Command & Compliance

Overview

The Reichskanzlei functioned as the formal headquarters of the Reich government. Under Hitler it became a key node for transmitting political decisions into governmental action.

Mission & Responsibilities

Coordination between Reich ministries, processing legislation, and managing the administrative relationship between Hitler and the cabinet.

Key Officials

Hans-Heinrich Lammers (Chief of the Reich Chancellery, 1933–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv R 43; Peter Longerich, Hitler: Biographie (2015).

Overview

One of the most powerful ministries of the Third Reich, responsible for state administration, police, public health, and racial policy.

Mission & Responsibilities

Its officials drafted the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and the decrees that implemented them, ran the purge of the civil service and supervised the state police until Himmler became Chief of the German Police within the ministry in June 1936.

Key Officials

Wilhelm Frick (1933–1943); Heinrich Himmler (1943–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv R 1501; USHMM Encyclopedia; Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung (1998).

Overview

Founded in March 1933, the RMVP controlled all means of mass communication: press, radio, film, theatre, music, and fine arts.

Mission & Responsibilities

Centralized control of public information through compulsory membership in Reich Chambers; exclusion of Jews from cultural life; direction of mass propaganda campaigns.

Key Officials

Joseph Goebbels (Reich Minister, 1933–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

David Welch, The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda (2002); Bundesarchiv R 55.

Overview

Nominally supervised the court system and legislation, but under the Third Reich the judiciary was subordinated to political directives and ultimately to Hitler's personal will.

Key Officials

Franz Gürtner (1932–1941); Franz Schlegelberger (acting, 1941–1942); Otto Georg Thierack (1942–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Ingo Müller, Hitler's Justice (1991); Bundesarchiv R 3001.

Overview

The Reich Finance Ministry managed the national budget, taxation, and public expenditure. It played a central role in receiving and redistributing confiscated Jewish assets.

Key Officials

Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1932–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Götz Aly, Hitler's Beneficiaries (2005); Bundesarchiv R 2.

Overview

Established in July 1941, the Ostministerium was headed by Alfred Rosenberg. Its authority was often disputed by the SS, Wehrmacht, and Göring's economic agencies.

Mission & Responsibilities

Civil administration of the Reichskommissariats Ostland and Ukraine; exploitation of agricultural and industrial resources; implementation of racial and security policies.

Key Officials

Alfred Rosenberg (Reich Minister, 1941–1945).

Period of Activity

1941–1945.

Historical Context

The ministry oversaw territories in which millions of civilians were subjected to forced labour, starvation policies, and mass murder.

Sources / Notes

Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands (2010); Bundesarchiv R 6.

Overview

Reichskommissariat Ostland was one of two major civilian occupation administrations in the Soviet Union, covering the Baltic states and western Belorussia.

Key Officials

Hinrich Lohse (Reich Commissioner, 1941–1944).

Period of Activity

1941–1944.

Historical Context

The territory saw mass shootings of Jews and other civilians by SS Einsatzgruppen; civilian administration and SS terror were intertwined throughout.

Sources / Notes

Christian Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde (1999); USHMM.

Overview

Established in September 1941, the Reichskommissariat Ukraine administered the central Ukrainian territories under a policy of ruthless exploitation.

Key Officials

Erich Koch (Reich Commissioner, 1941–1944).

Period of Activity

1941–1944.

Historical Context

Koch's administration was notorious for mass deportations to forced labour, systematic starvation of the population, and cooperation with SS mass shooting operations.

Sources / Notes

Karel Berkhoff, Harvest of Despair (2004).

Overview

The General Government was established in October 1939 to govern the Polish territories not incorporated directly into the Reich. It served as both a colonial administration and a site of mass murder.

Key Officials

Hans Frank (Governor-General, 1939–1945).

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Historical Context

The GG was the site of most of Operation Reinhard's death camps (Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec), as well as mass shootings, forced labour, and starvation policies.

Sources / Notes

Dieter Pohl, Von der "Judenpolitik" zum Judenmord (1993); USHMM.

Overview

An office created by Hitler's decree of 7 October 1939 and held by Himmler. Its staff, an SS main office (Stabshauptamt) from 1941, planned the settlement of ethnic Germans in annexed Polish territory and the expulsion of the Polish and Jewish population.

Key Officials

Heinrich Himmler (Reich Commissioner).

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Isabel Heinemann, Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut (2003); Bundesarchiv R 49.

Overview

Established in September 1933 under Joseph Goebbels, the RKK comprised seven sub-chambers covering press, radio, film, theatre, music, fine arts, and literature.

Mission & Responsibilities

By controlling membership, the RKK excluded Jews, political dissidents, and undesirable artists from professional cultural life; all cultural output was subject to censorship.

Key Officials

Joseph Goebbels (President).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Alan Steinweis, Art, Ideology, and Economics in Nazi Germany (1993); Bundesarchiv R 56.

Overview

Appointed by Hitler in 1936, Hermann Göring as Plenipotentiary directed Germany's economic mobilization, prioritizing rearmament and raw material substitution.

Period of Activity

1936–1945.

Sources / Notes

Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction (2006); Bundesarchiv R 26.

Overview

The Reichsbank served as Germany's central bank. After 1939 it received deposits of gold, foreign currency, and valuables looted from concentration camp victims.

Key Officials

Hjalmar Schacht (1933–1939); Walther Funk (1939–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Tooze, Wages of Destruction; Nuremberg Trial documents.

Overview

The RAM was responsible for labour law, social insurance supervision, and employment policy. From 1942 it operated alongside Fritz Sauckel's office for forced labour mobilization.

