Organizations in The Third Reich
The leaders of Nazi Germany created a large number of different organisations for the purpose of helping them in staying in power. The character of the most of them is typical for totalitarian regimes, although most countries do have armed forces of some sort.
Military
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) -- Armed Forces High Command
Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) -- Army High Command
Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) -- Navy High Command
Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) -- Airforce High Command
Wehrmacht -- Armed Forces
Heer -- Army
Luftwaffe -- Airforce
Kriegsmarine -- Navy
Oberbefehlshaber West
Abwehr -- Military Intelligence
Paramilitary organisations
SA -- Sturmabteilung
SS -- Schutzstaffel
Waffen-SS
Deutscher Volkssturm
State police
- Reich Central Security Office (RSHA - Reichssicherheitshauptamt)
- Regular Police (Ordnungspolizei (ORPO))
- Schutzpolizei (Safety Police)
- Gendarmerie (Rural Police)
- Gemeindepolizei (Local Police)
- Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei (SIPO))
- Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo)
- Reich Kriminalpolizei (Kripo)
- Sicherheitsdienst (SD)
Political organizations
Nazi Party -- National Socialist German Workers Party (abbreviated NSDAP)
Youth organisations
Hitler-Jugend -- Hitler-youth (for boys and young men)
Bund Deutscher M?del (for girls and young women)
Labour organisations
Deutsche Arbeitsfront
Kraft durch Freude
Wehrmacht
The unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 were called the Wehrmacht. This included the Heer (army), Kriegsmarine (navy), and the Luftwaffe (air force). From 2 August 1934, members of the armed forces were required to pledge an oath of unconditional obedience to Hitler personally. In contrast to the previous oath, which required allegiance to the constitution of the country and its lawful establishments, this new oath required members of the military to obey Hitler even if they were being ordered to do something illegal. Hitler decreed that the army would have to tolerate and even offer logistical support to the Einsatzgruppen—the mobile death squads responsible for millions of deaths in Eastern Europe—when it was tactically possible to do so.Members of the Wehrmacht also participated directly in the Holocaust by shooting civilians or undertaking genocide under the guise of anti-partisan operations.
In spite of efforts to prepare the country militarily, the economy could not sustain a lengthy war of attrition such as had occurred in World War I. A strategy was developed based on the tactic of Blitzkrieg (lightning war), which involved using quick coordinated assaults that avoided enemy strong points. Attacks began with artillery bombardment, followed by bombing and strafing runs. Next the tanks would attack and finally the infantry would move in to secure any ground that had been taken.Victories continued through mid-1940, but the failure to defeat Britain was the first major turning point in the war. The decision to attack the Soviet Union and the decisive defeat at Stalingrad led to the retreat of the German armies and the eventual loss of the war. The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht from 1935 to 1945 was around 18.2 million, of whom 5.3 million died.
SA and SS
Sturmabteilung (SA; Storm Detachment; Brownshirts), founded in 1921, was the first paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. Their initial assignment was to protect Nazi leaders at rallies and assemblies.[197] They also took part in street battles against the forces of rival political parties and violent actions against Jews and others.By 1934, under Ernst R?hm's leadership, the SA had grown to over half a million members—4.5 million including reserves—at a time when the regular army was still limited to 100,000 men by the Versailles Treaty.
Rohm hoped to assume command of the army and absorb it into the ranks of the SA.[200] Hindenburg and Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg threatened to impose martial law if the alarming activities of the SA were not curtailed.[201] Hitler also suspected that R?hm was plotting to depose him, so he ordered the deaths of R?hm and other political enemies. Up to 200 people were killed from 30 June to 2 July 1934 in an event that became known as the Night of the Long Knives.[202] After this purge the SA was no longer a major force.
Initially a force of a dozen men under the auspices of the SA, the Schutzstaffel (SS) grew to become one of the largest and most powerful groups in Nazi Germany.Led by Reichsf?hrer-SS Heinrich Himmler from 1929, the SS had over a quarter million members by 1938 and continued to grow.Himmler envisioned the SS as being an elite group of guards, Hitler's last line of defence.The Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS, became a de facto fourth branch of the Wehrmacht.
