RSHA
Encyclopedia
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office or Reich Security Main Office or Reich Security Head Office) 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
.
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).
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
. The RSHA acronym for its director was 'CSSD': Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service).
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. 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 squad
s 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).
, the RSHA 'became a typical overblown bureaucracy... The complexity of RSHA was unequalled... with at least a hundred sub-sub sections'.
The organization at its simplest was divided into seven offices :
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 Leader
s. 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.
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei (Chief of German Police) and Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
. The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
Formation
The RSHA was created by Reichsführer-SSReichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
on 27 September 1939 through the merger of the SS intelligence service the Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
(SD) or Security Service, and the Sicherheitspolizei
Sicherheitspolizei
The Sicherheitspolizei , often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo and the Kripo between 1936 and 1939...
(SiPo) or Security Police which were nominally under the Interior Ministry. The SiPo was composed of the Geheime Staatspolizei
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
(Gestapo, Secret State Police) and the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo, Criminal Police).
The first chief of the RSHA was SS-Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
and General of Police Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
until he was assassinated in 1942 (following a British-backed Czech operation
Operation Anthropoid
Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the targeted killing of top German SS leader Reinhard Heydrich. He was the chief of the Reich Main Security Office , the acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and a chief planner of the Final Solution, the Nazi German programme for the genocide of the...
). 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
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian-born senior official of Nazi Germany during World War II. Between January 1943 and May 1945, he held the offices of Chief of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt , President of Interpol and, as a Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS, he was the...
, who served as the head of the RSHA for the remainder of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The RSHA acronym for its director was 'CSSD': Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (Chief of the Security Police and of the Security Service).
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. However, included within the list of "enemies" were Jews, Romani people, the "racially undesirable" as well as Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, Freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, pacifists and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
activists.
The RSHA also oversaw the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
death squad
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
s 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).
Organization
According to British author, Gerald ReitlingerGerald Reitlinger
Gerald Roberts Reitlinger was a scholar of the economics of art and of history, particularly the Holocaust...
, the RSHA 'became a typical overblown bureaucracy... The complexity of RSHA was unequalled... with at least a hundred sub-sub sections'.
The organization at its simplest was divided into seven offices :
- Amt I, Personnel and Organization, originally headed by SS-GruppenführerGruppenführerGruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
Dr. Werner BestWerner BestDr. Werner Best was a German Nazi, jurist, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer and Nazi Party leader from Darmstadt, Hesse. He studied law and in 1927 obtained his doctorate degree at Heidelberg...
. In 1940, he was succeeded by SS-BrigadeführerBrigadeführerSS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Bruno StreckenbachBruno StreckenbachBruno Heinrich Streckenbach held the rank of SS-Brigadeführer , when he was the head of Amt I : Administration and Personnel of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt , but eventually achieved the rank of SS-Gruppenführer both in Allgemeine-SS and Waffen-SS...
.
- Amt II, Administration, Law, and Finance, headed by SS-StandartenführerStandartenführerStandartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
Dr. Hans Nockemann.
- Amt III, Inland-SD, headed by SS-Gruppenführer Otto OhlendorfOtto OhlendorfOtto Ohlendorf was a German SS-Gruppenführer and head of the Inland-SD , a section of the SD. Ohlendorf was the commanding officer of Einsatzgruppe D, which conducted mass murder in Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and, during 1942, the north Caucasus...
, was the SS information gathering service for inside Germany. It also dealt with ethnic GermansVolksdeutscheVolksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
outside of Germany's prewar borders, and matters of culture.
- Amt IV, Geheime StaatspolizeiGestapoThe Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
(Gestapo), headed by SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller. SS-ObersturmbannführerObersturmbannführerObersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Adolf EichmannAdolf EichmannAdolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
, one of the main architects of the HolocaustThe HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, was head of the Amt IV sub-department called Referat IV B4.
- Amt V, Kriminalpolizei (Kripo), under SS-GruppenführerGruppenführerGruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
Arthur NebeArthur NebeSS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe was a member of the NSDAP party with card number 574,307. In July 1931, he joined the SS and his membership number was 280,152. His early career included the Berlin position of Police Commissioner in the 1920s...
