| RSHA | |
|---|---|
| Reichssicherheitshauptamt | |
| The RSHA was under the administration of the SS. | |
| Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the RSHA, as an SS-Gruppenführer in August 1940. | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | September 27, 1939 |
| Preceding agencies | Sicherheitspolizei Sicherheitsdienst |
| Dissolved | May 8, 1945 |
| Jurisdiction | Germany Occupied Europe |
| Headquarters | Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, Berlin |
| Employees | 50,648 c. February 1944[1] |
| Minister responsible | Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, (1939-1945) |
| Agency executives | SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich 1939-1942, Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler 1942-1943, Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (Acting) SS-Obergruppenführer Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner 1943-1945, Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD |
| Parent agency | Ministry of the Interior (nominally) Allgemeine SS |
| Child agencies | Gestapo Sicherheitsdienst Sicherheitspolizei Kriminalpolizei |
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office[2] or Reich Security Main Office[3] or Reich Security Head Office[4]) was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei (Chief of German Police) and Reichsführer-SS. The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany.
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The RSHA was created by Reichsführer-SS Himmler on 27 September 1939 through the merger of the SS intelligence service the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) or Security Service, and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) or Security Police which were nominally under the Interior Ministry. The SiPo was composed of the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo, Secret State Police) and the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo, Criminal Police).[5]
The first chief of the RSHA was SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich until he was assassinated in 1942 (following a British-backed Czech operation). Following Heydrich's assassination, Himmler personally took over as acting chief of the RSHA, but in January 1943 delegated the office to SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who served as the head of the RSHA for the remainder of World War II.[6] The RSHA acronym for its director was 'CSSD': Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (English: Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service).[5]
The organization controlled the security service apparatus for the Reich and the Nazi Party. Its activities included intelligence-gathering, criminal investigation, overseeing foreigners, monitoring public opinion and Nazi indoctrination. Its stated duty was to find and eliminate the "enemies" of the Third Reich.[7] However, included within the list of "enemies" were Jews, Romani people, the "racially undesirable" as well as Communists, Freemasons, pacifists and Christian activists.
The RSHA also oversaw the Einsatzgruppen death squads that followed the invasion forces of the Wehrmacht Heer (German Army) into Eastern Europe. In its role as the nation's and NSDAP's security service, the RSHA coordinated activities among a number of different agencies that had wide-ranging responsibilities within Third Reich.
The RSHA was oftentimes abbreviated when part of correspondence as "RSi-H" so there would be no confusion with the SS department of RuSHA or SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt (SS Race and Settlement Office).[5]
According to British author, Gerald Reitlinger, the RSHA 'became a typical overblown bureaucracy... The complexity of RSHA was unequalled... with at least a hundred sub-sub sections'.[8]
The organization at its simplest was divided into seven offices (German: Ämter)[9]:
Amt IV, the Gestapo, and Amt V, the Kripo, together constituted the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) or SiPo. It was the SiPo that did most of the work in rounding up Jews, Romani People and other people deemed to be enemies of the Reich and deporting them to the concentration and extermination camps in German Occupied Poland and Ukraine.
The RSHA also supplied security forces on an "as needed" basis to local SS and Police Leaders. After the escape of prisoners from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, for example, it was RSHA personnel who facilitated the "Stalag Luft III murders".
During the earlier part of the fighting in the Soviet Union, the RSHA also had operational control of certain Waffen-SS units which Himmler had withheld from the Army High Command (OKH); these units, the 1st and 2nd SS Infantry Brigades and the SS Cavalry Brigade, were formed from former Standarten of the Totenkopfverbände or concentration camp service. Their role was not to serve in combat, except in emergencies, but to carry out "police and security operations" in occupied territories like the Einsatzgruppen.
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