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Third Reich
The “Schutzstaffel” or S.S. (“Protective Echelon”) was the enormous force of German “political soldiers” under Heinrich Himmler, tasked with enforcing racial policies, the surveillance of Germans and potential enemies to the Nazis, managing concentration and extermination camps, and numerous other duties. Eichmann joined the S.S. in 1933 and worked for it until the end of the war.
S.S. Quotes in Eichmann in Jerusalem
The Eichmann in Jerusalem quotes below are all either spoken by S.S. or refer to S.S.. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2
Quotes
From a humdrum life without significance and consequence the wind had blown him into History, as he understood it, namely, into a Movement that always kept moving and in which somebody like him—already a failure in the eyes of his social class, of his family, and hence in his own eyes as well—could start from scratch and still make a career.
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Chapter 9
Quotes
Eichmann himself, after “consulting Poliakoff and Reitlinger,” produced seventeen multicolored charts, which contributed little to a better understanding of the intricate bureaucratic machinery of the Third Reich, although his general description—“everything was always in a state of continuous flux, a steady stream”—sounded plausible to the student of totalitarianism, who knows that the monolithic quality of this form of government is a myth.
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S.S. Term Timeline in Eichmann in Jerusalem
The timeline below shows where the term S.S. appears in Eichmann in Jerusalem. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: The Accused
...all joy” in work and was fired soon thereafter. He joined the Nazi Party and S.S. in the same year. Ernst Kaltenbrunner invited him, as the two men’s fathers were friends—but...
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...joined the Nazi Party without reading its platform or Hitler’s Mein Kampf; he joined the S.S. because, “why not?” Frustrated with his job, the Nazis offered him a chance to become...
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...Eichmann went to Germany, where he still had citizenship, and started military training with the S.S. But he hated “the humdrum of military service” and decided to apply for a job...
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Chapter 3: An Expert on the Jewish Question
...Heydrich was its head, and its mission was to spy on other Nazis for the S.S. Eichmann was disappointed—he thought it was the personal security service for Nazi officials, and he...
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...to complain to a Jewish police officer about his inability to get promoted in the S.S., and seems to expect sympathy from the world for his difficulties and failures. Meeting an...
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Chapter 5: The Second Solution: Concentration
Soon after the beginning of the war, Heinrich Himmler combined the S.S. Security Service (S.D.) with the state police (including the Gestapo) into the Head Office for...
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...answered to Himmler, who directly carried out Hitler’s orders. Himmler also directed the separate regional S.S. and Police Leaders, who also outranked Eichmann—ultimately, Eichmann’s rank was not particularly high, and his...
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Chapter 6: The Final Solution: Killing
...it was better for Jews to die immediately than suffer, and he grows agitated when S.S. torture comes up at trial.
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Chapter 8: Duties of a Law-Abiding Citizen
...which began swiftly and efficiently. However, trouble soon arose between Eichmann and Kurt Becher, the S.S.’s main horse buyer. Becher is called as a defense witness, but has his testimony dismissed....
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Chapter 10: Deportations from Western Europe—France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Italy
...the prosecution falsely claims were all following Eichmann’s orders. In fact, Himmler mostly gave the S.S. and Police priority in Holland, to Eichmann’s chagrin, since they seemed most able to quash...
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...begin deportations in 1943, Danish shipyard workers went on strike and even German government and S.S. officials refused to carry out their orders.
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Chapter 11: Deportations from the Balkans—Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Rumania
...understandably ignores this absurd claim—the events in Rumania make his suggestion vaguely probable. “Even the S.S. were taken aback” by Rumania’s enthusiasm for killing Jews, and often tried to ensure that...
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Chapter 14: Evidence and Witnesses
The S.S. spent the war’s final weeks forging papers for themselves and destroying evidence of their crimes....
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Chapter 15: Judgment, Appeal, and Execution
...first set of counts. The last three counts are for belonging to “criminal organizations”: the S.S., S.D., and Gestapo (but not the Nazi leadership in which the prosecution wanted to prove...
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