The Black Angels

In 1933, Heinrich Himmler assembled a group of superbly trained, fiercely loyal soldiers. Bound by an oath of “obedience unto death” to Adolf Hitler, these men formed the Fuhrer’s personal bodyguard – the Schutzstaffel, or SS.

The SS grew quickly to become an instrument of terror in Nazi Germany. But as war approached, Himmler secured Hitler’s approval to form a paramilitary branch of this “protection squad” – the Waffen-SS.

During World War II,, detachments of the Waffen-SS spearheaded triumphant military campaigns, supervised the concentration camps, and fought brutal rearguard actions against partisans in the “subjugated territories.” By the war’s end, when the SS numbered over 500,000 men, the runic flash of the double-S had become a symbol of terror throughout Europe for soldiers and civilians alike.