Reichssicherheitsdienst

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The Reichssicherheitsdienst (RSD) was an SS security force of Nazi Germany. Originally the personal bodyguards of Adolf Hitler, it later protected other high-ranking individuals of the Nazi regime.

The RSD was founded on March 15, 1933 as the Führerschutzkommando ("Führer protection command"), and renamed Reichssicherheitsdienst ("Reich's Security Service") on August 1, 1935. Its members originally belonged to the Bavarian police and were charged with personally protecting Hitler inside the borders of Bavaria. Outside of that state, Hitler's protection was insured by the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers, an eight-member bodyguard. The RSD replaced the Begleitkommando throughout the country in 1934.

Members of the RSD were made Wehrmacht officers by a resolution of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht upon the outbreak of World War II, granting them extra jurisdiction and privileges. Their official designation in 1939 was Reichssicherheitsdienst Gruppe Geheime Feldpolizei z. b. V. The group's leader for its entire existence was Oberführer Johann Rattenhuber. After Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945 in the Führerbunker, Rattenhuber was captured by the Red Army on May 1 and placed in a Soviet prison.

[edit] References

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of April 2, 2007.

[edit] External links

• Article at Axis History

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