfl. (I. Sturmbann) No. 20, Oct. 31, 1933, T-354/197/3856375.

31. SS-Befehl, No. 10, Nov. 24, 1933, p. 14, T-611, Roll 3, Folder 429.

32. Fourteenth Company, Ninth Prussian Infantry Regiment, to Adolf Hitler Standarte, Sept. 25, 1933, T-354/196/3854979; see also 225/3893144.

33. SS Standarte I to Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Nov. 11, 1933, T-354/202/3863456.

34. Himmler, to SS-Oberabschnitt Ost, Jan. 12, 1934, T-354/237/5510852; see also Bataillon Tagesbefehl (hereafter Btl. Tgbfl.) No. 147, Apr. 13, 1934, T-354/197/3856257.Google Scholar

35. See Dietrich's citation of a letter of Jan. 18, 1934, T-354/195/3854535–37.

36. Dietrich to RFSS, Jan. 9, 1934, T-354/195/3854660.

37. SS-PB No. 11, Feb. 26, 1934, p. 44, T-354/212/3876062. Here, the by now anachronistic “Standarte Adolf Hitler” is still used.

38. Dietrich to Reich Chancellery, Oct. 14, 1933, T-354/193/3851570.

39. Cited in a letter of Dietrich to Himmler, Mar. 23, 1934, T-354/195/385459596.

40. Ibid. Himmler had endeavored to equate the Leibstandarte's relationship to the Reich Ministry of the Interior with the similar relationship enjoyed by the politische Bereitschaften (political alert-units) to the ministries of the interior of the Länder. These politische Bereitschaften were SS units which occupied a quasi-official police status within the German Länder, and Himmler was quick to point out that they nevertheless stood beneath their Oberabschnitte. The analogy was an incorrect one, however, in that there was no question of a personal tie between the Bereitschaften and the chief executives of the Länder (who by this time were of little import in any event), and even if there had been, it would not have been comparable to the Leibstandarte's link with Adolf Hitler.

41. Btl. Tgbfl. No. 157, Apr. 26, 1934, T-354/197/3856245.

42. RFSS, Chef des SS-Amtes to SS-Oberabschnitte, May 26, 1934, T-354/195/3854526.

43. SS-PB No. 14, June 20, 1934, p. 35, T-354/212/3876037.

44. Umlaufsmappe 3 (date unclear, but by its position in the files early 1934), T-354/194/3852165. The third battalion was added in early autumn. See for example Btl. Tgbfl. No. I (III. Bataillon), Oct. 19, 1934, T-354/198/3858515.

45. Bataillon Befehl (hereafter Btl. Bfl.) No. 209, June 30, 1934, T-354/197/3857225.

46. Hegner, Rudolf, Die Reichskanzlei, 1933–1945 (Frankfurt a. M., 1960), pp. 141–42;Google ScholarBullock, Alan, Hitler, A Study in Tyranny (Harper Torchbook, New York, 1964), p. 303.Google Scholar

47. In 1957 Dietrich and Lippert were tried and convicted by a West German court for the purge murders; Eicke had been killed on the Eastern Front in 1943. It appears that Lippert and Eicke fired simultaneously at Roehm in his cell but that Lippert administered the coup de grâce. See Dornberg, John, Schizophrenic Germany (New York, 1961), pp. 36–37.Google Scholar Cf. Ludecke, p. 272.

48. Heiden, Konrad, Der Fuehrer (Boston, 1944), p. 766.Google Scholar What purports to be the official list of victims contains 83 names, of whom 14 were supposedly killed at Lichterfelde. For a reproduction of the list, see Huber, Heinz and Müller, Artur, Das Dritte Reich (Munich, 1964), I, 134–35. The precise number of those killed will probably never be known.Google Scholar

49. I. Bataillon to Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, T-354/220/3886702. See also Btl. Tgbfl. No. 218, July 11, 1934, T-354/197/3856175. Btl. Tgbfl. No. 221, July 14, 1934, T-354/197/3856171.

50. Btl. Tgbfl. No. 213, July 5, 1934, T-354/197/3856181.

51. Btl. Tgbfl. No. 210, July 2, 1934, T-354/197/3856185; teletype message from Himmler to Oberabschnitt Ost, July 6, 1934, T-354/237/5510785. Btl. Bfl. No. 213, July 5, 1934, T-354/197/3857221. Göring later seized the horse, to the Leibstandarte's displeasure. T-354/195/3854730.

52. Hausser, Paul, Soldaten wie andere auch (Osnabrück, 1966), p. 13;Google ScholarBuchheim, Hans, SS und Polizei im NS-Staat (Bonn, 1964), p. 166.Google Scholar On the relief felt by the Army on the elimination of the SA, see Wheeler-Bennett, John, The Nemesis of Power (Compass Books Edition, New York, 1967), p. 341.Google Scholar

53. Moser, Colonel, commandant of the Jüterbog training installation to Reich, June 22, 1934, in which he expresses the hope that “wir die schwarze Gard der stolzen Leibstandarte wieder hier begrüssen können.” T-354/196/3854963. See also Btl. Tgbfl. No. 231, July 26, 1934, T-354/197/3856159–60.Google Scholar

54. The details of the organization of the SS-Verfügungstruppe can be found in a Defense Ministry document of Sept. 24, 1934, 1139/34 g.k.L. II a, Betr. SS. V.T. U.S. National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microcopy No. T-78. Records of Headquarters, German Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres), Roll 427, Frames 6397243–48.