In 1931 Himmler organised an SS intelligence service which became known as the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service) under his deputy, SS-Obergruppenf?hrer Reinhard Heydrich.This organisation was tasked with locating and arresting communists and other political opponents. Himmler hoped it would eventually totally replace the existing police system.Himmler also established the beginnings of a parallel economy under the auspices of the SS Economy and Administration Head Office. This holding company owned housing corporations, factories, and publishing houses.
From 1935 forward the SS was heavily involved in the persecution of Jews, who were rounded up into ghettos and concentration camps.With the outbreak of World War II, SS units called Einsatzgruppen followed the army into Poland and the Soviet Union, where from 1941 and 1945 they killed more than two million people, including 1.3 million Jews. SS-Totenkopfverb?nde (death's head units) were in charge of the concentration camps and extermination camps, where millions more were killed.
NSDAP Nazi Party leaders and officials:
Gunter d'Alquen
Ludolf von Alvensleben
Max Amann
Benno von Arent
Heinz Auerswald
Hans Aumeier
Arthur Axmann
Erich von dem Bach
Herbert Backe
Richard Baer
Alfred Baeumler
Gottlob Berger
Werner Best
Hans Biebow
Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Sch?nhausen
Paul Blobel
Werner von Blomberg
Hans-Friedrich Blunck
Josef Bl?sche
Horst B?hme
Ernst Boepple
Ernst Wilhelm Bohle
Martin Bormann
Philipp Bouhler
Viktor Brack
Karl Brandt
Alois Brunner
Walter Buch
Karl Buck
Josef B?rckel
Anton Burger
Werner Catel
Heinrich Cla?
Carl Clauberg
Leonardo Conti
Kurt Daluege
Richard Walther Darr?
Joseph "Sepp" Dietrich
Otto Dietrich
Oskar Dirlewanger
Horst Dressler-Andress
Irmfried Eberl
Adolf Eichmann
Theodor Eicke
August Eigruber
Hermann Esser
Richard Euringer
Karl Fiehler
Ludwig Fischer
Albert Forster
Hans Frank
Karl Hermann Frank
Roland Freisler
Wilhelm Frick
Hans Fritzsche
Walther Funk
Karl Gebhardt
Achim Gercke
Kurt Gerstein
Odilo Globocnik
Richard Gl?cks
Joseph Goebbels
Wilhelm Gocke
Hermann Goring
Amon G?th
Ulrich Greifelt
Robert Ritter von Greim
Arthur Greiser
Wilhelm Grimm
Walter Gro?
Kurt Gruber
Hans G?nther
Franz G?rtner
Eugen Hadamovsky
Ernst Hanfstaengel
Karl Hanke
Fritz Hartjenstein
Paul Hausser
Franz Hayler
Heinrich Heim
August Hei?meyer
Otto Herzog
Rudolf He?
Walther Hewel
Werner Heyde
Reinhard Heydrich
Konstantin Hierl
Erich Hilgenfeldt
Heinrich Himmler
Hans Hinkel
August Hirt
Adolf Hitler
Hermann H?fle
Rudolf H??
Franz Hofer
Karl Holz
Karl J?ger
Ernst Jarosch
Friedrich Jeckeln
Alfred Jodl
Hanns Johst
Hans J?ttner
Rudolf Jung
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Karoly Kampmann
Karl Kaufmann
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Keppler
Hanns Kerrl
Dietrich Klagges
Wilhelm Kleinmann
Helmut Knochen
Erich Koch
Ilse Koch
Karl Otto Koch
Max K?gel
Franz Konrad
Wilhelm Koppe
Josef Kramer
Fritz Krebs
Bernhard Kr?ger
Friedrich Wilhelm Kr?ger
Gustav Krupp
Hans Lammers