. This was the Criminal Police, which dealt with non-political serious crimes, such as rape, murder, and arson. Amt V was also known as the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt (Reich Criminal Police Department or RKPA).
- Amt VI, Ausland-SD, led first by SS-BrigadeführerBrigadeführerSS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Heinz JostHeinz JostHeinz Jost was an SS Brigadeführer and a Generalmajor of Police...
, and later by SS-Brigadeführer Walter SchellenbergWalter SchellenbergWalther Friedrich Schellenberg was a German SS-Brigadeführer who rose through the ranks of the SS to become the head of foreign intelligence following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.-Biography:...
. This was the foreign intelligence service of the SS.
- Amt VII, Written Records, overseen by SS-Brigadeführer Professor Dr. Franz SixFranz SixDr. Franz Alfred Six was a Nazi official who rose to the rank of SS-Brigadeführer. He was appointed by Reinhard Heydrich to head department Amt VII, Written Records of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt...
and later by SS-Obersturmbannführer Paul DittelPaul DittelPaul Dittel was a German historian and Anglicist who was also an Obersturmbannführer in the Schutzstaffel...
. It was responsible for "ideological" tasks. These included the creation of anti-semitic, anti-masonic propagandaPropagandaPropaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, the sounding of public opinion and monitoring of Nazi indoctrination by the public.
Amt IV, the Gestapo, and Amt V, the Kripo, together constituted the Sicherheitspolizei
Sicherheitspolizei
The Sicherheitspolizei , often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo and the Kripo between 1936 and 1939...
(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 Leader
SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS, of Gestapo and of the regular German police during and prior to World War II.Three levels of subordination were established for bearers of this title:...
s. After the escape of prisoners from Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
in March 1944, for example, it was RSHA personnel who facilitated the "Stalag Luft III murders
Stalag Luft III murders
The Stalag Luft III murders was a war crime perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the "Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German Air Force prison camp known as Stalag Luft III on March 25, 1944. Of a total of 76 successful escapees, 73 were recaptured, mostly within days of...
".
During the earlier part of the fighting in the Soviet Union, the RSHA also had operational control of certain Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
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
SS Cavalry Brigade
The SS Cavalry Brigade was a unit of the Waffen SS formed in 1940, from cavalry regiments created for occupation duties in German-occupied Poland. Later, while serving in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, the brigade was involved in the genocide of the Jewish population and anti-partisan...
, 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.
See also
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- List of SS personnel
- SIMServizio Informazioni MilitariThe Italian Military Intelligence Service was the military intelligence organization for the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Italy from 1900 until 1946, and of the Republic of Italy until 1949...
- Fascist ItalyKingdom of Italy (1861–1946)The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
's military intelligenceMilitary intelligenceMilitary intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
service - SS-Wirtschafts-VerwaltungshauptamtSS-Wirtschafts-VerwaltungshauptamtThe SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...
(the WVHA, the economic & administrative dept of the SS) - Red Orchestra - RHSA operations against a wartime Soviet espionage ring.
Further reading
- Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews, Third Edition, Yale Univ. Press, 2003, c1961.
- Höhne, HeinzHeinz HöhneHeinz Höhne was a German journalist and historian who specialized in Nazi and intelligence history....
:- Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf: Die Geschichte der SS. (original).
- The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS. (Engl. edition of the above).
- Lumsden, Robin. A Collector's Guide To: The Allgemeine - SS, Ian Allan Publishing, Inc. 2001. ISBN 0-7110-2905-9.
- McNab, Chris. The SS: 1923–1945, Amber Books Ltd. 2009. ISBN 978-1-906626-49-5.
- Wildt, Michael. Generation of the Unbound: The Leadership Corps of the Reich Security Main Office, Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2002 (Engl., in original German, Hamburg: 2002). ISBN 965-308-162-4.
- Williams, Max. Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography: Volumes 1 and 2, Ulric Publishing, 2001, 2003. ISBN 0-9537577-5-7 and ISBN 0-9537577-6-5.