Key Officials

Franz Seldte (1933–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Ulrich Herbert, Hitler's Foreign Workers (1997); Bundesarchiv R 3901.

Overview

Appointed in March 1942, Fritz Sauckel organised the recruitment and deportation of workers from occupied Europe, most of them by force. By the summer of 1944 some 7.6 million foreign civilian workers and prisoners of war were working in the Reich.

Period of Activity

1942–1945.

Historical Context

The GBA's operations constituted crimes against humanity and war crimes; Sauckel was convicted and executed at Nuremberg.

Sources / Notes

Ulrich Herbert, Hitler's Foreign Workers (1997); judgment of the International Military Tribunal (1946).

Overview

Established by the law of 24 April 1934 to try treason and high treason. Proceedings were often closed to the public, and defence counsel had to be approved by the court.

Key Officials

Fritz Rehn (1934); Otto Georg Thierack (1936–1942); Roland Freisler (1942–1945).

Period of Activity

1934–1945.

Historical Context

The court passed more than 5,000 death sentences, most of them after 1942 under Freisler, including those against members of the July 1944 plot.

Sources / Notes

Ingo Müller, Hitler's Justice (1991).

Overview

Made compulsory in 1935 for all German men aged 18–25, the RAD required six months of service. It served ideological and pre-military training functions as much as economic ones.

Key Officials

Konstantin Hierl (Reichsarbeitsführer, 1935–1945).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv R 77; Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.

Overview

The REM under Walther Darré promoted blood-and-soil ideology alongside practical agricultural administration. The ministry coordinated with the Reichsnährstand to bring all agricultural enterprises under state control.

Key Officials

Walther Darré (1933–1942); Herbert Backe (1942–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Historical Context

Herbert Backe's Hunger Plan projected the deliberate starvation of tens of millions in the Soviet Union to feed German forces.

Sources / Notes

Gustavo Corni & Horst Gies, Brot, Butter, Kanonen (1997).

Overview

Established in 1933, the RNS was a compulsory organization for all involved in agriculture, from farmers and processors to retailers. It set production quotas, prices, and distributed resources.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Corni & Gies, Brot, Butter, Kanonen.

Overview

The RVM supervised the Deutsche Reichsbahn and other transport networks. The Reichsbahn was the principal means of transport for deportations to concentration and extermination camps.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews (1985), vol. 2; Bundesarchiv R 5.

Overview

The Deutsche Reichsbahn was the state railway corporation. During the Holocaust, it operated the deportation trains (Sonderzüge) on a commercial tariff basis.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Historical Context

Raul Hilberg's research demonstrated the Reichsbahn's central role as a logistical partner in the mass murder of European Jews.

Sources / Notes

Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews; Alfred Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich (1999).

Overview

Founded in 1938 to build the Westwall and named after its head Fritz Todt from the start. After Todt's death in February 1942 Albert Speer took it over. It operated across occupied Europe.

Mission & Responsibilities

Military fortifications (Westwall, Atlantic Wall, U-boat bunkers); road and rail infrastructure; industrial construction. It employed millions of forced labourers.

Period of Activity

1938–1945.

Sources / Notes

Franz W. Seidler, Die Organisation Todt (1998); Bundesarchiv R 50.

Overview

The Auswärtiges Amt conducted German diplomacy. Its Jewish Desk (Abteilung D III) coordinated with the RSHA on deportations of Jews from satellite and occupied states.

Key Officials

Konstantin von Neurath (1932–1938); Joachim von Ribbentrop (1938–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Christopher Browning, The Final Solution and the German Foreign Office (1978).

Overview

Established after the military occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, the Protectorate was governed as a Reich territory with a nominal Czech government subordinate to the Reich Protector.

Key Officials

Konstantin von Neurath (1939–1941); Reinhard Heydrich (Acting, 1941–1942); Kurt Daluege (1942–1943); Wilhelm Frick (1943–1945).

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Detlef Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat (1969).

Overview

Established in March 1940 under Fritz Todt. Albert Speer took over after Todt's death in February 1942, and in September 1943 the ministry was renamed Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion. Output rose sharply and relied more and more on forced and concentration camp labour.

Key Officials

Fritz Todt (1940–1942); Albert Speer (1942–1945).

Period of Activity

1940–1945.

Sources / Notes

Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction (2006); Bundesarchiv R 3.

Overview

The office of Reichsstatthalter was established by the Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich (April 1933). In most cases the position was held by the NSDAP Gauleiter, fusing party and state authority at the regional level.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Martin Broszat, The Hitler State (1981).

Overview

Established in 1934 under Bernhard Rust, the ministry coordinated the nazification of Germany's entire educational system, including the purging of Jewish and politically suspect academics.

Key Officials

Bernhard Rust (1934–1945).

Period of Activity

1934–1945.

Sources / Notes

Lisa Pine, Education in Nazi Germany (2010).

Overview

Membership in the RPK was mandatory for all journalists, editors, and publishers. Through membership control, the chamber systematically excluded Jews and political dissenters from the press.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Oron Hale, The Captive Press in the Third Reich (1964).

Overview

The Reichstag was constitutionally the legislative chamber of the German Reich. After the Enabling Act of March 1933, it ceded all meaningful legislative authority and was reduced to a ceremonial role.

Period of Activity

Weimar era through 1945; last meaningful session March 1933.

Historical Context

The Reichstag Fire of February 1933 was used as a pretext for the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties.

Sources / Notes

Richard Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (2003).

Overview

The RWM supervised German industry, commerce, and the economics of rearmament. Under Schacht it directed the 'New Plan' for managing Germany's balance of payments; under Funk it coordinated with Göring's Four Year Plan.

