Adolf Hitler in 1925 ordered Julius Schreck to organise the formation of a new bodyguard unit, the Schutzkommando ("Protection Command").

Himmler's ultimate aim was to turn the SS into the most powerful organization in Germany and most influential branch of the party.

[13] The SS was further cemented when both it and the Gestapo participated in the destruction of the SA leadership during the Night of the Long Knives from 30 June to 2 July 1934.

[16] In August 1934, Himmler received permission from Hitler to form a new organisation from the SS Sonderkommandos and the Politischen Bereitschaften, the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT).

Main office members did join the Waffen-SS, where they could accept a lower rank and serve in active combat or be listed as inactive reservists.

Members in these regional units would typically meet once a week in uniform, as well as participate in various Nazi Party functions.

Activities including drill and ideological instruction, marching in parades, and providing security at various Nazi party rallies.

After 1933, the Oberabschnitt commanders and their staff became regarded as "full time" but the rank and file of the Allgemeine SS were still part-time only.

The combined forces were folded into the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) and placed under the central command of Reinhard Heydrich, already chief of the party Sicherheitsdienst (SD).

[15] Later from 27 September 1939 forward, the SD, Gestapo, and Kripo were folded into the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) that was placed under Heydrich's control.

[15] The death squad units of the Einsatzgruppen were formed under the direction of Heydrich and operated by the SS before and during World War II.

When the killing units were re-formed prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the men of the Einsatzgruppen were drawn from the SD, Gestapo, Kripo, Orpo, civilian (SS auxiliary) and Waffen-SS.

[32] The Einsatzgruppen units perpetrated atrocities in the occupied Soviet Union, including mass murder of Jews, communists, prisoners of war, and hostages, and played a key role in the Holocaust.

Thereafter, the SS-TV branch increasingly became divided into the camp service proper and the military Totenkopf formation controlled by the SS-VT (forerunner of the Waffen-SS).

[18][34] As the Nazi regime became more oppressive and World War II escalated, the concentration camp system grew in size, lethal operation, and scope as the economic ambitions of the SS intensified.

[39] On Himmler's orders, by early 1942 the concentration camp at Auschwitz was greatly expanded to include the addition of gas chambers, where victims were killed using the pesticide Zyklon B.

The ultimate command authority for the camp system during World War II was the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (WHVA) under Oswald Pohl.

Beside the camp operations, the WHVA was the organization responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine SS.

[51] Himmler also intended to replace all female civilian employees in his service with SS-Helferinnen members, as they were selected and trained according to NSDAP ideology.

SS members could also hold reserve commissions in the regular military as well as a Nazi Party political rank.

This was ordered so to give SS-generals authority over military units and POW camps and apparently to try to provide potential protection under the Hague Convention rules of warfare.

[58] The Waffen-SS had grown from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II, and served alongside the Heer (regular army), but never formally a part of it.