Allgemeine SS
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The Allgemeine SS was a major branch of the Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (SS-Hauptamt). The Allgemeine SS was officially established in the autumn of 1934 to distinguish its members from the SS-Verfügungstruppe, which later became the Waffen-SS, and the SS-Totenkopfverbände, which were in charge of the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps. SS formations committed many war crimes against civilians and allied servicemen.
Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler leads an SS ceremony on the anniversary of the death of Heinrich I at Quedlinburg, July 1938
1939 photograph; shown from left to right are Franz Josef Huber, Arthur Nebe, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Müller. According to the archival caption, these men are planning the investigation of the bomb assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler of 8 November 1939 in Munich.
Jews from Carpathian Ruthenia arriving at Auschwitz concentration camp, 1944
Nazi concentration camps
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From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, including subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe.
Prisoners guarded by SA men line up in the yard of Oranienburg, 6 April 1933
Heinrich Himmler inspects Dachau on 8 May 1936.
Prisoners at Sachsenhausen, 19 December 1938
Forced labor at Sachsenhausen brickworks