SS Personalhauptamt
Encyclopedia
The SS Personalhauptamt was the central recording office for all officers and potential officers for the SS in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

.

Formation

The Personalhauptamt was responsible maintaining the service records for all commissioned Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

and Allgemeine-SS personnel. However it did not keep extensive details of non-commissioned or rank and file SS members. Likewise it was not responsible for promotions or appointments.

Its headquarters were originally located on Wilmersdorfer Straße, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 but by1943 the Allied bombing campaign against the German capital had forced the various departments of the Personalhauptamt to relocate throughout Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

.

Organization

The SS Personalhauptamt consisted of two main departments . They were:
  • Amt für Führerpersonalien (Office of Officer Personnel Records)
  • Amt für Führernachwuchs (Office for Potential Officers)

Within the Office of Officer Personnel Records there were three sub departments. They were:
  • Amtsgrupe A
    • Amt I Zentralkartei (Central Records)
    • Amt II Führernachwuchs und Schulen (Awards and Schooling)
    • Amt III Disziplinar und Ehrenangelegenheiten (Discipline and honours)
  • Amtsgruppe B (Personalamt Allgemeine-SS) (Allgemeine-SS Personnel Office)
  • Amtsgruppe C (Personalamt Waffen-SS) (Waffen-SS
    Waffen-SS
    The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

     Personnel Office)

Legacy

The Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 headquarters of the Personalhauptamt was bombed
Strategic bombing during World War II
Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...

 several times during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, but most of the SS records survived the collapse of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. As such, the files of SS personnel have become an invaluable resource for present-day historians studying the Third Reich.

The archive has allowed researchers to carry out detailed examinations into the roles that major Nazis played in the Second World War and The Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

. For example, the service records
Service record of Reinhard Heydrich
The service record of Reinhard Heydrich was a collection of official SS documents maintained at the SS Personalhauptamt in Berlin from 1934 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945...

 of SS-Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...

 Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...

 show how he organised the Wannsee Conference
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...

, masterminded the Final Solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...

 and managed the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...

.
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