Key Officials

Hjalmar Schacht (1934–1937); Walther Funk (1938–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction (2006); Bundesarchiv R 7.

Overview

After the fall of France, Alsace-Lorraine was de facto annexed and placed under civilian administration responsible for Germanization: expulsion of French residents, imposition of German law, and forced conscription of Alsatians into the Wehrmacht.

Key Officials

Robert Wagner (CdZ Alsace); Josef Bürckel (CdZ Lorraine).

Period of Activity

1940–1944.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv R 60; Grégoire Kauffmann, L'annexion de l'Alsace (2008).

Overview

General Commissariats were the intermediate tier of the German occupation hierarchy within Ostland and Ukraine, overseeing local civilian administration, economic exploitation, and cooperation with SS security operations.

Period of Activity

1941–1944.

Sources / Notes

Berkhoff, Harvest of Despair; Bundesarchiv R 93.

Overview

Founded in June 1933 and made a public corporation of the Reich in 1934, the Academy set out to replace liberal legal principles with a racially defined 'community law'.

Key Officials

Hans Frank (President, 1933–1942).

Period of Activity

1933–1944.

Sources / Notes

Müller, Hitler's Justice.

Overview

Set up by Hitler's decree of 25 September 1944. The Gauleiter raised and led the units under Martin Bormann's Party Chancellery; Himmler, as commander of the Replacement Army, was responsible for training and armament. Men aged 16 to 60 not already serving were liable.

Period of Activity

1944–1945.

Historical Context

Poorly equipped and trained, Volkssturm units suffered catastrophic casualties. Many were boys from the Hitler Youth.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv R 2/12228; Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.

Overview

The NSDAP was the only legal political party in Germany from July 1933. Its structures paralleled and ultimately dominated the German state at all levels.

Key Officials

Adolf Hitler (Führer); Rudolf Hess (Deputy Führer to 1941); Martin Bormann (Head of Party Chancellery, 1941–1945).

Period of Activity

Founded 1920; in power 1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Richard Evans, The Third Reich in Power (2005); Bundesarchiv NS 1.

Overview

The Parteikanzlei replaced the office of the Deputy Führer after Hess's flight in 1941. Under Bormann it became the principal channel between Hitler and the party apparatus as well as the state administration.

Key Officials

Martin Bormann (Chief, 1941–1945).

Period of Activity

1941–1945.

Sources / Notes

Jochen von Lang, Der Sekretär (1977); Bundesarchiv NS 6.

Overview

Founded in 1921 as the party's paramilitary force, the SA grew to about four million members by 1934, including the absorbed Stahlhelm veterans. It carried the street violence of the Nazi rise and the terror of the takeover.

Key Officials

Ernst Röhm (Chief of Staff, 1931–1934); Viktor Lutze (1934–1943).

Period of Activity

1921–1945; peak influence 1933–1934.

Historical Context

The Night of the Long Knives (June 30 – July 2, 1934) destroyed the SA leadership and subordinated the organization to Hitler and the SS.

Sources / Notes

Peter Longerich, Geschichte der SA (2003); Bundesarchiv NS 23.

Overview

The law of 1 December 1936 made the HJ the state youth organisation; membership became compulsory with the youth service ordinances of March 1939. The organisation emphasised sport, pre-military training and National Socialist ideology.

Key Officials

Baldur von Schirach (Reichsjugendführer, 1931–1940); Artur Axmann (1940–1945).

Period of Activity

1926–1945.

Sources / Notes

Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History (2000); Bundesarchiv NS 26.

Overview

The BDM, the girls' section of the Hitler Youth, was for girls aged 14–18 (with the Jungmädel for younger girls). Membership became compulsory alongside the HJ.

Period of Activity

1930–1945.

Sources / Notes

Dagmar Reese, Growing Up Female in Nazi Germany (2006).

Overview

The NSF claimed millions of members. Under Gertrud Scholtz-Klink it served as the chief vehicle for disseminating the Nazi ideology of women as wives, mothers, and racial guardians.

Key Officials

Gertrud Scholtz-Klink (Reichsfrauenführerin, 1934–1945).

Period of Activity

1931–1945.

Sources / Notes

Claudia Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland (1987).

Overview

Founded in May 1933 following the forcible dissolution of free trade unions, the DAF under Robert Ley claimed over 25 million members and became the largest organization in the Third Reich.

Key Officials

Robert Ley (Leader of the DAF, 1933–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Ronald Smelser, Robert Ley: Hitler's Labour Front Leader (1988).

Overview

The NSV was one of the largest affiliated organizations of the NSDAP, administering welfare services, childcare, and charitable programs along racial selection principles.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 37; Burleigh & Wippermann, The Racial State (1991).

Overview

The NSKK provided motorization training, ran vehicle transport, and supported NSDAP logistics and Wehrmacht auxiliary transport in occupied territories.

Key Officials

Adolf Hühnlein (Korpsführer, 1931–1942).

Period of Activity

1931–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 24.

Overview

The NSFK provided gliding and aviation training under party auspices, functioning as a pre-military organization that fed qualified pilots into the Luftwaffe.

Period of Activity

1937–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 25.

Overview

The NSDÄB coordinated the nazification of German medicine, championed racial hygiene, and organized the expulsion of Jewish doctors. Its membership was deeply implicated in the T4 euthanasia program and medical experiments in camps.

Period of Activity

1929–1945.

Sources / Notes

Robert Lifton, The Nazi Doctors (1986).

Overview

Founded in 1928 as the Bund Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Juristen and renamed NSRB in 1936. Membership was not formally compulsory, but for most lawyers it became a condition of their career.

