Sicherheitsdienst
Encyclopedia
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 Gestapo
, which the SS had infiltrated heavily after 1934. Between 1933 and 1939, the SD was administered as an independent SS office, after which it was transferred to the authority of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or RSHA), as one of its seven departments/offices.
. Himmler appointed a former naval officer, Reinhard Heydrich
, to organise the small agency. The office was renamed Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in June 1932. The SD became more powerful after the Nazis
took control of Germany and the SS started infiltrating all leading positions of the security apparatus of the Reich. It was in some competition with the Sturmabteilung
(SA), but the SD was made the sole "Party information service" on 9 June 1934. In 1938 it was made the intelligence organization for the State as well as for the Party, supporting the Gestapo
and working with the General and Interior Administration. As such, the SD came into immediate, fierce competition with German military intelligence arm, the Abwehr
, headed by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
.
The SD was tasked with the detection of actual or potential enemies of the Nazi leadership and the neutralization of this opposition. To fulfill this task, the SD created an organization of agents and informants throughout the Reich and later throughout the occupied territories. The organization consisted of a few hundred full-time agents and several thousand informants. The SD was mainly the information-gathering agency, and the Gestapo, and to a degree the Kriminalpolizei
(Kripo), was the executive agency of the political police system. Both the SD and the Gestapo were departments under Heydrich's control who answered to Himmler as both Chief of the German Police and Reichsfuhrer-SS
, but the Kripo kept a level of independence as its structure was longer-established.
In 1936, the police were divided into the Ordnungspolizei
(Orpo or Order Police) and the Sicherheitspolizei
(SiPo or Security Police). The Ordnungspolizei consisted mainly of the Schutzpolizei
(Municipal police), the Gendarmerie
(Rural police) and the Gemeindepolizei (Local police). The Sicherheitspolizei was composed of the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) and the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo
). Heydrich became Chief of the SiPo (Security Police) and continued as Chief of the SD.
In September 1939, the Sicherheitspolizei became a part of the RSHA under Heydrich. The operational sections of the SD became (department) Amt III and for foreign intelligence, Amt VI; the Gestapo became Amt IV and the Kripo became Amt V. Otto Ohlendorf
was named the Chief of Amt III, the SD-Inland (within Germany); Heinrich Müller was named the Chief of Amt IV, the Gestapo; Artur Nebe was named the Chief of Amt V; and Walter Schellenberg
became Chief of Amt VI, the SD-Ausland (outside Germany). In 1944, most of the sections of the Abwehr
(military intelligence) were incorporated into Amt VI.
Heydrich was Chief of the Security Police (SiPo) and SD (through the RSHA) until his assassination in 1942. After which Ernst Kaltenbrunner
was named Chief by Himmler on 30 January 1943, and remained there until the end of the war. The SD was declared a criminal organization after the war and its members were tried as war criminals at Nuremberg
.
By 1941, the SD had been organized into the following sections:
in 1944, the Ausland-SD also took over all functions of the Abwehr
, or military intelligence. The Ausland-SD was divided into the following sections:
were the main sources of officers for the security forces in occupied territories. SD-SiPo led battalions were typically placed under the command of the SS and Police Leader
s, reporting directly to the RSHA in Berlin. The SD also maintained a presence at all concentration camps and supplied personnel, on an as-needed basis, to such special action troops as the Einsatzgruppen
. The SD-SiPo was also the primary agency, in conjunction with the Ordnungspolizei
, assigned to maintain order and security in the Jewish Ghettos established by the Germans on the territory of occupied Eastern Europe.
s.
of the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) Seventh Army detachment. The mission was codenamed RUPPERT.
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
of the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
and the Nazi Party in 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...
. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the Gestapo
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...
, which the SS had infiltrated heavily after 1934. Between 1933 and 1939, the SD was administered as an independent SS office, after which it was transferred to the authority of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or RSHA), as one of its seven departments/offices.
History
The SD was one of the oldest security organizations of the SS and was first formed in 1931 as the Ic-Dienst, operating out of a single apartment and reporting directly to Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich 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...
. Himmler appointed a former naval officer, 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...
, to organise the small agency. The office was renamed Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in June 1932. The SD became more powerful after the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
took control of Germany and the SS started infiltrating all leading positions of the security apparatus of the Reich. It was in some competition with the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
(SA), but the SD was made the sole "Party information service" on 9 June 1934. In 1938 it was made the intelligence organization for the State as well as for the Party, supporting the Gestapo
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...
and working with the General and Interior Administration. As such, the SD came into immediate, fierce competition with German military intelligence arm, the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, headed by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
.
