IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 1144
Held at: Wiener Library
Title: Office of Reichsführer SS: Correspondence and papers
Date(s): 1938-1944
Level of description: collection
Extent: 2 folders
Name of creator(s): Reichsführer SS
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Reichsführer SS was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, became the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel (SS). Reichsführer SS was both a title and a rank. The title of Reichsführer was first created in 1926 by Joseph Berchtold. Berchtold's predecessor, Julius Schreck, never referred to himself as Reichsführer but the title was retroactively applied to him in later years. In 1929, Heinrich Himmler became Reichsführer-SS and referred to himself by his title instead of his regular SS rank. This set the precedent for the Commanding General of the SS to be called Reichsführer-SS. In 1934, Himmler's title became an actual rank after the Night of the Long Knives and from that point on, Reichsführer-SS became the highest rank of the SS and was considered the equivalent of a Generalfeldmarschall in the German Army.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of the office of Reichsführer SS, 1938-1944, mostly emanate from the office of Reichsführer SS and deal with administrative matters. The collection comprises correspondence between the office of the Reichsführer SS and Reichskulturwalter Hans Hinkel (mainly) regarding administrative and cultural matters, 1939-1944 and an incomplete monthly information sheet Befehle und Mitteilungen, 1939-1942. It most notably includes two original letters from Reichsführer SS, Himmler (1144/1/14-/23); an incomplete set of an in-house information sheet providing instructions to SS members on a variety of matters such as dress protocol for visits to concentration camps by SS members (1144/2/4); qualification for wearing the 'Death's Head' ring of the SS (1144/2/2); and orders forbidding membership of clubs deemed inappropriate.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German
System of arrangement:
The material has been arranged chronologically into correspondence (1144/1) and issues of the information sheet Befehle und Mitteilungen (1144/2).
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
These papers are fragile, therefore the copies must be reproduced.
Physical characteristics:
This collection is fragile and therefore the copies must be used by readers.
Finding aids:
A description exists on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Jewish Central Information Office.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Compiled by Samantha Velumyl.
Date(s) of descriptions: March 2008