Key Officials

Hans Frank (leader).

Period of Activity

1928–1945.

Sources / Notes

Müller, Hitler's Justice.

Overview

The NSLB claimed near-total membership among German teachers and organized ideological re-education camps. It coordinated the removal of Jewish teachers from schools.

Period of Activity

1929–1945.

Sources / Notes

Pine, Education in Nazi Germany.

Overview

Germany was divided into roughly 40 Gaue, 43 by 1941 if the Auslandsorganisation is counted. Each Gauleitung was the regional headquarters of a Gauleiter appointed by Hitler; in wartime the Gauleiter also became Reich Defence Commissioners.

Period of Activity

1925–1945.

Sources / Notes

Evans, The Third Reich in Power.

Overview

The Kreisleitung was subordinate to the Gauleitung. The Kreisleiter supervised local party activities and wielded authority over municipal administration.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Broszat, The Hitler State.

Overview

KdF operated under the DAF and offered cheap cruises, theatre tickets, and package holidays to bind workers to the regime and improve productivity through organized leisure.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Shelley Baranowski, Strength Through Joy (2004).

Overview

Founded in 1934 under Walter Gross, the office disseminated racial ideology through publications, lectures, and film, and coordinated with medical and academic institutions promoting eugenics.

Key Officials

Walter Gross (Director, 1934–1945).

Period of Activity

1934–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 2; Burleigh & Wippermann, The Racial State.

Overview

The AO maintained NSDAP party structures in German communities worldwide. Headed by Ernst Wilhelm Bohle, it was suspected of acting as a Nazi intelligence network.

Key Officials

Ernst Wilhelm Bohle (Gauleiter, 1933–1945).

Period of Activity

1931–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 9.

Overview

Headed by Robert Ley as Reichsorganisationsleiter from December 1932, it kept the party's membership records, supervised its territorial structure and coordinated the affiliated organisations.

Period of Activity

1932–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 22; Smelser, Robert Ley.

Overview

The APA was established in 1933 under Rosenberg to provide the NSDAP with a foreign policy apparatus independent of the state Foreign Office. Its influence remained limited due to conflicts with Ribbentrop and others.

Key Officials

Alfred Rosenberg (Head).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 43.

Overview

The NSBO organized factory cells within workplaces, competing with trade unions before 1933. After the dissolution of free trade unions in May 1933, its functions were absorbed by the DAF.

Period of Activity

1928–1934.

Sources / Notes

Smelser, Robert Ley.

Overview

The NSDStB carried National Socialism into the universities before 1933. After the seizure of power its members dominated the German Student Union, which organised the book burnings of 10 May 1933.

Period of Activity

1926–1945.

Sources / Notes

Michael Grüttner, Studenten im Dritten Reich (1995).

Overview

Named after its headquarters at Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin. It was organised by Philipp Bouhler's Führer's Chancellery (Kanzlei des Führers) and Hitler's physician Karl Brandt, not by the SS, although SS men served in the killing centres.

Mission & Responsibilities

Registration of patients by questionnaire; selection by medical assessors; transfer to the killing centres at Grafeneck, Brandenburg, Hartheim, Sonnenstein, Bernburg and Hadamar; falsified death notices to families.

Key Officials

Philipp Bouhler; Karl Brandt; Viktor Brack.

Period of Activity

1939–1941 as a central gassing programme; decentralised killings in hospitals continued until 1945.

Historical Context

T4 staff and their experience with gas were transferred to the Operation Reinhard death camps.

Sources / Notes

Henry Friedlander, The Origins of Nazi Genocide (1995); USHMM.

Overview

The ERR operated from 1940 in occupied western Europe and from 1941 in the East, seizing Jewish libraries, archives, artworks, and cultural property on a massive scale.

Key Officials

Alfred Rosenberg (overall authority); Kurt von Behr (head of the western operations in Paris).

Period of Activity

1940–1945.

Sources / Notes

Lynn Nicholas, The Rape of Europa (1994); Bundesarchiv NS 30.

Overview

In 1938 the Kyffhäuserbund, Germany's largest veterans' association, was renamed NS-Reichskriegerbund and placed under party control. Hitler dissolved it in March 1943.

Period of Activity

1938–1943.

Sources / Notes

James Diehl, Paramilitary Politics in Weimar Germany (1977), for the background of the veterans' associations.

Overview

Set up in 1936 to coordinate contacts with ethnic German communities abroad. From 1937 it was headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Werner Lorenz, and in 1941 it became an SS main office that ran the transports and camps of the resettlement programme under the RKF.

Key Officials

Werner Lorenz (1937–1945).

Period of Activity

1936–1945.

Sources / Notes

Heinemann, Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut.

Overview

Founded in 1935 by Himmler, Herman Wirth and Richard Walther Darré and incorporated into Himmler's Personal Staff in 1940. It funded excavations and expeditions meant to prove 'Aryan' superiority. Its Institute for Military Scientific Research organised deadly experiments on prisoners in Dachau and the skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg.

Key Officials

Wolfram Sievers (Reich Managing Director), sentenced to death in the Doctors' Trial and executed in 1948; Walther Wüst (Curator).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Heather Pringle, The Master Plan (2006).

Overview

Originally Hitler's personal bodyguard, the SS grew under Himmler's leadership into a vast state-within-a-state controlling the police, concentration camp system, racial policy, and much of the occupation apparatus.

Key Officials

Heinrich Himmler (Reichsführer-SS, 1929–1945).

Period of Activity

1925–1945.

Sources / Notes

Longerich, Heinrich Himmler (2008); Bundesarchiv NS 19.

