Heinrich Himmler: The SS, Gestapo, His Life and Career

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In addition to the familiar S.S., the Schutzstaffeln or Protection Squads, the following abbreviations are also used frequently throughout this work:

S.A. — the Sturmabteilungen or Assault Sections

S.D. — the Sicherheitsdienst or Security Service

This study of Heinrich Himmler completes the trilogy of biographies we have written about Hitler’s principal assistants in the establishment and control of the Third Reich. The general desire to understand the exact nature of this régime and of the individuals who created it has become more pressing during the past few years, now that both Germany and the world outside have to a great extent overcome the shock to our common humanity inflicted by the Nazis, which either paralyzed or inhibited clear thinking during and immediately after the war. While the Germans have had to come to terms with themselves as the society which enabled Hitler to win control of the state and to establish a modern form of tyranny that eventually covered almost the whole of Europe, the other European powers and the United States have also had to search their consciences in order to discover to what degree they connived at the consolidation of Hitler’s rule.

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