How the SS Went from a Handful of Thugs to One of the Most Powerful Organizations in Nazi Germany

Hans, are we the baddies? The laziest of dystopian fiction writers could not come up with a more stereotypical army of evil minions. A monolithic, pervasive, fanatical, ruthless force of crack fighters goosestepping over Europe with skulls and lightning bolts emlazened on their black uniforms. We are of course talking about the Shut Stafel, better known as the SS, one of the paramilitary units to emerge from the ranks of the National Socialist German Workers Party. one which eventually grew to become a parallel force within the armed forces. A state within the state, a horde of policemen, judges, and executioners responsible for the killings of millions of so-called undesirabs. The SA and the Stostroo the political party colloally known as the Nazis was founded in January 1919 with the unassuming name the German workers party. During its first rallies, discipline was maintained by loosely organized troops of stewards in charge of protecting party speakers and dejecting hecklers. The party grew importance and visibility after hiring a certain Austrian painter as its propaganda specialist and rebranding itself as the National Socialist German Workers Party in February 1920. When the artist formerly known as Corporal Hitler rose to the top position, he saw fit to reorganize the growing number of stewards into a formal paramilitary force. These were the Storm Abong, the Storm Detachment or SA for short. Modeled after Mussolini's black shirts, these troops wore brown shirts instead and were led by Ernst Rom, a former officer of the German Stormtroopers during World War I. And just like their Italian counterpart, Rom's brown shirts did not limit their operations to protecting party leaders. They actively attacked and disrupted other parties activities, engaging in massive street brawls against the socialist and communist factions. But the brown shirts became too numerous, too powerful to be fully trusted by Hitler. Besides, Rom and his acolytes did not hide their revolutionary and anti- capitalist feelings which could alienate the early financial backers of the Nazis. This is why in 1923, Hitler ordered the formation of a small personal bodyguard that would answer only to him. They were initially called the stars for hair or security guards. The group was soon renamed Adolf Hitler Stostrup, the shock troop, or as Hitler put it, the first group of toughs. This gang of toughs wore the same khaki uniforms as the SA,