Overview

Established in September 1939, the RSHA unified the security police (Sipo: Gestapo and Kripo) and the Security Service (SD) under Reinhard Heydrich. It was the command centre for political persecution, racial policy enforcement, and the administration of mass murder.

Mission & Responsibilities

Persecution of political and racial opponents; management of Einsatzgruppen; administration of the Final Solution; counter-espionage; occupied territory security.

Key Officials

Reinhard Heydrich (1939–1942); Ernst Kaltenbrunner (1943–1945).

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Michael Wildt, An Uncompromising Generation (2009); Bundesarchiv R 58.

Overview

Founded in 1933 in Prussia under Göring, the Gestapo was absorbed into the SS-police structure and became Office IV of the RSHA. It operated with sweeping powers of arrest and detention without judicial oversight.

Key Officials

Rudolf Diels (1933–1934); Heinrich Müller (in charge of operations from 1936, head of RSHA Office IV 1939–1945).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Historical Context

The Gestapo relied heavily on denunciations from the German public and was responsible for initiating deportations of Jews throughout occupied Europe.

Sources / Notes

Robert Gellately, The Gestapo and German Society (1990); Bundesarchiv R 58.

Overview

The Kripo became Office V (Verbrechensbekämpfung) of the RSHA. Beyond criminal investigation, it applied preventive detention policies targeting Roma, homosexuals, the 'work-shy', and others categorized as socially deviant.

Key Officials

Arthur Nebe (Chief, 1936–1944).

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Patrick Wagner, Volksgemeinschaft ohne Verbrecher (1996).

Overview

Founded by Himmler in 1931 under Reinhard Heydrich, the SD served as the NSDAP's intelligence service. Within the RSHA it formed Offices III (Inland) and VI (Ausland).

Key Officials

Reinhard Heydrich (1931–1942); Walter Schellenberg (SD-Ausland, 1941–1945).

Period of Activity

1931–1945.

Sources / Notes

George Browder, Hitler's Enforcers (1996); Bundesarchiv R 58.

Overview

The Waffen-SS evolved from Hitler's bodyguard Leibstandarte into a large multinational force of over 900,000 men. Despite its combat role, Waffen-SS units were deeply implicated in occupation crimes and atrocities.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Historical Context

Post-war efforts to rehabilitate the Waffen-SS as an 'apolitical' force have been rejected by historians; its units committed mass killings of civilians and prisoners of war on multiple fronts.

Sources / Notes

Charles Sydnor, Soldiers of Destruction (1977); USHMM.

Overview

Established in February 1942, the WVHA consolidated the SS administrative and economic structure, with Amtsgruppe D directly managing the concentration camp system.

Mission & Responsibilities

Administration of all concentration camps; allocation of prisoner labour to industries; management of SS economic enterprises; processing of property confiscated from victims.

Key Officials

Oswald Pohl (Chief, 1942–1945).

Period of Activity

1942–1945.

Historical Context

The WVHA was tried at Nuremberg (Pohl Case); Pohl and others were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sources / Notes

Nikolaus Wachsmann, KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps (2015); Bundesarchiv NS 3.

Overview

Established in 1934 under Theodor Eicke, the IKL standardized the administration and guard training across the growing concentration camp network. It was absorbed into the WVHA's Amtsgruppe D in 1942.

Key Officials

Theodor Eicke (Inspector, 1934–1939); Richard Glücks (1939–1942).

Period of Activity

1934–1942.

Sources / Notes

Wachsmann, KL; Karin Orth, Das System der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager (1999).

Overview

The SS-Totenkopfverbände were formed in 1936 as full-time camp guard units distinct from the Allgemeine-SS, trained specifically for concentration camp duty.

Period of Activity

1936–1945.

Sources / Notes

Sydnor, Soldiers of Destruction; Wachsmann, KL.

Overview

The Ordnungspolizei comprised all uniformed police forces (Schutzpolizei, Gendarmerie, Gemeindepolizei). Its Polizei-Bataillone were deployed in occupied territories as auxiliary occupation forces.

Key Officials

Kurt Daluege (Chief, 1936–1943).

Period of Activity

1936–1945.

Historical Context

Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men (1992) documented Reserve Police Battalion 101's participation in mass shootings of Jews in occupied Poland.

Sources / Notes

Browning, Ordinary Men (1992); Bundesarchiv R 19.

Overview

Four Einsatzgruppen (A, B, C, D) were deployed in the USSR from June 1941, each subdivided into Einsatzkommandos and Sonderkommandos. They carried out mass shootings, most infamously at Babi Yar (September 1941).

Period of Activity

1941–1944.

Historical Context

The Einsatzgruppen were tried at Nuremberg (Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1947–48); 14 of 24 defendants were sentenced to death.

Sources / Notes

Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung; Yad Vashem; USHMM.

Overview

The HSSPF offices were created to give Himmler direct regional control over all SS and police forces, bypassing ministerial chains of command. In occupied territories they were central to mass murder operations.

Period of Activity

1937–1945.

Sources / Notes

Ruth Bettina Birn, Die Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer (1986).

Overview

The RuSHA enforced racial criteria for SS membership and marriages, coordinated the Lebensborn program, and administered Germanization policies involving the forced adoption of 'racially suitable' children from occupied populations.

Period of Activity

1931–1945.

Historical Context

RuSHA was tried at Nuremberg (RuSHA Case, 1947–48); several officials were convicted.

Sources / Notes

Heinemann, Rasse, Siedlung, deutsches Blut; Bundesarchiv NS 2.

