For Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, the extermination of the Jews was a "moral right," an "historical task," and "a page of glory in German history."

The SS became the chief instrument of Nazi terror, as well as the carrier of its racial ideals. Officially known as the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squad), the organization came into being in 1925, as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Once Hitler appointed Himmler to head the SS, in 1929, it rose beyond its bodyguard role and developed into a Party police.

Subordinate to the much larger SA until the so-called "Blood Purge" in 1934, the black-shirted SS expanded dramatically from a few hundred Germans in 1929 to almost a quarter-million by the beginning of the war ten years later. Controlling all police forces, the SS pursued domestic enemies of the Nazi Party and assumed responsibility for the "Final Solution." Membership was selective and based on racial criteria. Aryan racial purity was demanded even of prospective SS brides.

Himmler developed his forces into an elite brotherhood, complete with cult-like rituals and Teutonic symbols of a sacred order. Dabbling in an obscure occultism, he believed himself to be the reincarnation of a medieval German king who had conquered eastern territories.