The **Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel)** was a paramilitary organization founded in 1925 by Adolf Hitler as a small personal bodyguard unit, which rapidly evolved into a powerful, multifaceted institution central to the Nazi regime's control and terror[1][2][4]. Under Heinrich Himmler's leadership from 1929, the SS expanded from fewer than 300 men to over 250,000 by 1939, becoming a "state within a state" with both political and military power[1][4][6]. The SS comprised several key branches: the **Allgemeine-SS (General SS)**, responsible for policing and enforcing Nazi racial policies; the **Waffen-SS (Armed SS)**, which operated as elite combat troops alongside the German army and were known for fanaticism and brutality; and the **SS-Totenkopfverbände (Death's Head Units)**, which managed concentration and extermination camps[1][3][4]. Additional subdivisions included the Gestapo (secret police) and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), tasked with intelligence and suppression of dissent[3]. The SS played a central role in the Holocaust, orchestrating the genocide of approximately six million Jews and millions of other victims through systematic mass murder and slave labor exploitation[3]. SS members committed extensive war crimes and crimes against humanity across occupied Europe during World War II. Beyond its military and policing functions, the SS operated commercial enterprises and controlled concentration camp labor for economic gain[3][6]. The organization was ideologically driven, recruiting members based on "racial purity," absolute loyalty to Hitler, and Nazi ideology, with stringent screening emphasizing Aryan ancestry[2][4][6]. Following Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945, the SS was declared a criminal organization by the Nuremberg Trials due to its central role in war crimes and genocide. Its leaders, including Heinrich Himmler’s successors, were prosecuted and punishe