Overview

Founded in 1935 under the RuSHA, Lebensborn initially ran homes for SS-affiliated mothers. During the war it became involved in the abduction of children from occupied Poland and the Soviet Union deemed 'racially suitable' for Germanization.

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Georg Lilienthal, Der Lebensborn e.V. (1985); Nuremberg RuSHA Trial documents.

Overview

Amt VI encompassed all SD foreign intelligence operations. After Canaris's dismissal in February 1944, it took over key Abwehr functions, making Schellenberg Germany's dominant foreign intelligence chief.

Key Officials

Walter Schellenberg (Chief, 1941–1945).

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv R 58; Schellenberg memoirs.

Overview

Eichmann's section, numbered IV D 4 in 1940 and IV B 4 from 1941, organised the deportation trains from across Europe to the ghettos and extermination camps. It was the central bureaucratic hub of the Holocaust.

Key Officials

Adolf Eichmann (Head of IV B4).

Period of Activity

1941–1945 (as IV B 4).

Sources / Notes

David Cesarani, Eichmann: His Life and Crimes (2004); USHMM.

Overview

Amt III produced the confidential SD mood reports (Meldungen aus dem Reich) surveying German public opinion on a wide range of topics. These reports are now a valuable historical source for public attitudes in the Third Reich.

Key Officials

Otto Ohlendorf (Chief, 1939–1945).

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Boberach (ed.), Meldungen aus dem Reich (1984).

Overview

The term 'Sicherheitspolizei' designated the combined state security police — Gestapo and Kripo — as distinguished from the uniformed Ordnungspolizei. Together with the SD, Sipo formed the core of the RSHA.

Period of Activity

1936–1945.

Sources / Notes

Browder, Hitler's Enforcers.

Overview

Polizei-Bataillone (numbered Reserve Police Battalions) were deployed across occupied Poland, the Soviet Union, and the Balkans. They carried out mass shootings of Jewish populations, anti-partisan sweeps, and ghetto clearances.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Browning, Ordinary Men; Harald Welzer, Täter (2005).

Overview

The Allgemeine SS was the primary SS organizational structure, encompassing members not assigned to the Waffen-SS or Totenkopfverbände. Members held civilian occupations while serving part-time.

Period of Activity

1925–1945.

Sources / Notes

Longerich, Heinrich Himmler.

Overview

The SS-Hauptamt handled administrative functions including training, recruitment, and coordination of the Germanic SS organizations in the Netherlands, Flanders, Norway, and Denmark.

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 31.

Overview

Established in 1940, the SS-FHA under Hans Jüttner managed the operational administration of the Waffen-SS, serving as its equivalent of an army high command.

Key Officials

Hans Jüttner (Chief, 1943–1945).

Period of Activity

1940–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 33.

Overview

Amtsgruppe D of the WVHA was the direct successor to the IKL, comprising four offices covering camp inspection, prisoner labour allocation, medical services, and administrative supply for all concentration camps.

Key Officials

Richard Glücks (Inspector of Concentration Camps, D-I).

Period of Activity

1942–1945.

Sources / Notes

Wachsmann, KL; Orth, Das System der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager.

Overview

SSPF posts were established in major districts under HSSPF authority, coordinating police and SS operations at a more local level in occupied Poland, the Soviet Union, and other occupied areas.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Birn, Die Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer.

Overview

The Staatspolizeileitstellen were the principal Gestapo offices in major cities and districts, directing the network of smaller Staatspolizeistellen. They coordinated deportations and political persecution locally.

Period of Activity

1933–1945.

Sources / Notes

Gellately, The Gestapo and German Society.

Overview

The name is usually taken to refer to Reinhard Heydrich, who was assassinated in 1942. Aktion Reinhard murdered the Jews of the General Government and was the largest single component of the Holocaust.

Key Officials

Odilo Globocnik (SS and Police Leader Lublin, overall commander).

Period of Activity

1942–1943.

Historical Context

Victims were killed with engine exhaust gas. Much of the staff came from the T4 programme.

Sources / Notes

Yitzhak Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka (1987); Stephan Lehnstaedt, Der Kern des Holocaust (2017).

Overview

A separate SS and police jurisdiction was created by decree in October 1939. Its courts tried SS and police members under military and SS law and seldom for crimes against persecuted groups.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Historical Context

From 1943 the SS judge Konrad Morgen used this jurisdiction to investigate corruption and unauthorised killings in concentration camps. Buchenwald commandant Karl Otto Koch was convicted and shot in April 1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 7; Tom Segev, Soldiers of Evil (1987).

Overview

The SS medical establishment combined legitimate field medicine with a deeply criminal dimension: SS doctors performed fatal experiments on prisoners, selected victims for death at camp ramps, and administered the euthanasia killing centres.

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Historical Context

SS doctors were tried in the Doctors' Trial at Nuremberg (1946–1947).

Sources / Notes

Robert Lifton, The Nazi Doctors (1986); Bundesarchiv NS 3.

Overview

Himmler's SS built a network of commercial enterprises using slave labour from concentration camps. The primary SS enterprises included construction materials, food processing, and later weapons manufacture. DEST (Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke) was the largest, operating quarries adjacent to camps like Mauthausen and Flossenbürg.

Period of Activity

1938–1945.

Sources / Notes

Jan Erik Schulte, Zwangsarbeit und Vernichtung (2001); Wachsmann, KL.

Overview

National SS formations raised by the SS-Hauptamt in occupied western and northern Europe: the Germaansche SS in Nederland, the Germaansche SS in Vlaanderen, the Germanske SS Norge and the Schalburgkorps in Denmark.

Period of Activity

1940–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv NS 31.

Overview

Created in 1938 when Hitler assumed personal command of the Wehrmacht, the OKW replaced the War Ministry and served as the apex of the German military command structure.