The SD was tasked with the detection of actual or potential enemies of the Nazi leadership and the neutralization of this opposition. To fulfill this task, the SD created an organization of agents and informants throughout the Reich and later throughout the occupied territories. The organization consisted of a few hundred full-time agents and several thousand informants. The SD was mainly the information-gathering agency, and the Gestapo, and to a degree the Kriminalpolizei
Kriminalpolizei
is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany during 1936, the Kripo became the Criminal Police Department for the entire Reich...
(Kripo), was the executive agency of the political police system. Both the SD and the Gestapo were departments under Heydrich's control who answered to Himmler as both Chief of the German Police and Reichsfuhrer-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:...
, but the Kripo kept a level of independence as its structure was longer-established.
In 1936, the police were divided into the Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
(Orpo or Order Police) 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). The Ordnungspolizei consisted mainly of the Schutzpolizei
Schutzpolizei
The Schutzpolizei , or Schupo for short, is a branch of the Landespolizei, the state level police of the German states. Schutzpolizei literally means security or protection police but is best translated as Uniformed Police....
(Municipal police), the Gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
(Rural police) and the Gemeindepolizei (Local police). The Sicherheitspolizei was composed of the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) and the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo
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...
). Heydrich became Chief of the SiPo (Security Police) and continued as Chief of the SD.
In September 1939, the Sicherheitspolizei became a part of the RSHA under Heydrich. The operational sections of the SD became (department) Amt III and for foreign intelligence, Amt VI; the Gestapo became Amt IV and the Kripo became Amt V. Otto Ohlendorf
Otto Ohlendorf
Otto 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 named the Chief of Amt III, the SD-Inland (within Germany); Heinrich Müller was named the Chief of Amt IV, the Gestapo; Artur Nebe was named the Chief of Amt V; and Walter Schellenberg
Walter Schellenberg
Walther 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:...
became Chief of Amt VI, the SD-Ausland (outside Germany). In 1944, most of the sections of the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
(military intelligence) were incorporated into Amt VI.
Heydrich was Chief of the Security Police (SiPo) and SD (through the RSHA) until his assassination in 1942. After which 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...
was named Chief by Himmler on 30 January 1943, and remained there until the end of the war. The SD was declared a criminal organization after the war and its members were tried as war criminals at Nuremberg
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
.
Organization
By 1933, the organization was known as the SS SD-Amt and, in 1934, became the official Party security organization of the NSDAP. In 1939, the SD was divided into two offices, the Inland-SD and Ausland-SD, and placed under the authority of the RSHA.By 1941, the SD had been organized into the following sections:
Inland-SD
The Inland-SD was responsible for intelligence and security within Germany and was divided into the following sub-offices:- Department A (Law and Legal Structures)
- Department B (Race and Ethnic Matters)
- Department C (Cultural and Religious Matters)
- Department D (Industry and Commerce)
- Department E (High Society)
Ausland-SD
The Ausland-SD was the civilian foreign intelligence agency of the Third Reich. After the July 20 PlotJuly 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
in 1944, the Ausland-SD also took over all functions of the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, or military intelligence. The Ausland-SD was divided into the following sections:
- Department A (Organization and Administration)
- Department B (Espionage in the West)
- Department C (Espionage in the Soviet Union and Japan)
- Department D (Espionage in the American sphere)
- Department E (Espionage in Eastern Europe)
- Department F (Technical Matters)
Security Forces
The SD and the SiPoSicherheitspolizei
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...
were the main sources of officers for the security forces in occupied territories. SD-SiPo led battalions were typically placed under the command of the 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, reporting directly to the RSHA in Berlin. The SD also maintained a presence at all concentration camps and supplied personnel, on an as-needed basis, to such special action troops as 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...
. The SD-SiPo was also the primary agency, in conjunction with the Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
, assigned to maintain order and security in the Jewish Ghettos established by the Germans on the territory of occupied Eastern Europe.
Local offices
The SD also maintained local offices in Germany's cities and larger towns. The small offices were known as SD-Unterabschnitte, and the larger offices were referred to as SD-Abschnitte. All SD offices answered to a local commander known as the Inspektor des Sicherheitspolizei und SD who, in turn, was under the dual command of the RSHA and local SS and Police LeaderSS 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.
Infiltration
According to the book Piercing the Reich, the SD was infiltrated in 1944 by a Russian who was working for the Americans. The agent's parents had fled the Russian Revolution, and he had been raised in Berlin, and then moved to Paris. He was recruited by Albert JolisAlbert Jolis
Albert Jolis Diamond miner and foundation executive. Served in the Army OSS with William Casey under Bill Donavon during World War II.Close friend of George Orwell....
of the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS) Seventh Army detachment. The mission was codenamed RUPPERT.
See also
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- List of SS personnel
- Reichssicherheitsdienst (Reich Security Service)ReichssicherheitsdienstThe Reichssicherheitsdienst was an SS security force of Nazi Germany. Originally the personal bodyguards of Adolf Hitler, it later provided men for the protection of other high-ranking leaders of the Nazi regime...