The SS: The Phony Elite and Brutal Preparators of the Holocaust

<p>The SS have long been considered Hitler‘s elite forces, the most ideologically committed and advanced version of the New Nazi man. This work demonstrates as the war progressed, the SS came to rely more heavily on those who were not elite but rather of dubious, criminal, and poorly educated backgrounds. Thus, this work argues that the SS, rather than representing the elite and most ideologically committed, were often entirely corrupt, violent, and vicious. The SS were not just products of an ideological formation but rather individuals with dubious backgrounds. This work will demonstrate how suffering became exacerbated by the types of people drawn into SS service. Through an analysis of wartime behavior exhibited by the SS camp guards and front-line soldiers implementing the Shoah, this thesis examines the characteristics of SS guards who engaged in murder, corruption, and petty theft befitting their roles as Hitler‘s henchmen rather than the Fuhrer‘ elite.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

History and Archival Studies, MA

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Arts and Humanities

Year dc:date.available

2023

Author dc:creator

• Cordero, John E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Matthew Bowman

• Antisemitism
• Brutality
• Complicity
• Corruption
• Murder
• Violence
• History
• Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/866

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1889