Key Officials

Wilhelm Keitel (Chief of OKW); Alfred Jodl (Chief of Wehrmacht Operations Staff, WFSt).

Period of Activity

1938–1945.

Historical Context

Keitel and Jodl were convicted at Nuremberg for issuing criminal orders including the Commissar Order and the Night and Fog Decree.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RW 4; Percy Schramm (ed.), Kriegstagebuch des OKW.

Overview

The OKH directed German land operations. After Hitler dismissed Brauchitsch and assumed personal command in December 1941, the OKH became focused almost exclusively on the Eastern Front.

Key Officials

Walther von Brauchitsch (C-in-C Army, 1938–1941); Franz Halder (Chief of Army General Staff, 1938–1942); Erich Zeitzler (1942–1944); Heinz Guderian (1944–1945).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 2; David Stahel, Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East (2009).

Overview

The OKM directed all German naval operations. Raeder's strategy favoured surface fleet operations; Dönitz's expanded the U-boat war to its maximum intensity in 1942–43.

Key Officials

Erich Raeder (C-in-C Navy, 1928–1943); Karl Dönitz (1943–1945).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RM 7; Clay Blair, Hitler's U-Boat War (1996).

Overview

Until 1944 the Luftwaffe was commanded through the Reich Air Ministry and the Luftwaffe General Staff; the designation Oberkommando der Luftwaffe was introduced only in 1944. Under Göring's erratic leadership the Luftwaffe fought the Battle of Britain and supported the army on every front.

Key Officials

Hermann Göring (Commander-in-Chief); Hans Jeschonnek (Chief of General Staff, 1939–1943).

Period of Activity

1935–1945 as Luftwaffe high command; OKL from 1944.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RL 2; Williamson Murray, Luftwaffe: Strategy for Defeat (1985).

Overview

Created in 1938 as the Wehrmachtführungsamt and renamed Wehrmachtführungsstab in 1940. It translated Hitler's directives into operations and from 1942 ran all theatres except the Eastern Front, which remained with the OKH.

Key Officials

Alfred Jodl (Chief).

Period of Activity

1938–1945.

Sources / Notes

Percy Schramm (ed.), Kriegstagebuch des OKW.

Overview

The Army General Staff was among the most professionally capable staffs of any belligerent in the Second World War. Its chiefs directed operational planning while negotiating Hitler's increasingly intrusive personal command.

Key Officials

Ludwig Beck (1935–1938); Franz Halder (1938–1942); Kurt Zeitzler (1942–1944); Heinz Guderian (1944–1945).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 2.

Overview

The Abwehr was responsible for military espionage, counter-intelligence, and sabotage operations. Under Canaris it maintained a degree of independence from the SS until 1944.

Key Officials

Wilhelm Canaris (Chief, 1935–1944).

Period of Activity

1921–1944.

Historical Context

Canaris was implicated in resistance circles; he was arrested after the July 1944 plot and executed in April 1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RW 5; Richard Bassett, Hitler's Spy Chief (2005).

Overview

The BdU was established as the operational command for U-boat warfare. Dönitz directed the campaign that sank millions of tons of Allied shipping but ultimately failed against Allied countermeasures.

Key Officials

Karl Dönitz (BdU, 1939–1943; then C-in-C Navy).

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Blair, Hitler's U-Boat War; Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RM 87.

Overview

The MBF exercised military government over occupied northern France and administered relations with the Vichy government.

Key Officials

Otto von Stülpnagel (1940–1942); Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel (1942–1944).

Period of Activity

1940–1944.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RW 35.

Overview

The HWA was responsible for weapons development, testing, and procurement for the Army. Its Wa Prüf 11 section oversaw the V-2 rocket development alongside the SS.

Period of Activity

1934–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 8; Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich (1995).

Overview

Heeresgruppen were the largest operational formations of the German Army. They directed operations over vast fronts in the Soviet Union (Nord, Mitte, Süd) and other theatres.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Historical Context

Army Group commands were implicated in the transmission and enforcement of criminal orders including the Commissar Order and anti-partisan directives.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 19; Johannes Hürter, Hitlers Heerführer (2006).

Overview

The Generalquartiermeister was responsible for Army supply, logistics, and rear area administration. General Eduard Wagner negotiated the agreements with the RSHA allowing Einsatzgruppen to operate in the Army's rear areas.

Key Officials

Eduard Wagner (1940–1944).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Historical Context

Wagner's agreements facilitated the Einsatzgruppen operations; he was implicated in the July 1944 plot and committed suicide.

Sources / Notes

Hürter, Hitlers Heerführer.

Overview

The SKL served as the operational planning headquarters of the Kriegsmarine, equivalent to the Army General Staff for naval operations.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RM 7; Blair, Hitler's U-Boat War.

Overview

The Wehrmacht Propaganda Department accredited and supervised war correspondents, produced newsreel footage, and coordinated with the Propaganda Ministry on military-related media content.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Daniel Uziel, The Propaganda Warriors (2008); Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RW 4/v.

Overview

The AHA under Friedrich Fromm (as C-in-C Replacement Army) managed the entire personnel and training pipeline for the German Army, organizing the Wehrkreise that produced trained replacements.

Key Officials

Friedrich Fromm (C-in-C Replacement Army, 1939–1944).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 15.

Overview

Germany was divided into numbered Wehrkreise (I–XVII plus additional occupied territory districts), each providing the administrative backbone for conscription and replacement training.

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 53; Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand, Das Heer 1933–1945 (1954).

