counterfeit bones of King Henry I, founder of medieval Ger man power in the East, at the midnight consecrations of SS ensigns in the Quedlinburg Cathedral. But daybreak might already see him at some concentration camp, watching the mass whippings of political prisoners. From the symbolism of the sun wheel, the path of the swastika led straight to the smoking furnaces of Auschwitz.
The SS was an organization that served a specific and quite realistic purpose, true, but from the outset Himmler had con ceived and created it as a sacred order. He never intended to turn it into a mass army. Only the general trend of the Third Reich itself drove him in this direction. To the last, he tried time and again to maintain a basic core that should enable him some day to return to his original purpose. That purpose
4 EUGEN KOGON
was to develop and protect with all the methods of power a German system of rule, based on race. That this meant guard ing the person of its Messianic preincamation, the so-called Ftihrer, was understood.
The very qualifications for SS candidates were unusual.
They had to be at least five feet, eleven inches tall. (Later on this qualification was largely waived, and even the halt and the lame found their way into the SS, until the “ elite guards” bore little resemblance any longer to the supposed ideal of “ Teutonic braves.”) Their pedigreees had to be traced back to 1750 and to be of pure “ German blood.” Their character—in the Nazi sense—had to be impeccable.
For the purpose of suppressing political opposition, however, Himmler needed bullies and strong-arm men who
were also fanatics. The members of the elite guard in actual fact, therefore, were necessarily capable of reacting to but two extremes: the Fiihrer—that meant Sieg Heil\ while the “ enemy” meant Nieder (down). On the one side was the per sonified symbol of a world of radiance—and significantly enough it did not matter in the least that their idol in no way corresponded to any ideal concept of the Teutonic race, for neither did they themselves. On the other side were the Jews, the Marxists, the Free Masons, the Jesuits—all of them un differentiated blanket images of the foe, absurdly primitive in character. The SS was predominantly composed of unem ployed from every class, men who had come to accept it as convenient and grand to serve the nationalist upsurge with brass knuckles and revolver.
There is some question whether the rank and file which joined the SS in the course of the years, voluntarily or by com pulsion, had any real knowledge of the true aims of Himmler and his immediate staff. It is a question of no great moment in judging the blueprint of the SS super state, considering the system of authority that prevailed in the organization. The SS leadership, at any rate, did pursue such a plan, consistently, step by step, at any cost. Each partial objective was sought with a degree of ruthlessness completely transcending or dinary concepts. The testimony and documentary evidence since the end of the war have established the inner structure of the SS for all the world to see.
The SS was established in 1929 as Hitler’s black-uniformed
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF HELL 5
bodyguard. Originally it numbered but 250 men. Its chief, Heinrich Himmler, was under the command of Ernst Rohm, the chief of the SA.1 A significant sidelight on Himmler’s plans, which even then far transcended the protection of Hitler’s person, is thrown by the fact of the simultaneous establishment within the SS of a “ Race and Settlement Of fice,” later to acquire ominous significance. Eventually it guarded the purity of the original ideal of a sacred order, protected the elite character of the SS, conducted a con tinuous process of selecting the master class for the super state and, by means of extermination, resettlement and land distribution, buttressed its rule throughout Germany and Europe.
The recruitment appeal of the
The SS was an organization that served a specific and quite realistic purpose, true, but from the outset Himmler had con ceived and created it as a sacred order. He never intended to turn it into a mass army. Only the general trend of the Third Reich itself drove him in this direction. To the last, he tried time and again to maintain a basic core that should enable him some day to return to his original purpose. That purpose
4 EUGEN KOGON
was to develop and protect with all the methods of power a German system of rule, based on race. That this meant guard ing the person of its Messianic preincamation, the so-called Ftihrer, was understood.
The very qualifications for SS candidates were unusual.
They had to be at least five feet, eleven inches tall. (Later on this qualification was largely waived, and even the halt and the lame found their way into the SS, until the “ elite guards” bore little resemblance any longer to the supposed ideal of “ Teutonic braves.”) Their pedigreees had to be traced back to 1750 and to be of pure “ German blood.” Their character—in the Nazi sense—had to be impeccable.
For the purpose of suppressing political opposition, however, Himmler needed bullies and strong-arm men who
were also fanatics. The members of the elite guard in actual fact, therefore, were necessarily capable of reacting to but two extremes: the Fiihrer—that meant Sieg Heil\ while the “ enemy” meant Nieder (down). On the one side was the per sonified symbol of a world of radiance—and significantly enough it did not matter in the least that their idol in no way corresponded to any ideal concept of the Teutonic race, for neither did they themselves. On the other side were the Jews, the Marxists, the Free Masons, the Jesuits—all of them un differentiated blanket images of the foe, absurdly primitive in character. The SS was predominantly composed of unem ployed from every class, men who had come to accept it as convenient and grand to serve the nationalist upsurge with brass knuckles and revolver.
There is some question whether the rank and file which joined the SS in the course of the years, voluntarily or by com pulsion, had any real knowledge of the true aims of Himmler and his immediate staff. It is a question of no great moment in judging the blueprint of the SS super state, considering the system of authority that prevailed in the organization. The SS leadership, at any rate, did pursue such a plan, consistently, step by step, at any cost. Each partial objective was sought with a degree of ruthlessness completely transcending or dinary concepts. The testimony and documentary evidence since the end of the war have established the inner structure of the SS for all the world to see.
The SS was established in 1929 as Hitler’s black-uniformed
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF HELL 5
bodyguard. Originally it numbered but 250 men. Its chief, Heinrich Himmler, was under the command of Ernst Rohm, the chief of the SA.1 A significant sidelight on Himmler’s plans, which even then far transcended the protection of Hitler’s person, is thrown by the fact of the simultaneous establishment within the SS of a “ Race and Settlement Of fice,” later to acquire ominous significance. Eventually it guarded the purity of the original ideal of a sacred order, protected the elite character of the SS, conducted a con tinuous process of selecting the master class for the super state and, by means of extermination, resettlement and land distribution, buttressed its rule throughout Germany and Europe.
The recruitment appeal of the
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