Army of Evil: A History of the SS (71 page)

Holocaust and, 146, 193, 194, 196, 222, 315–19, 341

Hungary and, 392–93

invasion of Low Countries and France (1940), 248–54

invasion of Soviet Union (1941) and, 298–99, 300, 301, 322, 323–224

invasion of Yugoslavia (1941), 297

medical experiments and, 128–29, 382–83

military effectiveness of, 193–94

military penal system and, 222

Mountain divisions, 303, 304

myths/misconceptions about, 193–95

non-German nationals in, 118, 194, 197, 256–67, 268–69, 275–84, 285–87, 289–93, 294, 300–5, 407

“Nordic” or “Germanic” recruits, 265, 266–67, 268, 275, 299, 301, 302

numerical strength of, 193–94, 247, 254, 305

by origin/nationality, 261–64

OKW control of, 402

origins of, 198–200

personnel at Auschwitz, 194, 371–72, 373–74, 376, 379, 380, 381, 394

personnel at extermination camps, 3–4, 191–92, 325–27, 340–41, 343–44, 345–49, 353–54, 355–57, 359–62, 364–65

police reserves, 219, 246, 247, 321

recruitment and, 117, 118, 210–11, 254–55, 256, 258, 264, 267, 268, 300–5

resistance group within (“League of Democratic Officers”), 145–46

role in Poland, 191, 225–29, 230, 231–34, 242–43, 308, 309

special task groups in Soviet Union and, 308, 315, 319

training and indoctrination, 118, 207, 209

uniforms/insignia and, 61, 116, 127, 213, 278, 280

units/formations of, 254n

Auschwitz Battalion, 372, 384

Austrian Legion, 257

British Free Corps, 275–84, 286–87, 294

Cavalry units, 145, 322

Danzig Home Guard, 221, 226, 258

Death’s Head Division, 195, 247, 249–51, 254, 264, 270, 299, 322, 372, 384

Deutschland
regiment, 157, 210–11, 212, 214, 218, 220, 221, 222, 257

Dirlewanger unit, 194, 195, 269, 270, 273–74, 304, 323

8th
Florian Geyer
SS-Cavalry Division, 323

Der Führer
regiment, 220, 222

Germania
regiment, 197, 210, 214, 218, 220, 222, 268

Germanic Panzer Corps, 283, 285, 302

30th Grenadier Division, 194

18th
Horst Wessel
SS-Volunteer Panzer-Grenadier Division, 323

Indian Legion, 287, 289–91, 294

Kurt Eggers Regiment, 281, 287, 293

Leibstandarte
Adolf Hitler,
see Leibstandarte
Adolf Hitler (originally “SS–Special Unit Berlin”)

Muslim division (
Handschar
Mountain Division), 303–4

Nord
Division, 299

Nordland
Division, 251, 268, 283, 286, 302, 407

Nordland
Regiment, 265, 266, 267–68

Nordwest
Regiment, 387

Oberbayern
Regiment, 218, 370

Ostmark
Regiment, 221

Police Division, 247, 254, 264, 277, 299

Prinz Eugen Division, 303

Das Reich
Division, 194, 197, 297

Skanderbeg
division, 194

Special Purpose Division (
Das Reich
Division), 194, 197, 215, 216, 221, 222, 247, 249, 267, 297, 299

SS-Artillery Regiment, 222, 268

1st SS-Brigade (motorised), 322, 323

Totenkopf
division, 194

Westland
Regiment, 265, 266, 267

Wiking
Division, 197, 268, 299, 301, 302

war crimes of, 195, 196, 249–54, 323–24

weaknesses/failure of, 294–95

see also
militarised units of SS; SS-Special Purpose Troops

Wagner, Eduard, 227, 306–7

Wagner, Gustav, 361

Wagner, Josef, 229

Waldeck-Pyrmont, Josias Erbprinz zu, 50–51, 79, 110, 111

Wall Street Crash (October 1929), 52, 56

Wannsee Conference (20 January 1942), 327–37, 338

Warsaw ghetto, 243, 243n, 244, 245, 355, 358

Weber, Christian, 16, 26, 47

Wecke, Police Lieutenant Colonal, 198

Wege, Kurt, 57

Wegner, Bernd, 207

Weichs, Maximilian von, 404

Weimar Republic, 9–10, 20, 52, 53, 82, 83

Brüning government, 59, 68, 69

Stresemann government, 17

Well of Life Society, 121–22, 124

Wels concentration camp, 393

Wentzler, Ernst, 178

Werner, Kurt, 315–16

Werner Company, 40

Westarp, Countess Heila von, 11

Wewelsburg Castle, 126, 127

White Rose (
Weisse Rose
), 146

Widmann, Dr. Albert, 180, 181, 320

Wildt, Michael, 130, 142

Wilhelm II, Kaiser, 6–7

Wiligut, Karl-Maria, 124–28

Wilson, President Woodrow, 6

Winkelmann, Otto, 390

Wirth, Christian, 181, 191, 341, 343–44, 346, 347–48, 349, 350, 352–53, 355, 357, 362n

Wirth, Herman, 128

Wisliceny, Dieter, 159, 160, 385, 391

witchcraft and sorcery, 128, 144

Wittelsbach dynasty, 6

Wittje, Kurt, 111

Wolff, Karl, 110, 127, 227, 269, 320, 388, 405, 406

Wood, Lionel, 281

workers’ councils (1918), 7–8

Wormhoudt massacre (May 1940), 251–54

Woyrsch, Udo von, 225, 229, 232

Wunnenberg, Alfred, 149

Würzburg, 155

Young Maidens (
Jungmädel
), 272

Young Plan (June 1929), 51

Yugoslavia, 296–97, 303, 389

Zbaszyn (Poland), 164

Zech-Nenntwich, Hans, 145–46, 207

Zehlendorf special camp, 276–77

Zionism, 135, 156, 158, 159–60, 162, 167, 235, 391

Zipperer, Falk, 35–36

Zyklon B gas, 4, 345–46, 350, 376–77, 380

Members of the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler preparing to parade in Bayreuth on “German Day,” 30 September 1923. (
Public Record Office)

Heinrich Himmler carries the banner of the Imperial War Flag militia outside the Bavarian war ministry during the Munich Putsch on 8–9 November 1923. (
Public Record Office)

Julius Schreck (
center
) with some of the earliest members of the SS, 1925.
(
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz)

Heinrich Himmler (
next to banner
) with Rudolf Hess, Gregor Strasser, Adolf Hitler and Franz Pfeffer von Salomon at the 1927 Nuremberg Rally. (
Bundesarchiv)

Kurt Daluege (
left
) with Reinhard Heydrich (
second from right
) at a skiing competition in Kitzbühel, February 1939. (
Bundesarchiv)

Adolf Hitler being driven by SS founder Julius Schreck, circa 1935.
(
AP/Press Association Images)

Ernst Röhm with Himmler and Daluege in August 1933, less than a year before Himmler was to orchestrate his murder. (
Bundesarchiv)