Overview

The Luftwaffe was organised into numbered air fleets, each commanding all air operations in its theatre. There were six by 1943, and in 1944 Luftflotte Reich took over the air defence of Germany.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Murray, Luftwaffe: Strategy for Defeat.

Overview

In autumn 1941 the OKW ordered, and the commanding general in Serbia Franz Böhme enforced, the shooting of 100 hostages for every German soldier killed and 50 for every one wounded. Tens of thousands were shot, among them nearly all Jewish men in Serbia.

Key Officials

Franz Böhme (Plenipotentiary Commanding General, 1941); Harald Turner (head of the military administration staff).

Period of Activity

1941–1944.

Sources / Notes

Walter Manoschek, Serbien ist judenfrei (1993).

Overview

Nikolaus von Falkenhorst commanded the German forces in Norway from the invasion in April 1940 until December 1944. Occupation policy was set by the civil Reich Commissioner Josef Terboven.

Key Officials

Nikolaus von Falkenhorst (1940–1944).

Period of Activity

1940–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RW 31; Samuel Abrahamsen, Norway's Response to the Holocaust (1991).

Overview

Panzergruppen were introduced for Operation Barbarossa in 1941 to command concentrated armoured formations. Four Panzergruppen (later redesignated Panzer Armeen) spearheaded the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Period of Activity

1940–1942 (as Panzergruppe designation).

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 21.

Overview

Luftgau commands covered territorial administration of the Luftwaffe within Germany and occupied territories, running training schools, supply depots, and home defence systems.

Period of Activity

1934–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RL 12.

Overview

Naval Group Command North directed naval operations in the Baltic and Norwegian theatres, supporting the invasion of Norway and Denmark in 1940 and subsequently Baltic operations against the Soviet Navy.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RM 35.

Overview

Each Army command had an Ic (intelligence officer) leading a staff section responsible for enemy intelligence. Ic officers also maintained liaison with SD-Einsatzgruppen, making them complicit in knowledge of mass killing operations.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Hürter, Hitlers Heerführer.

Overview

Naval Group Command West directed surface and coastal forces from the North Sea to the Bay of Biscay. The U-boats based on the French coast took their operational orders from the BdU.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RM 35; Blair, Hitler's U-Boat War.

Overview

Heinz Guderian was appointed Inspector General of Armoured Forces in 1943, using the inspectorate to rebuild and expand the Panzer arm after severe losses on the Eastern Front.

Key Officials

Heinz Guderian (Inspector General, 1943–1944).

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 10.

Overview

OB West commanded Wehrmacht forces in the West, coordinating Army Groups responsible for the Atlantic Wall defence, the response to D-Day in June 1944, and the eventual retreat into Germany.

Key Officials

Gerd von Rundstedt (various periods 1942–1945); Erwin Rommel (Army Group B, 1944); Walter Model (1944).

Period of Activity

1940–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 19 IV; Stephen Badsey, Normandy 1944 (1990).

Overview

The OB Süd command was responsible for German operations in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Italy. Kesselring's leadership in Italy became the most sustained German defensive campaign of the war.

Key Officials

Albert Kesselring (C-in-C South/Army Group C, 1941–1945).

Period of Activity

1941–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 19 X; Rick Atkinson, The Day of Battle (2007).

Overview

The Flottenkommando directed surface fleet operations including the sorties of the Bismarck (1941), Tirpitz, and the Channel Dash (1942). By mid-war strategic limitations largely confined surface units to Norway.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RM 35; Cajus Bekker, Hitler's Naval War (1974).

Overview

The Army signals corps managed all wire, radio, and teleprinter communications for the German Army, essential for the rapid operational tempo of Blitzkrieg warfare and subsequent defensive operations.

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 17; David Kahn, Hitler's Spies (1978).

Overview

The artillery inspectorate maintained standards across the German Army's gun and rocket artillery, supervised training, and coordinated the introduction of new weapons including Nebelwerfer rocket projectors.

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 12-4.

Overview

OB Südost commanded occupation forces across the Balkans, implementing reprisal policies and anti-partisan operations that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Yugoslavia and Greece.

Key Officials

Wilhelm List (1941); Alexander Löhr (1942–1943); Maximilian von Weichs (1943–1945).

Period of Activity

1941–1945.

Historical Context

OB Südost commanders were convicted of war crimes at Nuremberg (Hostages Trial) for the mass execution of civilian hostages.

Sources / Notes

Nuremberg Military Tribunal, Hostages Trial (Case 7); Walter Manoschek, Serbien ist judenfrei (1993).

Overview

German paratroopers and glider troops took the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael in May 1940 and the island of Crete in May 1941. After the heavy losses on Crete they fought mainly as elite infantry.

Key Officials

Kurt Student (commander of airborne forces).

Period of Activity

1936–1945.

Sources / Notes

Antony Beevor, Crete: The Battle and the Resistance (1991).

Overview

The OKW prisoner of war department administered POW camps. The deliberate policy of denying adequate food, shelter, and medical care to Soviet prisoners resulted in the deaths of approximately 3.3 million Soviet POWs in German captivity.

Period of Activity

1939–1945.

Historical Context

The mass death of Soviet POWs constituted a war crime and crime against humanity prosecuted at Nuremberg.

Sources / Notes

Christian Streit, Keine Kameraden (1978); Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RW 5.

Overview

In the final phase of the war the Feldgendarmerie, the new Feldjäger commands and flying summary courts combed the rear areas for stragglers and deserters. Over the whole war, German military courts carried out some 15,000 death sentences for desertion.

Period of Activity

1935–1945.

Sources / Notes

Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv RH 23; Sönke Neitzel & Harald Welzer, Soldaten (2011).