Austrian SS
The Austrian SS was that portion of the SS membership from Austria.
The term "Austrian-SS" was never a recognized branch of the SS, but frequently used as an unofficial term and title, especially before the year 1938. Both Germany and Austria contributed to a single SS and Austrian SS members were seen as regular SS personnel, in contrast to SS members from other countries which were grouped into either the Germanic-SS or the Foreign Legions of the Waffen-SS. The Austrian branch of the SS first developed in 1930 and, by 1934, was acting as a covert force to influence the Anschluss with Germany which would eventually occur in 1938. The early Austrian SS was led by Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Arthur Seyss-Inquart and was technically under the command of the SS in Germany, but often acted independently concerning Austrian affairs.[1]
Austrian SS men were organized under the same manner as the Allgemeine-SS but operated as an underground organization, in particular after 1936 when the Austrian government declared the SS an illegal organization. One of the largest formations of the Austrian SS was the 11th SS-Standarte operating out of Vienna. The Austrian SS used the same rank system as the regular SS, but rarely used uniforms or identifying insignia. Photographic evidence indicates that Austrian SS men typically would wear a swastika armband on civilian clothes, and then only at secret SS meetings.
After 1938, when Austria was annexed by Germany, the Austrian SS was folded into SS-Oberabschnitt Donau with the 3rd regiment of the SS-Verfugungstruppe, Der Führer, and the fourth Totenkopf regiment, Ostmark, recruited in Austria shortly thereafter. Mauthausen was the first concentration camp opened in Austria following the Anschluss.[2]
The Hotel Metropole in Vienna was transformed into the Gestapo headquarters. Franz Josef Huber was in charge and had a staff of 900, of which 80% were from the Austrian police. It was the largest Gestapo office outside of Berlin. It is estimated that 50,000 people were interrogated and tortured there. Huber was also the formal chief of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna, and although the de facto leaders were Adolf Eichmann and later Alois Brunner, was nevertheless responsible for the mass deportations of Jews.[3]
Some cultural differences between Austrian and German SS men were present to the end of World War II, even though in theory the two countries contributed to a single SS. The issue was highlighted in 1943, when Austrian SS commanders were responsible for heavy losses in the first days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and charged with negligence. Jürgen Stroop, the SSPF in Warsaw, overturned several courts martial (death) sentences since it was believed that Austrian members of the SS might rebel against the German officers who passed the sentences.
Still, Austrian SS members served in every branch of the SS, including Concentration Camps, Einsatzgruppen, and the Security Services. Besides Eichmann, who was one of the major organisers of the Holocaust, Amon Göth was another notable Austrian-SS member. He became the commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp in Płaszów (who was portrayed in the film Schindler's List by Ralph Fiennes).[4][5]
Notes
- ↑ Browder 1996, pp. 205–206.
- ↑ Weale 2012, p. 107.
- ↑ "The Vienna Review": Crossing the Threshold of Painful Memory, 11 February 2011
- ↑ Weale 2012, pp. 144, 156, 157.
- ↑ Crowe 2004, p. 227.
References
- Browder, George C (1996). Hitler’s Enforcers: The Gestapo and the SS Security Service in the Nazi Revolution. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19510-479-0.
- Crowe, David M. (2004). Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-465-00253-5.
- Weale, Adrian (2012). Army of Evil: A History of the SS. New York; Toronto: NAL Caliber (Penguin Group). ISBN 978-0-451-23791-0.