| SS-HA | |
|---|---|
| SS-Hauptamt | |
| Vehicle flag of the SS-Hauptamt | |
| The SS-Hauptamt was the administrative agency of the SS | |
| SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger commander of the SS-Hauptamt (1939-45) | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1935 |
| Preceding agencies | SS-Amt SS-Oberführerbereichen |
| Dissolved | May 8, 1945 |
| Jurisdiction | Germany Occupied Europe |
| Headquarters | SS-Hauptamt, Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, Berlin |
| Minister responsible | Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, (1935-1945) |
| Agency executives | SS-Gruppenführer Kurt Wittje, Chef fur SS-Amt (1934 -1935) SS-Obergruppenführer August Heissmeyer, Chef fur SS-Hauptamt, (1935-1939) SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger, Chef fur SS-Hauptamt, (1939-1945) |
| Parent agency | SS |
| Child agencies | Allgemeine-SS until c.1940 SS-Verfügungstruppe until c.1940 SS-Totenkopfverbände until c.1940 |
The SS-Hauptamt (English: SS Head Office) (SS-HA) was the central command office of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) in Nazi Germany until 1940.
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The office can trace its origins to 1931 when the SS created the SS-Amt to serve as an SS Headquarters staff overseeing the various units of the Allgemeine-SS. In 1933, after the NSDAP came to power, the SS-Amt was renamed the SS-Oberführerbereichen and placed in command of all SS units within Nazi Germany.
This agency then became the SS-HA on January 30, 1935. The organization oversaw the Allgemeine-SS, concentration camps, the SS-Verfügungstruppe (English: Special-purpose troops), and the Grenzschutz (English: Border Control regiments).[1]
During the late 1930s, the power of the SS-HA continued to grow becoming the largest and most powerful office of the SS, managing nearly all aspects of the paramilitary organization. But shortly after the outbreak of WWII, the SS-Verfügungstruppe expanded rapidly becoming the Waffen SS in 1940. By this time, the office of the SS-Hauptamt could no longer administer the entire SS organization. As a result, the SS-HA was downsized losing much of its pre-war power to the SS Führungshauptamt (English: SS Leading Main Office) and the main offices of the Allgemeine SS.
In 1940 the SS-Hauptamt remained responsible for SS administrative in matters such as manpower allocation, supplies, personnel transfers, and promotions. The SS-HA had 11 departments (German: Ämter or Amtsgruppe):[2]
The SS-HA was technically subordinate to the Persönlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS (English: Personal Staff of the SS Reich Leader), but in reality it maintained autonomy.
After the close of World War II, members of the SS-Hauptamt were tried as war criminals because they had maintained, for other branches of the SS, the "paper trail" for such activities as the Einsatzgruppen, Final Solution and the commission of the Holocaust
The files of the SS-Hauptamt can be today be found (via microfiche) with National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland. The original documentation is kept in Germany, under the authority of the Bundesarchiv in Berlin.
Mark C Yerger (1997). Allgemeine-SS. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7643-0145-4.
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