The Story of the SS: Hitler's Infamous Legions of Death

Nigel Cawthorne

Jun 2011 · Arcturus Publishing

About this ebook

'The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love - only for their fear.'
- Heinrich Himmler

The Schutzstaffel, or SS - the brutal elite of the Nazi Party - was founded by Hitler in 1925 to be his personal bodyguard. From 1929 it was headed by Heinrich Himmler, who built its numbers up from under 300 to well over a million by 1945 as the SS grew to be the backbone of Nazi Germany, taking over almost every function of the state.

SS members were chosen not only to be the living embodiment of Hitler's notion of 'Aryan supremacy', but also to cement undying loyalty to the führer at every level of German society. Handpicked to run the concentration camps and to spearhead the Holocaust, they spread death and destruction wherever they went - their crimes can never be erased from human memory.

Merciless fanatics in black uniform and jackboots, the SS systematically slaughtered, tortured and enslaved millions. This is the story of the rise and fall of one of the most evil organizations the world has ever seen.

Ratings and reviews

Good and simple read. Very detailed about the life of the SS from beginning to end.

Very informative book

I like hitler

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne studied at University College, London, where he gained an Honours degree in Physics, before turning to writing as a career. He has been a writer and editor for over 25 years, the last 21 freelance. He has written, contributed to and edited more than sixty books, including Fighting Them On The Beaches: D-Day, 6 June 1944, The Battle of Britain, Vietnam: A War Lost and Won and Stalin. His work has also appeared in over a hundred and fifty newspapers, magazines and partworks on both sides of the Atlantic - from the Sun to the Financial Times, and includes contributions to Nam, Eyewitness Nam and The Falklands War. Nigel also visited Vietnam with the legendary Tim Page, where he researched the material for Nam, Eyewitness Nam, and The Bamboo Cage. He is also the creator of websites on the Battle of Hastings, and Pearl Harbor.