what is the ss

The SS (Schutzstaffel) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It began as a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz made up of party volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and given its final name. Under his direction (1929–1945) it grew from a small unit to a powerful organization with over 800,000 employees by 1944. The SS was responsible for enforcing Nazi racial policies, identifying and persecuting political and other opponents of the Nazi regime, and running the network of concentration camps in which opponents of the Nazi regime were imprisoned, tortured, and often killed. The SS was also specifically charged with the leadership of the “Final Solution,” the murder of European Jews. The SS symbol, derived from the Schutzstaffel, is a common white supremacist/neo-Nazi symbol.