55. Ibid., I, “Aufgaben und Gliederung der SS”; III, “Vorbereitung der SS-V.T. für den Kriegsfall.”

56. Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler to SS Hauptamt, June 30, 1936, T-354/225/3894055. It is instructive to note that in this document the Leibstandarte informed the chief SS administrative organ that Hitler had personally ordered it to equip itself with white harness for parades. See also a memorandum by the inspector of the Verfügungstruppe, Paul Hausser, of Sept. 29, 1936, T-354/225/3893892.

57. Weidinger, Otto, Division Das Reich. Der Weg der 2. SS-Panzer Division “Das Reich” (Osnabrück, 1967), I, 19.Google Scholar

58. See Schoenbaum, David, Hitler's Social Revolution. Class and Status in Nazi Germany 1933–1939 (New York, 1966), pp. 83–84.Google Scholar

59. Chef des SS-Amtes, Oct. 21, 1935, T-354/194/3852933.

60. Himmler to Dietrich, July 27, 1938, T-175/33/2542485; Dietrich to Himmler, July 29, 1938, loc. cit.

61. T-175/33/2542516–17.

62. T-175/90/2611530.

63. To cite one example, Dietrich revealed early in 1935 that he had been in contact with the Army over the matter of securing tanks for the Leibstandarte. Dietrich to Lieutenant Colonel Radlmeyer, Jan. 17, 1935, T-354/201/3862227. The Leibstandarte was affected by economy measures in the area of motorization taken by the Army early in 1937. Leibstandarte Verwaltung to Leibstandarte staff, Feb. 10, 1937, T-354/208/3871340.

64. Activity report of the Abteilung Schulung, Feb. 4, 1935, p. 1, T-354/218/3884526.

65. See an unpublished article by a correspondent for the Kieler Neueste Nachrichten entitled “Ein Besuch bei Obergruppenführer Dietrich,” in T-354/210/3874673–78. The newspaper wanted to publish it in Dec. 1936, but Dietrich refused permission.

66. See the statement of Unterscharführer Hans Prack recorded in the late fall of 1938, T-175/88/2611499.

67. Ibid., Frame 2611448.

68. Krätschmer, Ernst-Günther, Ritterkreuzträger der Waffen-SS (Göttingen, 1955), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar

69. Statement by Hans Prack, T-175/88/2611449.

70. There is a postwar literature of apologetics for the Waffen SS and its antecedent, the Verfügungstruppe, which dwells heavily on this point. Representative of this genre are Paul Hausser's first book, Waffen-SS im Einsatz (Göttingen, 1953),Google Scholar as well as his more recent work cited above, and Steiner's, FelixDie Armee der Geächteten (Göttingen, 1963). More objective are the works by Klietmann and Weidinger cited above. That the Verfügungstruppe and the Waffen SS were made up of “soldiers like any others” is open to serious doubt; however, Nazi ideology does not appear to have played an important role in the Leibstandarte.Google Scholar

71. On Mar. 6, 1934, of a total membership of 986 men at least 45 were not party members and the total may have been as high as 136. Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler to RFSS, Mar. 6, 1934, T-354/195/3854619. To offer an extreme example from the period immediately preceding the war, of the 120-man total strength of the Eighth Company in May 1939, 87 were not party members. Eighth Company to the Leibstandarte's Ortsgruppe, May 17, 1939, T-354/218/3884693–95. Wilhelm Trabandt, who joined the SS with the rank of Hauptsturmführer (Captain) and became commander of the Leibstandarte's Third Battalion, was not a party member. SS Dienstaltersliste, Stand vom 1. Dezember, 1936, T-175/204/2674002. As of July 1937, twenty-seven percent of the membership of the Verfügungstruppe as a whole were not party members. Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schutzstaffel der NSDAP, 1937, T-175/205/4042282.

72. Tagesbefehl No. 265, Jan. 3, 1939, T-354/199/3860161. The degree to which the Leibstandarte can be viewed as virtually an extension of the Führer himself is admirably illustrated by the fact that in 1940 the Labor Front's birthday present to Hitler was to be 250 free places a month in Labor Front convalescent homes for wounded members of the Leibstandarte. Leibstandarte Replacement Battalion to Inspection (of replacement) of the SS Verfügungstruppe, Apr. 18, 1940, T-354/193/3851147. See Stein, p. 21.

73. Dietrich to RFSS, May 7, 1935, T-175/147/2674369.

74. Kramarz, Joachim, Stauffenberg, trans. Barry, R. H. (New York, 1967), p. 70. The Leibstandarte was then in South Germany in preparation for the invasion of Czechoslovakia.Google Scholar